“You are adamantly reluctant to attend aristocratic events,” Haruka observes, walking just behind him. “Even more so than myself.”

“It’s obnoxious—pontifical, stiff old vampire rhetoric,” Nino says. He mocks, “My lord, your grace, dear me—oh my!” They enter the two-story home. It’s similar to the main house where his brother lives, but more intimate. Less opulent. They move toward the stairs, passing a small living room with white walls, earth-toned furniture and a speckled-brick fireplace. There are two rectangular windows offering a flood of bright light into the rustic space.

When they’re on the second floor, Haruka follows Nino into his bedroom. His friend holds the door, and once Haruka is inside, Nino closes it behind him. “Plus, G is already trying to monopolize your time by dragging you on his social visits. I told him we have things we need to do,” Nino complains. He kicks his shoes off before climbing onto his bed.

There’s a snug-looking armchair near the window, so Haruka takes a seat there. “We will accomplish our goals. There is no need to worry. We have much time,” he says.

Nino folds his legs atop the thick comforter and leans back against his palms. “I’m sorry if my brother made you uncomfortable during lunch. He’s pretty… forthright. If I’m being nice. It’s a good trait to have in business but it can be irritating on a personal level.”

“You do not need to apologize.” Haruka sits back, relaxing. Nino’s room is saturated with his natural scent. Something about it settles Haruka. It soothes him, like a warm, healing mineral bath in the cold winter night that is his life.

“You’re not mad?” Nino asks.

“No. The questions your brother asked were indeed direct, but not unusual.” He closes his eyes, reveling in the soft glow of sunlight pouring in through the glass and the heady smell of the room.

“Haru…” Nino’s voice is low. Haruka slowly opens his eyes, and when their gazes meet, Nino continues. “If it’s alright, will you tell me more? About how you were bonded before?”

Talk about my bond… He has never spoken of it. Not aloud. Not with anyone. It is a significant thing that has happened in his life—that in many ways has permanently altered its trajectory.

He inhales deeply, his chest rising and falling. Nino has been open with him on many occasions about his own life and experiences. Haruka supposes that it’s finally his turn. “What exactly would you like to know?”

Twenty-Three

What do I want to know?

Everything. Nino wants to know everything, but he isn’t sure he can process it all, because there are already too many things to digest. The thoughts are zipping around in his mind like shiny metallic dragonflies.

Haruka was bonded.

How long ago? Why? What happened?

Bonds can be broken?

Haruka is sitting in his bedroom… He smells nice.

Haruka was bonded.

Nino sits straighter in his bed, rubbing his palms against his thighs. He looks up. Haruka is sitting in an armchair beside the window. The lighting there gives his milky, almond skin an incandescent quality.

“Who were you bonded to?” Nino asks, thinking it better to start simple.

Haruka leans with his elbow against the arm of the chair, lazily cradling the side of his face with his palm. “Yuna Sasaki. We were betrothed to each other as children through an arrangement between our parents.”

“When were you officially bonded? And for how long?”

“As customary, we mated when we came of age at twenty-one. Our bond lasted ten years.”

Nino nods in understanding. The general practice of formally arranged bonds had died out by the 1970s.

“Only ten years?” Nino asks. Why so short? Did you love her? Did she hurt you? The questions are still frenzied in his mind, all of them desperate to push through to the funnel of his mouth.

“Yes,” Haruka says. “She…” He pauses, his wine eyes focusing on Nino. “How much of this would you like me to explain?”

“As much as you’re comfortable with.”

“I do not wish to bore you with the mundane details of my life.”

“Haru, you never bore me. I would never be bored with you.”

A little half-smile pulls at the corner of Haruka’s mouth. The subtle gesture makes Nino smile as well in the fleeting moment.

“Yuna had a close friend growing up. Kenta Miyoshi,” Haruka explains. “He was first-generation. Despite their obvious affections for each other, our parents arranged that Yuna would bond with me when we both came of age.”

“Because you were both purebred?” Nino guesses.

“Correct. Yuna’s bloodline is also old like mine, so the pairing was ideal. But as we grew, Yuna and I developed… what I believed was genuine affection for each other. As you know, my parents died when I was twelve. When Yuna and I reached twenty-one, I asked if she truly preferred to form a bond with me over Kenta. Although her parents were still alive, if we wished to sever the arrangement, it was my prerogative to do so.”

“She chose you, even though you gave her an out?”

“Yes,” Haruka breathes. “She expressed her… love… for me, and insisted that I was her choice. So I trusted in that. In her.”

Haruka sits up straighter in the chair, rubbing his palm down his face. His eyes seem far off somewhere as he recalls this situation. Nino gives him another moment before he speaks.

“So what happened?” he asks quietly.

The dark vampire laughs from his throat but the sound is bitter. It isn’t warm and bubbly like usual—the way Nino is accustomed to hearing it.

Dropping his hand into his lap, Haruka smiles weakly. “This is the rather… humiliating part. Later, I realized that Yuna and Kenta had orchestrated many clandestine meetings after she and I had formed our bond. One such meeting resulted in Kenta’s feeding intimately from Yuna. I felt the bond between us break almost instantly—like profound cracks in a foundation.”

“Did you know that something like that could happen? Had you ever heard of it within your research?”

“No.” Haruka rests back against the armchair. “It was the first time I had ever heard of such a situation and I have yet to find anything like it.”

Nino remembers the empty section at the end of the Lore and Lust manuscript. Broken Bonds. When he’d read the words, they hadn’t made sense to him. It was like reading “sober drunk” or “angry peace.” How could these two words exist side by side? It emphasizes how profoundly ingrained the lore of bonding is within the vampire psyche. Within their culture.

“The result of the infidelity,” Haruka says, his deep voice quiet, “was immense pain. A profound shooting, almost stabbing sensation in the depths of my nature within me. We decided to formally absolve our relationship, and for the following six months, my body… very harshly rejected Yuna’s nature from within me. Even with the passing of my parents, perhaps that was the most horrific experience of my life. I—I did not think I would survive it. I did not want to… To this day, I truly do not understand why I did.” Haruka brings his fingers to the top of his head, twisting his hair as he slumps. He clenches his eyes shut as if he’s still in pain.

Nino quietly crawls off the bed and takes the few steps necessary to reach him. Once there, Haruka blinks his lovely eyes open. Nino bends down, placing his palms against the armrests. He leans into Haruka, softly pressing their foreheads together. He closes his eyes. Haruka briefly tenses from his nearness, but as Nino extends the warmth and peace of his aura further outward, Haruka relaxes.

Soon, his friend’s breathing is slow, in perfect rhythm with his own. Nino opens his burning eyes and lifts his head. Haruka’s eyes are still closed, his face calm.

“Are you okay?” Nino asks.

When Haruka opens his eyes they’re glowing scarlet. Beautiful. “I am… My apologies…”

Nino steps back and extends his hands, offering to pull him up. “My father has an old library on the southern side of our compound. Would you like to spend some time there today?”

Haruka’s eyes widen as they slowly shift back to their healthy burgundy color. “I would.” He places his hands within Nino’s, allowing himself to be firmly pulled upright. Once they’re both standing, Nino steps into him and fully wraps his arms around his shoulders. He isn’t sure if this is okay—if he’s overstepping a boundary. But as he holds Haruka close, he turns his face into the silkiness of his hair at his temple.