The Crown's Entrapment

The night of the celebration continued, and Darius watched on happily as his wife had a good time with her family. As much as he wanted to already have some privacy with her, he knew just how much his wife had missed her family.

​ "Look at you still smiling like that despite being all alone," Nikolai teased him as he approached.

"Well, I couldn't be more proud," Darius boasted.

Nikolai nodded as he stared in the direction where Xen's family had gathered. Currently, the new Queen was drinking and talking with Darius's mother, Freya, Jayra, Bartos, and Gideon.

"A Nephilim… That's unexpected," Nikolai hummed. "Since when did you become aware that she's not completely human?"

"Hmm, she told me about it way before our training started," Darius replied. Based on Nikolai's tone, it seemed like the vampire wasn't aware of the fact just yet.

"How fortunate of you to have a wife that trusts you. I guess my wife just doesn't trust me enough to share such a secret," Nikolai remarked with a slight frown. "Well, Mineah seems to be the type to have a closet full of secrets. I'm quite intrigued by her… Maybe I should open that forbidden closet of hers by force since she doesn't want to open up to me…"

Darius turned to him and asked, "How about you then? Don't you have secrets of your own?"

In response, Nikolai turned to him as well, meeting his intense gaze while keeping his silence.

Seeing this, Darius continued. "Maybe you should start opening yourself up to her first for her to follow. The two of you had a marriage of convenience, and it's quite different from my situation," he explained.

"Xen is my mate, thus I could just let my instincts take over for me. I didn't hold myself back, Nikolai. I let her know of my feelings immediately as soon as possible. Women need assurance, you see. If you want her to open up to you, then you should try doing the same to her first."

It was genuine advice coming from him. As a good friend who had known Nikolai for all these years, it was the best that Darius could do.

The Vampire King shook his head as he stretched his lips up into a grin. "Look at you… You were the last person I expected to say something like this, but here you are saying it anyway," he chuckled. "But seriously, I appreciate the help, and I'll try heeding your golden advice, my friend. Also, while we're having a bit of privacy here, how about we discuss matters about Vulcan?"

This time, Darius frowned at Nikolai and said, "I thought you'll observe him some more?"

"I am observing, Darius, and I've noticed just how strange Vulcan seems to be acting. He's an abomination, but strangely, he's helped the Ebodian soldiers. Don't you find it strange?" Nikolai postulated. "He's a golden dragon moving as if he's fighting for the people who trapped his soul in the Forbidden Forest! The most I expected was for Vulcan to join hands with Helion's Army to destroy the humans that trapped him and his kind in the first place…"

Darius hummed in contemplation. Nikolai had a point, and honestly, he didn't know how to appease his friend without the man getting suspicious that he knew something about all this as well. He was yet to discuss this matter with Xen at all.

"That's indeed strange, Nikolai, and I'll help you look into it. But for now… Let me wrap things up here in my kingdom first," Darius insisted. "I'm still in the process of cleaning up all the mess created by one of my Elders, and I don't want to leave without being sure that the kingdom won't collapse while I'm away."

"Of course, my friend. I'm sure I don't have to remind you of how dangerous it is to let a dragon lurk freely in our world," Nikolai lightly chuckled. "We don't want a repeat of the same chaos as before, don't we?"

Darius let out a sigh upon seeing how dark Nikolai's face got at the last part of his words. This topic truly ground against his friend harder than most.

"Are you going to stay here for long?" Darius asked, trying to change the topic. "You went quiet when your wife said that she wanted to stay here for longer."

"I need to go back, Darius. I also have a lot of things to fix in my own kingdom," Nikolai sighed as she took a sip of his own wine. "I suppose I'll let my Queen have a few more days off. I've seen how hard she's been working lately, and I can probably spare a few more days before I'd come to pick her back up."

Darius chuckled and teased, "How come you're not drinking what I prepared for you?" He did prepare some blood from freshly-slaughtered lambs for his friend, after all.

At his friend's question, Nikolai chuckled and replied, "I'd feel weird drinking blood when I see all of your guests drinking wine around me."

"Haha! Haven't you noticed how you've also been changing?" Darius teased. "Since when did you care about what other people thought? You're known to be an unbothered king. You used to not let these things affect you, especially this one."

Nikolai didn't comment. Instead, his eyes just darted towards his wife. From where he stood, Darius could tell how much his friend was interested in Xen's sister despite him not saying anything or admitting to it.

"So tell me, how many days should I expect the Queen of Valcrez to stay here?" Darius asked. "I have to make all the necessary arrangements to make sure that her stay here will be incredible."

A beat passed, and there was no response.

"I bet you won't even last a day or two without barging your back into my kingdom to either get her back or stay with her…" Darius confidently uttered.

"What?!" Nikolais burst out.

Darius chuckled as he patted the  Vampire King's shoulder. "Heh… It's so nice seeing you disoriented like this. In fact, I'm more alarmed seeing you all calm and recollected since that's a sign that you're getting bored with your life again, Nikolai."

No one could tell what was going on inside Nikolai's head whenever he was calm and quiet. It was honestly more dangerous seeing him like that, seeing as that was when he often had dangerous ideas that could harm not just others, but also himself should he go through with them. Thankfully, Xen's sister managed to retain the man's interest, and it was a good thing. This way, Nikolai was kept busy, and it was hard for anybody else to do that with him since he rarely got interested in anything else, much less someone that he didn't know.

"Come now, Nikolai" Darius scoffed. "Let's rejoin our wives…"

He didn't let Nikolai defend himself anymore as Darius started walking towards where Xen was… His Queen… Truly, a new chapter in their lives would finally begin with Xen by his side. Not just as his mate and wife, but also as his official Queen.