The Crown's Entrapment

Aurelia couldn't believe what was happening to her right now. Truly, the Almighty must be laughing at her right now with how ridiculously the situation was developing with each passing minute.

After all, her brother had just decided upon himself to be the judge, jury, and executioner of whether or not Calypso was doing a decent enough job to be her mate.

"Haven't we already talked about this before?" Calypso asked, a hint of amusement getting onto his tone as he debated her brother. "I promise I'll be good."

"A promise won't cut it," Gideon firmly stated. "While Freya and Aurelia-"

"Brother!"

"Gideon!"

Aurelia almost let out a small smirk of victory as her eyes met with Freya's. They had just called out Gideon at the exact same time, at the exact time that he was about to invoke their names into his argument. She couldn't help but sigh. Truly, her brother could be overprotective at times.

"Brother, we've been through this. I want this to happen," she explained herself after getting the nonverbal signal from Freya to continue. "I don't mind it, and he's my mate."

"Aurelia…" Gideon weakly responded, his momentum clearly knocked out of him as he sighed. "Very well… It's your decision…"

Aurelia blinked at how quickly her brother backed down. For some reason, she couldn't believe it. Her overprotective brother just surrendering without a fight?

Something was amiss…

"It would seem that things have settled then," King Darius stated, a tinge of amusement escaping his lips. "While it cannot be done immediately, a schedule for the Ritual to take place can be arranged."

"I agree," Calypso nodded. "And since I'll be too busy in the coming future to maintain the upkeep of our Kingdom, I suggest that we do the ritual as soon as we're available. I'd say that it can take place as early as five days from now."

"Five days?"

Aurelia gave her brother another stern glare, and Gideon seemingly backed down as he grumbled into his seat. Really, why now did he decide to act like a child? It honestly felt like she was the older sibling at the moment.

"Yes, five days," Calypso coolly repeated. "As you well know, our duties will make it hard for us to get some free time. Should we do the ritual as early as possible, we can spare each other the pain of having to wait for possibly months for us to do it. Also, again, we can lessen the reputational damage that Aurelia might get from being associated with me in a not-so-flattering way."

"And whose fault do you think that is?" Gideon scoffed, but he quickly wilted as both Freya and Aurelia gave him a pointed stare. "Anyway, that can be arranged. I can understand the need for urgency, but I should also point out that going into a ritual this quickly might jinx the relationship."

…

...

An awkward silence settled across the table, and Aurelia couldn't help but place a hand on her forehead as she bit back a sigh. Really?! A jinx?!

"Gideon, aren't you being a bit superstitious?" Freya asked, her cheeks reddening as she bit back the urge to laugh. "Jinxes aren't real, and I don't think we should delay things for the sake of a simple superstition."

"But I'm serious," Gideon blankly replied, his tone making Aurelia think that he actually believed what he was saying. "There's a saying that the Almighty rewards patience, correct?"

"Yes, that is true," the Queen Mother hummed in curiosity.

"As such, I propose that the Ritual take place at around… a hundred days for now just to be safe," Gideon seriously offered.

"T-That's way too long," Calypso retorted. "I could still be busy by that time."

"But that's just the cost of patience," Gideon remarked with an air of finality. "It should be adequate enough in terms of time, don't you think?"

"Absolutely not. In fact, I suggest that the marking take place ten days from now," Calypso quickly fired back, a biting smile adorning his face as he stared at Gideon. "That way, we can make sure that everything that needs to be done will be taken care of, as well as to make sure that Aurelia's reputation will remain intact."

Aurelia groaned as she watched the back and forth further devolve with each offer being spoken out loud. By the end of it, only Gideon and Calypso were the only ones speaking as the two of them engaged in a verbal spar filled with bargaining and constant haggling.

Her brother gave Calpyso a number, and the latter quickly answered back with a number of his own as well as a reason for such a number. With each back and forth, the awkward tension eased into one of exasperation and slight amusement. A bit more argument later, however, and it unraveled into an impromptu comedy. Why wouldn't it be, what with both men using more and more outrageous reasons to try and settle their point?

"That's an unlucky number," Gideon scoffed. "Sixty-seven days should be fine."

"What so unlucky with it being forty-four days?" Calypso rebutted. "Fine then. I'll settle for forty-five. That's a rather strong number."

"Shouldn't we stop this? This is rather embarrassing," her father sighed, his own amusement apparent on his face. "The King and Queen are-"

"I'd rather not," King Darius scoffed, his eyes trained solely at the two men bickering like kids at a playground. "This is an argument between men. One that I'd rather not interrupt."

"What he meant to say was that this is entertaining and that this makes for excellent blackmail material," Queen Xenia suddenly said, making the King uncharacteristically cough. "Besides, I'm sure they'll notice themselves eventually."

Meanwhile, Aurelia didn't know what she was supposed to do. This talk was supposed to be about her, not about her brother embarrassing himself in an effort to protect her.

Shaking her head, Aurelia decided that she has had enough. "Why not just let myself be marked in thirty days or so?"

The two men paused, both of them looking at her with surprise in their eyes.

"It's going to happen anyway, so I might as well get it over with," she reasoned. "And while thirty isn't a small number, it's just long enough for both parties to settle whatever things they want to settle."

"I… I think I can agree with that," Calypso said after a bit of thinking.

"I… I as well," Gideon hesitantly replied.

She didn't care anymore. She just wanted this to end. Really, the second-hand embarrassment she was feeling was just getting more and more unbearable with each passing second.

"Then it's settled," Aurelia clapped her hand once, firmly stating that the discussion was over. "Shall we move on to more pressing matters?"