Sano’s chest tightened as he saw that Lady Niu had conquered her doubts about her son. But he didn’t let her see his dismay.

“How do you know the scroll doesn’t exist?” he said. “Can you say for a fact that it isn’t in your son’s possession? What do you think he does when he goes to the summer villa in winter?”

Working against his natural inclination to address a daimyo’s lady with deference, he hurled the questions at her. And was rewarded by a flicker of doubt in her eyes.

“Why don’t we go to young Lord Niu’s chambers and look for the scroll now? Wouldn’t you like to prove I’m wrong-if you can?”

He’d gambled that Lady Niu couldn’t resist a direct challenge. She didn’t disappoint him.

“Very well,” she said, haughty and disdainful now. “We shall go at once. And when this futile exercise is finished, Eii-chan will see that you suffer doubly for wasting my time and addressing me in such a rude manner.” She rose, picking up a lamp.

Lord Niu’s chambers were in a self-contained house across the garden from Lady Niu’s. With Eii-chan close behind him holding on to his ropes, Sano followed Lady Niu inside. She slid open a door.

“Bring him in, Eii-chan,” she called over her shoulder as she entered the room.

The room’s mean proportions surprised Sano, as did the stark-ness of its undecorated white walls and bare-beamed ceiling. Entirely different from what he’d seen of the rest of the house, it looked like a monk’s cell. Even in the dim glow of Lady Niu’s lamp, he couldn’t miss the cracked plaster, the worn spots in the tatami, and the patched windowpanes. The room was very cold, but he didn’t see a single brazier. He would have expected a daimyo’s son to live surrounded by lavish displays of wealth. But now he decided that the room suited Lord Niu perfectly. A visual statement against self-indulgence, its austerity reflected the stern warrior values that Lord Niu upheld.

“And now I will show you that you are wrong about my son,” Lady Niu said. Her voice had a too-bright quality, as if she thought that by convincing him she could convince herself. Setting her lamp on the floor, she began opening the cabinets that covered one wall.

The cabinets held very little-cotton bedding, toilet articles, a few of the plain dark kimonos that Lord Niu favored, a chest of books and another of writing materials. Lady Niu smiled as she made an exaggerated show of examining everything, but her hands shook. When she sorted through the chests, she cringed like a woman expecting a snake to strike at her.

Sano watched her in silence. He realized he was holding his breath, and expelled it. What if she didn’t find the scroll? What if she did? Getting her to help him look might not be the clever move it had seemed at first. Either way, she was bound to punish him. Cold sweat formed on his skin. He clenched his teeth to keep himself from shivering in the frigid air. The pain in his shoulders worsened.

Lady Niu stooped to investigate the last section of the cabinet, a shelf that held underclothes. She pulled out each item and replaced it, stroking the fabric absently. Finally she straightened and spread her empty hands.

“See?” she said with obvious relief and a genuine smile. “The scroll you described does not exist. There is no evidence of any conspiracy.” She folded her arms as her smile vanished. “You will pay dearly for this insult to my son and me.” Her eyes flashed a signal to her manservant. “Eii-chan . Proceed.”

As Eii-chan yanked on the ropes and pulled him toward the door, Sano cast one last desperate glance at the cabinet. He saw something he hadn’t noticed before, which gave him hope.

“Look, Lady Niu,” he cried. “There-in the cabinet. A place you missed. Do you see it?”

Lady Niu frowned, but her eyes went to the cabinet. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. Eii-chan paused and turned toward his mistress for her orders.

Knowing this was his last chance, Sano hurried on: “Above the shelf of undergarments. That blank rectangular panel. There’s a hidden compartment behind it!” Many cabinets had such compartments, for hiding money from thieves. Would that Lord Niu’s did, too, and that he’d found it!

Hesitantly Lady Niu tapped the panel with her knuckle. A hollow sound resulted, and she quickly withdrew her hand.

“It is nothing,” she said. “Just… just a design flaw. The cabinet is poorly made, my son won’t have expensive furnishings in his chambers… ” Her voice trailed off, and she lifted troubled eyes to Sano.

Sano could see her need to deny her son’s crime, and her need to know whether the compartment contained the scroll. With a shock he realized that he and Lady Niu had more in common than he’d ever thought possible. Out of a need to control the forces generated by her son’s turbulent nature, she might scheme and kill and destroy. Hers was a dangerous, misplaced loyalty. But like himself, she would never rest until she knew the truth. The knowledge both disgusted and heartened Sano. He thought he knew what her decision would be now. He let her struggle with herself until she reached it.

“Eii-chan , remove this panel,” Lady Niu ordered.

