The Crown's Entrapment

Morning came, and Xenia couldn't help but feel excited for the upcoming Ritual of Marking set to take place at the Black Claw Pack tomorrow night. Even if it had already been an hour since they had set off towards their destination, she couldn't find it in herself to be drowsy despite being up far earlier than she normally would.

Currently, she and Darius were on their one horse, their disguises billowing in the wind as they posed as commoners. She had proposed doing so since she missed doing something like this in a long while. Besides, the plan was for them to travel on a horse by day in the first place. By night, once they've reached the halfway point, Darius would then shift into his wolf form to travel all the way towards the Black Claw Territory. If everything went right, they'll arrive tomorrow late morning just in time to prepare for the Ritual at night.

"It's cold," she casually remarked as she tugged at the ends of her long coat. "I probably should've thought this through when I suggested it."

"You were the one that wanted to go out like this," Darius chuckled, his large frame quickly engulfing her from behind as he shared his warmth with her. "We could've used the carriage like we usually do."

"But where would be the fun in that?" she chuckled, melting into his embrace as she let him drive their horse forward. "It's already rare enough that we did this back when I wasn't your Queen. What more now that I'm practically a household name to everybody around us?"

The last time she remembered doing something like this with Darius happened all the way back when they sneaked back into their own castle after her training. It wasn't much, but the experience really never left her interest as her desire to go out and not be recognized grew stronger with each passing day. Thankfully, her mate also took a liking to the activity, eagerly saying yes to her proposal before any proper argument could even be made against them.

"You're their Queen now. Of course, you'll be recognized," Darius amusedly pointed out. "Even before then, your beauty alone would tip to someone that you're someone important."

"Now you're just praising me for no reason," Xenia scoffed. "I'm not that special…" Darius gave her a pointed stare, and she blinked in thought before amending herself. "Well, maybe I am a bit special, but I don't warrant recognition everywhere I go."

"Well too bad, my love. Everyone loves you too much to not notice you when you go by," he chuckled.

"Not today, they aren't," Xenia quickly replied, subtly pointing towards the people around them still completely unaware of their presence. "Sure, I appreciate all the love, but it's still worth it to do something like this every once in a while. The masses might just have something they aren't saying to those they know that are above them."

Like what she just said before, there were just some things that could only be experienced in person without the bias of being royals. By being among the masses, they could get a lay of the land with how their subjects were feeling.

And as of right now, the jolly cheer of their people were rather infectious.

"They're still that happy that you became their Queen," Darius noted as they passed yet another group that were in the middle of a discussion. There was a hint of jealousy in his tone as he added, "You're their angel, some would say."

"Well, I'm still yours if that's what you're worried about," Xenia teased. "Besides, it's good that I'm loved. That way, if you do something bad, I'll just say that I'll take care of it and some of their anger would cool down."

"That's awfully sly of you," Darius remarked with a raised eyebrow. "I haven't even thought of using you that way."

"I'm still a princess before all of this, you know," she chuckled. "I might not have listened much to my lessons, but some of the lessons did stick hard enough for me to use them. And some of them are about blending in with the masses anyway, so that really helped with my hobbies."

"And by hobbies, you mean sneaking out like this," Darius scoffed.

"It's still a hobby," Xenia defended herself. "The guards didn't like it, but it gave me some life experiences that I really appreciated learning."

"Life experiences, huh," Darius breathed out, his tone clearly showing his curiosity. "I'd like to hear some of those one of these days."

"Hey now, we have the time during this trip," she mirthfully replied. "I can always do that right now. But I have a feeling that you have something else planned for us during our trip."

"That, I do," he vaguely replied with a smile. "Since you're now my Queen, it's time for you to start truly learning about the lay of the land. Cordon is a sizeable kingdom, and I wouldn't have my wife not even knowing about her own lands."

Xenia chuckled as they approached the ends of the capital city. Along with it, their discussion died down as urban city was replaced with green wilderness. The white of the snow still covered some of the ground and vegetation around them, and the mountains behind them were but a distant backdrop to the forests now lining the roads before them.

"I'm working on that already, you know," Xenia pointed out with a small pout. "It's not easy reading up on everything that Cordon has gone through in its lifetime as a kingdom."

"But you still do it anyway," Darius appreciatively smiled, wrapping one arm around her waist as he pulled her in for a hug. "I know of some Queens that haven't bothered with the heavy lifting of running a kingdom, so you doing so is already an achievement in itself."

"I'm just doing what's expected of me," Xenia scoffed even as she let herself be swept up by his embrace. "What kind of Queen would I be if I can't do that much?"