The Crown's Entrapment

At Miran ocean

After all was said and done, Xenia and Darius finally boarded the Lucian, the ship slowly sailing away from Valcor Island before the sun finally set. Xenia sighed deeply as she stared at the island from the deck of the ship.

Embracing herself, she felt the chill of the winter breeze touching her skin. But the cold didn’t take long, however, since she felt the familiar warmth of her mate embracing her from behind before it even became a problem.

“This feels so nice,” she murmured with a smile as she leaned more into Darius’s sturdy chest.

“We’ll take around a day and a half to reach Valcrez, and I’ve talked to Osman to give you some more slack,” Darius murmured.

“Tomorrow, you’ll have to swim your way again alongside the ship. He wanted your body to get used to the cold, and he believes you need more training in the water since you can easily escape the trial of the earth element as long as you give the Sphinx a correct answer to its riddle,” Darius continued.

“You won’t have any problems with the trial of air as well since fairies are not that complicated. You can also easily pass the Basilisk since you’ve trained well enough in dodging blades, and you can easily escape its fire and its sight. All in all, you just need to apply what you practiced in breathing and keeping yourself calm and sane in the heat of its lair.”

He kept on rambling, “Mermaids are the most complicated of all, apparently, so we should focus more on your resilience in the water, Xen.”

Xenia let out a heavy sigh, Darius nudged his nose into her head to comfort her. And as if it wasn’t enough, he even grabbed a handful of her long hair and smelled it.

Feeling his actions, she chuckled at seeing how her mate was sniffing her too much. “I’m curious… Do I smell that good that you’re so drawn to my scent?”

“You smell fresh, radiant, warm, sweet, soothing, and yet sensual all at the same time…” he responded.

Xenia chuckled, “Can’t you summarize it in just one word? That’s too many scents to keep track of.”

“Hmm… Delicious then…” Darius murmured into her ears.

Xenia gulped before a satisfied smile curved itself on her beautiful lips. On instinct, Darius sensually kissed her neck while nuzzling his nose onto her skin. Likewise, she tilted her head up to the side to give him more access. They had done it back in the cabin for several rounds, but her mate was simply insatiable.

Well, it wasn’t just him. It turned out that she was just as insatiable as well.

“By the way, I have some good news about Jayra and Bartos,” Darius whispered out. “It was reported to me just yesterday, and I’ve almost forgotten about it…”

“What is it then?” Xenia asked.

“They completed the mate bond, and they want to have their marriage ceremony as soon as we’re back,” he relayed with a smile. “Who would’ve thought that Bartos has the speed of lightning in regards to this matter…”

Xenia chuckled at the news. She could already see how excited her friend was to personally talk to her about how things went between her and Bartos now.

“They’re currently at the Hindman Estate since Bartos formally introduced Jayra to her family,” Darius added. “How is Jayra’s family, by the way? Do you think it’s alright with them?”

“Hmm… We’re pretty much Jayra’s family already. She was an orphan abandoned outside the castle walls when she was a baby, and we just went from there, I suppose,” Xenia wistfully pondered as she moved closer into Darius’s arms.

“I do wonder if Jayra had already sent a message to my parents about this. My parents and I will represent Jayra’s side at the wedding ceremony. That also includes the elders in our church who took care of her. I should probably send a message since she’d probably be too shy to do it herself.”

Having said her piece, Darius found it prudent to let her go and said, “Alright then. Give me the letter once you’re done. I’ll have it delivered to Ebodia as soon as possible.”

Xenia nodded before she excitedly ran inside Darius’s cabin.

****

Darius heaved out a long deep sigh as he closed his eyes. There was another piece of news that came, but it was far from being the good kind.

The bad news just came with Osman reporting it to him telepathically as soon as he told Xen the good news about Jayra and Bartos.

“Won’t you tell the Princess about it?”

Darius let out another breath upon hearing Osman’s voice call out from behind him. The latter now stood beside him, both of them looking out to the ever smaller Valcor Island out in the distance.

“Her parents wanted to conceal this news from her, so I really don’t know Osman,” Darius sighed. “I… I’m worried and I’m afraid that this news will affect her too much… Her parents didn’t want her to lose her concentration so that she focus more on her training.”

“What’s your plan then, Sire?” Osman inquired. Darius could only let out another sigh.

“I cannot delay the wedding ceremony and the coming trials since the entirety of Cordon is now looking forward to it,” Darius hummed in deep thought. “And the longer we wait… the more I’m giving Nasser an opportunity to use Xen against me. We’re talking about the lives of our soldiers in the battle to fight with our Ebodian allies. Those soldiers had left their families behind already. We need to seal this marriage alliance in accordance with our traditions and customs so that I can continue bringing our support to Ebodia in this war.”

Osman nodded, “And I’m sure that Elder Nasser will use this against you, Your Highness, by convincing the denizens of our kingdom that you’re a selfish king who is willing to sacrifice his people just for the benefit of his mate who’s not even their Queen yet.”

Darius could only breathe out a bit of air from his ever-tightening chest. Xen deserved to know what was happening in the war, but King Stephan and Queen Dana strongly requested him not to say a word to their daughter until she finished the trial.

“Ezekiel… Where are you…” he murmured out with a heavy sigh.

The prince had gone missing in the battlegrounds with the new Seer, and none knew what he was up to know… or if the two were even still alive, to begin with. Right now, it was Atlas and Ezme who took command of the continued war of Ebodia against Helion’s armies, and even they didn’t know what to expect anymore.

“I will talk to Nikolai about this,” Darius commented with a dark look on his face. “I’ll personally attend to the war as soon as Xenia passes the trials.”

“It will be very dangerous, especially now that a dragon has risen…” Osman commented.

He knew of the exact details of the report, except for that one detail on how a dragon had suddenly appeared, going berserk and burning every living thing its eyes could see. It was believed that the Prince ran after the dragon to slay it, seeing how the Seer was pushing her horse forward to also chase the dragon that suddenly fled the scene.