The Shogun's Daughter Read Online Free PDF

this.”
    Sano hurried to meet the sentry. He took the container, removed the scroll, and read it. The anger on his face intensified. “Yanagisawa is cutting my stipend in half. He’s also commandeering most of my retainers. The troops are here to take them to their new posts in the provinces.” Sano ran toward the gate.
    Reiko followed, hampered by her pregnancy. They reached the front courtyard. Hundreds of troops swarmed in, outnumbering Sano’s guards. They invaded the barracks and grounds; they called out the names of the men they were taking. The men yelled protests. The officer in charge said to Sano, “We have orders to kill anyone who won’t go peacefully.”
    Furious but helpless, Sano told his men to cooperate. The troops marched them out the gate. Sano was left with some twenty retainers, not even enough to run the estate. Reiko was so upset that she felt faint. Sano helped her into the mansion. He sat her in the reception room and said, “See? What did I tell you? Yanagisawa is setting me up to take me down.”
    “You’re right,” Reiko said. “You can’t just let things lie. There must be a way to thwart Yanagisawa and get your position and Masahiro’s back. Can you talk to the shogun?”
    “I’ll try,” Sano said without hope. “Yanagisawa controls access to the shogun. He also controls the Tokugawa army, now that General Isogai has been demoted.”
    Reiko posed her next suggestion carefully. “Suppose Yanagisawa were to die. It wouldn’t require an army. And with him gone, Yoshisato won’t last long.”
    Sano frowned at her hint that he should assassinate Yanagisawa. “I couldn’t do it.”
    “Why not? Yanagisawa has tried to assassinate you, more times than I can count.”
    “Because Yanagisawa is my superior and a representative of the shogun. My loyalty to the shogun extends to Yanagisawa. Killing him would be dishonorable.”
    “Yanagisawa has never had any such qualms about you.” Reiko understood that Sano was sworn to uphold Bushido, the strict code that dictated a samurai’s behavior. She loved him for his honor. But her own code was different, despite the samurai blood that ran in her veins. She was a mother. Her children’s welfare came before duty to Yanagisawa, who was their enemy, or to the shogun, whose capriciousness often put her family in danger. “But your loyalty to the shogun doesn’t extend to Yoshisato.”
    Conflict troubled Sano’s expression. “I don’t think Yoshisato is the shogun’s son. I believe he’s Yanagisawa’s. But because there’s a chance that I’m wrong, I won’t risk killing a child of my lord.”
    “Your honor will be the death of us!” Reiko exclaimed.
    “Better an honorable death than a disgraceful life,” Sano retorted. “I’ll have to find another way to defeat Yanagisawa and prevent Yoshisato from becoming shogun.”
    No matter how much they loved each other, there were some things they would never agree on, Reiko had to acknowledge. And now, while they were stripped of resources and facing the challenge of a lifetime, they needed unity.
    Masahiro ran into the room, his woe replaced by excitement. “Father! There’s someone here to see you. It’s the shogun’s wife.”

 
    3
    “ WHAT ON EARTH is Lady Nobuko doing here?” Reiko asked.
    Sano was just as puzzled and surprised. “I’ve no idea.” He’d seen the shogun’s wife exactly once, at the end of an investigation into the kidnapping and rape of several women. “Let’s find out.” Sano helped Reiko to her feet. They followed Masahiro to the reception room.
    In the place of honor nearest the alcove that held a calligraphy scroll and a porcelain vase of white azaleas were two women dressed in gray. The elder lay on her back, her sock-clad feet pointed at the ceiling and arms rigid at her sides, on the tatami floor. The younger woman knelt by her, pressing a cloth pad to her forehead. The pad was a poultice—a bundle of herbs that gave off a musty, medicinal