Autumn Bridge by Takashi Matsuoka

Author:Takashi Matsuoka [Matsuoka, Takashi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-11-18T19:06:03+00:00

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Emily claimed to give no credence whatsoever to the prophecies contained in the scrolls, but it took her a long time to fall asleep, despite her exhaustion. Hanako would have spared her the worry if sparing her would make her safe. It would not. It was better that she knew the truth, and accepted it. When Emily's breathing deepened and slowed, Hanako went to the door and opened it to reveal a sliver of the night outside. She could see one of the so-called guards in the shadow of the wall. She heard another cough on the other side of the hut. These would be better men than the ones Taro had assigned to protect Emily this afternoon, since their task was genuine. She would get past them the same way the rascal girl Kimi had.The moon in its last phase was the merest suggestion of a curved edge in the sky, its light weak, the shadows it created faint. When a cloud obscured it, Hanako slipped through the door and into the shallow space beneath the hut. Here she waited, as Kimi had waited earlier. Thoughts of the girl made Hanako smile. She was really too bold for her own good. The trait would have been fine in a boy, because boys were supposed to be bold. A girl needed more restraint. Yin and yang. The balance of man and woman.

That Kimi had overheard much of her conversation with Emily was not entirely harmless. She would not be able to keep from sharing such tantalizing information with her friends, and it would quickly enter the realm of gossip and myth that constantly swirled around every Great Lord of Akaoka. Still, her presence under the hut also served a useful purpose. It insured that no one else was there at the same time. What she and Emily had to say could be overheard without serious danger by gossiping girls, but not by Lord Genji's enemies, and they were everywhere. Even among his bodyguard corps. Or so she suspected.

Escape would be difficult. She could slip away. Emily could not, and Emily was the important one. How strange. Heiko had been right. Emily and Lord Genji were destined for each other, and contrary to every indication, Heiko and Lord Genji had not been. She had not returned to Japan from California. Neither had her son. That had to mean the boy was not Genji's, since if he were, Genji would surely have called him to his side, even if, for reasons known only to himself, he intended to discard Heiko. Is that what had happened? Would she ever know?

Hanako knew that Emily was in love with Genji, of course, and had been for many years now. That was obvious to everyone. Emily was blind to the fact that her secret love was a secret only for her. The way she looked at him, the slight but consistent shift in her posture toward him whenever he was in her

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