Emperor of the Eight Islands: Book 1 in the Tale of Shikanoko (The Tale of Shikanoko series) by Lian Hearn Page B
Authors: Lian Hearn
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lady?” Kiyoyori asked. A bandit’s woman , he was thinking. Mine by right of conquest.
“Lord Kiyoyori should be wary. Lady Tora is not what she seems.”
Night was falling and it had grown much colder. The wind had swung around to the north and dark rain clouds were slowly covering the sky. A sudden gust sent dead leaves swirling beneath the trees.
Kiyoyori stood. “Let us go and learn the results of the divination.”
He was seized by impatience and alarm that the “ritual” might be a euphemism for something unbearable—and so it was. When he strode into the room and saw the woman and Sesshin lying in disarray and realized what they had been doing, his rage was so great, he felt like killing them both. But Lady Tora smiled and said, “And now, lord, I am yours,” and prostrated herself before him as she had done before. The same lust erupted within him. He grabbed her hand and led her through the garden, where she seemed to fly behind him, so light was her hold on his. He took her to a building on the lakeshore, the summer pavilion.
Rain drove against the shutters. Drops fell through the flimsy roof, making the charcoal in the brazier smoke and hiss. Beneath the bearskin rugs Kiyoyori and Tora were remote in their own world. He had not lain with a woman for months; his wife no longer attracted him and he had been too preoccupied to seek pleasure elsewhere. Now he was possessed by the mindless lust of adolescence, the inexhaustible desire, yet it was more than lust; it was a passionate yearning to be completely absorbed by this woman, to surrender to her and let her take him to unimaginable destinations.
He had thought her the bandit’s woman, a prostitute, and when he had walked into the scholar’s room and saw that Sesshin, the old fox, had been making love to her, he had been angry but also strangely relieved. So she was a whore; he desired her, he would take her, and when he was tired of her, he would have her executed along with the boy. But when the night was beginning to fade into dawn and his desire was finally sated, she stroked his hair and sang quietly, one of the songs that were popular in the capital, and he felt he had found the other half of himself, that he would tire of his own body before he tired of her. He lay making plans for the future; he would build her a house and install her there as his second wife.
He foolishly did not consider that she might have her own plans.
8
AKIHIME
The eldest daughter of the Nishimi family was traditionally dedicated to the shrine of the All-Merciful Kannon at Rinrakuji to become a shrine maiden. The family was among the highest rank of the nobility, related to the Emperor. The current head of the household, Hidetake, was a close friend of the Crown Prince, Momozono, and his wife was wet nurse to the Crown Prince’s son, Yoshimori.
Hidetake had had two daughters born some ten years apart. The older one was called Akihime, the Autumn Princess, because she had been born in the autumn, the same month as now, when the maples were turning scarlet and the ginkgo tree by the gate dropped swathes of golden leaves. The younger one, born in winter, had died at birth. It was because of this that her mother had been able to nurse the young prince, the Emperor’s grandson.
Aki was fifteen years old, not particularly beautiful but lively and full of high spirits. In that autumn of her sixteenth year, suitors had begun to hover outside the house, wooing with poetry and music. Her mother both feared and hoped that one might find his way in. It was the custom of that time: if a man came three nights in a row and made love to the girl, it was considered a marriage. Aki had already made her vows of purity and she recoiled from the idea yet was drawn to it at the same time. Were the men invited inside or did they force their way in? Did the girl have any choice in the matter or did she simply submit?
“I won’t let anyone touch me,” she declared one morning
“Lord Kiyoyori should be wary. Lady Tora is not what she seems.”
Night was falling and it had grown much colder. The wind had swung around to the north and dark rain clouds were slowly covering the sky. A sudden gust sent dead leaves swirling beneath the trees.
Kiyoyori stood. “Let us go and learn the results of the divination.”
He was seized by impatience and alarm that the “ritual” might be a euphemism for something unbearable—and so it was. When he strode into the room and saw the woman and Sesshin lying in disarray and realized what they had been doing, his rage was so great, he felt like killing them both. But Lady Tora smiled and said, “And now, lord, I am yours,” and prostrated herself before him as she had done before. The same lust erupted within him. He grabbed her hand and led her through the garden, where she seemed to fly behind him, so light was her hold on his. He took her to a building on the lakeshore, the summer pavilion.
Rain drove against the shutters. Drops fell through the flimsy roof, making the charcoal in the brazier smoke and hiss. Beneath the bearskin rugs Kiyoyori and Tora were remote in their own world. He had not lain with a woman for months; his wife no longer attracted him and he had been too preoccupied to seek pleasure elsewhere. Now he was possessed by the mindless lust of adolescence, the inexhaustible desire, yet it was more than lust; it was a passionate yearning to be completely absorbed by this woman, to surrender to her and let her take him to unimaginable destinations.
He had thought her the bandit’s woman, a prostitute, and when he had walked into the scholar’s room and saw that Sesshin, the old fox, had been making love to her, he had been angry but also strangely relieved. So she was a whore; he desired her, he would take her, and when he was tired of her, he would have her executed along with the boy. But when the night was beginning to fade into dawn and his desire was finally sated, she stroked his hair and sang quietly, one of the songs that were popular in the capital, and he felt he had found the other half of himself, that he would tire of his own body before he tired of her. He lay making plans for the future; he would build her a house and install her there as his second wife.
He foolishly did not consider that she might have her own plans.
8
AKIHIME
The eldest daughter of the Nishimi family was traditionally dedicated to the shrine of the All-Merciful Kannon at Rinrakuji to become a shrine maiden. The family was among the highest rank of the nobility, related to the Emperor. The current head of the household, Hidetake, was a close friend of the Crown Prince, Momozono, and his wife was wet nurse to the Crown Prince’s son, Yoshimori.
Hidetake had had two daughters born some ten years apart. The older one was called Akihime, the Autumn Princess, because she had been born in the autumn, the same month as now, when the maples were turning scarlet and the ginkgo tree by the gate dropped swathes of golden leaves. The younger one, born in winter, had died at birth. It was because of this that her mother had been able to nurse the young prince, the Emperor’s grandson.
Aki was fifteen years old, not particularly beautiful but lively and full of high spirits. In that autumn of her sixteenth year, suitors had begun to hover outside the house, wooing with poetry and music. Her mother both feared and hoped that one might find his way in. It was the custom of that time: if a man came three nights in a row and made love to the girl, it was considered a marriage. Aki had already made her vows of purity and she recoiled from the idea yet was drawn to it at the same time. Were the men invited inside or did they force their way in? Did the girl have any choice in the matter or did she simply submit?
“I won’t let anyone touch me,” she declared one morning
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