The Crown's Entrapment

Ezme ignored Xenia with a roll of her eyes. Instead, she turned to Darius and curiously asked, "Do you have one? The mark?"

Darius kept his silence, ignoring her words with a simple shrug.

Seeing the king's reactions, Ezme frowned as she then turned to Lurio. With a pout, she asked, "Is there a particular part of the body that we have to check? Or will it just appear in any part of the body?"

Xenia rolled her eyes at Ezme's actions. Certain details about seers and mages should be confidential; only known to the royals and high ranking officials of the kingdom in an effort to keep some aces up their sleeves. These things shouldn't even be discussed out in the open, most especially to outsiders.

Lurio turned to look at her brother Ezekiel, as if asking for approval for him to speak. When Ezekiel nodded, Lurio explained, "You will feel a pricking pain once it happens; a burning sensation flitting on your skin once the mark appears."

Xenia sighed at the decision made in front of her. At the very least, the circumstances right now didn't afford them to keep some of their secrets and valuable information to themselves.

For all intents and purposes, the people inside the tent were allies, ones that could be trusted with such secrets. Although, this vampire princess still got under her skin despite her efforts.

Still, the fact  remained that they might as well all be family. Her sister Mineah was married to the vampiress's brother, after all, and it only meant that they should start fostering a closer relationship than usual.

"I don't feel a thing in my body, however," Darius commented with a frown. "I guess I don't have it?"

Shaking her head, Xenia bit her inner cheek as she kept her emotions in check at the sight before her. Ezme checked on Darius's exposed skin for the mark, and it was making her feel things that she didn't want to feel.

"Ah, Darius… what if it's in your butt cheeks?" Ezme playfully teased with a wicked smile. "In fact, would you like to check on one another in private? It might be somewhere we can't see on our own."

Xenia felt something cling onto her throat as she unknowingly coughed. With a dim face, she shot a deadly stare at the two. Meanwhile, Ezme simply had a taunted smile as she naively shrugged her shoulders at her. Her fellow princess was obviously enjoying seeing her annoyed.

Having enough, Xenia opened her mouth to speak, but she quickly stopped upon hearing Lurio's voice.

"Your Highness, your right hand," Lurio whispered with eyes open wide. Hearing the wizard's words, Xenia looked in her brother's direction, Ezekiel's gaze still locked into Tarah while Lurio stared into the prince's hand.

"Curious…"

With click of her tongue, Ezme walked towards Ezekiel and looked at his hand. She then walked to Tarah and stared at the seer's hand before coming to her own conclusions.

"Wow… The mark'ss the same. Isn't that great?" Ezme chuckled. "I guess Ebodian royals seem to have their destiny pre-ordained like history says they do. How nice… Your kingdom may be physically weaker being mostly comprised of humans, but you are all blessed with an abundance of seers and mages."

Xenia sighed deeply at Ezme's words. It was true… Mages and seers were Ebodia's greatest strengths.

Their kingdom was the only kingdom that had enough knowledge on white spells and magic, and they even had a sacred sanctuary for those chosen Ebodians who had willingly pledged and vowed their loyalty and life to the kingdom. Of course, if someone broke that pledge and vow, they would automatically lose their life, seeing as their vows had a spell woven into it.

Meanwhile, on the subject of the mark between the ruler and the seer, it didn't always show in a particular spot of the body. For instance, her father's mark was on his nape, while Beirut's mark was on his arm.

Deep in thought, Xenia worriedly looked at Ezekiel. He had a blank expression on his face, but Xenia knew that her brother was bothered. This mark was also a sign… a sign that it was Ezekiel's time to reign as the King of Ebodia.

"Although things seemed to be preordained, that doesn't mean that we will force you to do things against your will, Tarah. You can always go and free yourself from all of this," Ezekiel finally spoke, his amber eyes not batting an eyelid against Tarah.

"Yes… A Seer is a big help to our kingdom, but I think it's also already time that we don't rely on them. You are free from this obligation, and we won't keep you with us to do this for Ebodia."

"Brother…"

"Prince Ezekiel…"

Both Lurio and Xenia gasped in sequence. It shouldn't be like this. Her brother was purposely saying this as if he didn't want Tarah to be in their kingdom, and she knew exactly why he was doing this. Beirut's words were unclear to follow. Indeed, Tarah now had silver white hair, butthey weren't even sure that she was the only woman in the world with that specific appearance.

What if there was another woman with icy blue eyes and silver white hair? And what if that was the woman Beirut describing? Things were still too uncertain. As much as Xenia wanted to think otherwise, most of Beirut's predictions and future sight were very vague and unclear; to the point that her Master himself sometimes had a hard time interpreting or deciphering the message of his visions.

"If Ebodia doesn't want you, then how about you come with me after this war ends?" Ezme quickly issued a counteroffer with a wide smile. "The Kingdom of Valcrez will welcome you with arms wide open, dear. You will be pampered and well protected to your heart's content."

By the sidelines, Xenia could already tell that the vampire princess had an interest in Tarah thanks to her gift. She obviously looked so delighted at witnessing how a seer worked first hand.

"But I want to serve Ebodia… I can feel it in my heart that this is why I was called for. Ebodia is calling for me," Tarah whispered with a shaky voice. The seer then looked directly at Ezekiel and whispered, "I've been seeing you in my dreams…"

"Then you should stay with Ezekiel as you should, as the future King of Ebodia's guide; Ebodia's Seer," Xenia whispered, giving Tarah a reassuring smile as the latter looked at her.

Thinking back, Xenia knew she should intervene, seeing how conflicted and confused her brother looked at the moment.

There was a moment of silence before Gideon and Bartos returned to the tent, the latter pulling some random person behind him as they entered.

"We've caught him! The spy!" Gideon announced as he entered, Bartos dragging a shirtless man on his knees behind him. Throwing the spy before Prince Ezekiel, the man's hands and feet were shackled, and his bare back clearly showed a tattoo of a serpent; the symbol of Helion.

"I-I have a message for Prince Ezekiel… Surrender your kingdom now, and we shall spare your innocent human's lives," the spy relayed with a manic smile. "King Devon will spare you and your people only if you will succumb to his rule."