Page 75 of Her Ivory Flame

Her feet hit the ground and she felt a shock go up her legs when she landed. Being in the saddle for so long was making parts of her hurt that she wasn’t used to.

“I feel the same.” Raine chuckled beside her. “We will be used to riding about the time we arrive.”

She smiled back at her and started to loosen the saddle on Zuri, the mare relaxing instantly at the pressure release.

“So, how was your ride with Finnley?” she teased.

She could see Raine’s face go red instantly and she shoved her lightly with a chuckle.

“He is.. Nice.”

“Nice?” she giggled. “I already knew that.

“Ok fine, he’s adorable and so easy to talk to. If half the guards in the castle would have been like him, I might have stayed. I'm really glad I didn’t now.” Raine’s face beamed with happiness and she tried to keep her smile genuine.

She remembered that feeling with Silas, a twinge of pain stirring inside her. How could she still feel something for someone that broke her so badly? She pushed the memories away as fast as she could that made her miss him, even for a second.

She pulled the saddle fully off Zuri now and set it on the ground a few feet away. There was a small grassy area closer to the road andshe led the mare to it, hobbling her legs before taking her bridle off to graze.

Voices sounded behind her and she kept her eyes on the mare, not wanting to be obvious she was listening.

“You can take Alyra training if you want, we can get things set up here.” Finnley’s familiar voice caught her ear.

“I think that's a good idea, we need as much time as possible for her training.” Kaden replied.

“You think she will be ready in time?”

“I hope so.” Kaden’s voice was hesitant and she felt guilt punch her in the gut.

She still wasn’t making much progress with over two months of training behind her and she knew she was the problem, not him.

Footsteps got closer to her and she casually turned to see Kaden watching her carefully.

“Ready to train?”

“Yep,” she said quickly and waited for him to escort her to wherever they were going to go.

He turned and started walking towards a small path between the mountain and alcove, taking them higher up the mountain side. When they reached the top of the small hill, she gasped in surprise.

There was a small forest valley with a waterfall coming down the opposite mountainside making a small pool of water at the base.

There wasn’t much room for training, but she thought maybe that was the point and Kaden would use it to challenge her. It wasa smart move, especially considering they had only been training in a flat circle with no obstacles.

They stayed silent while maneuvering down the embankment to the trees, her feet sliding on rocks here and there.

Once down among the trees, Kaden walked towards the water and stopped at the edge of it. The water was raging a few yards from them, the waterfall dropping thousands of feet from above and she could feel the mist from the water colliding at the bottom.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

“I thought you might like it, I heard there were many of them in Mydalsa.” His voice quiet next to her, barely audible over the roar of the water.

“Yes, the mountains give us many waterfalls because of the snow melt. A few of them flow year around and were usually the places I would sneak off to for a swim.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” he chuckled.

She glared up at him and then looked around, the quiet surrounding them somewhat eerie and unnerving.

“We better start training.” She cleared her throat and walked a few feet into the woods, pulling her sword from its sheath.