Yatagarasu Series
Volume 8:
The Raven's Reminiscence
Author: Abe Chisato
Part 5: Jawbone
Inside the unwrapped feather robe was the corpse of a woman. Half of her face was crushed in, so she was almost unrecognizable.
Yukiya checked the remaining half of her face, then quietly covered her again.
The corpse was Princess Fujinami, the true Golden Raven’s younger sister.
That idiot, Yukiya cursed internally. He felt like he finally understood what had happened to Nazukihiko. He was mildly irritated by the stupidity of it all.
If Nazukihiko had come to Sakura Palace with a larger escort, he would definitely be alive.
He had been summoned. Nazukihiko had gone to meet his younger sister. So much was straightforward. The birth of his daughter had brought his attention to the roles and responsibilities of imperial princesses. Perhaps he had remembered the sister he had treated so harshly and felt something like regret or pity for her.
Princess Fujinami had been a piss-poor imperial princess. She’d neglected her duties, blatantly favored Asebi of Touke, and had behaved with a careless abandon that had resulted in several deaths. She had withheld letters that should have been delivered. She had pushed a lady-in-waiting off a cliff with her own hands.
Nazukihiko had been merciful by not making her crimes public, and this was how she’d chosen to repay him. He had not maintained his relationship with his sister as a punishment for those crimes, but of course Princess Fujinami wouldn’t see things that way.
Fujinami had killed her brother in exchange for his compassion.
Yukiya filed away this information in the back of his mind. He had no time to linger here.
Takimoto adjusted her hold on Fujinami’s corpse with her bitten arm. It was obvious that Shiun no In had set her up to take the blame for the assassination. It was equally obvious that not everything had gone according to plan.
Takimoto had survived Shiun no In’s machinations somehow. And she’d fled the scene of the crime carrying Fujinami’s dead body. Why? To conceal the corpse. None of this was what Shiun no In had intended, surely.
“I recognize this woman’s face,” Yukiya said to Chihaya.
Takimoto bit her lip.
“She is one of the Fujimiyaren. She served Princess Fujinami during Nazukihiko’s Rite of Ascension.”
Takimoto went utterly still.
Other Yamauchishu were converging on them now. Yukiya moved closer and whispered, “Shall we make a deal, Takimoto?”
Takimoto raised her face. Her eyes were bloodshot.
“If the truth would only bring more misfortune, there is no point in exposing it. If you cooperate with me, I can protect Princess Fujinami’s reputation. In return, I would like your testimony concerning the true mastermind of this plot—the one who cast you all aside.”
Takimoto stared at him.
“Shiun no In, or Princess Fujinami. You must choose. You can only protect one of them now.” Chihaya was close enough to hear Yukiya, but none of the other Yamauchishu were in earshot.
Takimoto lowered her eyes and tightened her grip on the corpse.
“Let me ask you, then, Takimoto. The name of the person you are holding right now—what is it?”
There was a silence.
Then Takimoto said, “Makinoha. That’s her name. She was also a Fujimiyaren.”
Yukiya suppressed a smile.
Takimoto had chosen Princess Fujinami.
***
The news that Shiun no In had been taken into custody spread through all of Yamauchi with the speed of a lightning bolt across the sky.
Yamauchishu produced evidence that the former empress had plotted the assassination of the true Golden Raven. Natsumihiko, temporarily restored to his office as acting Golden Raven, received a formal message from Natsuka, the head priest of Clear Mirror Temple. Shiun no In was stripped of her rank and titles.
Special measures were taken to ensure that Shiun no In could not escape or take her own life. She was placed under house arrest in the Palace Above the Clouds. The Lords of the Four Families were summoned to be briefed on the facts of the true Golden Raven’s murder. An interrogation was to be conducted in the main hall of the Palace Above the Clouds.
Natsumihiko came to the place of judgment and remained behind bamboo screens. He refused to speak or show his face.
Natsuka sat down in front of the bamboo screens. He had no reason to hide. The Lords of the Four Families and their attendants took their seats following the same seating chart that they used in the Imperial Hall.
***
The morning of Shiun no In’s interrogation dawned gray and grim.
Shiun no In showed up in the main hall dressed in all her finery, acting as if she were still the empress. She wore a long-sleeved robe of deep purple with gold-embroidered patterns. A brocade sash swayed around her waist. From her complex, heavily layered skirt, gold-and-silver ornaments fashioned into bird shapes caught the uneven sunlight shining through the hall’s windows. Her black hair, streaked with white, was worn loose to her waist; she had never cut it as temple priestesses did. A jeweled crown of red gold with coral details shaped like a phoenix rising rested on her forehead.
