Page 23 of Her Ivory Flame

“But you knowwhoI am or who I’m supposed to be at least.” She tilted her head back with her eyes closed. “I heard what you said to Silas.”

“I don’t judge people by their titles.”

She turned her head quickly towards him, his maroon eyes fixed on hers. “You don’t see me as a princess that failed to protect her people?”

“No.” His eyes softened slightly for the first time since she met him. “I see a female who needs to let go of the past and forgive herself for things that were out of her control.”

She felt a wave of calmness fall on her shoulders and she didn't know where it came from. His presence didn’t bother her as much anymore, but there was still something tugging at her stomach she could not explain..

“I’ll leave you to finish.” He looked away and disappeared out the door.

Her eyes lingered there for a long moment, curiosity getting the best of her and exhaustion making her mind race with thought.

He was rough and cruel to her in training, but she just saw a flicker of softness she hoped to see again. She didn’t know how long she would be able to last with his negativity around her.

She sat for a while longer before getting out of the cold bath water. She again didn’t bring clothes in with her so she just wrapped herself in the towel and walked out to the main room, hair pulled over the front of one shoulder.

Kaden was sitting at the table eating and glanced up at her but quickly looked back to his food seeing she was not dressed. At least he had some respect for her.

She sauntered to the bed area and maneuvered around her armoire to stay out of sight. She put on her night clothes and soon joined him across the table with hair still dripping water down her back.

A bowl of soup was in front of her, some bread off to the side, and a small chocolate brownie next to it. She dipped the bread in the soup and savored the taste of it in her mouth, another heavily spiced dish from the kitchen.

“You did better today,” Kaden mumbled across from her in his typical bland tone.

She looked up at him and he kept his eyes on his soup that was almost gone.

“Wow, did you just give me a compliment?” a hint of teasing in her voice.

He just shrugged but kept silent. She couldn’t read him, at least not easily. He was a mystery to her, but she believed Silas when he said he was a good male.

“So, what’s your story?” she asked casually.

“Not one I want to talk about,” he growled, his body instantly bristling.

She studied him for a minute, his eyes not looking towards her and continued to finish his food. His black hair was dangling down the side of his face, but almost looked like it had a red hue when the light hit it just right. Other than their fighting sessions, she really had never spent much time around him to really look at him.

“Ok.” she finally shrugged, not wanting to push the issue and upset him after he did just compliment her.

“Another time.” He glanced at her, his body relaxing slightly and she continued to eat her food, anxious for Silas to return.

They sat in silence, Kaden getting up and walking to the couch to watch the fire again.

She finished eating and made her way to her bed, crawling into it with her back towards him. She ached for Silas, but an unknown peaceful feeling blanketed her that she couldn’t place, but accepted the feeling and fell asleep.

Chapter 10

The room was dark when she felt the mattress sink next to her, the fireplace the only source of light and the vanilla scent wrestled her out of her sleep.

“There you are,” she said softly, reaching her hand to find his warm chest moving towards her. He didn’t say a word before pulling her close to him and her head landed on his chest, his heart beating faster than normal. “You ok?” she lifted her head, her eyes trying to adjust to the darkness.

“I’m fine. Go back to sleep,” he whispered into her hair and grabbed her hand on his chest tenderly. His thumb rubbed the back of her hand idly, something that felt so natural.

She could tell something was wrong, and she lifted her head higher to look at his face. Even in the small glow of the fire, she could see the bruising on the side of it.

“What happened?” Worry engulfing her.

“I’m fine.” His hand leaving hers and cupping the side of her face.