The Crown's Entrapment

Darius couldn't help but smile as he followed Xenia into his tent. He had never felt that kind of feeling before, and it was something that he simply couldn't explain even to himself. It was far from the norm, but the moment he arrived from battle and saw Xen waiting like that; checking on him and assessing if he was wounded or not… it was gladdening.

He clearly saw the concern in her eyes, and because of that, he was on cloud nine. And to add even more excitement to his already fluttering heart, her reaction just now when Ezekiel asked him to look after Tarah was something he really loved.

[Look at you grinning ear to ear like that. Discounting the fact that it was your suggestion in the first place, I think it all worked out in the end,] Zeus chuckled with blissful glee. [Well, she's jealous. If she wasn't, then she wouldn't care about whether or not you look after any woman.]

It was perfect. She didn't even bother looking at Atlas earlier, Darius having noticed how Xen's eyes glued themselves solely at him and her brother as soon as they arrived.

[He's her brother, so I don't need to get jealous about him,] Darius noted. He was honestly afraid that Xenia would worry more about Atlas, which made it all the sweeter when it wasn't the case.

Following Xen inside the tent, he was eager to crush her in his arms as he kept himself in check. He was aware that he should control himself for now, with Gideon having given him a quick telepathic report about the current situation.

Xen was about to turn around and face him when Darius quickly wrapped his arms around her, ignoring all sense of control as he whispered into her ear, "I missed you. I'm glad you're feeling better now, Xen. You just lost someone dear to you, but the living must continue on in moving forward. After all, that would've been that person's wish in the first place. They wouldn't want us to grieve for too long, but that also doesn't mean we must forget about them. We'll keep the good memories we had with them in our hearts."

Xenia's eyes widened at his words, but he wasn't done as he continued.

"I know what you wanted to talk about. Gideon already telepathically informed me that you moved to another tent," Darius preemptively explained. "Let me just hug you like this for a while. I'll let you go afterwards and give you the space you need… You can go back to your own tent after this."

Xen didn't respond and as usual, Darius took her silence as a yes. They simply stood there unmoving for quite some time, with him hugging her from behind and drowning himself in her intoxicating scent.

"I should leave now, my King. In the meantime, you need a good bath, seeing as you actually stink right now," Xen commented. "Let me get the servants to prepare you a bath."

Darius chuckled at her words. He probably smelled like rotten meat by now since he had the dried blood of their enemies on him, but all of that paled in comparison to Xen's alluring scent overpowering his nose. Letting out a heavy sigh, he listlessly loosened his arms around her and let her go.

"Alright. Go before I change my mind, Xen," Darius told her. "Though, I must confess that it's quite hard for me to do this, even if I understand and respect that this is what you wanted."

"Thank you," Xen whispered before she quickly turned to leave his tent.

"I'll wait for you to come back to me, so please don't take too long," he added before Xen's back totally disappeared.

[Hah! You'll definitely not gonna last,] Zeus scoffed. [But I am curious as to how long you can take being away from her.]

Darius let out another heavy sigh. Hopefully, she wouldn't take too long. Zeus will be insufferable in teasing him the longer she took her time.

***

Outside Darius's tent, Xenia stopped in her tracks for a while as she closed her eyes.

She actually didn't it all to end like that. She was actually ready to get into a debate with the Werewolf King because she just assumed that he wouldn't let her go with how possessive he could be. So seeing what just happened, with Darius actually letting her go, caught her off guard.

With a breath, she opened her eyes and looked up at the bright sky. She was somehow comforted by Darius's words, with him talking about grief and moving forward. Flashing a faint smile, she thought about how Beirut would actually agree with Darius. The seer wouldn't want her to blame herself over something like his death. He wouldn't want her to have any kind of angst for that matter.

Xenia nodded to herself. She wouldn't grieve long, but she will always keep the good memories she had with her Master to heart; somehow who had taken a special part of her life since the day she was born.

She took in another deep breath and released it with ease. Her lips curled up contently as she glanced back at Darius's tent. "Since when did he become this considerate?"

Even now, she could still feel his warmth in her body, even if he indeed stunk of death and decay. She couldn't care less. She felt at ease anyway.

Chuckling to herself, Xenia was in a very good mood as she asked the servants to prepare everything Darius might need for the day. She then headed towards her own tent, not stopping for anything as she practically skipped in her step.

However…

"What's going on with her?"

She creased her forehead as her eyes darted towards a particular direction. Specifically, towards the naughty vampire princess following Atlas around.

"Is she following Atlas around?" the princess murmured out with a frown.

"There you are."

Xenia's ears perked up at the familiar voice. Turning to her, Jayra gave her a tired smile as she spoke to her.

"Ah… My head is spinning already. Prince Ezekiel gave me a task to look after Tarah, but it's more like I have to spy on her," Jayra sighed. "I'm so busy with a lot of important things on my hands. How about you help me, milady? Please? I'm not good at spying."

"How about no?" Xenia teased.

"Aww… Although, I have a better idea."

"And what is that, exactly?" Xenia asked with a raised brow, seeing the mischievous smile on her friend's face.

"Why don't you assign Tarah to be His Highness's personal servant instead? I mean, that way he'll be able to watch her closely himself. You know… keep your enemies closer and all that…" Jayra suggested.

"If he's right with his suspicion about Tarah being a spy, then he'll know immediately. Besides, I'm sure you too wouldn't want to babysit Tarah, right? Why not give it a try? You're the only person who has the power to go against the Prince's words so…"

Hearing the desperation in her friend's voice, Xenia sighed as she simply murmured, "I'll think about it, Jayra."

"Thanks…" Jayra weakly chuckled in gratitude. "In all honesty though, I do feel that something's off."

"Huh?"

"Haven't you noticed how Prince Ezekiel looked at Tarah? It's too intense. I think he's smitten," Jayra hypothesized, making Xenia chuckle at her words.

"There's a story to it, Jayra, so the look you noticed earlier is probably not the look of someone that's smitten," Xenia corrected. "It's more on the cautious and suspicious side, really."

Jayra shook her head as she scoffed, "Poor Werewolf King. He'll surely need a lot of patience with you, milady… Just how dense can you be?"