One mother had played the game well, but she had begun the match with advantages, both seen and unseen. A slender sylph of a woman, she’d captured the heart of the would-be emperor many years ago. A woman with wiles beyond her beauty and magic sliding through her veins. She’d conjured his dreams into reality. Taught him to commune with creatures and collect secrets in the shadows. A woman who’d shown him what it meant to love and be loved. Kanako, who had birthed the emperor’s firstborn son, Raiden. Kanako, who had been relegated to second place in his life, despite her dominance in the emperor’s heart.
The other woman had been foisted upon the emperor by duty and family. She—with her million-koku domain of a dowry—had weighed and preyed upon him, stealing him away from his true love. But he had made her pay for it. For years, the empress Genmei had ruled a lonely roost of tittering minions and nothing more, though she’d been fortuned to bear the crown prince, Roku.
These two women had raised their sons to hate each other.
Yet despite the efforts of their warring mothers, an unlikely kinship had formed between the half brothers.
The spring of his tenth year, Raiden broke a leg when he fell off his horse. While his wound mended, tiny Roku spirited away sweets for him, hidden in his silken kimono sleeve. Then—when Roku caught a perilous illness as a boy of eleven—Raiden sat by his bedside, telling him bawdy stories Roku did not yet understand.
But the younger brother had laughed anyway.
Their mothers had continued whispering in their ears and frowning at their shared smiles, but the two brothers had clasped tight to their bond, forging a lasting friendship. What began as a tentative childhood trust grew more steadfast of late. Yet those who persisted in murmuring at their heels often wondered if the two half brothers had yet to face a true test of their bond.
The test of might versus right.
The ox against the rat. One a creature of industry, the other a creature of ingenuity. Two sides of the same misbegotten coin.
Tonight the two sons of Emperor Minamoto Masaru, stood together in a pool of crackling torchlight, in the lowest reaches of Heian Castle. The taller, elder brother leaned against the stone wall, his burnished armor mirroring bright flame. The smaller, wilier brother paced slowly before a set of stone stairs descending into darkness, his silks pristine and lustrous even in the dimmest reaches of the castle.
“Raiden,” the new heavenly sovereign of Wa said, his back to his brother.
His posture alert, Raiden pushed away from the wall. “My sovereign.”
“I know you have questions.”
A thoughtful expression crossed the elder brother’s face. “Concerns more than questions.”
“Ah, but you forget: concerns are for the uncertain.” Roku smiled to himself, his back still turned. “And questions for the ill-bred.”
Raiden’s cool laughter sliced through the stillness. “I suppose I deserved that. Father would be proud to hear you remind me.”
“Even if he lacked in many ways, our father always did have a cutting remark at the ready.” Roku turned in place and glanced at his elder brother. “But I am not interested in having anyone openly challenge me, brother.” His tone was a warning, his features tight.
Raiden crossed his arms, the hardened leather of his breastplate creaking with the motion. “I do not wish to challenge you in the main. I only wish to spare you strife.”
“Then cease with being the cause of it.” The smooth skin of Roku’s forehead creased once. “Our father perished under questionable circumstances, and it is of great importance that we learn who is responsible for his untimely death. Failing to appear strong at this moment—failing to assert my sovereignty over all those who watch like prowling owls—will forever taint my reign. Decisive action is necessary, and I expect you to lead by example, with unwavering obedience.” His back straight and his chin proud, Roku shifted toward the stone staircase to begin his descent. A hand moved to stay him. One of the few hands still permitted to touch him with impunity.
“You believe this boy is responsible for Father’s death?” Raiden asked.
Roku did not answer. Merely shrugged off his half brother’s hand.
“This is beneath you, Roku.” Raiden’s voice was soft.
The young emperor arched a brow as though in warning.
A smile curved up one side of Raiden’s face. “My sovereign,” he amended, shifting back to bow.
“It is never beneath a true leader to face his enemy.” Roku took another step downward, his brother raising a torch to illumine the way. The light danced across the timber-bound stones. “I wish to look upon the face of Takeda Shingen’s only son and learn what kind of blood flows through his veins. What kind of fear lurks behind his eyes.” His smile was strangely serene, like ice braced against a howling wind.
Raiden followed closely, his attempts to marshal both his words and his thoughts all too apparent. “If you don’t believe him responsible for Father’s death, why must you know anything about him? Simply end him and be done with it.”
“I never said I believed him innocent, brother. The boy emerged from hiding within days of the emperor’s untimely death.”
“A coincidence. We drew him out of the forest.”
“I do not believe in coincidences.” A moment passed in silence before Roku spoke again. “Do you remember the water obelisk Father brought back for us from the west when we were small?”
“The device that reflected the time of day? It broke two days later. We were both punished for it.”
“It did not break. I took it apart.”
Raiden paused in consideration. “You wished to see how it worked?”
“Perhaps.” Roku met his elder brother’s gaze. “Or perhaps I wished to know what lay at its core.”
“You enjoyed breaking it, then.”
“Never something quite so infantile, brother.” Roku laughed softly. “I find it easier to control something when it is in pieces. The Black Clan, the son of Takeda Shingen, any enemy who would see our family fail …” His voice drifted into nothingness as he took another step down.
Raiden sighed, his frustration winning out. “Takeda Ranmaru is not your enemy. Believe me when I say the lore has bloated the boy’s reputation far past reason.” His lips curled into a sneer. “He has lived in the forest among drunken peasants for the better part of a decade. He’s a thief and a wastrel. Nothing more.”
Like a whip from the darkness, Roku’s words lashed from his lips. “That wastrel is the son of the man who thwarted our father and defied our family for years. Lord Shingen led the last uprising in our land.”
“That does not mean his son will amount to anything. I bested him without even once raising a sword in his direction.” The torch in Raiden’s right hand flared as a gust of acrid air blew around them.
Undeterred, Roku continued, his smile once more composed. “I’ve said this before, but your arrogance does not serve you well, brother.”
“Your curiosity here will not serve you well either, my sovereign,” Raiden said. “Allow me to simply kill him. Let us be done with him, quickly and quietly.”
Roku linked his hands behind his back. “Even if he proves innocent, a spectacle should be made of his death.”
“Very well, then. We can drown him in Yedo Bay. Upside down, as Father did with Asano Naganori. Or stretch him from the ramparts until his arms split from his sides.”
“Eventually,” Roku agreed. “But not yet. It does nothing to merely chop down a weed. One must tear it out by the roots.” He closed his eyes as though the motion would clear his mind. Lend clarity to his thoughts. “This was the mistake our father made. He did not wish to unearth the seed of Takeda Shingen’s discord. He did not take the time to reduce his enemy to pieces, and it resulted in his death.” His eyes flashed open as a shadow fell across his face, like storm clouds gathering over a lake. “I will be a better emperor than our father. I will find every last one of these weeds and tear them out by their very roots.” He spoke the last softly, in a voice tinged with menace.