Falling Through Glass by Barbara Sheridan Read Free Book Online Page B

had no stomach for war—particularly a prince with a weakness for pretty faces.
    “Sir?”
    Hijikata dismissed his speculation with a wave. “And the girl?”
    “I didn’t find any information specifically on her, although it seems that she and Fujiwara were coming from the direction of the Inamoto-ro. However, they have no women fitting her description. I checked with people at the other first-class houses, but they had nothing either.” The spy paused. “Shall I check with the lesser houses?”
    Hijikata shook his head. “Fujiwara wouldn’t dirty himself at a lesser brothel.” He drank a small saucer of sake, offering some to his spy. “Something about the girl didn’t come across as a prostitute, though she was dressed like one. She had no shoes, and her hair was a mess. Such slovenliness is not good for business.” He poured himself another drink. “What exactly could our ‘friend’ be up to?”
    “You don’t think he has begun to side with the rebels, do you?”
    Hijikata shrugged. “Katsura and his people want to be the power behind the throne, and what better way to get close to that throne than through the son of the emperor’s closest advisor?”
    “But if the girl is a Choshu spy, then perhaps that’s why he wants to hand her over to the Shoshidai.”
    “That’s entirely possible,” Hijikata agreed. “However, I don’t trust our current governor, Inaba. When Matsudaira takes over in the next few days, we may know more.”
    The spy, Yamazaki, bowed and stood. “I’ll keep trying to find out who the girl is and see what I can dig up on Fujiwara’s recent activities.”
    “Fine.”
     
    * * * *
     
    In his bedroom in one of the residence buildings of the Imperial Palace, Kae stared up at the moonlight glinting off the gilded ceiling trim. He reached beneath his thick futon and pulled out the stained cloth he’d wrapped around the pretty oni’s hand earlier. The stains certainly appeared to be human blood. She could feel pain and fear. She had cried. These things certainly seemed to prove her claim that she was no demon. Yet the undeniable fact was that he had pulled her from Aneko’s mirror with his own hands. How could she have come from within a mirror and not be some otherworldly being?
    ‘ I told you, I’m Em—Maeda Emiko. I don’t know how I got here, but I know the mirror has something to do with it, and I need it to get back to my time… ’
    Her time.
    What did that mean? For that matter, why did she have such an odd accent and where had she learned foreign words?
    Kae got up and tossed the bloodstained cloth into the small brazier that did little to warm the room. He went back to his futon and pulled the cover over his head. He closed his eyes, doubting that sleep would come any time soon.
    It wasn’t just this business with the pretty oni—Emiko, he corrected himself—that troubled him. The very condition of Japan itself preyed upon his mind.
    His father did not like the political trouble the Choshu clan and their followers stirred within their various domains. While they insisted that they revered the emperor and wanted to expel all foreign barbarians, the truth of the matter was that this Sonno Joi philosophy of theirs was merely a means to overthrow the Tokugawa. With the shogunate gone, they would be in the position of power to make the rules that benefited themselves and not necessarily all of Japan.
    Kaemon bolted upright as a preposterous thought hit him.
    Of course! His pretty oni was a human girl—her odd appearance was all part of the rebels’ plan.
    Before Aneko had left the brothel, she’d had one of the serving girls bring him sake. While he doubted that Aneko could be any kind of accomplice, it remained entirely possible that the Choshu had found out exactly who he was and had found the perfect opportunity to drug him.
    Kae stood and paced the room. It all made perfect sense. The episode with the mirror was nothing more than a drugged dream and the