"Execute Lord Katsuragi," she orders. "Not for treason. For making me prove what I already knew: I am not cruel enough. But I will learn." The cherry blossoms bloom over Kyoto. Kiyoko sits alone in the Maple Hall, writing a letter to Ren’s ghost. She never sends it. Instead, she places it inside his empty sake cup.

Lady Shogun Kiyoko Tokugawa, 34, inherited the position at 29 after her father and three elder brothers died in the "Night of the Thousand Paper Cuts" — a coordinated poisoning by rival northern clans. To survive, she did something unprecedented: she disbanded the traditional all-male council and handpicked five men, each from despised or forgotten bloodlines, to be her inner circle.

Kiyoko gathers her five men in the Maple Hall. Outside, snow falls like ash. Inside, she says: "They have two thousand men at the border. We have four hundred. But we have something they lack. I am not asking you to die for me. I am asking you to live for me—in a way that makes them regret ever doubting a woman’s rule."

"You sent a man to die for you," Katsuragi spits, blood on his lips. "What kind of Shogun does that?"

Kiyoko stands. She looks out at her five shadows—now four, plus one empty space they never fill.

"As you wish." He hesitates. "And Ren’s grave?"