Bridging the Ancient ✓

Chapter 48

My hands are shaking so bad I can barely take the clothes Renit hands over. Fingers closing around the leather and smooth fabric, I find a way to place the clothes on the shelf. I need to take a deep breath; I need to calm myself before this fear, this panic, gets out of hand. This isn't the first time Renit, and I have been in a dark, huddled closet and I've lost my senses.

He was there to help me last time but now, he simply watches me as I drag a hand through my hair and search through the clothes. I lay them out, reaching up one final time to wipe the feel of Rex's lips off of my own, before turning to face Renit once more.

"Can you turn around?" I ask quietly. I can't bring myself to meet his eye so I stare at the knives across his chest. Forcing myself to see straight is difficult when all I want to do is sit in the corner and rock myself until I feel better.

"Are you all right?" Renit questions, his voice equally as soft.

Nodding quickly, I urge him to turn around. For a second, he hesitates but then obeys by turning to face the opposite shelf. Peeling off the gown with Rex's touch left behind, I shove that into the corner of the shelf and begin pulling on the many layers of the matching armor that Renit is wearing.

I buckle the pants with shaken fingers and slide the shirt on, followed by a thin plate of armor for my abdomen, my shoulders, and my knees. An entire mess of clinking and shifting sounds my movements, alerting anyone outside the door that someone is in here, but I hope the servants will stay away and guess someone is losing themselves to someone else in here.

After a while, Renit says, "You didn't have to do that."

Buckling the straps, I shake my head. "That was the only way to distract him. He may be drunk but Rex is still the most notorious assassin in the kingdom. I couldn't take any chances."

Once I'm dressed, Renit turns back around and helps me with the buckles, securing everything in place. I feel much more comfortable in something like this, I'm not on display for everyone to see and when I do walk down the halls, Renit and I will be shadows in the dark. Not important like I was in a low-cut gown that revealed everything I didn't want others to touch.

"There are other ways you could have gone about it," Renit whispers. He tightens a buckle on my arm and moves onto another after another when I'm still busy trying to get one strapped down. My hands are shaking so bad I can barely move without rattling like a goat on a frozen night.

"I know that," I snap, not wanting to hear what Renit has to say. That's the least important factor to me right now, the mistakes I made and the easier things that Renit would have done so there weren't any complications to come after.

He stills, slowly moving over the buckles and strapping the last few around my legs. I won't have any weapons but the buckles will keep the leather and metal and cloth in place so I don't catch on anything and tear. "Rex won't be a problem from here on," Renit offers. "He's either waiting for you or passed out drunk somewhere. The longer he waits, the more likely he is to move onto another woman that catches his eye."

Nodding to myself, I stare at the wooden door. Still trying to forget all his touches, the fierce want in his kiss, I need to wipe Rex from my mind completely. But he's still there, his warmth traveling up my spine like a snake waiting to strike. My first real kiss belongs to Rex Fletcher. Not Bren, my childhood best friend or Renit, the prince I've come to care about. No, it belongs to the most notorious assassin in all of Esaria. That's nearly worse than kissing him in the first place.

Once Renit finishes tightening the buckles, I slide on the pair of leather boots he brought along with him and peek out into the hall. It's empty, none of the servants are going back and forth so I take Renit's hand and lead him out. We break into an easy and quiet jog, using the balls of our feet to remain silent on the marble floors.