The Crown's Entrapment

Xenia couldn't help but grin as both she and her husband reminisced on some of the good old days of them not really knowing about each other. Well, as good as it was back when she was pretending to be a man, it still ended in her being wedded to her beloved King and her being a Queen with all the power she really didn't think she'd wield. Even after she had run away from a forced wedding, the way that her life led to this exact moment was both hilarious and thrilling in more ways than one.

"Now you're just being melodramatic," she chuckled at Darius's sudden words. "But I do agree that maybe this is just fate telling us to never forget our roots. Always stay humble, and all of that."

"I agree," Darius nodded. "Hubris was the downfall of all of the worst of us. Nasser is a prime example of it."

She hummed in agreement. "And you know what they say: Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."

"On that, I wholeheartedly agree," he scoffed in mirth. "Also, those exact words sound good enough to be a noble family's slogan."

"I just picked it up from some book somewhere that Jayra lent to me," she mirthfully shrugged. "You can steal it and take it as your own if you want."

"There is wisdom in stealing wisdom from history, you know," Darius pointed out. "Which brings us back to us never forgetting where we came from. We have to learn from our mistakes, and what better way than to reminisce and see what steps we could've taken to prevent some of the more pressing problems we went through."

"I guess that's true," Xenia smiled. "Why, I remember you trying your best to see if I was a woman back in the day. I'm sure that could've happened earlier if you somehow managed to find some way to confirm it."

"You do remember that I caught you taking a bath in a waterfall that one time," Darius chuckled as he quickly pointed out. "You looked so beautiful being draped in the water back then."

"Of course that's going to be the first one you remember," Xenia blushed. "And I still haven't forgotten those times when you always wanted me to help you get changed. Granted, I was pretty bad at making excuses back then."

"You actually said that you had a fear of seeing people nude, if I recall," Darius chuckled, making her blush even harder in embarrassment. "I also recall you-"

A knock on the door made Darius pause, and Xenia could only let out a sigh of relief as she watched him receive the food they ordered earlier. Though a part of her kind of lamented that they were interrupted just when their discussion was getting deeper and more enjoyable.

"Here's our food," Darius remarked as he set the food on their table, having the innkeeper already left them to their privacy. "Let's continue this discussion while we eat, shall we?"

"Of course," she grinned.

From there, the two of them continued with their constant back and forth, both of them bringing up old memories both good and bad as they reminisced the times they'd spent together. Although... at some point, they just started talking about their own love-making exploits as if something could be learned from their earlier trysts.

But eventually, they circled back around to hypotheticals...

"Sometimes, I just think about what would've happened if I actually managed to escape from you," Xenia couldn't help but think aloud. "Where would I be, I wonder..."

"Don't think like that," Darius frowned, the distress in his voice making Xenia feel guilty for even thinking such a thing. "You're here now, and that's all that matters."

"I suppose so..." she whispered over her own plate of food. "Still, just what if? Would our kingdoms still be allied as it is now? Would I still be wandering about posing as a male warrior?"

"Those questions are something that only the Almighty would be able to answer," Darius scoffed, clearly itching to get away from their current topic. "All I know is that you're my mate. My Queen... My beloved wife and mother to my future children."

Xenia blushed at the way he phrased his words. Looking up at him, his gaze bore right through hers, his intent now burning brightly and making her gulp from the sheer presence of it.

"Xen..."

She took a deep breath. "Yes?"

"I love you," he seriously stated, his eyes taking on an intense hue as he stared at her. "Don't ever think of a situation where we'd be parted."

Xenia couldn't help but grin at Darius's statement. She knew that she had heard him say it countless times, but somehow, it just always kept on affecting her. She could only be thankful that their plates were already empty when she suddenly felt herself getting carried by her mate's strong arms, Darius having decided that now would be the time for them to carry on their conversation in the comfort of their bed.

"Darius..." she breathed out, the mood in the room getting hotter by the second as she stared right into his deep eyes.

"Can you feel it, Xen? My passion for you," he whispered into her ear, her arousal now starting to build up as her breath hitched. "Look through our Bond, Xen. I don't want it to not exist in that hypothetical world of yours."

She could only nod as she did what she was told. Sure enough, the overwhelming surge of emotions coming from him almost made her moan as her body responded in kind to what he was doing. His hands were already roaming around her curves, and her clothes starting to become undone as she helped him gain access to what she had to offer.

Still... "S-Should we really do this now?" she couldn't help but ask. "We still have to leave early tomorrow, right?"

"Freya's Ritual won't happen till tomorrow night, Xen," Darius huskily murmured, his hot breath hitting her nose in all the ways that truly mattered. "We have all the time in the world to indulge ourselves."

Her eyes widened as she eagerly nodded. She might've tried harder to fight back on this, but their earlier conversation had already primed her for something like this to happen. They were already talking about some of the steamier moments they'd had throughout their relationship, and she couldn't help but feel that he was going to put everything they'd talked about to good use.

She had felt it then, but now... it was all but inevitable.

"We've talked about some of the things we've done earlier," he breathed out. "Let's try and put them into practice."

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December 27, 2022 A/N: This is a bonus chapter. Special thanks to our generous POWY for the lovely Supergift/Magic Castle. Kisses and hugs dear. XD