Page 40 of Her Ivory Flame

“More than mad but defensive and tried to make me feel guilty for asking.” She ran her hand over her face and took a deep breath.

“You had sex with him again?” he growled, his body going tense in front of her.

“What? How-”

“I can smell it,” he snarled. “As soon as I walked into the room it hit me in the face.”

She felt her cheeks go red but didn’t try to hide it. Fae and their damn sense of smell, she wished she had gotten that from her father.

“Why didn’t you say anything then?” she glared at him.

“I was waiting to see how it was going to affect you, and it apparently did a lot.” He took in an annoyed deep breath. “Let’s go.”

He sheathed his sword on his back and started to leave the training area before she could say anything. She put her sword away and jogged a few steps to catch up to him.

“What are we doing?” she asked hesitantly.

“Going for a ride.” He muttered gruffly and continued to walk out of the training area towards the stables a few yards away.

She could feel a shift in him, his tone not as harsh and the sudden interest in her feelings made her weary. It took her a few seconds before she started after him, many scenarios going through her head but something about the way he glanced over his shoulder to her made her feel…safe.

- - - - - - --

After saddling her grey mare that she demanded to be her main mount, she walked out of the stable and mounted up starting towards the outer wall of the castle.

She didn’t know what his plan was or why they were going for a ride, but Kaden just kept his face molded into his normal stone expression as he rode his bay gelding alongside her.

People stared at her as they rode by, the public now knowing who she was made it a lot harder to go anywhere without being noticed. Her white hair was also tucked into a braided crown on her head and made it easy to spot from a distance in the sunlight going through town. No one came up to her though, Kaden’s presence making it known not to come close without consequences.

It didn’t take long before they were out of the main gates and a field of grass surrounded them, the same field she had rode through coming there just over a week ago.

She looked at Kaden again for some kind of hint of what they were doing, but he just kept staring forward without a change in pace or facial expression.

Being out in the fresh air did make her feel better, being cooped up in the castle had made it hard for her to focus. She had been so used to living in nature that being in the castle was harder than she expected to get used to again. It seemed she hadn’t realized how much she missed being outside of the castle till she was physically venturing out of it.

“Follow me,” he said over his shoulder, her horse falling back a few steps with her staring at the field around them.

He turned his horse towards some woods on the edge of the field and she obeyed without argument. She loved the woods, and curiosity was getting the best of her with whatever Kaden was planning.

Soon trees were surrounding her and they rode a few miles in before stopping in a small meadow hidden in the forest.

“Dismount,” he barked and she did as she was told, tying the horse to a nearby tree before following him into the middle of the sunpatch meadow.

“Sit.” he pointed to the grass covered ground and she gave him a questioning look. When he just glared at her more she decided to just keep following his directions.

She removed her sword and set it on the ground before sitting next to it, the sun beaming down on her making her training suit warm. Kaden sat across from her, both folding their legs like pretzels and he finally met her stare for the first time all day.

“The Ivory Flame feeds off of nature and it seems you haven’t been able to try and connect with it again,” he spoke quietly.

“How do you know about the Ivory Flame?” she asked, her eyebrow raised.

“I like to know what I’m working with.” He snapped. “It’s my job to get your power back and I need to know everything about it.”

“Who knew you could read?” she teased faintly.

She swore she saw a slight tug of his lips, but was gone before she could record it to memory.

“So if you read about my power, did you read about the Ebony Fire as well?” she asked casually.