Free Bound Together by Corinn Heathers Page A

large, and the family has many servants to maintain and operate the manor. Missions are relatively infrequent, so my former Masters would command me to assist the maidservants. Due to my... unique traits, I was often selected for, um, attendant duty.”
    Her evasive tone was starting to worry me. “What sort of duty is that?”
    Misaki's ears fell almost totally flat against her head and she would not look at me. I could see the shame she felt in her expression. It was clear she didn't really want to talk about this, but the cat was already out of the bag. The touch of concern I felt only a moment before was amplified significantly as I put two and two together.
    “W-well, men generally find me to be attractive,” Misaki managed, her voice shaking just a little bit, “and since I am an immortal spirit, no child would come of it. B-because of that...”
    Her unsubtle and clumsy attempt to dance around the issue was transparent. I felt physically sick as my worst suspicions were validated. Of course it had happened. I wasn't surprised, but I was angry and disgusted that other members of my own species could do such a thing.
    Misaki struggled to try and calm me down. “But I was only required to attend my Master and the Tsukimura leadership. M-my body is constantly repaired and restored by the Relic. Please don't worry! I'm not... broken, or used up, or anything like that...”
    My jaw was lucky it was physically attached to my skull, because if it hadn't been, it would have hit the floor and shattered into a million pieces. It was bad enough that Misaki had been subjected to such treatment, and yet she felt guilty about it? Afraid that I would think less of her for what she'd endured? This was almost too much for me to deal with, especially now, less than a day after my entire world had been turned upside down.
    “I'm just going to start assuming that if there was something horrible they could do to you, that they probably already did it,” I muttered under my breath, more to myself than anyone, but Misaki's ears were exceptional, of course. Those ears lifted off her head, just barely, and she turned her gaze back on me.
    “A-are you upset with me?”
    “No, Misaki.” I sighed and turned to look her directly in the eyes. “I'm not upset with you. You didn't do anything wrong. I can't believe that someone could do what they've done to you. It's... beyond awful.”
    Tears welled up in Misaki's eyes. “I'm sorry. I really didn't want to tell you. I was afraid that you would think me used up, or unclean... and you would be angry...”
    “No! I would never! Come on, now, don't cry.” I reached out and brushed the tears away from her eyes with my finger. “Really, cheer up, Misaki. I can't stand to see such a cute girl cry. It's just not cool, okay?”
    “I'm sorry—”
    “And you need to stop that constant-apologizing thing, too,” I interrupted. “Especially about this. That is not even remotely your fault; you were coerced. You didn't agree to it and you didn't want it.”
    Misaki wiped her own eyes. “What I want...”
    “What you want matters , Misaki.” For her sake, I tried my best to tamp down my emotions, but I was having a lot of trouble keeping my cool. At this point the very last thing I wanted was to make her feel even worse.
    “Nobody has ever cared about that,” Misaki admitted.
    “Considering that you've been under the complete control of a bunch of patriarchal, socially-regressive bastards who didn't get the memo that it's not the fucking dark ages anymore, that's not too surprising.”
    She didn't respond to that with words. Her tail curled around the small of my back. Her fur was far softer than that of a natural fox, almost as soft as rabbit's fur. I knew it wasn't accidental; Misaki was trying to communicate to me without words.
    I drew my arms around Misaki's shoulders and pulled her close, leaning her head against my chest, smoothing her hair with my fingertips. At first she stiffened