Chapter 5: The Beast’s Burden - 4
Morning crept into the tavern, slow and soft.
Golden light slipped through the shutters, spilling across the worn floorboards and brushing the edge of the bed where Rin lay, half-curled in a nest of furs.
The sheet had slid to her hips, baring her back, her skin still flushed with the heat of last night’s surrender.
Her tail rested limp against her thigh, twitching faintly every few minutes, as if dreaming of the ropes and hands that had claimed her.
Kio stood beside the bed, a bowl of warm water and a cloth in hand.
He dipped the cloth, wrung it out, and pressed it to the sweat lingering on her lower back, his touch gentle but sure.
Her skin bore the marks of their night—reddened, tender, alive with the memory of his grip.
Rin stirred, her golden eyes blinking open, voice rough as gravel. "You’re still here."
He nodded, his silence a steady presence.
"Good," she murmured, sinking deeper into the pillow. "If you’d left, I might’ve thought it was a wet dream."
Kio’s lips curved, a faint smirk. "You screamed loud enough to wake the village."