The Crown's Entrapment

Gilas blinked as he gave a closer look at Clara's current attire. In truth, his higher fashion sense told him that it was a combination that shouldn't work. And yet, he couldn't help but stare in awe at how good it looked on her.

"You look amazing," he absently replied.

Clara was visibly taken aback. Looking up, Gilas couldn't help but chuckle at just how surprised his mate was at what she just heard.

"Really?" she asked. "I just put this together in a minute."

"I am," he honestly replied with a smile. "Then again, it's the one wearing it that's really making it shine."

He couldn't help but smile as Clara's cheeks flushed red. That was yet another confirmation that what he was doing was making her feel closer and closer to him.

[Just have to be patient,] Ham agreed. [And there's still more to come later too.]

And of course, there was that... the promise that they would do something to alleviate their... shared arousal... Just thinking about it was making him grow hard again.

"Gilas?"

But of course, that would come later. For now, there was a date that he had to complete. "Of course," he nodded at her. "Let's go."

With that, Gilas went and escorted Clara out of the inn. With her arm hooked around his, their close proximity made him smile nonstop all the way towards the frozen lake.

"A lot of people here at the moment, huh..."

Gilas sighed at Clara's remark. True enough, the Twilight Lake was packed with tourists at this time of the year. With the lake only frozen during a small window of time during winter, it had become a popular tourist destination for people even outside the Kingdom of Cordon. Of course, there were also a sizeable amount of couples skating about, all of them hand in hand as they glided across the lake's glittering surface.

"That's to be expected at this time of year, unfortunately," Gilas awkwardly shrugged. "Still, there's a lot of room for the two of us to skate along."

Leading the way, Gilas went to the nearest rental for skating footwear. Once they were both outfitted with the proper gear, they then went ahead and skated towards what they hoped to be a rather spacious area of the frozen lake.

After a few minutes of skating, they eventually found themselves alone, the space between them and the other tourists growing larger and larger as they went deeper into the massive lake.

"This is nice," Clara gently sighed as she skated beside him. "I guess I was wrong to think that we won't get some peace and quiet when I saw the number of people here."

"The Twilight Lake is pretty massive as it is," Gilas explained with a shrug. "Sure, most of the amenities are near the shoreline, but we can just skate away from it all and go right near the center of the lake itself."

It was also a very dangerous proposition. There was a reason that most of the tourists stayed right by the lakeside. The closer one got to the center of the lake, the thinner the ice got beneath their feet. Gilas knew that it was going to be risky, but with how cold the winter had been, he was pretty sure that it was going to be fine.

With another twirl, the two of them found themselves right at the center of the lake. With their distance away from the shoreline, the beauty of the surroundings made itself known as the moonlight above made the ice blue lake beneath them shine with an amazing glow. Coupled with the faint blanket of snow in the surrounding forest, the winter wonderland around them made for the perfect scene for a couple in love.

"Wow..." Clara breathed out. "This is amazing..."

"Right?" Gilas chuckled. "I'm pretty sure we can't get this kind of view with the rest of the tourists."

"I can agree," she nodded. "There's just something to seeing nature blanketed in snow and ice. Everything feels so... serene..."

To his surprise, Clara came close to snuggle up to him. Of course, he took this chance to wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him as they basked in the shining moonlight above.

Time seemed to pass slowly as they simply took in the atmosphere. Like Clara said, the silent and elegant allure of the winter night seemingly made the air around them warm despite the cold air seeping in between them. Looking at the scene they were in now, there was no way that the two of them weren't going to do something right after. And to be honest, he was already looking forward to-

"Gilas!"

His eyes widened at Clara's sudden warning. His thoughts came back to him, the sound of cracking ice made itself alarmingly well-known as he quickly looked down.

"The ice!"

Clicking his tongue, he grabbed Clara by the hand and pulled her in with him as they skated away. However, the cracks underneath them followed them just as quickly, and before he knew it, their skates had wedged themselves in between the seams, tripping them and making them fall into the ever dangerous ice beneath them.

Gilas gritted his teeth as he picked himself off the ice. "Dammit! Clara?!"

Looking around, his eyes widened in fear as Clara was nowhere in sight. Looking more closely, a small hint of icy water leaking into his feet only made his worries grow ever so larger.

"Clara?! Where are you?!"

His anxiety spiked as he stood up, only to see that the icy waters were coming from a small hole in the ice. It was just big enough for a person to slip through... Someone that could be his mate...

And sure enough, bits of Clara's fur coat seemed to have snagged itself against the jagged ice, making it seem like she had indeed fallen into the water.

"Seriously?!"

Without even a second thought, Gilas stripped himself of both his skating gear and clothes before jumping right into the icy waters. There was no way that he was going to let this date end in a disaster. He was going to save her, and not even the elements can stop him.