Page 44 of The Tainted and the Tamed
Chiyo writhed in the same agony. “At least you’ll die with me,” she managed, baring her fangs.
Turning his grimace into a snarl, Asami Haruki returned the gesture with the last of his strength.
She went limp a few moments before he did. In an instant, the too-bright world turned into a dark embrace.
Haruki welcomed it.
Chapter 21
Murasaki
Murasaki sat by the window to the garden, watching the rain fall and sipping the tea Momoko had brought her.
Three days had passed since the attack, and both the Setouchis had spent a great deal of time fretting over her. The shawl Momoko had insisted she wear on every rainy day sat loosely around her shoulders, smelling of mothballs and seasoned wool.
She wished they wouldn’t worry so. She felt fine. Truly. The marks on her neck no longer wept, and even the tightness in her chest had abated. Her cough had vanished like the last of the warm afternoons.
It was her mind that was troubled.
What were they—Haruki and thatthingthat had attacked her? Humans couldn’t move like that. Were the chairmen gods of some kind?
Murasaki shuddered at the thought. Wouldn’t she know it, if she’d been cleaning up after a deity for months? After she’d kissed him?
So they were something else. Something quick, powerful, and inhuman.
With a sigh, Momoko sat down across from her. “You’re gloomy again. Do you want to play shogi? Cards, maybe?”
Murasaki hitched up her shoulders. “I’m not gloomy. Just thinking.” Her eyes traveled from the rainy garden to Momoko’s concerned expression. “Is the chairman back yet?”
Momoko sighed. “Oh, my dear. You’ve really gotten yourself tangled up in things, haven’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Listen.” Momoko reached out, patting the hand in Murasaki’s lap. “You should forget about Chairman Asami—forget you ever saw his face. No good can come of it.”
“Why? He rescued me—”
“He’s dangerous.” She sniffed, reaching for her own cup of tea. “All the chairmen are.”
“But your husband works for him.”
“That he does.” Momoko tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “If there was any other way for us, I would’ve rather done that.”
“No other way for a physician of Dr. Setouchi’s caliber?”
“Absolutely none.” Momoko sipped her own cup of tea, leaving Murasaki eagerly awaiting more details.
Finally, as she set down her cup, Momoko said, “My husband and I are from very different—families. They did not approve of our union and wished to dissolve it through any means necessary. We didn’t know what to do, so we ran, never imagining it would end well, only that we’d be able to stay together just a little longer.”
How romantic, Murasaki thought. She never would’ve taken the physician for a man governed by his passions.
“We were quite hopeless, you see,” Momoko continued. “And then Chairman Asami put out word—there must have been posters in hundreds of towns. He offered us sanctuary here if my husband would come to Fusae.” Momoko glanced out the window. “I think that was just before the last time Chairman Asami went to the capital. Twelve years ago now.”
“Twelve years?” Murasaki leaned sharply over the little table between them. “How can he represent the prefecture if he doesn’t go to Miyoto? That can’t be true.”
“Why can’t it?” Momoko sniffed. “In any event, I’m glad he stayed long enough to learn of our trouble. I’m grateful to the chairman. I’m grateful he has a fondness for strays.” She smiled as if lost in the past. “That’s why I’ll tell you this.”
She mirrored Murasaki’s posture, her voice low, as she said, “No matter what you’ve seen, regardless of who he is or what he’s done—how he thinks of himself, even—there is a great humanity in him. If the other chairmen learned even a little from him, we’d all be better for it.”