Dragging Sano with him. Eii-chan walked to the cabinet. Sano watched in an agony of anticipation as the manservant drew his short sword with his free hand and applied it to the panel. Lady Niu held the lamp close so that Eii-chan could see. The only sounds in the room were her rapid breaths, the scratch of metal against wood, and the distant bursts of firecrackers from the street.

Eii-chan inserted the blade beneath the panel. With a single quick movement, he bore down on the sword’s handle. The panel came loose with a sharp crack that made them all start. As it fell to the floor, Sano felt a surge of triumph. He heard Lady Niu gasp.

There before them was a narrow, dark compartment just large enough to admit a man’s two hands. Lady Niu reached inside it. The stricken look on her face told him what she’d found even before she pulled out the scroll.

Moving slowly like a woman in a trance, Lady Niu handed her lamp to Eii-chan , who let go of Sano to take it. Here, Sano thought, was his opportunity to escape. He let it pass, realizing as he did so that he’d already lost another when Eii-chan had relaxed his grip to work on the panel. The same yearning for knowledge and truth that had made him pursue his investigation kept him rooted to the spot. He had to see this moment through. Unless he could use what came out of it, his life was worth nothing anyway.

Lady Niu untied the silk cord that bound the scroll. Her face was devoid of all emotion now, but it had grown even paler. She let the scroll fall open. Her eyes moved up and down the columns of characters on the paper. Her colorless lips formed the words silently as she read. Then she sank to her knees, the scroll spread across her lap with her head bowed over it.

Sano took a step closer to Lady Niu. Eii-chan , perhaps uncertain what to do without orders from his mistress, didn’t stop him. Looking down at the scroll he’d glimpsed only from a distance before, Sano read:

We whose names appear here, signed in our own blood, commit our lives to the overthrow of the Tokugawas. Death to Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. Victory and honor to our clans, the rightful rulers of the land.

The Conspiracy of Twenty-One:

Niu Masahito

Maeda Yoshiaki

Date Takatora

Hosokawa Tadanao

Hosokawa Tadao

Kuroda Nagakira

Kuroda Nagamura

Asano Naokatsu

Mori Kagekatsu

Nabeshima Yorifusa

Todo Yoshinobu

Todo Yoshihiro

Ikeda Hirotaka

Hachisuka Sadao

Yamanouchi Hidenari

Satake Masatoshi

Arima Iyehisa

Uyesugi Tadateru

Uyesugi Tadasato

Ii Masanori

Torū Ōgami

Sano looked up from the scroll to see that Lady Niu had lifted her head. Her sorrowful eyes stared off into space, and he knew she had finally accepted the fact of her son’s treason. She was picturing and weighing the dangers that he faced. Betrayal by one of his servants, retainers, or fellow conspirators: possible. Death at the hands of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi’s bodyguards or the public executioner: likely. Or, if he somehow managed to kill the shogun and escape, a relentless manhunt that would leave no corner of the country safe for him. Young Lord Niu would die without glory, sooner rather than later, successful or not, by his enemies’ hands-or by his own, as a last-resort attempt to avoid capture and dishonor. His mother understood this. Sano could see it in the way her face seemed to crumple, as if the bone structure were disintegrating. Then she spoke, in a small, hollow voice completely different from her usual one:

“He cannot succeed. He will only destroy himself.”

Sano realized how much hinged on his handling of this moment. He might never make Lady Niu pay for the murders, but he could save the shogun and prevent much needless bloodshed. He chose his words carefully.

“You can save your son by preventing him from assassinating the shogun.”

Tears shimmered in Lady Niu’s eyes as she shook her head. “You do not understand. Ever since he was a child, my Masahito has had his own will. No one, nothing, could ever break his contrary spirit. And I, who have loved him and given him everything, have the least influence over him. I cannot stop him.” Her voice broke in the ugly, tortured sob of one who rarely wept.

“You must try,” Sano said softly. “Otherwise… ” He paused, knowing he didn’t have to finish the sentence. She knew as well as he that the standard punishment for treason was death not only for the traitor, but for his entire family as well. The Nius, with their power and influence, might be able to get their sentence reduced-to confiscation of their fief, and lifelong exile. But they would prefer death’s lesser disgrace.

Lady Niu sat as still as a stone. Only her trembling lips betrayed her struggle for self-control. Then she said in a barely audible whisper, “It will do no good.”

“At least talk to him,” Sano coaxed. He wished he could put his hand on hers; touch might persuade where words couldn’t. Instead he leaned toward her until Eii-chan pulled him back. “Go to him. Now, while there’s still time.”

“No. He will not listen to me. And besides, I do not know where he is. He said he was meeting someone who is costuming himself as a princess from The Tale of Genji … they plan to celebrate Setsubun together. Masahito seemed very excited… ” Obviously dazed, Lady Niu was rambling as though unaware of the irrelevance of what she said.