Empresses of Yamauchi made few public appearances, even after retirement to temple life. There were no court ladies here to hold up a screen to conceal her, as would be typical. Her pale face, painted and rouged, was exposed for all to see. She walked in with unhurried steps, unbound and perfectly dignified. She looked nothing like a criminal.
The Yamauchishu who fanned out behind her exchanged uncomfortable looks, as if they were cowed by her presence.
Watching from the seats where the Four Families were assigned to sit, Yukiya shook his head at his cowardly junior colleagues.
When a Yamauchishu directed Shiun no In to sit in the enclosed veranda where interrogated criminals always sat, Shiun no In snorted and refused.
Before anyone else could speak, she looked around the room. Her eyes found Natsuka and lit up. “How lovely. If you wanted your mother’s attention so much, you could have asked. There was no need to make such a scene.”
Natsuka was aware that his mother wanted to provoke him, but he let his irritation show anyway. “You’re here to answer questions. Only speak when you’re spoken to.”
“Oh, dear. I came and complied with your demands, didn’t I? Why are you so cruel to your poor mother?” She wiped away an imaginary tear and chuckled low in her throat. She was enjoying her part in this.
The officials standing behind the Lords of the Four Families shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
The Yamauchishu in charge of the interrogation cleared his throat, and the inquiry began.
“Shiun no In. You are suspected of regicide against the true Golden Raven. We will make the details of your crimes clear in this inquest today.”
“Insolent wretch. Don’t you know who I am?”
The Yamauchishu was briefly speechless.
The reactions of the Lords of the Four Families varied. The Lord of Touke watched Natsuka’s face with a troubled expression. The Lord of Hokke frowned deeply. The Lord of Saike, who had lost his son Akeru in the attack, glared at Shiun no In without blinking.
The Lord of Nanke—Shiun no In’s own younger brother—appeared entirely disinterested. He stared at the floor as if he’d noticed something fascinating there. The rest of the world might as well not exist for him.
Silence fell over the room as Shiun no In sought to wrest control of these proceedings away from the Yamauchishu.
Yukiya stood up, thoroughly irritated. “There is only one thing we wish to confirm here today, Shiun no In. Do you acknowledge that you gave the order to assassinate the true Golden Raven?”
“I have absolutely no recollection of doing any such thing,” Shiun no In said primly. She covered her face with her sleeve a moment later. “To have such suspicion cast upon me is extremely unpleasant. I am astonished and grieved by this terrible treatment.”
“So you insist that you know nothing?”
“I insist upon that because it is the truth.”
“Last evening, we captured the person who held the knife that killed His Imperial Majesty. She is a Fujimiyaren, and she was following your commands.”
“What a peculiar thing to say. I have already stepped down from the position of empress. I have no authority to command any Fujimiyaren. Surely you, of all people, know that?”
The true Golden Raven and his empress had spent considerable effort to compel Shiun no In to release the Fujimiyaren who’d served her from her service. Shiun no In had refused to cooperate, naturally. But that struggle wasn’t something that needed to be litigated here.
Internally, Yukiya applauded Shiun no In’s attempt at misdirection and distraction. But she was speaking to him now, and he knew all her tricks.
“The Fujimiyaren are under Empress Hamayū’s command.” Shiun no In shrugged. “Perhaps she had him killed for personal reasons.”
“What personal reasons?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t know. Nazukihiko visited the city’s pleasure district frequently as a young man. Perhaps Empress Hamayū acted out of jealousy? Right after returning from his studies abroad, he slighted the Four Families, showed no interest in governance, ignored the duchesses who had already entered Sakura Palace, and went to the pleasure district almost daily. After his enthronement, he seemed to settle down somewhat, but there is no denying that at one time, His Imperial Majesty preferred the company of loose women. Empress Hamayū, exiled from the Nanke family, was welcomed as his bride precisely because she had no family support that could have constrained such deplorable behavior.”
“I don’t understand what you’re implying,” Yukiya said facetiously. “Speak plain.”
“I suspect that there must be a Fujimiyaren who was casually used and then abandoned without being taken as a concubine. The Fujimiyaren are women, too. If you toy with a woman and treat her badly, she will bear a grudge.”
Shiun no In was trying to blame the true Golden Raven for his own assassination. She did it with a smile.
The Yamauchishu in the hall glared daggers at her.
