Uneasy Dreams by Felicitas Ivey

Author:Felicitas Ivey [Ivey, Felicitas]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2015-02-11T16:00:00+00:00

Samojirou

I HAD abandoned Keno, hating myself for doing so, but knowing that I had to bring Tamazusa and Inusuka to safety. Keno knew it also, but that didn’t make me feel any better. As I came out of the shadows in Edo, in Inumura’s castle, I moved to go back to them as soon as I let Inusuka and Tamazusa go—but Tamazusa grasped my sleeve before I could leave.

“It’s too late,” she said.

“I can’t…”

“Mason will have gotten them out of there as quickly as he could,” she assured me. “You can’t rescue him if you don’t know where he is. You won’t be able to find them tonight.”

“I shouldn’t have left him behind,” I said, voice hard. I knew the camp was in chaos and that I could be captured by the invaders very easily. We both knew I had barely gotten out of there as it was. It had felt like I was walking through chest-deep, frozen water rather than shadows. I was still frozen, I swear. Some sort of magic had filled the night, and that was why our defenses had been overrun so easily.

“He knew his duty,” Inusuka said.

There was a small strangled scream and then the sound of running feet. I watched emotionlessly as Hamaji threw herself into her husband’s arms with a cry of joy. I just felt numb.

Tamazusa looked at me, her eyes shining in the torchlight. “You can try and look in the morning. I know Mason will find someplace to hide, and if he can’t… your lover is clever. I know he will think of something besides pretending to be me.”

“What?” I choked out.

“Sakura took my haori so that he might be mistaken for me at a distance. It helps that he’s with Mason,” she told me ruefully. “There have been rumors that I have finally taken a lover now that you have one who has lasted more than a season.”

“Mason!” I exclaimed in horror.

That he was non-Nipponese was the least of his faults. But he was a good friend to both Keno and Tamazusa, so I tolerated him. And I knew she was the only reason he had been with us on the battlefield. I also knew they could take care of each other, no matter what trouble they ran into. I just wished they were armed. Hopefully Keno could scavenge some sort of weapon and protect the two of them.

“Where is he?” Wolf asked harshly. I knew he wasn’t talking about Mason. I didn’t even know if Wolf knew he was gone.

That I let him get this close without noticing it showed me how upset I was. “I could only take two people,” I said simply.

He looked at me as if I was the lowest thing on earth. “You abandoned him!”

“His duty and mine outweigh our feelings for one another,” I said tonelessly. Giri—duty—was a word I could hate right now. “We both know it.”

“You left him behind! Alone!” Wolf snarled at me. He looked like he was going to lose his temper.

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