Page 6 of The Tainted and the Tamed
Damn it all twice over. He was well and truly caught. He’d never meant for things to go this way. It had been ages since he’d last fed. Haruki couldn’t even recall the year. And many years, too, since he’d last bedded a woman—
“She didn’t even take her things with her,” Tanabe continued. “Strange, isn’t it? When I became your housekeeper I seem to recall that you swore never to touch my staff—in any capacity.”
Did she know everything?
“Good evening to you, too, Tanabe,” he grumbled.
She huffed in rejoinder, setting down her fountain pen at last. “Chairman Asami, I understand you have certain—difficulties. I suspect you’ve barely fed since I arrived here. You have an obligation, as Asano Prefecture’s chairman, to take especially good care of yourself to avoid any problems like this.”
A flush crept up Haruki’s cheeks as he lowered himself into the chair opposite her, his arm draped across the back. “I really should just resign.”
“You’ve been saying that for ten years. And that doesn’t change the fact that you can’t ignore the vampire in you.”
“But isn’t it worthwhile to try?” He traced his thumb across his lips, resisting the urge to bite the nail with one of his fangs.
“Forgive my bluntness, but I very much doubt you’ll ever be successful.” Tanabe turned her attention back to the papers before her—orders for more supplies before the arrival of winter. “Also, you aren’t resigning.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because this has been your home for hundreds of years, and you’ve been lord here for almost as long. You have a duty to your late father and to the people of this prefecture.”
“Mm, obligation. What fun.”
“You’ve never been a pleasure-seeker.” Tanabe hesitated. “Generally.”
“Obligation makes a poor motivator.”
“You do a great deal of good for the people here. You could do even more, if you actually attended sessions at the Diet.”
Why did everyone think taking his place in the Diet was so simple? As if one could snap his fingers and know how to legislate on a national level. Ruling a small, mountainous region and making national policy were two entirely different things. After standing up for Tanabe twelve years ago, he still received threatening letters from several other chairmen now and then.
“You were raised to take over your father’s holdings, and you were a daimyo for centuries,” Tanabe practically chided him. “Ruling is part of who you are.”
“You weren’t alive then. How do you know I was any good at it?”
She proffered a half smile. “My father respected you. Even if you did fight for the wrong side.”
If only that was worth something,Haruki thought, curling in on himself.I couldn’t do anything but offer him an honorable death. Every move I make always becomes a bloody one.
Even taking a lover.
“I’m going to bed,” he announced, tamping down his curiosity about the new maid. It was better not to ask. Better to pretend she wasn’t even there.
He had no right to endanger another person.
“That’s all you came here for?” Tanabe asked, cocking a brow. “To talk about resigning? Which we both know, Chairman, will never happen.”
Haruki growled. “A little respect, please.”
“I could manage that. Or you could try to earn it.”
“Another lovely conversation, Tanabe.”
Her nostrils flared as she suppressed a laugh. “Enjoy your night, Chairman Asami.”
As if he could, knowing what he’d done.
Chapter 4
