The Crown's Entrapment

Jayra let out a long deep sigh as she watched the two women get drunk from a distance. She wondered to herself if she should interrupt and stop her dear friend from drinking more, knowing just how badly the princess could handle her alcohol.

However, her more wicked side stopped her from doing so. Instead, her eyes wandered towards the king, whose eyes never left the Princess even after all this time. 'You should thank me for this, Your Majesty,' Jarya mischievously thought with a giggle.

Xenia was always something whenever she was drunk, but at least she was more herself whenever she was like this. She couldn't wait for Xenia to wake up tomorrow just so she could tease her about how wasted she got tonight.

Instead of doing the sensible thing, she simply remained quiet on her seat, watching on as her drunkard friend was carried off in the King's arms out of the dining hall.

All throughout dinner, Jayra decided to carefully and quietly observe the people that would surround the princess during their stay here in the castle. She took some important notes for her to use, written in a secret language only known by the trusted few chosen by the Ebodian Monarchs.

Currently, Jayra was writing down a few more notes for future use when...

"What are you writing?"

She almost jumped out of her seat at Bartos suddenly invading her personal space. He was leaning close to her back, his cheek almost brushing against hers as he closely stared at her journal.

"Oh, nothing. Just some observations and useful things about magic," she fidgeted as she lied. Her heart was beating too fast, and it made her feel all giddy inside. At least the werewolf claiming her as his mate could make her heart thump like this. Small miracles, she supposed.

Feeling him silently leaning back, she subconsciously touched the place where his cheek brushed against. She smiled, thinking how she was acting funny when she herself had already taken the initiative to kiss Bartos before. It was just a simple brush of his cheek against hers, and here she was blushing at the insignificant action.

Once again, she found herself being grateful that Bartos was someone she could consider dating with marriage in her thoughts.

Huh... Marriage... What did Bartos even think about having a marriage ceremony? As far as she knew, Cordonians rarely held wedding ceremonies. The Mate Bond was more than enough; something which could be secured through marking and mating being more than equivalent to marriage for them.

"You're spacing out. A coin for your thoughts?" Bartos asked as he comfortably sat now on the vacant seat beside her.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on having a marriage ceremony?" Jayra directly asked without so much as a hint of hesitation. She was the straightforward type and pussyfooting around a topic just wasted both her time and the person she was talking to.

Bartos seemed taken aback by her question, but he quickly answered her with a small nod. "Marriage is never a problem for me. I will do whatever my mate asks me to do."

Jayra chuckled and jokingly followed, "Then what if I asked you to kill yourself? Would you still do that?"

Instead of the expected answer, Bartos looked at Jayra keenly as he replied without so much as batting an eye, "If that is what you want, then I will do so."

"Huh?" Jayra burst out in disbelief. "What is this? Is the Mate Pull really that strong?"

Bartos didn't say a word, instead, simply nodded as he kept his silence. Meanwhile, Jayra noticed how red his face was getting, so she commented, "Are you drunk already?"

"Hmm... I'm sober, Jayra," Bartos promptly replied. "Shall I escort you back to your room now, seeing as the Princess has already left?"

"Alright then," she curtly answered as she quickly put her journal back into her bag and stood up. Letting Bartos lead her out, the sound of their footsteps echoed against the dim hallways.

"I hope you enjoyed dinner," Bartos commented as he walked beside her.

"The dinner was good. Although, I can feel some tension brewing back there," Jayra pointed out. "Looks like Princess Xenia will need to work hard to get on everybody's good side."

"Oh, that. You're probably talking about Elder Nasser," Bartos clarified with a small grunt. "He's the leader of the opposition against His Majesty. Maybe he'll be lenient towards Princess Xenia since his wife is also from Ebodia."

"Hmm... I heard Lady Shila was his mate, and he turned her into a werewolf after the fact," Jayra recalled. "She's from a prominent family in Ebodia; a Marquess's daughter, at that. They were highly respected, so we honestly all thought that Elder Nasser would somehow support the Princess in some ways. But I guess that won't be the case."

Jayra snorted, her face souring as she recalled how Elder Nasser seemed to be cooking up something that could harm Xenia. He was clearly cunning, and at this rate, he might use the Princess against King Darius. She should report this to King Stephan at the first opportunity she got.

"Don't worry, King Darius won't let anything happen to Princess Xenia," Bartos comforted her, making Jayra smile.

Turning her face to Bartos, Jayra seemingly remembered something as she suddenly asked about another person she should know more about. "Is Clara a good woman?"

"Clara... Hmm... That question is hard to answer. Why ask?" Bartos asked back.

Jayra chuckled as she replied, "I guess she's not a good woman since you can't answer me directly."

Bartos lightly chuckled as he clarified, "Well, Clara is a good person if you're good to her. You see, she bites back hard if you become her enemy. She's an only daughter whose parents were great warriors that died serving the denizens of Cordon and in honor of the crown. She was only six when her parents died, so she basically grew up under the care of King Darius's parents."

He further added, "At a young age, she became the leader of the Midnight Pack along with the guidance of the deceased king himself, King Lucian, Darius's father."

"I see," Jayra curiously nodded. "Although, how could a child be a leader of the pack?"

It might look like she was being too intrusive with her questions, but it was her task to know more about the woman, seeing as there was a possibility that this woman could become Xenia's contender for the Queen and Luna position. She had noticed how Clara was closely observing their Princess the whole night, and she was sure their princess noticed the same.

Although, after a while, the two seemed like they were inseparable friends. That would definitely affect their future clashes, assuming that they grow closer after getting sloshed together.

"Well, for a child, she showed great potential back then. Besides, the werewolves under the Midnight Pack had high respect for Clara's parents," Bartos promptly replied.

"No one would dare tarnish their graves by fighting Clara for the leadership position, especially when Clara had the King backing her up. Either way, as soon as she came of age, she easily proved herself worthy of their trust, showing them that there was no better Alpha to lead their pack than her..."