“What are you going to tell your friends?” Reiko said.
“The same thing I’ve told everyone else who wants to lure me into one faction or the other,” Sano said. “That I won’t support either. My loyalty is to the shogun.” Despite Tokugawa Tsunayoshi’s shortcomings as a dictator, Sano felt bound by the samurai code of honor to stand by his lord. “I’ll not join anyone who would usurp his authority.”
Reiko bound a white cloth pad and bandage around Sano’s wound. “Be careful,” she said, patting his arm.
Sano perceived that her warning concerned more than his immediate injury; she feared for their future. He hated to worry her, especially since she was still suffering from the effects of being kidnapped along with the shogun’s mother.
He didn’t know exactly what had happened to Reiko while imprisoned by the man who’d called himself the Dragon King. But the normally adventurous Reiko had changed. During four years of marriage, she’d helped Sano with his investigations and developed quite a talent for detective work, but now she’d turned into a quiet recluse who hadn’t left the estate since he’d brought her home. Sano wished for a little peace so she could recover, yet there was no prospect of peace anytime soon.
“This city is like a barrel of gunpowder,” Sano said grimly. “The least incident could spark an explosion.”
Footsteps creaked along the passage, and Hirata appeared at the door. “Excuse me, Sōsakan-sama.” Although still free to enter Sano’s private quarters, Hirata displayed the cautious deference with which he’d behaved since their breach. “You have a visitor.”