Page 63 of The Tainted and the Tamed
Within moments, Momoko appeared in the window, a mixture of surprise and delight brightening her soft features. “Murasaki! Come out of that cold at once!”
“I hope you don’t mind,” Murasaki said. “I saw shoes at both the patient’s entrance and your private door and didn’t want to disturb—”
“Not at all! Come in. Do you want tea?” the inari asked, helping Murasaki out of her coat.
“If it’s no trouble.”
“Of course not.”
As Murasaki settled into her familiar spot, she watched Momoko disappear into the kitchen. The woman could boil water unnaturally fast, and it had become a game to count the seconds.
Yet Murasaki had never had the courage to ask Momoko how she did it. She’d told herself she was overwhelmed with impossibilities at the time—the existence of vampires, ingesting the blood of two chairmen of Kaiden, feeding her own to one of them. In truth, she wasn’t sure she wished to know.
When Momoko returned with a tray after only a pair of minutes, Murasaki waited until she’d taken her seat on the floor cushion to finally ask, “How do you do it so quickly?”
A half-smile touched Momoko’s lips as she scooped tea into the bubbling cast iron pot. “It’s not some homemakers’ trick.”
“I know.”
“And you want to know anyway?”
Murasaki nodded.
“Fox fire.” Momoko set the lid back onto the teapot, glancing up to meet Murasaki’s furrowed brow. “I have a kind of fire magic, if you will.”
“And is that…common?”
“Among fox-shifters? Yes.”
Murasaki’s chest caved with relief. “I was so afraid you were going to tell me vampires had fire magic, too.”
Momoko laughed. “You didn’t really think I was a vampire, did you?”
“I don’t know what I thought.”
Momoko nodded, her lips still tilted in a smile. “This has meant a great deal of change for you, hasn’t it?”
“Only my entire view of the world.”
“Only that.” This time, Murasaki laughed—right until the moment Momoko added, “I felt that way when I met my future husband, too.”
In an instant, the laughter died in Murasaki’s throat. “Momoko, I’ve decided to leave.”
The other woman’s brows rose. “But why? I thought you liked it here.”
“I did.”
“Was it too much for you? Learning the truth?” Momoko dropped her chin, saying almost to herself, “I thought you of all people could handle it.”
“Maybe I didn’t want to handle it. Me of all people, though? Why do you say that?”
Momoko gestured at her just before picking up the pot of tea to pour it, first for Murasaki, then for herself. “Look at you. In your fashionable Western clothes. On a chairman’s estate, that you had the nerve to apply for a position at. You left everything you knew in the city to come here, just for the chance to improve your condition. You’re the boldest woman—the boldest person I know.”
“Didn’t you give everything up, to be with Dr. Setouchi?”
“It’s different, with love. You almost can’t help but do something mad. But you took the initiative on your own behalf. You traveled here on your own, worked through the difficulties of your condition—”
“What other choice did I have?”
