The Crown's Entrapment

Xenia frowned when she heard a woman's voice yelling out to her. She wouldn't have minded it at first, but what truly distracted her was the fact that she saw the same woman hugging Darius's arm with her bosoms brushing up against him!

It was in that momentary lapse that she failed to see the stray arrow aimed at her back.

"Ahhh!" she cried out when she felt the blade of the arrow grazing on her skin.

"Xen," Darius gasped as he quickly came to her. Pulling her back, she narrowly missed death as quickly composed herself.

"It's nothing. Just a scratch," Xenia murmured out with a frown, her eyes fixating themselves on the woman with strange purple hair.

The woman smiled at her and straightforwardly introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Bella."

Xenia only nodded to the newcomer once before she turned to Darius. With a thinly-veiled glare, she asked, "Can we stop, for now, my King? I'm distracted."

Darius frowned at Xenia's request as he strictly replied, "Not yet. You must stay focused on the task at hand no matter how distracted you might get, Xen."

"His Majesty is right," Bella candidly added with a smile. "The trials of the four elements won't be easy to your kind, so you must train hard to keep yourself alive. Also, I'll be joining the fifth trial as well, so it would be nice if I can see you there. It'll be boring if I just have to fight Clara for the throne."

Xenia's frown deepened. Here she was still deciphering what Clara's game was, and now this woman wanted to join in? She held a sharp glare at Darius, one that screamed, 'what a player!'

Just how many women did she have to encounter revolving around this Werewolf King?

'I'm distracted with seeing another woman lurking around my mate!' she wanted to lash out loud, but she didn't. Darius was right. She shouldn't let anything distract her.

Composing herself, she closed her eyes as she whispered, "Again."

Taking his silence as a yes, Xenia cleared her mind as she focused on her training. The next thing she knew, another batch of arrows were flying towards her. Using a different strategy, she kept her eyes closed as she let her body move in sync with the flow of the air around her.

She kept at it, her mind zoning out as everything became routine. Minutes had already passed when she heard Darius's voice.

"That's enough."

At his command, the arrows stopped flying towards her, and so did she. Xenia opened her eyes and dainty applause greeted her efforts.

"Wow! That's great. You move just like us now," Bella congratulated her with genuine admiration. "I guess that means you can pass the Trial of Air without a sweat now."

Hearing the praise, Xenia gave her a smile before she walked towards Darius's side, comfortably hooking her arms around his as she sweetly smiled, ignoring the mischievous smirk on his face.

"Shall we go now, my King? Walk me to my chambers so that I can change before joining you in your luncheon meeting." Satisfied with her words, Xenia then looked at Bella and directly addressed her. "It was nice meeting you, Lady Bella. But, if you'll excuse us..."

She gave the woman a slight nod before she started walking away with Darius. However, they were only halfway out of the stadium before they stopped midstep.

"What's wrong?" Darius whispered out to her.

"Completing the act..." Xenia coldly stated before turning around to look at Bella. With a faint glare, she added, "By the way, I'm quite possessive with what's mine, so please refrain from touching my mate. I will consider your prior act a blatant insult to me, and you wouldn't want the King's mate getting annoyed now, wouldn't we?"

"Wha-"

She then addressed Darius, her eyes still lingering in Bella's direction, ignoring the woman's confusion.

"My King, didn't you already spread the word that insulting me, your mate, is equivalent to insulting you? It seems like it hasn't reached Lady Bella's ear yet. I'm quite disappointed that the rumors and gossip around me seem to be spreading faster than your orders."

Piecing together her play, Darius amusingly smirked as he stated, "You heard my mate, Bella. Please refrain yourself from touching me from now on."

Xenia released the frown on her forehead upon seeing the genuine smile on Bella's face as the woman amusingly replied, "Of course, My King. I will make sure that this won't happen again. My apologies to you and to our Lady Xenia."

"Very well. And do refrain yourself from addressing me as 'my King' as well. Only my mate, Xen, can address me in such a manner..." Darius added before he continued walking with Xen.

"I understand, and I will oblige accordingly," Bella promptly replied.

Leaving the stadium, Xenia waited until they were completely out of earshot before she pointed something out.

"You're really enjoying this, huh," Xenia couldn't help but scoff at seeing how Darius was even whistling as they walked back inside the castle.

"Of course. I can smell your flaming jealousy, and it pleases me to see you this riled up," Darius directly replied.

Xenia's face burned in embarrassment. So she was jealous? Well, as much as she wanted to deny it, doing so would only make her look pathetic. Still, she almost forgot that Darius could almost smell everything from her. She couldn't even hide any of her desires for him now.

"This is so unfair. I feel like I can't hide anything from you if you can just smell everything in me," Xenia complained with a pout. "Besides, I'm just being territorial. You're being possessive around me, so it's only natural for me to do the same thing, wouldn't you think?"

Darius chuckled. "You'll be able to smell me my love, feel my emotions, and even talk to me telepathically once you allow me to mark you, you know," he enthusiastically replied.

Xenia remained quiet, thoroughly assessing herself if she was even ready for such a thing. A terse silence settled between them as the question lingered.

"Like I said, I will wait for you, Xen, so don't stress yourself out over it," Darius added. "In the meantime, focus on your training. I want you to pass all the trials with flying colors."

He then stopped walking to face Xenia, pulling her in for a warm embrace as he whispered, "There's no other woman I would want to be my Queen other than you, Xen. You're the only one for me..."

Her heart melted with those words. She wanted to ask Darius if he really meant his words. If he... if he really had feelings for her and not just because of the Mate Pull affecting him. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out of it.

Giving up, Xenia bit her lower lip as she let her nose nuzzle into his masculine scent. It felt so nice to be in his arms like this, feeling so secure and comforted within his embrace. When did that start? She didn't know anymore.

But one thing was for sure, she would definitely do her best and give her all to stay by his side; as his mate, his Queen... All because that was what she wanted as well; To be the only woman in his life.

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A/N: Keep voting on Golden Tickets and Power stones guys. I will release 5 chapters instead of just 2 every time we reach 100s on Golden Tickets and 1000s on Powerstones. Another Extra Bonus Chapter/s too will be released for every Super Gift the book will receive. Thank you so much for the support and love. PS. Share your thoughts about the book through comments and reviews.