My breath caught, and for several moments, failed, while I met Ansei’s steady, remorseless gaze.
“Furi.”
I planted my feet on the tatami, but he closed the distance between us, a slight lilt in his head and a single raised eyebrow hinting his confusion.
And well he might wonder at the difference between this and his former reception at the Nobu castle. I submitted to his gentle, if clinical physical examination, then he stepped back. His clear eyes betrayed something else. Regret?
“You’re angry. Tell me why.”
How many reasons did Ansei need? He had given me up bodily to Okugawa’s heir only hours ago. He had delayed his coming almost beyond my endurance. Perhaps he still nursed a flame for his Princess lover. And still, I considered most, the risk I posed to him, and retreated another step.
“I am now a concubine of the throne, if my husband is surviving,” I said, my gaze resting on Ansei’s bare feet.
His expression veiled some mysterious emotion. Anger? Fear?
“He survives. I have examined him myself. But he is sleeping under the influence of an,” he paused to find words, “unrecognized poison.”
“What does that mean—unrecognized?”
“We will speak of it later. Right now, you should rest and recover your strength. When you are well, if you are you willing…” He paused again. “We will talk more about his illness.”
“Not later. Now,” I said, surprising myself with the command in my voice. “Tell me. Am I your prisoner?”
His breath came sharp.
“How could you think that?”
“How can I not be a prisoner? I have poisoned the heir to the Ruling House throne. And you are no gardener, but a samurai, I would warrant. It’s your duty to arrest and execute me, or betray your ruler.”
Ansei sighed deeply, anguish plain upon his face.
“You are not a prisoner. I would protect you with my army and my own life, if necessary.”
“That necessity is not inconceivable,” I said, voice stiff.
His eyes washed again with pain. “
There will be no violence.”
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I lifted my chin?
“Who are you to make that prediction?”
“I’m a ranking officer within a revolutionary army. A former conscript and traitor to the Ruling House, but this is not the betrayal you are holding against me. It’s more personal than that. Am I right?”
I opened my mouth to speak and my voice broke.
“How could you do it? How could you marry me into the Ruling House?”
Ansei started.
“Did you ever consent to marriage?”
“The Sovereign said it was done!”
“The sovereign is on death’s door. And he was well ahead of himself. You are not wed. I beg your forgiveness for allowing him so close to you—the Princess made other plans. This should never have happened, but, my army arrived in time to guard your safety.”
I shuddered.
“But you would make me your weapon?”
His face, already grim, creased and turned morose.
“I told you years ago that I could not give you your freedom, but that nothing could stop you from taking it. And now I ask: will you take it?”
“How?” I gasped. “By becoming a concubine?”
“I’m talking about a rightful and honest position in a world you will help build yourself. Don’t you want that?”
“I don’t think I understand what it is.”
Ansei withdrew a clean handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to me.
“I once promised to someday tell you all of my secrets.” He drew a quick breath. “I hope you are ready to hear them now.”
* * *
“I am Ansei Nagaishi of the Eastern Nagaishi Clan—the Spider Clan. For generations, we were a powerful resister of imperial control. The Nagaishi were the last to sign the Okugawa unification treaty when the Emperor fell.”
“We are known to our enemies as the Spider People for a former alliance with the Earth Kumo—shape-shifting spider she-warriors who still occupy the peaks of the Yamato Mountain—mere legends to you, but they are family to me. With our allies, we preserved our domain from imperial armies and invasion from rival clans for nearly four hundred years, but our alliance failed. Our chieftains honored a long-standing treaty, always remembering the shape-shifters’ deadly threat to mankind and never trespassing into their cave dwelling realm.”
“But in the final year of the Warring Clan Period, a beautiful Earth Kumo lured Chieftain Toyo Nagaishi into her lair and poisoned him with her venom, destroying the Nagaishi’s hope of defending their domain. On the eve of the Okugawa Clan’s advancement inside our borders, my uncle dispatched a messenger, and conceded defeat.”
“It was the end of an era, and also the beginning—” he paused to exhale a breath, but his gaze held mine. “I was the product of the Earth Kumo and the chieftain’s cave liaison. I am half Earth Kumo, half mortal.”
I gasped. The beautiful she-spider who had appeared to me earlier was Ansei’s mother!
Ansei continued, “All my life, the Nagaishi Clan has been carrying out an underground resistance to the Okugawa House. The time has come, and I must execute those plans.”
“War,” I repeated, and the word fell heavily from my lips.
Ansei frowned.
“A bloodless revolution, and we have many powerful allies, including the Emperor and his family. If our plans succeed, the cost in lives will be very low, but the burden for this massive feat falls heavily upon a few shoulders.” Ansei cast his gaze down at the floor, then raised it to meet mine. “You are the very center of our revolutionary offensive. Everything depends upon you.”
I blinked confusion. “I have already incapacitated your target. What more would you ask?”
“Do you remember when we spoke that night on Madame Ozawa’s veranda? And I said someday I would make a request of you so great, I would have no right to expect you to honor it?”
“How could I forget? Then I thought I could answer you anything. Now, I understand your meaning.”
“You know a fraction.”
Something inside of me recoiled. “What more is there?”
Ansei met my gaze.
“Will you give the New Otoppon an heir?”