The Ronin's Mistress by Laura Joh Rowland

Author:Laura Joh Rowland [Rowland, Laura Joh]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9780312658526
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2011-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

22

CHIYO ASKED TO be excused from the trip to visit Oishi. Reiko didn’t press her to go. It was better to keep Chiyo and Okaru apart than increase Chiyo’s dislike of Okaru or let it spoil Okaru’s pleasure.

Reiko felt bad because Okaru had come between her and Chiyo. She had a dilemma on her hands: She owed her loyalty to her friend and relative, but she couldn’t abandon a person in need who was a guest in her house. She must fulfill her promise to help Okaru.

Goza took Chiyo’s place inside the palanquin. The servant was dour and silent, but Okaru could hardly contain her ebullience as they rode through the city.

“I can’t wait to see Oishi!” Okaru smoothed her hair, which she’d pinned up and studded with paper flowers. “Do I look all right?”

“You look lovely,” Reiko said.

“It’s been so long since Oishi and I were together. I feel as if we’ll be strangers when we meet. Oh, Lady Reiko, what will I do?”

Reiko hardly felt qualified to give advice. “Just act natural, I suppose.”

Their procession reached the Hosokawa clan estate, which looked cold and unwelcoming, set amid bare trees, the snow on its roof grayed by soot. Okaru gasped with awe and said, “This is where Oishi is in jail? It looks like a palace!”

A servant escorted Reiko, Okaru, and Goza into an elegant reception chamber in the mansion. “I’m so nervous,” Okaru said, fidgeting with her clothes. When they heard footsteps in the corridor, she cried, “It’s him!” She leaped to her feet as Oishi entered the chamber.

He wasn’t what Reiko had expected. Her imagination had built the leader of the forty-seven rōnin into a giant with a face like an iron war mask. But Oishi in the flesh was smaller, older, and clearly not in good health. His strength showed only in his eyes. They had the hard, fiery light of steel heated in a swordsmith’s forge. He favored Okaru with a scowl that must have been the last thing Kira had seen before Oishi cut off his head.

Okaru didn’t notice. She flung herself at Oishi and threw her arms around him. She wept while murmuring endearments.

His arms shot out, breaking her grasp as if she were a flimsy vine that had twined around him. Okaru stumbled backward.

“My love?” she said, her smile faltering. “What’s wrong?”

“What are you doing here?” Oishi demanded.

The jubilance in Okaru’s eyes dimmed. “I—I wanted to see you.”

She took a step toward him, but Oishi raised his hand to fend her off and said, “You shouldn’t have come.”

Okaru gazed at him with hurt disbelief, like a child slapped for no reason. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”

Reiko couldn’t believe Oishi’s cruelty, either. She heard a low growl from Goza. The servant’s face had taken on the look of a watchdog whose owner is threatened.

“That should be obvious. I never want to see you again.” Oishi turned to leave.

With a wail, Okaru lunged after him. She tripped on her skirts, sprawled, and grabbed Oishi’s ankle.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.