Page 42 of Her Ivory Flame

Everything was changing, and she wasn’t sure if she was ready for the consequences.

Chapter 17

Training continued daily for what seemed like forever with no more progress for a month straight, at least as far as her powers were concerned.

She was getting stronger physically, her body returning to its pre-war physique and she was loving it.

Her stomach was leaner, muscles larger, and she didn’t look like a skeleton in her face anymore. Even her eyes had light in them again, and she was surprised when Kaden had made a comment about them.

She still had issues with body contact, especially with new guards that helped them and it seemed to be her biggest struggle other than her power. Being used to Kaden helped, but she could still only handle minimal contact, though she had fewer panic attacks in the last month compared to usual.

Kaden had also become more approachable, still ordering her around but ever since she mentioned Mavros’s torture, he seemed to lighten up on his attitude some.

Today she had her sword and axe in hand, dueling the weapons against two volunteer guards.

Emris was upset with the little amount of progress she had with her power and she knew Kaden was feeling the pressure. He had done all he could on his own with weapons and now he needed to challenge her more.

The two guards charged her, one swinging towards her head and the other to her stomach. She was able to stop both, her axe head hooking on the higher weapon and jerking it out of the way while her sword blocked her stomach just in time.

Both males flailed backwards and Kaden stood with a glare on his face.

“You can’t rely on your axe like that.” he snapped.

“You think it's going to break or something?” she barked back.

“It could, and if it did you would be severely injured or dead right now.”

She let out a long laugh, his eyes just narrowing on her more and she smirked.

“This axe is older than me. My dad had it made when he found out my mom was pregnant, it will last I promise.”

A flicker of emotion crossed his eyes and she saw his features soften for a second.

“I see.” was all he said.

Footsteps approached and she turned to see Silas walking towards them with a smile on his face.

They had their issues, and she was trying really hard to let the small things slide in hoping things would get better. He was adamant about rushing things and she could tell he really wanted to be intimate again, but she refused the entire month. She kept to her plan and they had not had sex since the night of their fight, which seemed to be the biggest problem.

“What are you doing here?” she asked with a smile.

“I got out early and thought I would come see how your progress was going.” He bent down and gave her a small kiss.

It had taken him a while to cool down, but recently he had become more affectionate towards her like he had been before everything got complicated.

“Nothing's changed.” Kaden said flatly and she could see him glaring at Silas.

“Maybe she needs a new trainer.” Silas snapped back.

Kaden tensed and she stepped between them quickly.

“Enough,” she said calmly.

“Actually, I want to talk to you.” Silas said, looking back down at her.

“Everyone take a break.” Kaden barked and he walked off with the other two guards following.

Her and Silas now stood alone in the middle of the training circle, his eyes drinking in her body before meeting her eyes again.