Page 44 of Mountains of Mist and Magic

While the tub filled, Julietta wrapped a towel around her and went back out to the room to find a fresh set of clothes. She hadn't brought much with her, but anything clean and free from sand would suffice. She located her trunk, shoved in a corner, next to Triston's. As she approached them, she could smell his scent lingering from his trunk, but she ignored it as she pulled out a pair of soft blue leggings and a loose tunic. She'd started wearing pants with tunics here and there, seeing how much movement they afforded Renya. Her mother disapproved, but didn't bother Julietta too much about it, as long as she didn't wear them all the time. Julietta turned to place the clothing on the stool in the bathroom, but before she could reach it, there was a knock on the door.

“Fresh linens,” a girl called out. Julietta instantly flicked her eyes to where she had been sleeping on the bed and saw traces of dirt and sand there.

“Come in,” she said, wrapping the towel around her even tighter.

A young girl, no more than twelve or thirteen, came into the room with a pile of sheets. When she saw Julietta in the towel, she started back out the door. Julietta laughed. “It's fine, come in. I'm just going to take a bath anyway.”

The girl nodded and then moved into the room quickly. She started changing the sheets in an extremely efficient manner. Julietta turned back towards the bathroom.

“Mistress, would you like some tea and biscuits? Your husband requested that I bring you something to eat and drink.”

Julietta blushed at the girl's assumption, but then realized it was an easy mistake to make since they had been traveling together unchaperoned. “That would be wonderful.”

The girl left, and Julietta finally slipped into the bathroom with her new clothing. She laid the towel and clothing on the stool, and then finally sunk into the tub. The temperature was just right, and the relaxation of floating in the water helped to ease the lingering headache she still had. It felt good to get clean, and slowly the tension she seemed to be carrying ebbed away as the rippling water stilled. Julietta wanted nothing more than to linger in the tub, but she knew they needed to plan the rest of their journey, and she still wanted to see about getting another room for Triston.

Julietta dried off, humming a bit, feeling much more like herself. She heard a knock at the door, and she wrapped the towel around her tightly, assuming that the girl would have trouble managing the door and the tray. “Come in,” she called, moving to the door to assist her.

The door opened, but it wasn't the girl. Triston stood there, his mouth agape.

Julietta was stunned, rooted to the spot. The shock from seeing him, instead of the young girl, was enough to knock her off balance.

“Oh my,” she shrieked, darting back into the bathroom.

“I'm so sorry,” Triston apologized, his voice muffled through the door. Julietta rapidly pulled on her clothes, nearly falling over in her haste.

“It's my fault,” she mumbled, the button on her tunic getting stuck in her hair. “I told you to come in, I thought you were the serving girl.”

“You thought I was a girl?”

“No!”

“Relax, I'm just teasing you, Julietta. Please come out.”

“I can't,” she said, still trying to untangle herself from the button. “I'm...stuck.”

“Stuck? I'm going to come in.”

Julietta wanted to tell him that she would figure it out, but she was just getting more and more tangled, and her head hurt from where she was tugging on her hair, trying to free it.

She was just in a small bralette, but luckily it covered her fairly well. She had seen Esmeralda wear much more revealing ensembles in public. Triston opened the door, and she looked up at him, her arms half in her tunic, with the button on the back completely wound in one of her wet curls.

Triston's eyes lingered on her skin for just a second before he leapt into action, carefully unwinding her hair from the button. She came free instantly and pulled her arm through her shirt quickly. Then Triston was behind her, helping to smooth the back of her tunic down. His hand brushed her neck, and for a split second, she felt that same heat and tingling she felt last night. She sighed deeply, struggling not to lean into his touch.

“I know,” he whispered in her ear, his lips dangerously close to her jawline. “It's hard to resist the bond.”

She nodded and turned around to face him. His gray eyes burned into hers, and she was mesmerized by them. He took a step closer to her, and her heart pounded rapidly in her chest.

“It's getting harder and harder to resist you,” he admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.

Julietta's breath caught in her throat, her pulse quickening at his words. “Triston, we've tried to fight this...this pull between us.”

“I know,” he replied, his gaze never leaving hers. “But no matter how hard I try, I can't resist the connection of our bond. Every moment we spend apart feels like an eternity, and when we're together, it's like...like nothing else matters.”

A flicker of emotion passed across Julietta's face, a mixture of longing and fear. “I feel it too,” she confessed, her voice hardly audible. “I try to push it away, but the pull between us is undeniable.”

Triston reached out, his fingers grazing her cheek with a feather-light touch. “I don't know how much longer I can fight it,” he admitted, his voice raw with emotion. “Being near you, it's like a constant battle against everything I’ve planned for my life.”

Julietta closed her eyes, leaning into his touch with a sigh. “I understand,” she whispered, her voice trembling with emotion. “But we can't give in, Triston. Our fates may be intertwined, but we still have a choice in how we deal with them.”

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