Blade's Edge by Virginia McClain

Author:Virginia McClain [McClain, Virginia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
ISBN: 9781503057333
Google: jdAsvQEACAAJ
Amazon: 1999461266
Goodreads: 24547634
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2015-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

MISHI KNELT BEHIND Katagi and tried not to fidget, blush, sweat, or otherwise give away her current emotional state. She took a deep breath, in an attempt to calm herself, and found that it only made things worse. The tang of sweat and anxiety coming from Katagi and herself mixed with the scents of the tatami touching her forehead, the scent of the hundred strangers that filled the enormous room, and a bite in the air like a summer storm, which threatened to overwhelm her.

She had managed to hold herself together admirably as they had ridden through the gate to Rōjū City the day before; back straight, head inclined in the proper deference of a servant, leading both her horse and Katagi’s, with him still astride, as she presented their papers to the Eihei that manned the gate.… But that had been a single Kisōshi inspecting them, and they’d had the benefit of a crowd of Kisōshi riding with them, all of whom were well known to the Rōjū City guard. Only one person to fool into believing that she was simply a servant and needed no additional inspection, an easy feat when surrounded by a group of Kisōshi that were already fooled. The man had paid more attention to the pedigree of the horses and the make of Katagi’s sword than he had to her, and she hadn’t even felt a moment of discomfort as they were assigned to their guest quarters and told they would be presented the following morning.

Now, as she knelt with her head bowed to the floor, under the gaze of hundreds of eyes, with a physical hum of kisō vibrating in the room due to the presence of so many Kisōshi gathered in a single place—and with no more than her own dampening and Katagi’s kisō register to protect her—she nearly retched with the sense of vulnerability that enfolded her. She swallowed, and hoped that having her face to the floor would keep most people from noticing how nervous she was.

“Kazeki Katagi-san, and his servant,” said the voice of the guard who had escorted them in.

Mishi’s breathing hitched briefly at the mention of her position, but her name wasn’t even given. She worked to even out her breathing. After shoring up her effort to dampen her kisō, she listened to the litany of Katagi’s ancestry that he was required to recite for the Rōjū in attendance. His voice was strong and steady as he listed the long line of Kisōshi that had eventually led to his conception, and she thought that he seemed much less terrified today than yesterday. As she relaxed, her mind ran over the details of the hall they had entered. Like the rest of the city, the Rōjū audience chamber was larger than necessary and excessively ornate. The solid oak doors that they had passed through had been several times the height of a man, and thicker than Mishi was wide, not to mention carved with intricate reliefs of animals and landscapes.

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