The Crown's Entrapment

Xenia’s face burned when she finally saw how their ripped clothes were scattered all over the floor. Her eyes widened even further at the sight of Darius’s bed, of which was a total mess with blood spots littered all over the sheets.

“Is that… mine?” she gasped out. She wasn’t aware that she had bled down there that much.

“Don’t worry, Dale will take care of it,” Darius said with a grin, his glowing against the light of dawn. “Come. Let’s eat while we watch the sunrise.”

“But is that okay? Won’t rumors spread?” Xenia worriedly commented. “Maybe I should take care of it with Jayra. Ah, right… I’ll handle this with Jayra.” It was a valid worry. They weren’t married yet, so she really didn’t want any rumors about how she was seducing their king to be spreading again.

“Hmm… Dale will keep this a secret, so you don’t need to worry too much,” Darius reassured her. “He’s my most trusted personal servant. He’ll be quiet.”

Instead of being reassured, however, Xenia only frowned further. “No, I’ll take care of it with Jayra’s help later. We shouldn’t really compromise. I know he’s loyal, but accidents can still happen like him dropping the stained sheets in front of other servants,” she insisted.

“I mean, it’ll be okay if you already marked me since that’s equivalent to getting married in your culture, but we haven’t even completed the Mate Bond yet, so they’ll definitely make a fuss. Please let me handle this.”

She knew she was overreacting, but she just had to make sure. She simply didn’t want any trouble. And as much as possible, she didn’t want to give Darius’s enemies the privilege of using her to put him down.

She wanted to make sure that Darius wouldn’t encounter any problems at all with having her as his mate. And if being paranoid was needed of her, then she’ll do just that.

“Before leaving the room, let Jayra remove my scent around you,” she suggested.

It was the least they could at least do. Xenia was aware that she and Darius would now share each other’s scent. Later, she would have to ask Jayra to teach her how to do this spell so she could do it on her own, but for now, her friend would have to do it for them.

Truly, she really didn’t want to give that old geezer Nasser any chance to use her against Darius. They’d question them as to why they already shared each other’s scents without Darius’s mark on her, but that wasn’t much of a problem if she just let him mark her. Then again, she still didn’t want to do that.

“Alright then. Do as you wish, love,” Darius gave in with a sigh before he signaled her to come to him.

Seeing his gesture, she obeyed and walked toward him. She was about to sit on the chair beside him when Darius pulled her in for her to sit on his lap.

“Wha-”

“I was thinking about feeding you some of my blood to help you down there,” Darius directly suggested as he cut a piece of meat for her, his arms hugging her as to not let her leave. He was pampering her too much. First, he was bathing her, and now, he was obviously planning on feeding her.

At his unusual request, Xenia smiled, “Am I a vampire for you to do that to me? And besides, what’s with this heavy meal?”

It was ridiculous. There was so much food on the table that it honestly looked like a feast. It was way too much for just the two of them.

“You need to recharge, love,” Darius reasoned with a devious smile before feeding her. “You need to have a lot more energy going into the future, especially since you’ll need it whenever you’ll be with me.”

He then asked further. “Is it still sore? A bit of aching?” he worriedly asked as he continuously fed her with various dishes.

“Yeah, I can feel it now,” Xenia chuckled. “Although… That’s strange… I don’t honestly feel pain w-whenever…” she trailed off, a bit embarrassed to continue on how she felt an intense pressure within her whenever they made love.

Darius chuckled, “You’re so adorable like this, love. More tamed, especially whenever we make love. You’re not stubborn like you always are.”

Xenia had a pout as she complained, “Stop teasing me.”

“I’m not teasing you,” Darius humorously scoffed.

“I’m just in a state of bliss right now, and I just want to express how grateful and glad I am that you’ve finally come to me…” he confessed while he nuzzled his nose onto Xenia’s bare skin. She was wearing one of his large tunics, so he got the opportunity to nip some more on her bare shoulders, leaving even more of his marks on her already riddled skin.

“These marks are so perfect on you,” Darius proudly stated.

“And because of them, I have to wear yet another dress that would cover my neck and arms,” Xenia scoffed as she shook her head. “How come you didn’t even spare my arms?”

Darius only chuckled at her cute pouting as he fed her more meat and porridge. She was still chewing when he suddenly wondered, “Is it any good? I might want to have a taste as well.”

“Oh?”

Xenia was about to grab the knife and fork from him but Darius stopped her. With a smirk, he shamelessly said, “Feed me with your mouth.”

Xenia’s mouth parted as she blinked at Darius in disbelief. The man simply chuckled at her surprise, even opening his mouth in anticipation. “Ahhh.”

“Seriously?!” she gasped.

He simply nodded with a wink. Ugh… That was just too adorable. Seeing him wink like that simply melted her heart. Also, he could wink now?

As much as she was trying to justify the action, Darius was probably getting impatient with her staring like that. She was caught unaware when he suddenly held her nape and pulled her close to him. Crushing her lips and sliding his tongue inside her mouth, he snatched the meat she was chewing of her mouth with but a single action.

“There.”

Xenia was stunned. Mouth falling open, she stared at him with a frown.

“It’s good. I need some more food coming from your mouth.”

“Darius!”

“But I’m hungry,” he playfully shrugged. “Anyway, do you need to recharge some more? Can’t you feel my agony ever since you sat on my lap?”

Her eyes widened at the obvious callout. Ah… Right… That bump beneath her buttocks… He was hard again?

Xenia rolled her eyes and scoffed, “You should replace my milk with your blood.”

Darius chuckled, and before she could add another quip, her breath hitched when he cut his wrist with a knife. Blood promptly came out, which he then offered straight to her lips. Seeing the obvious offer, Xenia could only let out a long sigh as she sucked it, forcing herself to sip his blood.

“Mhmm…”

Was… Was this how a werewolf’s blood tastes like? She had heard that human blood had a metallic taste of iron, but how come Darius’s blood tastes a bit sweet? It was hard to explain but it was nothing if not awful.