The Crown's Entrapment

By the time they had some considerable distance away from Gilas, Gideon asked, “Are you alright?”

He was honestly nervous. Freya was quiet. And somehow, her blank expression was making him even more anxious than normal. Inevitably, he wondered if she was mad with what he just did.

He had no intention of saying their status to Gilas. He just simply couldn’t help himself for some reason. And before he knew it, he ended up being possessive and informing the man that Freya was already his.

Gideon held his breath, trying his best to ignore the tightness in his chest as he waited for Freya to answer. Even now, she still bore that expressionless face, and it was making him go crazy with fear and impatience.

Pre-emptively, he dropped his head down low as he tried to think up a good reason to explain himself with. But before he could speak, Freya let out a long sigh, making him raise his head to look at her.

“I’m fine, Lord Gideon,” Freya whispered with a half smile. “You can now let go of my hand though.”

Right…. He was still firmly holding onto her hand… Quite frankly, he didn’t want to let it go as she requested. Hell, he had already waited for a long time for this very moment to come, to be able to hold her once she finally came of age. Just realizing It now was honestly freaking him out already. Before, there was this tremendous age gap between him and Freya. But now…_.

“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry. I can’t help it,” he whispered out with an awkward smile as he released her hand. “I mean, are you mad that I announced us to Gilas so suddenly? That we’re mates? Sorry about that. I don’t know what came over me to just come out and say it without even asking for your permission first.”

He then took a breath before adding, “Though… I don’t regret that I did it… I wanted him to know that fact, hoping that he would back off on that arranged marriage that his father was proposing for you.”

Gideon sighed. He was being too honest with what he felt and thought of Freya right now. He could only hope that she took his words in a good light instead of letting them creep her out.

After a few moments, Freya smiled at him as she replied, “It’s alright, Lord Gideon. You simply stated the fact, so there’s no harm to it. We’re indeed mates, after all.”

Gideon’s face lit up at her words.

“However…” Freya added with a bit of emphasis, “That doesn’t mean that we’ll even click. So let’s take our time getting to know each other more, Lord Gideon. Let’s see if we can somehow manage to get along well enough for us to work.”

Gideon gulped as he forced a smile on his face, quickly nodding in agreement as he composed himself.

was going to take what Freya said as a win. And what she said wasn’t a bad idea at all, even if it kind of hurt him in an irrational way. He understood her sentiments. After all, they were indeed still in the getting to know one another stage. Although, a part of him felt like he knew more than enough about Freya already…

“Shall we go then?” Freya asked with a smile, to which Gideon nodded.

Giving each other a nod of affirmation, the two of them started walking towards the dining hall, Lord Gideon walking beside her as their hands seemingly brushed past each other’s.

**********

Meanwhile, unknown to Gideon and Freya, Gilas stood rooted on the spot where they last left him, his eyes solely watching the interaction between the two from a distance.

In truth, he was utterly surprised to know that Gideon and Freya were mates.

“Hmm… This is interesting,” Gilas mumbled, recalling a few instances of when he was playing board games with Freya. Somehow, Gideon would always get in the way between the two of them, either through teasing or through simple distractions.

“Now that I think about it… I see… No wonder Gideon would always go in between us.”

Shaking his head, Gilas scoffed at his epiphany. He didn’t even notice that his father was behind him until the man spoke.

“You look so happy for them, huh… I really don’t know what to do with you anymore,” his father scorned him. “First, you couldn’t win Clara over. And now, I’m having to make amends for trying to hook you up with Princess Freya at the very least. That way we’d have a way for us to gain more power with you leading the Moonlight Pack once Darius was gone. And yet here you are…”

Gilas’s jaw clenched at the man’s attitude. His father just popped out of nowhere, once again backing him into a corner with yet another one of his unending schemes to rule Cordon.

“Well, I suppose I’m nothing like you,” Gilas shrugged. “I’m just simply unlucky with women. Although, we’re different in a way that I just don’t have the energy to waste on forcing myself on any woman whose heart already doesn’t belong to me.”

Face reddening, Nasser grunted, “Fool… You’ll always be a fool. You’re a disgrace!”

Raising an eyebrow, Gilas could see how the veins on his father’s neck were bulging with suppressed anger. It wasn’t like it was the first time he saw it happen though, so he was no longer surprised with what he was seeing. But then… There was something here…

Gilas heaved out a long deep sigh as he said, “I’ll try to win Freya over only if you make sure that I can see my mother every week.”

“Tsk!” Nasser clicked his tongue, his sharp glares aimed straight at him as he hissed. “You can even live with her for all I care if you just do as I say! But no… You’re too stubborn! You’re just like-“

Gilas’s face darkened as he balled his fists, blood seeping through his palms as he stood there. Thankfully, he managed to tune the man’s ramblings out for just a moment.

“Ugh… I’ll be going to the Great Hall,” Nasser chided. “Calm yourself before you follow me shortly!”

And with that, his father finally turned and left.

Gilas closed his eyes as he tried to calm himself, imagining the smiling face of his mate… Clara, his calming pill washing over him… A mate whose heart doesn’t even beat for him.

A wry smile etched itself on his manly and handsome face. It would be a consolation if Clara could at least feel the Mate Pull, but she couldn’t. He had proven it already numerous times… She was like the many others who weren’t blessed to feel such a phenomenon, which made it way too easy for her to ignore him.

A heavy sigh came out of his lips… How cruel… He was blessed to find his mate, only for her to not feel the Mate Pull towards him. She didn’t even know that he was her mate… None knew except him and his father Nasser, who had simply caught him red-handed that one time.

Gilas sighed once more. Sometimes, he wondered if he was nothing but a cursed hybrid… Everything around him seemed to always fall apart despite how hard he tried to live a life without regret…