The Crown's Entrapment

“Brother-in-law?! He’s addressing me as brother-in-law already?!” Ezekiel burst out as soon as he dismissed everyone inside the room. Not that he detested it, but it felt weird for him to hear, especially since he had only met the king that night.

“He looks far too confident already. Isn’t it a bit too early for that?” he scoffed with a frown.

There was no way that he would go easy on him. And that not only applied to the Werewolf King, but also to the Vampire King as well.

They were only lucky that he was far too preoccupied with the looming war. If not, he would’ve already peeled and skinned those two kings alive just to make sure that they would treat his sisters with the utter respect and care they deserved.

“Your Highness? This is Jayra,” the mage called out from outside his tent. Can I come in?”

“Yes. Come in, Jayra,” Ezekiel said, letting out a loud sigh as he was finally pulled out of his rant.

Helplessly sitting on his chair, he simply waited for time to pass as Jayra approached him. He supposed it was a good thing that she came of her own accord. He had planned on calling for her to extract more details that he needed, and her being here at least spared him the effort.

“Jayra, what can you say about that Darius? Do you think my sister is in safe hands?” Ezekiel deliberately asked.

“He looks so confident, but I can’t help but worry since I haven’t spoken with Xenia yet. And for goodness sake, would she really agree to him sleeping together in his tent?!”

Hearing his barrage of questions, Jayra simply smiled and said, “This isn’t the first time they’ve slept together, Your Highness.”

Ezekiel’s eyes widened, “What?!”

Jayra gulped at his reaction. Boring his questioning eyes to the young mage, his curiosity burned as he authoritatively ordered, “Tell me everything! I don’t want you to leave a single detail out!”

Shuddering at the prince’s intensity, Jayra took in a few breaths before she started telling him everything she knew. All the details she heard from Princess Xenia herself had been shared, and she didn’t even leave the part about the Tartar Berry poison incident.

She knew Prince Ezekiel well and based on her own jurisdiction, she needed to tell the prince everything for him to stop overreacting and overthinking things.

“Princess Xenia might not know it herself yet, but as a woman… I can see how much she cared for the Werewolf King,” Jayra shared her assessment with a neutral expression. “She even looked at him differently. Like a woman who’s looking after her man.”

There was a lull in the conversation, and Jayra waited for the prince to recollect himself before she added, “This union must be respected, Your Highness. I strongly believe that the Werewolf King deserves much respect and acknowledgment… Some may think that he also has an ulterior motive for the marriage that will end up benefitting his own kingdom, but we also cannot oversee the fact that he also did it to have his mate. He’s a werewolf, and a mate for him is equivalent to his own life.”

Hearing her thoughts, Ezekiel let out a deep and heavy sigh before he finally voiced out, “I feel bad for Atlas.”

“Hmm… As I am, Your Highness. We all grew up together, so we all know each other well that among all of us, Princess Xenia is the dense one when it comes to identifying emotions,” Jayra sighed with a smile.

“I’m pretty sure that even now, she’s having a hard time interpreting her own feelings toward the Werewolf King. That’s also why I’ve decided to stay by her wherever she goes from this day forward…”

Hearing her declaration, Ezekiel chuckled, “Yeah, I strongly agree. I’m sure you’ll beat Xenia to a pulp if she ever needs a beating. Besides, Cordon will be a foreign land to her. She will need someone like you by her side once she gets herself settled there. I do believe my father also assigned Dani to Mineah…”

“Indeed, Your Highness,” Jayra nodded. “Dani left the Kingdom with the rest of the Shadow Maidens to accompany Princess Mineah on her journey and new life in the Kingdom of Valcrez, so you don’t need to worry too much.”

Dani was the head of the Shadow Maidens, a group consisting of five maidservants personally chosen by Ezekiel once he took over the secret group. King Stephan had pioneered the secret group when Mineah was discovered to have a frail body, and it had served as her personal bodyguard group ever since.

It was a move that his father thought was necessary because of Mineah’s frail body… Unlike Xenia, Mineah had no strength to physically fight for herself. She could only use some magic, and even then it wasn’t without limit.

In an official capacity, they were Mineah’s personal attendants as she grew up. To others, they were nothing but simple personal maidservants of the princess, but they were obviously more than that.

They were trained at a young age to protect Princess Mineah with their own lives. They had sworn loyalty to the Princess of their own volition even though Ezekiel gave them the freedom to leave. And since most of them already grew up with the Princess, they already formed a bond strong enough to the point that they refused to leave.

“I’ll trust your words pertaining to Xenia then, Jayra,” Ezekiel commented with a slow smile.

They then discussed a few more things, and soon enough, he finally dismissed Jayra with a simple nod. A few more minutes then passed, and as he expected, another visitor came into his tent in the form of Atlas.

“We have to do something, Ezekiel!” Atlas addressed him with urgency. Ezekiel wanted Atlas to call him by his name whenever they were alone, and it eventually stuck since he constantly reminded the man that he was a brother to him.

“Atlas, we can’t do anything about it right now. The arrangements have been finalized, and the agreement must be honored,” Ezekiel explained. “I’ve also already talked to Jayra, and after hearing what she said, I could tell that Xenia allowed this to happen.”

“We don’t know that,” Atlas countered. “Have you even talked to her personally?”

Ezekiel looked at Atlas and with a serious tone replied, “Don’t do anything that will jeopardize everything we’ve worked for, Atlas. Tomorrow, we’ll talk to Xenia once and for all. We’ll have her clarify everything, and I do hope that you will respect and honor her decisions once everything has been discussed.”

When Atlas didn’t answer, Ezekiel called him out once more. “Do you understand me, Atlas?”

A nervous beat passed before Atlas finally looked at him. The conflicted expression his friend held broke Ezekiel’s heart, but he schooled his heart to do what must be done.

“I do understand, Your Highness,” Atlas replied with the lowest tone Ezekiel has ever heard from the man. “I’ll be going then.”

Ezekiel could only nod at his friend’s forlorn demeanor. He could only hope that he could find peace. If not, then he wished he wouldn’t do anything rash.

“Stay strong, my friend…”

***

As Atlas went out of the Prince’s tent, he couldn’t help but seethe at the cards being dealt to him. Turning around, he found himself staring at the tent beside the Prince where Xenia was currently resting… The Werewolf King’s tent.

He balled his fist hard, his knuckles turning white as he whispered with gritted teeth. “I’ll save you, Xenia. I’ll save you from that monster!”