Natsuka rose to his feet. “You bitch—”
“—Prince Natsuka,” Yukiya cut him off. “Please sit down.” Showing emotion in front of Shiun no In was the worst thing to do. She could use that to manipulate the situation to her advantage.
Yukiya was perfectly calm when he said, “From the situation at the scene, we know that at least three women were involved. Are you saying that each of them turned a blade on His Imperial Majesty because of personal resentment?”
“Perhaps. He was very free with women.”
“The woman we captured testified that you commanded the assassination.”
“Of course she said that,” Shiun no In said. “She has lost her place among the Fujimiyaren. She has nothing left to lose, so she chose to slander me. I would not be surprised to learn that she betrayed the true Golden Raven. She must be desperate to avoid taking responsibility for her crimes.”
“You kept someone so untrustworthy in your service for a very long time,” Yukiya noted mildly. “She served you for many years before she served Empress Hamayū.”
Shiun no In hesitated.
“Oh? Could it be that you can’t identify the Fujimiyaren who named you?”
Shiun no In remained silent. Her face showed no agitation, but there was a frisson of frantic fear in how she sat, like she was holding herself back from leaping at Yukiya’s throat.
Yukiya gave a light wave of his hand. The Yamauchishu brought a woman in from the direction of the temple’s medicinal herb garden. Her hands were bound behind her back with rope. She wore the plain white garment of a prisoner.
Shiun no In did not react to seeing Takimoto alive, but her plastered-on smile lost a bit of its sharpness.
“You know her,” Yukiya said. “This is Takimoto, who served Princess Fujinami. You assigned her to that role personally, did you not?”
The Lord of Saike let out a startled grunt. “She served Princess Fujinami?”
“Yes. The reason His Imperial Majesty went to Sakura Palace without a proper escort was that he believed Princess Fujinami had summoned him for a clandestine meeting. Takimoto, who has served Princess Fujinami since childhood, testified that she forged a letter from the princess and used it to summon His Imperial Majesty to Sakura Palace. It appears that someone else had been designated to be caught by us and testify to an entirely unrelated motive. That person lost her nerve and surrendered to us before she could make an assassination attempt.”
“Ridiculous,” Shiun no In said with cold finality.
Yukiya turned away from her. “Takimoto.”
Takimoto lowered her head.
“Who gave you the command to harm His Imperial Majesty the true Golden Raven?” he asked.
“Shiun no In did,” Takimoto replied. She didn’t look up.
“Lies!” Shiun no In shrieked. “I cannot for the life of me understand why you would say such a thing. I have not so much as met this woman in years! There is no way I could have given her such a command. What she says is impossible!”
“And yet there is no doubt that Takimoto attacked His Imperial Majesty. We have evidence.”
Yukiya beckoned to Chihaya, who came forward carrying a small bundle wrapped in red silk. He held the bundle as if it were fragile and precious.
Chihaya stepped forward before Shiun no In and the Lords of the Four Families and raised the bundle.
“What is that?” the Lord of Saike asked in bewilderment.
Chihaya unwrapped the bundle. “This is the lower jawbone of Lord Akeru of Saike, who died protecting His Imperial Majesty.”
A sound like a scream came from somewhere in the room.
The Lord of Saike swallowed. He rose to his feet unsteadily. “That… is Akeru’s?” He approached Chihaya with hesitant steps. The jawbone rested on the dark red silk before him, startlingly small. It was not completely white or dry—there were traces of pink flesh and sinew—but the bone had been carefully extracted and washed so that it would not be too gruesome.
Chihaya had gathered every last fragment and tooth that had been shattered and scattered. He’d cleaned the bone and rejoined the broken pieces with glue, reconstructing Akeru’s jawbone with painstaking care.
Akeru had been Chihaya’s closest friend. Yukiya couldn’t imagine what he’d thought and felt while scraping Akeru’s dead flesh from his bones.
“Why was Lord Akeru’s jaw shattered?” the Lord of Saike asked in a hollow voice.
“Because even after he died, he kept biting down on his assailant’s arm and would not let go. To get free, his assailant had no choice but to break his jaw.”
When the Yamauchishu untied the ropes binding her arms, Takimoto did not try to run.
Yukiya seized her left hand and rolled back one white sleeve. Akeru’s bite was a livid red on her pale, bony forearm.
Without a word, Chihaya raised Akeru’s jawbone and pressed it against the marks.
The wound and the jawbone matched perfectly.
This was incontrovertible proof. “Yes,” Takimoto said before she was asked. “I broke his jaw, but he was already dead when I did it.”
