The Zodiacs

32. Awaited Exposé

She slipped in before him, glancing around the large space with building discomfort. Master Omari walked past her to pull the terrace curtains to a close so nobody on the other side of the castle would enjoy the privilege of identifying the girl currently stepping around the room; her eyes slipped over all the two chairs sitting at the bed's end..

Master Omari stepped back toward her, finally noticing the rigid figure of the awkward girl as she continued to admire the greatness of the bedroom around her. "You can take a seat," he spoke, pulling the formal coat off to leave him in the black button-up beneath. Zahra glanced toward him for a moment before forcing herself to turn away in the natural atmosphere that seemed to come with mingling in a bedroom together. "We'll be here for a couple hours until the guard is dismissed."

"How many hours will that be?" She asked, running her fingers over the carved wooden frame belonging to the back of the left seat. She kept her eyes pinned on the dark colored wood as if she'd never seen something carved in so much detail when, in reality, it was only to keep her attention off the man undoing his belt in front of her.

Pulling the belt from its loops, Master Omari removed the heavy sword and its scabbard from his body to place them on a table against the wall behind him. "It's only ten, so give it two or three more hours before we try to go anywhere," he casually spoke.

Zahra silently gulped the rising lump in her throat; two more hours in this private room with Master Omari standing in front of her like that? With his shirt perfectly fitted to the battle-toned muscles of his back and chest and no sword around his waist? Even though he'd gotten rid of the few things that marked him as an official Knight, Zahra could only see the man in front of her as the Dauha.

But it was unusual now because he didn't seem like such. In fact, he seemed like a normal Egyptian now --just like one of the boys she would probably fall for in the streets and get over the next week. It had been much more than a week, but Zahra was yet to get over the Knight in front of her. By now, it seemed impossible because, regardless of the angle or moment she snuck a glance at him in, Master Omari always seemed flawed, yet so perfect to her.

"You're not going to take a seat?" He asked, finally looking toward the standing girl after a comfortable moment of silence between them. She blinked up at him, still too deep in her thoughts to force them away quick enough. So Zahra simply shook her head, earning a questioning frown from Master Omari. "Are you sure?"

She pulled in a simple breath after realizing that her lungs seemed to stop for a second. "I don't know what things you may have done with other ladies on those chairs," she pressed her lips into a judgemental scowl, putting in a mental effort to keep herself from instinctively imagining Master Omari with a woman. Thinking about it would only make her more unhappy.

At that, Omari perked up an interested eyebrow at the surprise her statement brought. If he'd expected anything from her, it definitely wasn't something so straightforward. But that was his mistake because the girl in front of him had proved to be carelessly honest multiple times before. "Things?" He repeated with evident intrigue, trying to keep the corners of his lips from turning up in response. "What kinds of things?"

Zahra's eyes slipped to him nervously when she noticed the sound of his shoes beginning to click against the smooth tile. "Well...," she inwardly panicked when the distance between them began to come to a slow close with every casual step of Omari's . "Stuff."

"What kind of stuff, Seven?" He asked, letting his hands comfortably hook around the edges of his pockets while he continued to move forward. His movements weren't too quick.

"You know," the girl shrugged, unsure of just how to explain the images that were going through her head without growing into even more of an anxious mess. "Touching them, and I'm sure... kissing them too," she turned to him with a momentary burst of confidence, but the watchful gaze coming from the Knight in front of her quickly washed away any grain of power the girl had. "Bad stuff, that's all. I don't think I have to say much more," she turned away to avoid his eyes.