The Crown's Entrapment

Darius's line on his forehead continued to wrinkle as he eyed Xen.

He was getting anxious, seeing the various expressions playing on the lad's face. The worst however was when the lad would bite his lower lip. It was annoying as hell for him, how the action somehow had an intense effect on him.

Finally removing his gaze from him, he was mortified when he bowed his head and glanced at his erection growing under the water.

'This isn't good,' Darius frustratingly thought. In response, he bathed in a rush and quickly got dressed.

"You can now open your eyes, Xen. For goodness sake!" Darius chided.

Hearing him, Xen slowly opened his eyes. He straightened her back and raised his chin when he saw that he already had his trousers on.

He had an awkward smile as he whispered, "Thank you so much, Your Majesty, for understanding my situation. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience-"

"Move to the corner," Darius instructed.

"You're going to sleep beside me?"

Darius, finally on the verge of his patience, snapped, "And do you want me to sleep on the floor? Don't you see that there's only one bed and it's big enough for more than three people alone?"

He let out a sigh of relief when Xen just moved to the side of the bed and let him lay comfortably beside him. Darius could tell what Xen was thinking as the lad stared at him in disbelief.

"What? It's normal for a servant to sleep in the same bed as their King. You're my warrior-servant Xen, so you also have to look after me. What if I have a nightmare Xen? So relax and clear those doubts that are way too visible on your face. Stop sighing and rest. We have another long day tomorrow, and I want to sleep early…" Darius murmured, hoping Xen would simply obey without any more questions.

But to his disappointment, Xen moved to get up from the bed. He opened his eyes and asked, "What now?"

"I haven't cleaned up, Your Majesty, and I need to go to the privy chamber for a while," Xen murmured.

"Okay, go…" Darius said and watched Xen move towards the small room. He had asked for a chamber with complete amenities, so he watched Xen enter the door and watched him come out and clean his teeth and face in the distance.

'Such graceful movements for a lad!' he suspiciously observed.

Xen was hiding something just based on the inconsistency of his alibis alone. First, there was an arranged marriage, and now a fear of nudity? He wondered what other reasons he would have next to become a wanderer as their journey together continued.

Darius watched as Xen carefully walked towards him but paused as his eyes darted towards the small chair and table inside the room.

"What are you waiting for? Come to bed and sleep," Darius commanded.

"Don't keep your king waiting. And don't you dare tell me you have a fear of sleeping beside someone. It would be too ridiculous to believe!"

Sensing the lad come forward with soft footsteps and climb on the bed, Darius heaved a sigh of relief. After a while, he carefully turned to face Xen's back, making sure that the latter was already asleep.

"He sleeps so easily," Darius murmured with a sigh. He wondered how long he would be in this limbo of confirming Xen's gender.

[Your problem will easily go away if you would just strip her right here and now.] Zeus grunted, becoming rather impatient as well.

[Let's sleep, Zeus. Stop tempting me with your barbaric ways. Xen is not like us. He is a human, and we should respect his beliefs even if he belongs to me now.] Darius mentally chided.

[If we do it your way and he turns out to be a woman, do you think she will even accept me afterwards? She would deny me, and I don't want to force a woman just because she's my mate. You do know that I still don't believe in Mate Pull. I will do what I want and get any woman I want, even if she's not my mate.]

[Yeah, and you can't deny that you want Xen. So stop with the boring speeches and just let me rest if you plan to do things your way.] Zeus chided.

Darius rolled his eyes and mentally murmured, [You're the one who interrupted me, suggesting your barbaric ways.]

Zeus only answered him with a snarl.

Hearing him, Darius sighed and closed his eyes, hoping that sleep would knock on his doorway soon. But sleep was too fleeting to his aide.

Darius's eyes were wide open as he moved and absentmindedly stared at the ceiling.

[He mentioned about an arranged marriage, Zeus.] Darius murmured to Zeus.

[Precisely, you dumbo! She's a woman escaping an arranged marriage. She's wearing a disguise to keep herself from being discovered, don't you think?]

Such a conclusion made sense, and instantly, Darius's eyes lit up with hope.

[How about you do this? Hug her now and pretend to accidentally touch her chest and grab a feel of her breasts?]

[Take note of your thoughts and actions. Don't push me too hard. You look like a pervert in heat! Wait till we find out more about Xen, and for goodness sake… you better be right! Or else I will kill you myself!] Darius grunted.

Zeus growled and whined, [I am right! I can smell her perfectly! You're simply stupid.]

Darius only sighed as he moved to his side and faced Xen's back again. He obviously wanted Xen beside him despite the torment on his part.

Darius moved closer to Xen and buried his face in Xen's nape. The lad's intoxicating smell was so pleasant that he had difficulty controlling himself from just approaching him and sniffing him to his heart's content.

Zeus was right, he wanted nothing more than to pull Xen closer and bury his teeth in Xen's neck to mark and claim him as his.