“And you are the one who stabbed His Imperial Majesty?”
She nodded sadly.
“Then I will ask again. Who ordered you to kill His Imperial Majesty?”
Takimoto gasped and then made a strangled sound in her throat. She took a deep breath and then looked up, directly at Shiun no In.
“It was Shiun no In,” Takimoto said, louder this time.
The assembled officials murmured exclamations to one another.
Shiun no In appeared genuinely surprised. “Why would you tell such a lie?” she asked, her voice plaintive. It sounded like she was questioning herself just as much as Takimoto. “Have you forgotten the favor I bestowed upon you?”
Takimoto straightened her shoulders and said nothing. Her eyes burned as she stared at Shiun no In. She did not look away.
“There is no mistake. Shiun no In issued those orders,” Takimoto said with absolute steadiness.
Shiun no In’s surprised expression morphed into something more sinister. She looked like a woman who could not understand why she’d been betrayed. Her gaze shifted sideways to her brother, the Lord of Nanke, who had not looked at her even once.
“Tōru?” she asked in a small, uncertain voice, like a lost little girl calling out for her mother.
The Lord of Nanke did look up. He sighed and then bowed deeply toward the bamboo screen behind which Natsumihiko sat.
“My elder sister’s lawlessness is now plain to see before you all. To His Imperial Majesty the Golden Raven, there is no apology that I could make that would conceivably be accepted, no matter how sincere. As the Lord of Nanke and the leader of my family, I am ashamed that my own parents produced such a viper. She is worse than a beast. Punish her as you see fit, Your Imperial Majesty, and demand anything you desire of me in compensation for her crimes.”
Shiun no In listened to her beloved younger brother speak, staring at him with a vacant expression as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing.
When he had been silent for a few seconds, Shiun no In collapsed in on herself. Her dignity as the former empress deserted her all at once, as if she’d been stripped naked before the crowd. She was an old, friendless, unhappy woman. It looked like she might be crushed beneath the weight of her lavish attire as she fell forward onto her hands and knees.
After that, Shiun no In did not say a single word of protest. She went with the Yamauchishu to a prison cell. When questioned anew about her crimes, she admitted to them all.
***
Shiun was convicted of regicide against a true Golden Raven. Her noble rank was permanently revoked. Her formal titles and names were also stripped from her. She no longer had the right to call herself Shiun no In, her religious name, or Empress Oumurasaki, her regnal name, or Yūsemi, her personal name. The only name left to her was the one given to her at birth: Takako.
The sentence for her crime was death by poisoning. Her husband, Natsumihiko, would provide it to her and watch her drink it.
When the sentence was announced, Takako did not flinch. She accepted her fate quietly, as if she’d expected it. She was so diminished that it was difficult to believe that she’d ever been a powerful woman. There was no need to poison her now; she was already as good as dead.
But Natsuka and Yukiya would verify her death in every way available to them, just in case.
***
The funeral of the true Golden Raven, Nazukihiko, was a crowded affair. It seemed like everyone in Yamauchi came.
It was believed that the souls of true Golden Ravens became attendants to the mountain god so that they could continue to protect Yamauchi even after their deaths. The Yatagarasu mourned the death of their leader, clasped their hands in prayer, and offered sacred offerings of food and drink. They hoped that Nazukihiko would continue to watch over them from the afterlife.
Nobles from other territories wore dull-colored robes and went to pay their respects at Yamauchi’s major temples and shrines. Notices were sent out even to the smallest of mountain villages. Altars were set up at shrine gates and government offices. Those who could not travel visited small local temples or shrines.
The remains of the true Golden Raven would be interred in a coffin in the White Raven’s Hall before the Forbidden Gate. This presented some logistical difficulties. Nazukihiko had died mid-transformation. The size of his body far exceeded the capacity of a normal coffin.
But the body of a true Golden Raven was not an ordinary corpse. All of Nazukihiko’s predecessors had decayed into pure and flowing water that bubbled up from their coffins. This water was carried through all of Yamauchi’s waterways. No one knew why, but it was assumed that this water had some connection to Yamauchi’s barrier magic. No one was permitted to alter the flow of water from the coffins in any way.
Hamayū opposed the idea of butchering her husband’s body to fit in a coffin. She proposed cremating it and placing the ashes in the coffin instead. After much deliberation with the priests, Nazukihiko’s body was disassembled and placed in three separate coffins.
If he had been an ordinary Yatagarasu, Nazukihiko’s funeral rites would have been different. Yukiya wished they’d been allowed to bury him in a temple graveyard. Separating his body into pieces felt supremely disrespectful.
