The Crown's Entrapment

At Cordon Castle

Jayra could only sigh as she watched the couple leave her workshop chamber in the castle. As much as she wanted to help Gilas, she couldn't have done so due to having lost too much of her inner energy already. So instead of doing that, she stood up and started tidying up her things. She had spent enough with her experiments and now, she would like to see Xenia.

pαпdα-ňᴏνêι·сóМ But just as she was about to leave, the door to her room suddenly opened, making her flinch in surprise.

"Are you alright?" Bartos asked as he inspected her from head to toe.

Jayra frowned, "Of course, I am. Why?"

"I just passed by Clara and Gilas. Clara told me to check on you," Bartos anxiously replied. "Also, I felt the sudden erratic beating of your heart. What happened? Did you overwork yourself again?"

Jayra let out an awkward chuckle. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry at how contorted her husband's face was right now. Her dear husband was overreacting again. But then she loved it whenever Bartos was being so thoughtful of her like that.

"I didn't overwork myself, alright," Jayra defended with a grin. "Can't you feel it through the Mate Bond? I am well, my dear husband."

Bartos scoffed and snorted. "Hah! You almost did it… I knew it…"

"But I didn't…" Jayra snorted back. She then walked towards her husband and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Stop putting wrinkles all over your face. You'll age faster than me if you keep doing it. And if you must know, I know my own boundaries. I knew I couldn't do the treatment without exerting too much energy. So instead, I sent a message to my Master to come here and treat Gilas for me."

"Your mentor? The crazy one?" Bartos asked with a frown.

"Yes. I mentioned him to you before, but it's just unfortunate that you weren't able to meet him in person," Jayra shrugged. "You'll be seeing him soon though. I'm sure he'll be here in just two days' time. Don't ever tell him that I said he's crazy. We both must behave once he is around. He may look kind and cheerful on the outside but being on his bad side will bring us bad luck."

She then gave him a suggestive glare, one that made Bartos both sigh and lick his lips as he shrugged in kind. Nudging his nose into her neck, he hoarsely murmured, "You always know how to coax me…"

Jayra giggled when she felt him lick her neck, particularly where the mark of their Mate Bond was located. "How about I feed you enough strength then, hmm?" Bartos seductively hummed.

Jayra blushed. Right, she and Bartos could share their energy with each other by mating because of their Mate Bond… She was able to also replenish her inner core because of her mate who was generous in lending her his energy whenever they would make love. It was one of the benefits of having a powerful mate. She was fortunate that Bartos was a powerful Alpha.

It was then that a realization came to Jayra as her eyes widened.

"Right! That could be a way! A powerful Alpha like Clara!" she suddenly blurted out, hastily pushing away Bartos from his hold on her body.

Ignoring her husband's confused look, she quickly checked some of the books on her shelves. Not finding what she was looking for immediately, she activated a spell to lift the ward keeping her more interesting books hidden. She then dove right back in, tossing and turning every book not minding how they fell on the ground.

"Gilas said he felt Ham the moment Clara marked him to form another Bond," Jayra contemplated with a scoff as she read through the book that she just pulled out. "Knowing this, I believe Ham will get stronger once they complete their Mate Bond again by making love. Ugh… I can't believe I missed such an important step! Am I getting that slow now?"

Unknown to her, Bartos quietly observed her from behind, picking up and tidying up all of the books that fell on the ground. He even opened some of them, but only for a quick glance before placing them into a neat stack beside him.

"I see… So these books are the ones Princess Freya and our Queen herself borrowed… Interesting," Bartos hummed on the sidelines, snapping Jayra back to reality.

"Hey, that's an invasion of privacy!" Jayra remarked with a twitch as she snatched the lewd book Bartos was reading from his hands with a note from Freya saying her thanks for lending it. "Don't you dare tell the others about this or those girls will burn me alive!"

Bartos laughed and teased. "It's no wonder then my wife is very good at seducing me. Are you lending these books for free to them?" he joked. "How about we start a business and have prospecting ladies rent them with a fee?"

Jayra blinked in disbelief as she stared at her husband who was still busy looking at her lewd books on the shelf. After a while, Bartos had probably noticed her jaw-dropping stare as he stopped and turned to her with his roguish grin.

"So, how about you show me more of what you've learned from these books, my wife?" he shamelessly offered. "I'd be delighted to be your subject for certain experiments… I wouldn't even mind that you suck me dry to get all of my inner energy."

Jayra blushed deeply at his meaningful words. She couldn't help but wonder when this serious husband of hers became this cocky whenever it came to her. But nevertheless, she found it incredibly sexy and seductive.

"Right, before I suck your energy dry, how about you relay this message to Gilas first?" Jayra said with a wide smile. "Make sure he informs me once he has tried it and it works… I will need to add this in my journal."

"Relay to Gilas that he needs to make love with Clara?" Bartos frowned. "Shouldn't I relay it to Clara instead since she'll be the one in charge? Gilas will get energy from her."

"Fine… Relay it to the two of them then, but tell them that it's not guaranteed to work. As much as possible, I really don't want to give the two of them some false hope. That it's simply an experiment," Jayra stressed out. "Besides there's no harm in trying it out while they wait for Master Kasper's arrival. Clara should try sharing her energy with Gilas through the Mate Bond by making love. It might just work…"

"What kind then? Rough? Gentle?" Bartos seriously asked.

Jayra stared at him. "Really? You're asking about that?"

Bartos shrugged as he nonchalantly murmured, "You like it rough most of the time… You're able to suck my energy that way…"

Jayra narrowed her eyes at Bartos and huffed. "One more teasing remark from you and I will kick you out of this chamber this instant."

Bartos gave her an awkward smile as he scratched his head. "Hey, I'm just relaying your message for you, my wife…" He then immediately walked towards her and enveloped her waist with his arms as he hoarsely whispered, "Alright, I'm done relaying the message. How about you do some experimentation on me now?"

Jayra sighed as she slowly put her arms around Bartos's neck. She then leaned closer till their lips touched and whispered, "Experiment? No… We have a mission, husband, and that is to make babies so that they can grow alongside our King and Queen's babies…"

Bartos shuddered, but he quickly shrugged as his eyes darted towards the balcony of her workshop chamber.

"What's wrong?" Jayra asked as she followed his gaze.

"Can't you see that she's all fine right now and was about to make love to her husband? Don't tell me you see my presence with her as a threat?!" Bartos growled at what seemed to be shadows going down the balcony. "Damn! Are you all perverts who want to see lovemaking live?!"

"Can you even blame King Nikolai for protecting me this much?" Jayra sighed. "You see, his Queen Mineah will die the moment I do so…"

"I know, but it's too overbearing at times!" Bartos complained.

She could only let off a shrug of resignation. She had gotten used to the constant surveillance already in one way or another. A while ago, she was supposed to check in on Gilas but was unable to use more of her energy because of the shadows watching over her. They were able to stop her from exerting too much energy for some reason.

Still, she couldn't blame them. Mineah's bloodthread was currently running through her veins, and it was what kept the demon blood in her body from going rampant. It was currently eliminating every speck of darkness inside of her, but as soon as it was done…

Only then could she gratefully let Queen Mineah take back her bloodthread so that their lives wouldn't be linked anymore. Unfortunately, none knew just how long it could take, and Jayra could only hope that it would be finished soon.