The Crown's Entrapment

Back at Hindman Manor, Bella tried to coax Clara to stay for dinner, but the latter insisted on leaving, saying that she still had a lot of things to do in her pack.

Bella chuckled as she watched Clara leave. It was always fun to rile her own friend up.

'Now what do I do...'

Absently, she leaned on one of the nearest shelves beside her inside her sister-in-law's private chamber. She was about to doze off when she suddenly got startled by a bubbling sound coming from one of Jayra's transparent bottles.

"Bella? Why are you even still here?" Jayra asked while she continued on with her work.

"Well, I'm currently not in the mood to help Mother in preparing for dinner," Bella explained with a shrug. "Apparently, Lord Osman will be joining us for dinner tonight, and my ears are far from ready to get bombarded by Mother's nonstop tips on how I should act in front of the admiral."

She sighed, "She's just so helpless... and that's even after I reminded her that I still had two years left for the Mate Pull to make itself known to me..."

"Well, it just can't be helped, I suppose," Jayra casually replied. "Even I have my hopes for Lord Osman to succeed. He's a good man, and we all can see the sincerity in him whenever he tries to court you."

"Ah still... Look at Clara. She still loves King Darius for sure, but Gilas ended up being her mate," Bella pointed out. "I can't imagine how complicated her situation might end up being if King Darius suddenly happened to return her feelings. Will she still accept Gilas? Or will she reject him? Poor Gilas..."

"Hmm... In the end, everything fell into place, right?" Jayra noted. "I mean, there should be a reason for everything. And the way I see it, Clara already seems to be moving on already."

"I agree," Bella nodded in agreement. "It's just too bad she couldn't give me enough details about the Mate Pull though. I couldn't even ask you about it since you didn't experience the Mate Pull with my brother." She shook her head with a sigh, "I'll just probably ask Freya like Clara suggested."

Jayra chuckled and asked, "Why are you so interested to know?"

Bella shrugged as her response... Hearing her silence, Jayra curiously followed, "By the way, how did you see the mark on Clara when she had it covered? Gilas and Clara hadn't mated yet, so I'm sure you didn't smell Gilas on her?"

"Well, I accidentally saw it when I hugged her," Bella chuckled.

Well, she couldn't really blame Clara for trying to hide it. She was a certified tease after all, and she knew in herself that she wouldn't be able to help herself from holding back. It was no wonder then that her old friend chose to run away from her and leave instead of staying for dinner.

Jayra simply nodded in acceptance of her explanation before looking back at the potion she was mixing.

Silence covered the room once more, Bella had a pout as she sat on the nearest chair and put her elbows up on the table. Propped up her head by placing her cheeks on her palms, she watched her sister-in-law do her work in silence as she waited for time to pass.

After a while, Bella noticed Jayra frowning. "What's wrong?"

Jayra let out a frustrated sigh and mumbled, "I'm trying to lengthen the effectiveness of the spell, but it just seems to refuse my efforts for it to do so."

She grumbled, "This will be a hard thing to do since the Mate Bond is something sacred, and so far, I can only theoretically hold back the bond for just one day. Maybe even three to five days at most if we're lucky..."

"They should just enact their plan with great precision on the exact day you put the spell on Lady Shila then," Bella remarked. "Make Elder Nasser permanently disappear before the spell expires and all that."

Bella hoped that her words would somehow lift Jayra's spirits. Seeing her sister-in-law's shoulder droop, however, she could tell that the mage was still disappointed with her work.

"You did everything you can, Sis. No one in history had even managed to put a hold on the Mate Bond until you came along," Bella comforted. "Don't be too hard on yourself."

The two of them began hugging each other for comfort, and they both only stopped when they were interrupted by a servant who came to inform them that dinner was ready. Everyone was already in the dining chamber, and it was only them that needed to appear.

Nodding to the servant, Bella quickly stood up and excitedly said, "Let's go, Sis. Let's not keep them waiting."

Jayra shook her head and directly pointed out, "I've never seen you this excited for dinner. You're obviously falling for Lord Osman already." She chuckled, "Admit it... Is your heart thumping so hard right now just from the thought of seeing him?"

Bella blushed hard at the question. Pouting, she complained, "Stop teasing me, Sis. Let's just go."

She then got her excitement back as she explained, "I'm excited to hear more of his stories! His adventures from all those years he had as a pirate are just honestly too engaging to miss!"

"Go ahead then," Jayra chuckled. "I'll follow shortly..."

Bella nodded and immediately left the room to go to the dining room. Left alone, Jayra went to clean up some of the mess she made. After she was done, she was about to leave the room when the royal pigeon Skyler arrived by her open window.

"Oh, hello there, Skyler," Jayra smiled as she grabbed the letter attached to the pigeon. "I hope you brought good news this time."

Taking a glance at the letter, Jayra went ahead and immediately destroyed the letter as soon as she was done reading. As she expect, it was unfortunately not as good as she had hoped for.