Taking herself out of her musings, Xenia looked up to see Darius signaling her to hop onto the horse. Like before, he rode on behind her, almost hugging her from behind as he bent forward to hold the horse’s reins.

“I guess the wedding will be off,” Darius muttered, his hot breath almost touching Xenia’s ear. From that gesture alone, she could already feel the hair at the back of her neck spring to life, a hard shiver ran down her spine as she tried to settle back into her seat. “A shame…”

Xenia blinked at his words. As much as she would like to admit otherwise, the King’s words made sense. After all, who would want to continue a wedding with war looming over their heads?

Still, wasn’t that a good thing? It meant that Mineah was still safe for another day! And so was she… and yet that still wouldn’t change the fact that she was still bound to marry the Vampire King in one way or another.

At the thought, Xenia let out a sigh as she felt a sudden tightness forming in her chest.

“What’s wrong, Xen?” Darius asked. “Are you feeling unwell?”

“I’m good, my King,” she softly whispered. “I’m just overwhelmed to finally be back home after all this time.”

“Hmm, don’t be,” he scoffed. “Remember, you are mine now. I’ll be your home for the foreseeable future…”

Xenia gulped at his words. She felt her face burning as her heart went haywire with its erratic beating.

Bringing her hand up to her chest, she tried to feel her heart, she could feel the sensations there felt foreign to her and wondered if something was wrong with her.

Why was she feeling off like that? Weird… She wasn’t even annoyed like the previous times when Darius would proclaim that he owned her after saving her life.

‘Is it because I’m already getting used to his words?’ she wondered. How many days had it been since she met this possessive king? It had only been four days, but it already felt like she’d been with him for an eternity.

Catching her train of thoughts, Xenia shook her head as she quickly cleared her mind from such unnecessary thoughts. She was now back in her home kingdom, so all she needed to do was focus on escaping from Darius.

Riding ahead, they didn’t stop to rest for a good while, flitting from village to village until it was almost dark.

“Let’s take a rest here. We will continue traveling tomorrow,” King Darius absently declared. “We’ll reach the Capital City of Ebodia tomorrow at noon.”

Xenia was relieved at the prospect of taking a break as she quietly followed him into the inn of his choice. He then tended to himself, and Xenia was relieved about not having to cater to his every private whim. Although, the fact that they were still sleeping together in one bed remained.

As the night went on, she carefully waited for the King to be in a state of deep sleep.

Unlike back in the castle, she knew for a fact that could easily escape now. She was already in contact with the innkeeper to prepare the horse that she needed, and all of that was managed without the king even knowing what was going on behind his back.

After making sure that the King was in deep slumber, she finally made her move as she quietly got up from bed. She paused for a while, keenly staring at the King’s handsome face with a sigh.

‘What’s wrong with me? I shouldn’t be hesitating right now,’ Xenia inwardly thought.

Biting her lower lip, she let out another sigh before she whispered, “I’m sorry, but I have to go and save my sister from the Vampire King. I’m the one that’s supposed to be there, and me running away was just too selfish.”

She let out another sigh. “I also have to be with my family if this war ever comes to our kingdom… I know I owe you for saving my life, and I’ll make sure to pay you back once I settle everything in my kingdom.”

Xenia knew that saying those words to someone asleep was nonsense, but still, she did it anyway. Maybe it was because she and the Werewolf King had already been through a lot together in a short span of time?

Somehow, she wanted to explain everything to him, but she wasn’t too willing to take any sort of risk with getting back to her family safely.

With heavy footsteps, she quickly left the room, not even looking back as she got on her horse and rode as fast as she could back to the city and the castle within.

*****

The sun was about to rise when Xenia finally saw the main gate of the Ebodian Castle. As the large visage of her home crested from the horizon, she smiled and whispered, “Finally…”

She was home. She was finally home. However, the smile on her face was quickly replaced when she noticed something different. She squinted her eyes at how the castle walls were surrounded, not to mention how strictly guarded the main gate was as compared to normal.

“Something’s wrong,” she murmured, pulling on the reins of her horse as she cautiously approached the main gate.

Looking on, those outside were not their men. Their armor had a vulture symbol carved into them as opposed to their own house insignia. That symbol… Xenia looked up, only to see black vultures encircling the castle towers as if it was their play area.

“Valcrez soldiers…” Xenia gasped, her mind whirring as she wondered what was going on.

It was baffling. Why would these soldiers surround their castle walls when they had their own soldiers to do it? Did they send all their soldiers away to reinforce the border? She got off her horse then Xenia approached the gate when she was stopped by one of the soldiers.

“What is your purpose for entering?” the Valcrez soldier asked.

“I…” Xenia held her tongue. If she revealed her real identity now, it would surely cause trouble. After all, why would the Princess, who was supposed to marry their Vampire King, be outside and be dressed as a man?

Just the idea of it would be tantamount to her being accused of treason…