Page 59 of Her Ivory Flame

“You are not allowed such a pleasure.”

“I’m a queen, I can do what I want,” she barked back and finally looked up at him, his maroon eyes bright with fury.

“You are not a queen yet, princess,” he growled. “If something happens to you..” His voice trailed off and she sensed a hint of worry in his voice.

She set down her spoon and surveyed his body across from her. He wasn’t as angry as she thought he would be, but more in distressor concern. She raised her eyebrow to him and he just kept his eyes locked on hers.

“Did I scare you?” she asked softly.

“I don’t get scared,” he replied back, calmness now taking over his tone. “I am capable of being concerned though.”

“That’s shocking.” She teased and relaxed her arms on the table.

He didn’t smile but could see him mirror her movements and watched the tension leave his shoulders.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, the realization of what she had put him through. She might have been mad at him, but he did admit to caring about her wellbeing and to disappear on him wasn’t fair.

“Can I ask why you were so angry?” He muttered.

She looked around the room, a few patrons in quiet conversations and the scar faced man from before staring at her once more. It was odd, but at least this time she knew she would be able to defend herself better.

“You called me childish and didn’t support me.” she shrugged.

“What do you mean?”

“You reprimanded me for defending myself,” she snapped.

“I didn’t reprimand you.”

“You were angry at me for doing it.”

“Because you showed your power to him,” he sighed. “He now knows how powerful you can be and might decide to encourage you to give it to him.”

She then knew she was right about the tension in the throne room, the thought crossing her mind then too.

“He can’t do anything until I get my full power back anyways.”

“From now on, you hold your tongue and take whatever he says toward you. Once this war is over you are free to go back home and be free of him.” Kaden’s voice had turned soft again and she saw a flicker of something in his eyes, gone too quickly to figure out what.

Doras walked up to the table, the same outfit from the last time she was here and gave Kaden a big smile.

“Hey handsome.” Doras set a steak down in front of him, “She ordered ahead of you.”

Kaden turned his attention from the waitress and his eyes met her gaze again. He raised his eyebrow and shifted in his seat across from her.

Doras nodded and left, leaving her trying not to smile as he processed what had just happened with an odd look on his face.

“I knew you would find me.” she smirked. “Figured I would order you some food, just returning the favor.”

He looked down at the steak, the smoke coming off of it from being freshly taken off the fire, and started to eat it without another word. She wasn’t sure if it was because he was starving or because he didn’t know how to react.

She wondered if he had ever had anyone take care of him in his life. She still didn’t know anything about him but from what shecould tell and from his reaction, it seemed he wasn’t used to that kind of gesture.

“I can feel you staring,” he mumbled with food still in his mouth.

“Still trying to figure you out.” she shrugged and pushed the empty bowl to the side so Doras could grab it on her next round around the room. A few more people had entered, the normal dinner hour approaching and she could tell it was going to start getting busy.

“Good luck.” he chuckled and before she knew it, his plate was empty.