Yukiya did not grieve. He was not ready for grief. He was ashamed of himself for not serving Nazukihiko better. He hadn’t even been able to protect the man’s dignity after his death.
Water bubbled from each of Nazukihiko’s coffins, so at least the burial was a success in that way. Yukiya never knew for certain if he’d done the right thing when he’d allowed Nazukihiko to be dismembered, but at least Yamauchi survived that crime against Nazukihiko’s body, as it had survived every threat to his person during his brief and monumental life.
***
“We have discovered the body of the woman who claimed to be the wife of Lord Higashi Katase,” Yukiya told Natsuka after the funeral.
The woman had probably been caught trying to flee the scene by other members of the Fujimiyaren. She had been found floating in the large lake on the edge of Yamauchi’s capital city. Her corpse had been bloated and swollen and there were signs of violence inflicted on her face and body.
Natsuka listened to Yukiya’s report and then nodded. “I see.”
It was dusk. Yukiya and Natsuka had gone to Natsuka’s private residence at Clear Mirror Temple after the funeral. Only Natsuka, Rokon, and Yukiya were there now.
“Then I suppose we’ve more or less settled things.”
There was a mountain of work still ahead, but Yukiya understood why Natsuka had said that. They’d accomplished their most important work: they had brought justice to Nazukihiko’s murderer.
That didn’t mean the future would be easy for either of them.
“All that remains is to choose an appropriate time to announce that Princess Fujinami has died of an illness.”
Natsuka groaned and covered his face with one hand.
After taking Takimoto into custody, Yukiya had revealed the true identity of the Fujimiyaren known as Makinoha to Natsuka alone. He had told him that her identity must be kept secret.
For a younger sister to murder her older brother, a true Golden Raven, was a scandal of epic proportions. If any of the Lords of the Four Families learned the truth, imperial power would collapse.
Natsuka had agreed with the plan to make a deal with Takimoto. His brother was dead; he had no desire to murder his reputation and legacy as well.
Shiun no In was also dead. That felt very strange. Natsuka had always expected her to end in fire, gloriously, in much the same way she’d lived her life. Everyone in the Imperial Court knew of her enmity toward Nazukihiko, so it was no shock to anyone that she’d orchestrated his assassination. And wasn’t that a terrible thing? That everyone had known how much she’d hated him, but no one had been capable of stopping her?
A former empress assassinating an emperor was also a scandal. The Imperial Court was unsettled. The common people were shocked by the early death of their young emperor. Natsuka expected that there would be pressure for him to become the next emperor soon.
That was exactly what Shiun no In had wanted.
“I don’t think I ever had a conversation with Princess Fujinami,” Natsuka said. “We exchanged greetings once or twice, but I don’t recall ever really talking to her. Perhaps if I had, things would be different now.” He looked around his silent personal chambers with a little frown. “I’m angry at her. She was a foolish girl. But until you said her name, I’d forgotten that I had a younger sister.”
Natsuka’s mother had been an empress of the Nanke family. Nazukihiko and Fujinami were the children of a Saike concubine, Izayoi. They were all siblings by blood, but they hadn’t been raised that way.
“Perhaps our indifference encouraged her violent actions.” Natsuka sighed.
Yukiya and Rokon listened to him patiently.
“I criticized my mother for failing to govern fairly for the good of our people, and for favoring her birth family above all others. Am I the same as her? No—but I treated my sister with less compassion than I would have given to a suffering commoner. We shared a father, but I never thought of Fujinami as my sister.” He paused. “But Nazukihiko was different. He visited her. He tried to befriend her.” His voice was thick with grief.
Natsuka pitied Princess Fujinami. Her only friend in life had been Takimoto, who’d betrayed Shiun no In for her sake. Shiun no In had been so callous toward Fujinami that she’d set her up to take the blame for her brother’s murder. Fujinami had never been a happy, mentally stable girl. Her life had been full of ignorance and upheavals and instability. Shiun no In must have assumed that no one would care what became of her. Even if Fujinami had chosen to speak in her own defense, no one would have believed her.
Fujinami had killed her own brother.
Natsuka considered another woman and another interrogation that he’d conducted long ago. That woman had tried to explain her crimes through the lens of her tragic life. Natsuka hadn’t accepted her excuses then. He wouldn’t allow pity for Fujinami to cloud his judgment now. “Everyone suffers,” he said. “It’s the only thing we all have in common. How we react to our suffering determines our character. We cannot choose to live without suffering, but we can choose how the suffering of our lives shapes us—for better or worse.” He shook his head.
