The Crown's Entrapment

Xenia turned to Tarah with a creased forehead. "How did you know it's the Demon King?" she questioned. "Did you predict this happening and didn't say a thing?"

"I... I just..."

"Calm down, Daughter. Tarah is still adjusting to her visions," her mother, Queen Savannah, explained. "She had lost consciousness, and by the time she woke up, it was already too late for her to relay her visions what with you rushed back to the castle..."

"I apologize, Your Grace," Tarah weakly whispered.

Xenia sighed upon seeing how Tarah had bowed her head to her. "I apologize too, Tarah," she admitted. "I'm just so worried right now, and-"

She paused. Wizard Lurio had just fallen down on his knees.

"I can't extract it. My inner energy isn't enough," the wizard weakly uttered. "The dark energy in this Bloodthread is too much..."

"Only through an angel's blood ties can a demon's Bloodthread be repelled..." Tarah remarked.

"Do it with me then!" Xenia desperately offered. Her eyes keenly staring at the wizard, she reiterated, "Use my blood on her! Create a blood bond using my blood!"

"But you'll lose your lifespan if we do that, Your Grace. It's never been done before, and we're not even sure the amount required in your lifespan," Wizard Lurio quickly explained. "Not to mention that your life will be forever intertwined with hers. If Lady Jayra dies, you will also die with her."

"Xen... please..." Darius murmured, and she could feel how her husband was going haywire through their Mate Bond. Darius was against it, and she understood her husband's emotions. Still, there was no way that she would just let Jayra die without giving anything a try!

"It's alright... DO it..." Xenia firmly stated. "Jayra is my sister in all but blood, and I refuse to let anything bad happen to her under my watch."

"No! I'll do it instead," her mother interrupted.

"You can't, Your Grace. Please... You'll lose your own life if you proceed to do this in your current state!" Lurio remarked, making Xenia frown at their wizard. "You barely have enough inner energy left in you to survive the process."

'What is going on?' she worriedly thought as she looked at her mother. Her gaze then went back to their wizard, a frown in her eyes as she did her best to follow the conversation.

"The Queen has already used a lot of her inner energy on Prince Ezekiel..." the wizard briefly stated, and it was more than enough for Xenia to understand the situation.

There was silence before a loud sigh echoed from across the room. "This won't do..." Mineah breathed out before interjecting herself into the treatment. "I'll do it!"

Before anyone could even comment, Mineah had already started casting the spell on her own. Xenia could only watch as her sister replaced the wizard, quickly casting the correct spell as she extracted the black-colored Bloodthread from Jayra's body.

"We need to destroy the demon's Bloodthread now. If we don't, it will simply continue trying to find a host it can infect till it reached its goal," Tarah quickly stated. "The Demon King is searching for the last person harboring his blood... He wants to make sure to eliminate every single person that could become a threat to his throne and reign at the Kingdom of Helion."

"But there's no way to destroy it except by killing the owner of the Bloodthread..." Lurio helplessly uttered.

By the sidelines, Xenia couldn't even process the details being described about the Bloodthread. She could only stare at Jayra's blackening face, hoping that something would change. Things had happened so fast, and she could only bite her inner cheek as the capable people did what they could to save her friend.

​ 'Please Jayra... Fight this. I can't allow you to die on me like this,' she inwardly begged, and her heart almost skipped a beat when she saw the black bloodthread emerging from Jayra's wrist.

"Hand me a knife!" Mineah instructed, and Bartos was quick to give his dagger. Mineah then slit her hand, letting her blood create its own thread as it quickly moved towards the black hanging thread that was currently still connected to Jayra's wrist.

It all happened in a flash. Mineah's red bloodthread crawled into the black bloodthread, inserting and morphing itself into Jayra's wrist. It was then followed by the complete expulsion of the black thread. All of them could only watch as the black bloodthread moved like a flash, escaping the chamber without even a single second to spare.

"It will continue trying to find a host with demon blood and kill their body if they are not the one the Demon King is looking for," Tarah murmured as her eyes followed the black Bloodthread.

The door suddenly swung open, and King Nikolai entered just in time to quickly catch Mineah and prevent her from falling to the ground.

Weakly, Mineah smiled at her. "She's safe now, Sister. She'll wake up soon."

"You.... Who gave you permission to do this?!" Nikolai's voice roared inside the chamber.

Xenia simply watched her sister smile at her husband. "I feel too weak to receive your nagging at this rate, Lai," Mineah murmured. "Can you just quietly get me out of here so we can talk in private? Or would you rather prefer that everyone in this chamber witness how we bicker?"

From there, Xenia watched as the Vampire King hastily left the chamber with her sister Mineah in his arms. She felt like her sister would be receiving a handful of scolding with how dim and dark Nikolai's naturally pale face was as they left.

"Will Mineah be alright?" Xenia weakly murmured to her Mother.

"Hopefully, she will be, my dear," her mother replied. "For now, let me leave so that I can check on your sister."

Xenia could only nod at her mother's words before she turned to wizard Lurio and asked, "Were you aware of the blood running through Jayra's veins this whole time?"

The demon's Bloodthread was supposedly only able to enter someone with demon blood in their veins. Seeing as it could infect Jayra, that only meant that her friend had a demonic heritage she wasn't aware of.

"I am, but Lady Jayra herself isn't aware of it..." the wizard answered.

"Who else knows?" Xenia inquired with a frown.

"It was Seer Beirut who found out about it because of a vision," the wizard further explained. The King and Queen are also aware of it, but they decided not to disclose this matter since Lady Jayra's light energy was more than enough to overpower the demon blood in her."