The Crown's Entrapment

At Cordon Castle

Darius still couldn't believe how everything seemed to be happening all at once. First, was Osman's disappearance, with Bella becoming unstable because of the incident. Then Helena's sudden appearance. And now... This time, Gilas's life was endangered. But thank the Almighty that he managed to survive it.

"But still, losing his wolf would almost be like losing a family member," Darius hummed in sympathy. "I could barely' imagine what he must be going through right now to try and accept the situation."

It was almost unthinkable. Their wolf was a part of them, even more so than family since it was their wolf that defined their identities as werewolves.

"How is Lady Jayra?" Darius asked Bartos. The two of them were currently in his study going over and discussing some of the more important things like improvements in their plans for the search party for Osman.

"She's fine, Your Majesty. She'll come back to see Gilas later after she makes sure that Bella is stabilized," Bartos replied. "She had unfortunately lost track of Ham's presence in Gilas, but she also told me that she could still feel a bit of something that resembles his wolf. She just didn't want to reveal it yet since she didn't want to give Gilas and Clara some false hope if ever she was mistaken."

"That's good news then," Darius gratefully sighed. "Hopefully, Gilas's case isn't completely hopeless. Losing our wolf is like losing an important part of us, after all."

"Jayra is optimistic, Your Majesty," Bartos seconded.

"That's reassuring," Darius nodded. "Still, Gideon has to come back soon with the others due to the coming storm. We'll have to pause the search, but we'll continue as soon as things have settled down in the area."

They then went on to discuss some of the changes in their plans, and their discussion was only interrupted by Xenia's sudden intrusion through their mindlink.

[Love, I want to eat apples with you,] Xenia casually stated. [Where are you?]

Blinking, Darius looked at Bartos and said, "That's it for today, Bartos. You can leave now and do your work." He then replied to his wife as he stood up from his chair. [I'm in the study, my love. Where are you? I'll come to you.]

[Oh, I'm near,] Xen eagerly replied. [Stay there. I'll come to you!]

Darius smiled as he did as he was asked and sat back down. Truly, just hearing his wife's voice whether it be in person or through their Mate Bond was more than enough to take all of his weariness away. He was glad that despite everything that was happening, his wife was still safe and sound by his side.

[So, do you have any new names to suggest?] Zeus snorted. [I'm sure she'll ask you for some again...]

[Why can't you suggest names to her then?] Darius chortled with a pout. Lately, his wolf Zeus has been interacting more with his wife through their Mate Bond, especially whenever he himself was too busy to do so. One thing led to another, and Zeus was now so enthusiastic about throwing out different names just to see what stuck.

[Well... She wanted more choices on her list,] Zeus mirthfully stated. [Can you even blame her? She wants the best names for our pups. As for myself, I'm just excited to find out if they'll be both boys or girls, or maybe one of each.]

[Can we even tell?] Darius snorted with a frown.

[Well, you can't, but I can tell it once Xen reaches her fifth or sixth month of her pregnancy,] Zeus boasted. [They'll be big enough for me to be able to feel their genders then. I might even be able to distinguish them from each other as long as their scents are strong enough.]

Darius could only nod as excitement filled his entire body. He honestly still couldn't believe how Xen's small body would manage to bear two babies within it, but then again, he was also aware that it wasn't even too uncommon an occurrence. Hopefully, it was both a boy and a girl, but any gender would do so long as they'd come out healthy and strong.

[But what's making me really excited is to see whose blood is stronger. I mean, you're a werewolf, and Xen is a Nephilim,] Zeus excitedly remarked. [Who will inherit the werewolf side? Or perhaps the Nephilim side? Maybe even both?]

Darius chuckled as he reminded, [Or perhaps they might end up being human. Are you forgetting that Xen is still human?] He chuckled, [It's still fully possible for our children to inherit her human traits...]

[Oh right, I forgot,] Zeus shrugged. [Anyways, so long as all of them are healthy, then all is good.]

Darius was still chuckling when the door swung open, Xen entering the study with a basket of apples in her arm.

"Here you are," she greeted him with a bright smile as she approached. "Hmm... Can you peel these for me?"

Giving her a mirthful shrug, the two of them then sat on the long bench chair there in his study. Getting themselves situated with its soft cushions, Darius grabbed one apple from the basket and started peeling off its skin.

"Isn't it more healthy to eat the skin too?" Darius casually asked.

"It is, but I don't like it..." Xen commented with a pout. She then rested her head on his shoulder while watching him peel the apples. She let out a helpless sigh as she mumbled, "Do you think we'll still be able to find Osman? I heard from Jayra that Bella's not being herself lately... I feel so bad for her. I didn't even know that her feelings for Osman are already that deep."

"I already asked for help from Magus and the others," Darius firmly stated. "I'm sure we'll find out soon what really happened to Osman. I won't stop the search till we find some sort of clue or anything connecting even remotely to Osman's fate."

"Yes, let's not give up just yet," Xen flashed a small smile. "Also, I already sent a message to Tarah. Maybe she can help us. Hmm... How about Sephiro? How is he?"

"Sephiro can't still remember what happened, but we're still observing him for now," he remarked. "He'll be staying under Calypso's care in the meantime..."

Surprisingly, Sephiro had lost all of his memories of the incident. As a result, they weren't able to obtain any useful information from him.

"I'm now in my second month... Seven more to go..." Xenia whispered as she gently caressed her tummy.

She chuckled as she watched her husband grab her list from her pockets. He then flipped it open, marveling at all of the names she had come up with.

"You've got a lot of choices already, my love," he amusedly commented.

"Hmm... I still want you to give me more though. I don't know why, but I'm still not satisfied with these names," Xenia hummed. "I've only got eight names for boys and seven names for girls. I'll stop once I reach ten names each. So give me more, my love. I want something unique."

"Hmm... Unique?" Darius jested, making Xen frown at him. "Fine then... How about Xena? Xia? Xian? Something close to your name will be the best..."

"Why do you always suggest names from my name itself?" she snorted. "Don't they sound a bit too cheesy?"

Darius faced her and lovingly pinched her chin as he declared, "Because you're the greatest blessing I received from the Almighty, and our future babies are going to be the greatest treasure you'll gift to me... You're my everything, Xen, so I want our babies' names to come from your name..."

*****

AN: Any suggestion for Darius and Xenia's twins? A boy and girl perhaps?