The Peony Lantern by Frances Watts Read Free Book Online

specialty,’ Misaki explained.
    â€˜But the fish . . .’ Isamu poked it again. ‘It’s not cooked.’
    â€˜We serve it raw. I’m sorry, it didn’t occur to me that you wouldn’t . . . I didn’t think.’ She cast a stricken look at her husband. ‘Should I ask Ishi to make something else?’
    â€˜Please, don’t worry,’ Isamu said. ‘If it’s an Edo specialty, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.’
    While Lord Shimizu told Misaki about the journey, I picked at my meal. The fish was firm but tender, the flavour not too strong. I puzzled over the garnish for some time until Isamu whispered, ‘I think it’s seaweed.’
    By the time the meal was finished I was so tired I was almost swaying where I sat. Misaki must have noticed, for she rose and said, ‘Let me show you where you will sleep, Kasumi.’ She led me through the reception room to the room I’d seen on the other side of the tokonoma . In the corner was a painted screen, and Misaki went towards it. Behind was a small alcove, large enough for a futon. My small trunk was already there.
    â€˜You can sleep here. My husband and I have a room at the back of the house.’ She pointed across a narrow wooden-floored corridor. ‘The toilet and bath are throughthere.’ She nodded towards a deck leading on to a short corridor running alongside the kitchen.
    Futons had already been unrolled for herself and Shimizu. I helped her to lay out a bed for Isamu in the reception room, and then I took a futon into my own little alcove.
    So many rooms. In Tsumago we’d had only one room for our family’s private use. Even the honjin , which had eighteen rooms in total, had only three for the use of the Yamada family.
    Perhaps in one of the rooms across the corridor were the other ladies who attended Misaki. Tomorrow I would sleep with them, but for tonight I would enjoy my solitude. I had never slept alone before. It was quiet without Hana’s loud breathing and restless shifting about, not to mention the noises of the guests with their snores and snuffles.
    I was already half asleep when I heard someone speak my name. I was about to reply when I realised that what I had heard was part of a whispered conversation from another room.
    Of course: my alcove must be just across the corridor from the room of my mistress and her husband. No doubt Misaki was asking Shimizu what strange impulse had possessed him to offer me a position in their household.
    I was wide awake now, intent on the voices. There was a soft indistinct murmur that must have been Misaki, then her husband’s deeper voice replied, ‘No, I haven’t told her — and you can’t either. It’s too dangerous.’
    Her? Were they still talking about me?
    More murmuring.
    â€˜She knows nothing, suspects nothing — that’s why she’s so perfect. As long as you stay quiet, we have nothing to fear. But if our secret should get out . . .’
    There was a long silence and I thought they must be asleep, then Shimizu said, ‘I’m sorry it has to be this way, my dear. But it’s worth it, isn’t it? You love me, don’t you?’
    And for the first time I heard Misaki’s voice clearly as she said, ‘Oh yes, Minoru. More than anything.’

Chapter
            Four
    The cherry tree clothed
    In a single green layer:
    The robe of summer
    If our secret should get out . . . What? What was too dangerous for me to know? I was perfect for this job, Shimizu had said, because I knew nothing, suspected nothing.
    As cosy as I was under my quilt, I couldn’t repress a shiver. He was right that I knew nothing. And there was no one I could ask. Did the other ladies-in-waiting know? Did Isamu? All at once I felt a long way from home.

    I woke to the sound of clattering as the wooden sliding shutters that had enclosed the