41
Prologue
Masanori
Blood painted the audience chamber’s delicate rice paper walls.
Four corpses lay in a heap near the entrance, their silken robes speckled with scarlet. The scent of burnt hair mingled with the pollution of copper and fresh death.
Blue fabric spilled around a crawling woman on the other side of the room. She inched toward the door, reaching for her escape route with trembling hands. She pressed against a maple panel and tried to stand. Her fingers left crimson smears over the watercolour dragons beneath, and the creatures snapped at her with ferocious maws, unable to break through the paper. She collapsed beneath the weight of her clothes.
“I’m sorry. P-please—” Empress Aihi started, a half-gurgled sob escaping her throat.
Masanori’s hand wrapped around her ankle
