The Crown's Entrapment

Gideon held her hand firmly even while they were already inside the carriage.

“Is this really necessary?” Freya questioned with one lifted brow.

“It’s cold. Holding hands like this will keep each other warm,” Gideon reasoned. “Although, I can always cuddle you as well, but I don’t want to rush you on things. Holding hands like this will do for now.”

Freya fought off the urge to smile at his words. This was all her fault anyway. She had declared how she already accepted Gideon as her mate in front of him, so she might as well give the man some slack to act like this with her.

Besides, holding his hand like this didn’t feel too awfully wrong, nor was it the first time they did such a thing in the first place. Eventually, she would allow him to do more than this, seeing as she already sincerely accepted his true heart into herself. They were pretty much an item. It’s just that she wanted the two of them to at least know each other more before they advance their relationship.

“So, where are we going to skate?” Freya asked.

“At the Twilight Lake,” Gideon replied. “It’s been a while since you visited, right?”

Freya’s face brightened as a beautiful smile curved up on her lips. Indeed, it had been a while. The Twilight Lake was the most beautiful place to ice skate in their kingdom, with its mountainous backdrop and clear ice giving it a cool and mystifying air.

Hopefully, she got to learn to skate this time. She remembered just how frustrated she was back when she tried doing it alone, not wanting to disturb anyone, as well as feeling, embarrassed that she somehow couldn’t get it when others learned naturally on their own. Well, it was given since she had difficulty maintaining her balance, but she still should’ve managed to do it.

“I hope I learn properly this time,” she murmured.

In response, she felt Gideon gently squeeze her hand as he chuckled, “You will. Don’t worry. We won’t go home till you learn.”

Freya blinked. ‘Is he saying that we’ll spend the night together there?’ she mused, feeling a sudden tingle run all over her body. They had a few lodgings in that place, and here was her mind starting to go wild again with lecherous thoughts.

Seeing the images she was getting, she inwardly cursed and blamed those books she borrowed from Jayra, the ones her sister-in-law just finished reading. They kept her entertained at night, but they also instilled more than enough wild and perverted thoughts inside her head that she just couldn’t seem to shake off.

“Hmm… Care to share your thoughts, my sweety?”

Freya suddenly felt a lump form in her throat. It was the first time Lord Gideon used a term of endearment towards her.

“Oh, nothing,” she waved him off, lying through her teeth. “I’m just wondering if Twilight lake still looked the same.”

“It’s still the same, but there are more attractions to it now during winter,” Gideon replied. “The place has improved a lot, and I can honestly say that the place has become one of the best romantic places throughout the kingdom, with many couples being seen dating there.”

He then added with his usual enthusiastic smile, “They have a lot of stalls around the area that sell good things as well, so I’m sure you’ll love it there. And today’s practically our first date, so I want you to enjoy every bit of it.”

“I’ll look forward to it then,” Freya smiled.

It took them just half an hour to reach their destination. Gideon was a true gentleman, helping her out of the carriage and then guiding her arms to hug his as they walked towards Twilight lake.

As soon as they arrived, a man quickly approached and guided them to a store where Freya could choose the gear she wanted to use to ice skate. Picking a pair, she pointed at the set, with Gideon quickly grabbing it for her. They then went outside to sit on an available bench to put their gear on.

Sitting on the bench, Freya watched as Gideon bent on one knee to put the gear on her feet. She found herself smiling, but she quickly pursed her lips as soon as Gideon tilted his head up to her.

“Done,” he announced with a smile. “I’ll just put mine one before we can start…”

She watched on further as Gideon quickly put on his skating shoes in front of her. Once he was done, he opened up his arms and raised his hand towards her. “Come…”

Seeing the invitation, Freya held onto his hands before finally getting up on her feet. As expected, she wobbled on her feet at first, but Gideon firmly held onto her by her waist. She was hugging him at this rate, but it kept her off the ice for the time being.

“I’m sorry…” she murmured as she quickly moved back and tried to balance herself.

“It’s alright. Please free to wobble all you want,” Gideon smiled. “To be honest, I prefer hugging you more than us having this kind of distance between us.”

Freya’s face blushed hard at his nonchalance. His blunt words would be the death of her if she wouldn’t manage to get a hold of herself soon.

Clicking her tongue, she pouted as she mumbled, “I want to learn how to skate, not learn how to hug you…”

Gideon chuckled. He then moved backward and said, “Alright then. Come and carefully follow my lead. Just focus on how to balance yourself, my sweety. Or you can always just fall on top of me anytime you want. I really won’t mind…”

Freya’s face twitched as she complained, “Stop flirting with me. I want to focus on learning this…”

Gideon chuckled, wrinkling his nose to her before gesturing at his mouth in a way that showed him zipping it shut.

‘Why is he so cute?’ Freya mused with a frown.

This was bad. She was so distracted that she couldn’t focus on following his simple instructions at all.

Gliding on her skating shoes, she did her best as she heard him instruct, “That’s it… you’re doing good, sweety. Just a bit more of this and you’ll be able to balance on your own. By then, I’ll slowly let go of your hand…”

“No! Don’t let go!” she barked, holding his hand tighter. She was far from confident of her own ability yet.

“Alright, I won’t let go till you want me to, Freya…” Gideon murmured with a reassuring smile.

Freya smiled back. Soon, she found herself relaxing as she practiced her balance with him.

Seconds turned into minutes, and Freya’s smile never left her beautiful face as they glided across the ice. She was enjoying skating with Gideon, and it was only a matter of time until she could do it on her own.

“I think I can do it…” she murmured, signaling Gideon to let go of her hand.

Nodding, he slowly released her hand as he continued to move backward, leaving her alone as she moved forward toward him.

“Hahahha…”

She was giggling as she moved a bit faster to keep up with Gideon, who was still moving faster despite going backward.

She wanted to reach Gideon, so she skated after him and picked up her pace. To her surprise, however, Gideon suddenly slowed down, causing her to bump into him… The impact was quite strong that Gideon fell with her, somehow ending up with her being on top of him.

Freya was laughing hard, but she suddenly paused upon realizing that Gideon was staring closely and intently at her.

“I want to kiss you,” he murmured.

She could feel his warm breath against her skin, the lessening gap between them seemingly inching ever closer.

Freya gulped as her eyes slowly dragged themselves towards Gideon’s parted lips. She didn’t know what came over her, but she found herself leaning closer, pressing her lips against his.

Freya’s eyes widened upon realizing what she had just done. Almost immediately, she moved up and back to her feet, turning her face away from Gideon’s sight as she tried to collect herself. She moved slowly, trying her best to calm her breath as she attempted to escape the scene.

“Wait!”

She heard Gideon call out to her, but she ignored it knowing that she was still blushing hard.