The Tainted and the Tamed: A Class Difference Spicy Vampire Romance Novella by C.K. Beggan

Author:C.K. Beggan [Beggan, C.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tidally Press
Published: 2023-09-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Haruki

Haruki polished the pinkish apple on his sleeve before handing it to her. Mukai Murasaki took it gingerly, both her hands cupping it as if it might break into pieces.

“It’s so late in the season.” She looked from the crowded stall he’d emerged from and back to the apple, as though she thought it poisoned. “Are these from the north?”

“The north?” He hoped his replying snort sounded good-natured. “We grow these right here in Asano Prefecture. The central lake is ringed by orchards. That keeps the temperatures warmer for longer, even at night. It’s almost a completely different climate from the rest of the prefecture.”

Even to his own ears, he sounded as though he’d explained this a thousand times. All those meetings with merchants and landowners—maybe he had.

Am I boring? Does she look as though she finds me dry as the summer sand? Nervous, he turned his own apple in his hand, then tossed it lightly. He’d practiced this for an entire autumn when he was newly turned. He’d tried to make a game of catching an apple without crushing it.

“I had no idea,” was all she said in reply, then took a bite. Juice immediately ran down her chin.

Before he could stop himself, he reached out, catching her chin in his fingers and keeping the juice from dripping onto her deep auburn kimono.

He wanted to scold himself for making such an advance. But she and the apple made such a pretty picture. After only the moon’s beauty for company for so many years, how could he blame himself for wanting to grasp this beauty, too?

Chiyo, his mind reminded him. You cannot forget about her so soon.

But he did not hold Murasaki in desperation, the way he had gripped Chiyo. There was—what was that feeling?—hope in the act of swiping the pad of his thumb across her chin, then withdrawing it before anyone could stare.

Did that hope make it better? Did it make any of it right?

I’m too tired to think of right and wrong tonight. All he wanted to do was to give in—to feel something for a moment. Just for a moment—

“I—I don’t know how to address you,” Murasaki said, her gaze fixed on the partially eaten apple.

“Just Haru for tonight. Please.”

He wanted more than anything for her to agree.

She shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t think I can.”

“Ms. Mukai. I just want one night as a person. Please.”

If she noticed that he’d said “person” instead of a “regular person,” she chose not to comment.

“Alright,” she said at last. “What are we doing here, Haru?”

“Enjoying the last apples of the season,” he said, then bit into his own.

“And what happens after that?” she asked, her earlier shyness retreating to the periphery with incredible quickness. No more was she cutting her eyes up at him through her lashes, shy as a school girl; genuine steel backed her gaze now.

Ah. I’d forgotten this about women. They always wish to know what happens next.

“I don’t know,” Haruki answered frankly. “I don’t know what I can offer besides sneaking away from my quarters at night, hoping to meet you in the halls.

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