The Crown's Entrapment

Darius went out of his tent as soon as his Moonlight Cavalry arrived at the Ebodian Encampment.

"Your Majesty," Zandro, the commander of his Moonlight Cavalry, bowed to him together with a few of his chosen men from the Cavalry. "The rest of our soldiers are already on stand-by at the assigned location as per Your Majesty's suggestions. As you predicted, Helion's main army stopped marching near the Badhig Gulf, and had set their encampment there to resupply."

Darius nodded at the news. It was indeed as he predicted, but knowing how cunning the Demon King himself was, Darius knew that there was more to these moves than meets the eye.

After a while, Lurio, Ebodia's head wizard, approached Darius with a slight bow and said, "Your Majesty, the Prince has asked for you and your officers' presence for an important meeting. Please come to the command tent once you're available."

Darius simply nodded. It seemed as if there was more work to be done, but first, he had a few orders to give out for his newly arrived men.

***

After discussing a few important details with his own officers, Darius immediately headed to the command tent along with some of his trusted men.

By the time Darius arrived, everyone has already gathered inside the tent. Everybody of importance was present, and Prince Ezekiel didn't waste any time in starting the meeting as soon as everyone was fully situated.

With a wave of his hand, the discussion of their plans and tactics for the battlefield together with the reinforcements coming from Valcrez and Cordon led by Princess Ezme and Darius himself respectively had finally begun.

"Once again, I thank both of you for coming," Ezekiel started, looking at both Ezme and Darius with a slight bow. "Truly, I am overwhelmed by the assistance each of your powerful kingdoms are providing for our lands. With our combined might, I'm sure that we'll succeed in not letting Helion achieve their goals of conquering our lands."

At his heartfelt thanks, the two answered the prince with a curt nod. Darius's eyes darted at Ezme as he then spoke, "Ezme, I understand that your brother Nikolai just got married. However, I couldn't help but feel worried that he sent you here to lead Valcrez's reinforcements in his stead."

Hearing the king's words, Ezme's face soured as she scoffed, "Huh? My brother simply honored the Ebodian tradition for newlyweds to not go to the battlefield."

Her eyes then turned to Xenia as she scoffed with lifted brows, "From the looks of it, Ebodians have so many beliefs and fussy things with them that you yourself should be wary of, Darius…"

She let out a laugh, "Hah! How many days do you have to count before you could even marry her, huh? I just hope you won't die in this battle without even marking and claiming your mate."

Blinking plainly, Darius promptly ignored Ezme's words, knowing full well that it was only natural for her to be this rude. She wouldn't be Ezme if she wasn't demeaning someone every few minutes or so.

Watching her, Darius casually sighed as Ezme aimed her blinking honey gold eyes at his as if she was showing him pity. It was then that he regretted the fact that he even mentioned Nikolai being absent.

Truth to be told, he simply wanted to reiterate to everyone inside the room that he personally wasn't even needed to participate in this war. He had capable commanders to represent him, and it was actually more logical for him to simply sit back and let his subjects work for him.

However, he chose to personally be present simply because he wanted to show Xenia how sincere he was in attending to Ebodia's affairs.

A beat passed, and a mischievous smile suddenly curved on Ezme's lips as if she was able to read his thoughts. He was just sure that this troublemaker could see right through him again.

"Must I elaborate to you, King Darius, that the actions we're taking are our kingdom showing our sincerity to Ebodia in regards to the marriage alliance?" Ezme pointed out.

"If you think about it, Brother sending his most favorite sibling to a bloodbath is the proper move to make. That way, Ebodia won't be offended that he wasn't around in person while the Cordonian King himself is showing off his presence like this."

Darius only chuckled as he countered, "Fair. Although, I bet Nikolai can breathe more properly whenever you're out of his sight."

Seeing how Ezme's face soured at his words, Darius triumphantly grinned. He probably just hit her on the right spot to elicit such a response.

"What're you saying? He didn't even want to send me here," Ezme grunted with a pout. "I was the one who insisted on coming here… What do you know? You're only here because of your mate!"

"Alright, let's not prolong this argument since we have more important things to discuss," Darius quickly commented, completely dodging the issue as his eyes shifted back to Ezekiel. "Apologies for the inconvenience."

Giving out a slight nod of acknowledgment, Ezekiel simply chuckled, "It's alright, Your Majesty. It's a breath of fresh air against the bleak backdrop of war."

Letting them all get settled once more, Ezekiel then began discussing some of the minutiae of their plans while using the map and miniatures spread across the table.

"At the moment, my calvary are already positioned in their designated spots. Helion's main army has set up camp here, while the battlefield will probably take place here in the plains right before the Badhig Gulf," Darius pointed out. "We'll meet each other in the middle here, but I feel like something's off…"

Ezekiel stared at the map and whispered, "Hmm… This part here is the Forbidden Forest, and no one would dare enter this part since…"

The prince trailed off, he and Darius staring at each other as if they just had the same thought.

Ezme rolled her eyes as she interrupted, "Nobody can enter it and come out alive, we get it. They won't even come out normal anymore, and demons are no exemption either." She shrugged, "Really, they should just rename that forest to the 'Souls Sucking Energy Forest' already."

The forbidden forest was a place inhabited by all kinds of souls wandering about, feeding on all living things that might stumble across their reach. Said forest was located at the western part of Ebodia's borders, and it occupied the majority of the southwest part of Cordon. It was one of the main reasons why Helion couldn't breach Cordon; the only safe path for them to conquer the kingdom being through Ebodian lands

"Are they always like that?" Xenia chimed in, sitting beside Gideon as she whispered.

"What do you mean, milady?" Gideon whispered back.

"Darius and the vampire princess…" she trailed off, not explaining any further as she mumbled. If Gideon didn't catch on to what she meant, then she wouldn't bother to elaborate further.

She was somehow distracted. She felt like Ezme and Darius were close enough that they could talk casually to each other without a care for their surroundings or what other people might think.

"That? Don't worry, that's just how they usually act. It's their usual banter, and you haven't even seen the worst yet," Gideon whispered out, making sure that nobody could hear him. "You see, Princess Ezme is actually pretty infatuated with His Majesty."

Hearing that new piece of information, Xenia frowned as her eyes keenly observed the interactions between Ezme and Darius.

*****

A/N: Any thoughts on Ezme? lols