The Crown’s Entrapment

At Cordon Castle, the Kingdom of Cordon.

Freya couldn’t help but toss around left and right on her bed as she tried to sleep. As much as she tried to ignore it, she was simply too bothered by the foreign feelings she was having for Gideon that it was making her mind run a mile a minute. The man had suddenly disappeared when Leon called for him this late noon, and that was after he got too touchy with her as well.

Seeing that, Freya had thought she had already escaped the man, but Lord Gideon suddenly showed up for dinner as well. She saw him having a good conversation with her mother, moving without hesitation to show his affection by putting up dishes for her to eat. He even went so far as to pour out water for her. And those smiles…

Since when did he manage to taunt her with his adorable smiles? It didn’t come unnoticed to her how she seemed to miss those smiles in the two days that they hadn’t seen each other.

“I feel like I’m going crazy!” she annoyingly scoffed as she sat up on the bed. Her eyes darted to the current book she was reading. “This is your fault!” she hissed at the book, chiding it as if it was a person who would die from her scathing glare.

It was infuriating. Reading Jayra’s books only made her feel even weirder whenever she would think of her having skin-to-skin contact with Lord Gideon.

[Or maybe this is all your fault, Yal,] she hissed to her wolf.

[Just be glad that you experienced the Mate Pull,] Yal chided back. [Not all are privileged like you, you know. What’s even the point of holding back? Just follow through with your urges already and attack our mate. During courtship, you wanting more time to know each other is just a pain to your nether regions. Just marry the man and get over your lust!]

Freya’s face crumpled at the response she got. Yal would always term what she was feeling for her mate as some kind of lust. She was aware that it was a natural thing to feel in meeting with one’s mate, but she had a feeling that it wasn’t just that. She didn’t want to base her future relationship with Gideon just because they lusted for one another. No… She wanted something deeper… a much deeper connection between them aside from base lust.

Letting out a sigh, Freya got up from her bed. She should be sleeping by now, but she just couldn’t. She was too confused for her to lie still and sleep the night away. Deciding that going outside might help, she grabbed her fur coat and put it on before going out of her chamber. A few rounds of walking around the castle would probably help her get sleepy instead of reading more of Jayra’s books. Doing the latter would just end up with her fantasizing even more. Well, she could read other books instead, but she wasn’t really in the mood to do so.

Going downstairs, she made her way to the training ground. They usually had a few bonfires lit up there for the guards to keep themselves warm in some of the further areas, especially those assigned outside.

She smiled thinking about what part of the castle she should go to first, but her smile quickly diminished when the familiar strong scent of Gideon passed by her nose.

“Hmm, where is milady supposed to be sneaking out at this hour?”

Hearing Gideon’s voice coming from behind, Freya turned around and saw her mate holding up two bottles of wine in both hands. She frown as she asked, “You’re going to drink?”

“Ah, right. This is a special kind of wine,” Gideon explained. “Leon and some of the men would love to drink this out in this cold weather over the bonfire, so…”

Gideon halted, his frown deepening as he added, “Why are you still up anyway, sweety? Is there something wrong? Maybe I can help.”

​ “Nothing’s wrong,” Freya genuinely answered. “I just came out for a walk since I’m not feeling sleepy yet.”

“Would you want to have a drink with us then?” Gideon offered.

“Sure, milord,” Freya answered.

Hearing Freya’s confirmation, Gideon led the way with her following closely behind. They made their way towards the training grounds, and Freya saw the lit bonfire burning brightly in front of her.

“Where is everyone?” she asked as she sat on the nearest available blanket on the ground. There were blankets scattered all over surrounding the bonfire, but Leon and the rest weren’t there. She saw some unattended snacks as well. ‘Did they leave them there just like that?’

Seeing his opportunity, Gideon grabbed a nearby extra blanket and sat beside her.

“Hmm, don’t mind them. We can just start all by ourselves,” Gideon casually answered. “Maybe they just felt drowsy and left already.”

Jayra raised an eyebrow as she murmured, “Is that so?”

Gideon ignored her remark, simply opening up the bottle of wine he brought with him and started pouring some of it into their respective cups.

“Here,” Gideon handed her a cup.

Taking the offer, Freya took a quick glance at the drink before downing it. It was her first time drinking alcohol, the beverage having been forbidden at Mount Sorel.

“Bitter, but a bit fruity,” she murmured out with a frown.

“You’ll get a hang of it,” Gideon chuckled. “Wine is best for women, after all.”

“Sounds like you enjoy drinking a lot, Lord Gideon,” Freya commented. “Brother said you’re not a drunkard, but my first time seeing you again after four years had you being so drunk that you looked more like a vagrant than a lord.”

“That might be, but our King is right,” Gideon chuckled in defense. “I’m not a drunkard, milady, so don’t worry. I just drink occasionally whenever there are feasts and events where drinking is necessary,” he reassured with a wink, making Freya’s heart thump hard in response.

Composing herself, she quickly grabbed the bottle and poured out some more wine into her cup, drinking it all in one single gulp. Eventually, she could feel something hot inside her as the alcohol finally kicked in.

“Will this help me feel sleepy?” she inquired.

“Yes, it’ll give you a good night’s sleep,” Gideon answered. “Here, eat some snacks while you’re at it.”

He then fed her some dried fig, with her instinctively opening her mouth to accept it. She heard Gideon groaning when her lips almost bit at his hand.

“I’m sorry,” Freya quickly apologized, still distracted by how she almost tasted his fingers. “Why do you even have to feed me? I can do it myself.”

“It’s fine, sweety. It’s just that it makes me feel aroused feeling your lips around my fingers,” Gideon chuckled. “On second thought, maybe it’s not a good idea to feed you.”

His honesty left her speechless, her face burning deep red in embarrassment. She didn’t know what to feel. And to add to that, she then felt his warm palm on her cheek, rubbing and caressing it with his fingers.

“You look so alluring right now with your blushing face,” Gideon cooed. “Do you know how I always tread on thin ice around you, Freya? I want to lick and suck on your lips so badly right now that I feel like I’m gonna be out of breath if I’m not able to do it…”