Yukiya stood before Natsuka, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “You’re right,” he said. “But there’s no point in blaming yourself for things you didn’t do. We can’t undo the past and try again. Perhaps your attention might have kept Fujinami from taking violent action against Nazukihiko, and perhaps not. Our present circumstances are miserable because of her. Imagining a different life, a different course of events, serves no purpose.”
Natsuka said nothing to that.
Nazukihiko had wanted his daughter to inherit his role, but now was not a good time to make an official announcement. The concept of a female Golden Raven had always been controversial. If Nazukihiko were still around to guide Princess Shion and Yamauchi in the direction he’d envisioned, Shion might be able to become a ruling empress without trouble. The role of preparing Shion to rule was Natsuka’s now. Yukiya expected Natsumihiko to retire to his temple again soon, leaving Natsuka in charge of cleaning up the mess that Shiun no In had made.
“Have your plans changed since we last spoke?” Yukiya asked.
“No.” Natsuka forced himself to stand up straighter, resisting the weight of sorrow on his shoulders. He intended to become the acting Golden Raven until Princess Shion came of age. He would not take a consort or a wife. Hamayū would take religious vows and settle into the role that Shiun no In had filled before. Natsuka planned to adopt Shion as his daughter and formally designate her as his heir. “Why should they change? My mother’s actions have chosen my future path for me.” He injected false cheer into his voice. There was no historical precedent for what he planned to do. He was setting himself up for endless difficulties, but he didn’t care. He had allies that would help him, and he would use that help to honor his brother’s wishes.
“Has Chihaya been dismissed from the Yamauchishu?” Rokon asked.
Yukiya grimaced. “No. He could have remained a Yamauchishu if he’d wanted to, but he refused. He told me so to my face.”
Partial blame for the true Golden Raven’s death fell on Chihaya, who had not been present on the night of his death to protect him. Yukiya suspected that Nazukihiko had summoned him and then left to keep Chihaya out of harm’s way, but Chihaya hadn’t accepted that explanation. He’d blamed himself and said that he must be punished for his failure. He’d turned in his sword and resigned from the Yamauchishu voluntarily.
But Chihaya was one of the few Yamauchishu with experience studying abroad in the human world. Yukiya had no intention of allowing him to leave the Imperial Court permanently. He would find some way to bring Chihaya back to the Imperial Court, in time.
“There’s so much to do,” Yukiya said. “We’re meeting the King of the Tengu tomorrow. We don’t have time to sit around moping.” He said this to encourage Natsuka, who looked at him strangely.
“Moping? Aren’t you sad, Yukiya?”
Yukiya chuckled at this question and looked away, avoiding Natsuka’s gaze. “I have been,” he said. “I have been for a long time.”
***
Yukiya stepped outside, leaving Rokon and Natsuka to their own deliberations. It was dark; the stars were coming out, peeking between clouds.
Why had Natsuka asked him if he was sad? That was an obvious question, and it struck Yukiya as somewhat rude. He had failed to defend Nazukihiko. It was his fault that the true Golden Raven was dead.
There still wasn’t time or space to grieve properly, so Yukiya didn’t. It was easy to pretend that Nazukihiko was elsewhere, doing what he usually did. As long as he didn’t focus on the present, he could fool himself into thinking that things were fine. He was a strategist; he was supposed to anticipate and solve problems, and that was what he would do.
Yukiya had been there when the priests had cut the body into pieces and placed them in coffins. He had seen people weeping. He had seen Hamayū, her eyes dead and her face slack, as Shion walked beside her like a shadow, her worry for her mother plain. The poor princess’ hands could not settle on anything and moved constantly from agitation.
Still Yukiya pretended, because Nazukihiko wasn’t supposed to be dead. He felt that with complete conviction. This terrible event should not be, and so for him, sometimes, it had not happened. In the privacy of his own mind, Nazukihiko was alive and well, and no one and nothing could convince him otherwise.
Since the moment he’d stared into Nazukihiko’s glassy unfocused eyes, some part of him refused to believe what he’d seen.
Back then, he had told himself that he had no time to grieve, and that was true. He still had no time for it. If he stopped moving, stopped acting to slow down and feel, something worse would happen: he was sure of it. His sense of urgency served him well; it kept him functional.
But now he had solved Nazukihiko’s murder, and every possible future did not have Nazukihiko in it.
What am I supposed to do now? Yukiya asked himself.
