Page 64 of Her Ivory Flame

She looked back to Kaden who was still looking at her but with softer eyes and she had to swallow hard to keep her composure.

Bromel was another larger city to the west, opposite of Ketras. It was known for having a high theft rate in the main town, the governor's estate heavily guarded taking up most of the protection the city offered.

Emris was sending her there because he couldn’t protect his own capital and wanted time to plan.

Grimstone was even worse, the murder rate of travelers going through there the highest in the entire kingdom. Something didn’t seem right and she had a sickening feeling in her stomach.

“Silas will be traveling with you.” Emris continued.

“No.” She snapped herself out of her trance and whipped her head to the king. “I choose Kaden to come with me and that is final.”

“I can’t allow that, I need him here in case we are attacked again.”

“You assigned him as my trainer and his assignment isn’t finished yet.” she snarled, her heart starting to race. The thought of having to leave was bad enough, but the sting in her chest told her losing Kaden for some reason was even worse.

“She is right.” Kaden said, taking a step closer to her. “She needs more time to train and Silas won’t help her with it.”

“Who says I won’t train her?” Silas snapped.

“You can’t train her.” Kaden snarled back. “She doesn’t trust you, she won’t focus on what she needs to.”

She felt Raine place her hand on her arm for a quick moment and she realized she was shaking from anxiety building inside her. Kaden might have been her guard, but at this point he had become her friend and she didn’t have many of them.

‘1,2,3..’she started to count in hopes of calming herself.

“Fine.” Emris groaned. “Kaden will go.”

She fought the tear that was forming in the corner of her eye, not wanting to show her weakness to him but her chest deflated with the long breath she let herself release.

Kaden walked up next to her, opposite of Raine and nodded to the king. “We will get ready and leave first thing in the morning.”

Her eyes glanced at Silas, the glare in his eyes making her very aware he was not happy with the change of plan and she just glared back. If she really wanted to be childish, she would have stuck her tongue out at him but she was trying to behave.

“I still need you here for a while longer.” Emris stated towards Kaden.

“It’s ok, we will continue our walk.” Raine’s voice directed towards Kaden and then looked back at her. “Come my lady.”

She let herself meet Kaden’s eyes one last time, his eyes calm and she realized that he was fighting for her. He always had been.

When she turned, she reached and let her hand graze him, letting him know she saw what he was doing, and was thankful for it.

A spark flickered in his eyes just before she had to look away and her skin prickled at the feeling it left on her. Raine squeezed her arm as if sensing the tension and she just followed her out towards the gardens without another word.

Chapter 24

The gardens were extravagant to say the least, and she had never seen such a variety of flowers anywhere she had ever been. Vast areas of flower mixtures lined the stone carved structures along the path they now walked down.

They had been out walking for around an hour, a warmer spring day surrounding them with the sun fully out. It was almost summer, the days getting warmer but night still chilly and she was glad she got to actually enjoy the sun instead of sweating in it.

“I will go with you if it is your wish.” Raine voiced after a long silence.

“Is that what you want?”

They stopped by a stone bench and sat for a short rest, her hands sitting in her lap and watching her maiden carefully.

“I’ve been in Elnora my entire life, I have no family and the stone walls of the castle are getting old to look at.” Raine smiled shyly.

“You are more than welcome to come with us,” she said softly. “It could get dangerous though, so I want you to take that into consideration.”