Bound by Forever (True Immortality 3)

“I understand,” Niamh said softly, hearing the self-rebuke in his voice. “You know I understand that. You did what you had to.”

Kiyo exhaled slowly and Niamh’s breath caught at the tenderness that suffused his face. “Her name was Ichika. Her husband was Yasahiro Watanabe. Theirs was a love match but their marriage had not been blessed with children of their own. When Ichika brought me home with her, I was sure Yasahiro would throw me out instantly. Instead he sat me down and we had a conversation. Whatever he saw in me, it was enough to extract his trust. He decided he would try to help me find work. A good position to suit my obviously good birth.

“But as I accompanied Yasahiro at his work, I took a genuine interest in the construction business. It pleased him. More than I think I ever knew then. Before we knew it, months and then years passed as I lived with them and worked as an apprentice for Yasahiro.”

“They sound like amazing people.”

“They were. But I couldn’t forget my mother or the men who destroyed her. I’d promised myself that I’d return to Osaka one day and wreak revenge on the men who brutalized and violated her.”

Niamh held her breath, feeling nervous for him, even though these events had already passed.

“Seven years later, I was nineteen and considered a man. I had a good job and while I wanted revenge for my mother, I was concerned about hurting my new family with my actions. So, I delayed it. And I worked my ass off for Yasahiro and endured Ichika’s many attempts to marry me to a respectable bride.”

Niamh smirked, imagining how much he’d have chafed at that.

“Yasahiro and I went on a fishing trip to the mountains to schmooze government officials into signing a contract with us. One of the men was a danna—the patron of a well-known geisha called Sora. What none of us knew then was that Sora, while taking money and gifts from her danna in exchange for being his exclusive mistress, was carrying on an affair with a young man. And he happened to be a very jealous werewolf called Kurai.”

“Holy shit.”

“Sora didn’t know, of course. That Kurai was a werewolf. I knew that when Kurai changed in front of us. She was as horrified and shocked as we were. I caught up with him a year after he attacked us and asked him why before I killed him. He wanted to kill Sora’s danna and when he heard we’d all be in the mountains, he thought it was the perfect chance to get away with it. But when he showed up, he was out of his mind with jealousy. He confronted Sora and her danna and Yasahiro tried to step in to calm the situation down. But Kurai lost all control. We watched him turn into a wolf and I thought I was losing my mind. He ripped through our entire party like we were made of the finest silk. Tore us to pieces. I can still hear the screaming.”

Niamh had seen many horrors in her visions, but she didn’t know if her heart had ached quite as badly as it did for Kiyo right then. He’d lost so much. And endured incredible violence.

“I was the only one who woke up a day or two later after going through a fever unlike anything I’ve experienced. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing when I woke up. What I was feeling. I raced out of the cabin and eventually it came to me that I was an animal. Out in the woods, somehow I changed back into my human form. I was terrified.”

“I can only imagine.”

Kiyo flicked her a wry, unhappy look. “For a while, I really did think I was losing my mind.”

“What happened next?”

“I returned to the cabin and practically threw up my insides at what I found in there. Yasahiro was dead. They were all dead. Worried I’d be blamed, I left. I left Ichika and everything behind to find answers. I eventually tracked down rumors of a wolf pack near the mountains close to Kyoto, and I lived with them for a while. They taught me how to change at will and how to endure a full moon. When I felt emotionally strong enough to return to Tokyo, I hunted down Kurai and killed him for Yasahiro and Sora and every man in that lodge. I killed him for making me into something I loathed. I killed him for Ichika, who’d lost the love of her life and didn’t know why. Perhaps she even blamed me. I’ll never know.

“I left Japan in search of a cure. Around seven years later, I finally realized there wasn’t one, other than death. And I had unfinished business.”

“You returned to Osaka to take your revenge,” Niamh whispered.