His sense of urgency hadn’t abandoned him yet, so Yukiya focused on that. He would serve Natsuka now, for the sake of Yamauchi, but his loyalty hadn’t changed. He hadn’t sworn to obey Natsuka, and he would not.
Can I grieve now? Yukiya asked himself. Surely he could feel and act at the same time now that he’d finally gotten justice for the murder of his lord?
The wall between Yukiya’s emotions and his physical shell refused to crumble.
Someday, the true Golden Raven’s death would become real to him. He could not imagine what would become of him then.
Yukiya shook his head, alone, and headed for the stables.
***
An emergency summons from the acting Golden Raven, Natsumihiko, came the day after Nazukihiko’s funeral.
The agenda for this summons was almost certainly Natsuka’s ascension to the imperial throne. Natsumihiko had always been uncomfortable as emperor, but Natsuka had taken religious vows; he would not be permitted to take a secular role in government unless he renounced his religious life and responsibilities.
Natsuka needed permission from both the acting Golden Raven and the White Raven, the leader of the Ministry of Divinity, to return to secular life. Natsumihiko had to appoint Natsuka as his successor for this to happen. Natsumihiko had summoned the White Raven and the Lords of the Four Families to the Imperial Hall to make his wishes known without delay.
The seat prepared for Natsuka was one step below Natsumihiko’s, inside a curtained dais. Natsuka would be directly facing his father while he spoke. The Lords of the Four Families sat to the left and right of Natsuka on the dais.
Yukiya could see Natsuka’s back from the Lord of Hokke’s section of the dais.
Having lost his lord, Yukiya was in something of an awkward position. He was attending this meeting as a member of the Yamauchishu and sitting with his mother’s family, whom he scarcely acknowledged in other circumstances. He took his place on a level below the Lords of the Four Families and Natsuka, in the front row of the assembled officials. Genki, the Lord of Hokke’s son, sat beside him.
Genki was Yukiya’s uncle. During the great war with the Kuisaru, Genki had been delighted to claim Yukiya for Hokke. The Hokke family was renowned for its military prowess. Since then, he had made a habit of fussing over Yukiya. Most of the time, Yukiya found this annoying, but today it worked to his advantage.
The bell announcing an imperial proclamation rang. All of the officials in the hall bowed their heads.
“Raise your faces.” The command was issued by one of Natsumihiko’s attendants. He stood before the curtains concealing the emperor from view.
It was customary for all imperial attendants to be replaced when there was a change of leadership. The attendants who had served Nazukihiko had been dismissed from service. After Natsuka ascended the throne, they would likely be employed again, but for the brief interval until Natsumihiko abdicated, Yukiya and many others were out of a job. Natsumihiko hadn’t had time to appoint his own attendants to every role, so several of Nazukihiko’s attendants kept serving him on an unofficial basis. The attendant who’d spoken on Natsumihiko’s behalf was one of these.
As far as Yukiya was aware, there was no record of this particular attendant speaking for Natsumihiko before. During his reign, Natsumihiko had mostly spoken through his secretary, the rakujō Shōin. Rakujō voluntarily relinquished their status as women and lived as men. Rakujō had been created specifically to make Natsumihiko a puppet emperor by Empress Oumurasaki, but the empress was dead now. Emperor Natsumihiko had changed a few things around since then, apparently.
The attendant showed no sign of nervousness as he spoke to the assembled officials.
He opened with a formal speech of condolence for the sudden death of the true Golden Raven, Nazukihiko. He droned on at length, condemning the deeds of the former empress, Takako, who had seized power unlawfully and committed grave crimes. He said that the current situation was not what Natsumihiko had wanted and that he believed there was an urgent need to appoint his successor.
The content of this proclamation was largely what most people in the hall had expected, including Yukiya.
“The rebel Takako is an unforgivable criminal.” The topic veered back to the deceased former empress without warning. “Her actions deviate from all accepted standards of morality and stem plainly from a selfish desire to become the mother of Yamauchi’s next emperor. Such motives are antithetical to the very nature of the Souke family, which exists to worship the mountain god, create prosperity for our people, and defend the Yatagarasu from threats within and outside our borders. We have no choice but to conclude that the original selection of her as my empress was a mistake.”
The attendant said this quickly, as if he were eager to be done with this part of the speech.
The Lords of the Four Families were paying a bit more attention to him now.
“The appointment of Takako’s offspring, Natsuka of Clear Mirror Temple, as my successor is improper for the aforementioned reasons. We judge that a new imperial prince is necessary to assume that role.”
What on earth was this man saying? What new imperial prince? There were none!
Yukiya frowned and looked around the hall. The Lord of Hokke and the Lord of Saike seemed just as perplexed as he was.
The Lord of Touke and the Lord of Nanke didn’t seem surprised.
“What does that mean?” an official asked from the lowest seats in the hall.
The attendant ignored this question. “Therefore, Prince Nagihiko, who presently resides in the Palace Above the Clouds, shall be my heir.”
The hall was silent.
Emperor Natsumihiko had proclaimed a new imperial prince as his heir.
How was this possible?
The Imperial Hall descended into chaos.
“Who the hell is Nagihiko?”
“Has His Imperial Majesty gone mad?!”
“What does this mean?”
Natsuka rose to his feet unsteadily. “And who is Prince Nagihiko?” he asked. “I have never heard that name. To name someone not of the Four Families as an imperial prince would also seem improper.”
He said what everyone in the room was thinking, only more politely.
The attendant answered him. “He is of the Souke family, as it happens. Given your position, it was necessary to keep his identity hidden until now. Under ordinary circumstances, Prince Nagihiko would have continued to conceal his background and live the peaceful life of a priest. In light of recent events, however, His Imperial Majesty has judged that he is the only suitable heir.”
“That is—” Natsuka shook himself. “Continue, please.”
“It is only natural for you to be confused,” the attendant said. “This is all very sudden for everyone, I’m sure. A formal imperial edict will come in due time. His Imperial Majesty wishes to take this opportunity to have Prince Nagihiko offer his greetings to the assembled officials.” The attendant spoke dispassionately, staring fixedly ahead.
The bottom fell out of Yukiya’s stomach as he watched Natsuka, who was holding himself together with his characteristic composure.
“By order of His Imperial Majesty the acting Golden Raven, open the doors,” the attendant said.
Under normal circumstances, the doors to the Imperial Hall were never opened in the middle of a meeting. As far as Yukiya remembered, it had been done only once before, back when he had just begun serving in the Imperial Court. Nazukihiko had arrived late to a meeting, and the doors had opened for him without resistance. The silver bells hanging in the hall had rung by themselves.
The silver bells did not ring. The guards at the doors wrenched them open. They had no choice but to obey.
Intruders walked into the room.
Since receiving news of Nazukihiko’s death, Yukiya had been needled by the idea that he’d overlooked something. Even after solving the murder, that painful prickling in the back of his mind hadn’t gone away. He had assumed that his delayed grief was responsible for this feeling.
He’d been wrong.
A woman and a small child entered the Imperial Hall together. Their appearance here could have been ripped from Yukiya’s worst nightmares. The door guards stood aside for them as they walked toward the dais where Natsumihiko sat.
The toddler opened his large eyes in blank surprise at the sudden attention of so many people. He was a very pretty little boy. His face was like Natsuka’s in childhood, but his hair was a washed-out, pale brown. His hair was cut short and curly; it was the same color as his mother’s.
His mother, Duchess Asebi of Touke, led the small boy by the hand. She walked with slow, deliberate steps so that Nagihiko would not fall.
Asebi wore formal black robes. Her incense-colored hair fell in gentle waves down her back like the flow of a waterfall. The unlined kimono she wore as her lowest layer was pure white. Her hakama were the color of day lilies. Her other layered robes were black and lacked patterns, as was suitable for a lady in mourning. She had rosy cheeks marked by tear tracks. Her eyes, framed by long lashes, were exceptionally large, and her expression was heavy with sorrow. She shrank a little from the attention of the assembled officials, but she advanced at a steady pace.
Her clothing was sedate and her expression somber, but she looked so young and radiantly beautiful that it was difficult to believe she was old enough to have a child.
Yukiya remembered Asebi. She appeared unchanged from when he’d last seen her.
Passing by Natsuka, who stood still and silent, the mother and child took their place beside the attendant in a seat higher than those of the Lords of the Four Families and near Natsuka’s.
“This is Duchess Asebi of Touke,” the attendant said.
Asebi had made a chaotic mess of Nazukihiko’s Rite of Ascension.
Why was she here?
“Prince Nagihiko is an imperial prince born between His Imperial Majesty the acting Golden Raven and Duchess Asebi.”
Nagihiko was Natsuka’s younger half-brother.
“And you have the nerve to call yourself our father,” Natsuka said harshly, his voice low.
The attendant said nothing in reply. Natsumihiko had never responded to Natsuka’s reproaches. That wasn’t about to change.
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