The Crown's Entrapment

Freya’s heart skipped a beat with how close Gideon was to her. Their horses were almost touching shoulders as he leaned in close, almost looking like he was about to fall off as she found herself frozen within his presence. Her own breaths came out like mist against the cold, her cheeks burning despite the chilly winds coming from the sea.

“You look pale,” he noticed. “Are you alright?”

Freya blinked, the incessant thumping within her chest almost making her fall off her horse as she struggled to keep balance. All of a sudden, the world seemed to spin as everything that led up to that moment all just seemed to rush into her head all of a sudden.

“Freya?!”

Her vision fading, the last thing she felt were the effects of gravity making itself known to her. The world turned to black, her last moments of consciousness being one of feeling like she had been caught in mid air by a pair of warm and strong arms.

***

“That was close…”

Gideon let out a sigh of relief as he somehow managed to catch Freya falling off her horse. With his quick reflexes, he had noticed her swaying in her mount before she finally fell, his instincts already making him get off his horse in preparation for her falling body.

Still, he now had an unconscious Freya in her arms, and his body was practically screaming at him to have her right then and there. His arms burned from the mere contact he was having with her body, and the blood rushing through his body all coalesced into a singular point that he just knew would be far more trouble than it was worth in the current situation.

“Focus,” he chanted to himself. “I have an emergency here…”

He hadn’t expected this at all. He didn’t know what kind of affliction she currently had, but he knew that he had to somehow get her warm in one way or another. She had just complained about the cold. Coupled with the way her cheeks were flaring up, it was probably that she had a sudden cold catch up to her.

Silently, Gideon scanned the shores of the Moonlight Sea, hoping to spot something that he could use to maybe warm up his poor mate.

“Hang in there, Freya,” he whispered as he spotted a bit of felled twigs and logs lying by the treeline. “I’ll keep you warm…”

With his plans mentally falling into place, he held Freya close to his chest, keeping her warm with his own body heat before making his way towards his chosen methods of solving the problem. It would be a pain to light a fire in the bracing cold of winter, but he would still have to try.

***

“Start, dammit…”

Stirring in her sleep, Freya instantly knew that something was wrong the moment she felt a radiant heat coming from beside her. Gideon’s unusually close voice was the second thing that almost made her want to open her eyes and see what exactly was going on.

“I need this fire…”

Listening in, Gideon’s tone almost sounded urgent, as if it was a life or death situation. But then… What was the emergency?

[Care to open your eyes and find out?~]

Hearing her wolf, Freya almost absently did so when the memories of a few minutes ago suddenly rushed into her head. The fact that she fainted out of stress, the inevitable fallout with her falling off her horse…

The distinct feeling of Gideon’s arms embracing her to protect her against the cold…

[Absolutely not!] Freya inwardly screamed, her embarrassment increasing tenfold with each passing second. [Why in the world did I faint like that?!]

[Who knows?~ Maybe he does?]

“Freya?”

The princess stilled in what she now knew was in between Lord Gideon’s warm embrace. She hoped to the Almighty that he wouldn’t notice that she was already awake, her eyelids trembling as she prevented them from opening in the first place.

“Dammit… I’m wasting time here…” he muttered out in frustration. “Freya…”

Freya inwardly let out a sigh of relief as she felt his attention go back to whatever it was he was doing. At this point, she could only hope that he would just get her back to the castle. She’d just have to feign illness or something to keep the charade up, and-

…

….

[Oh my!~]

A small, heart-shaped peck suddenly made itself known on her lips, a warm and electrifying jolt coursing through her entire body with each second that the peck made contact. Freya’s heart hammered in her chest, her will fighting against logic as she did her best to remain as still as she possibly could.

[He-He’s kissing me!] she inwardly yelled. [He’s actually kissing me!]

[Hahaha! Yes!]

Poona’s celebration in her head did little to assuage the tightness developing in her chest as she felt the kiss go on for four… seven… eleven… The seconds ticked by, and he was still maintaining contact with those warm lips of his!

Gritting her teeth, Freya fought the urge to kiss back. Oh how she wanted to just suddenly ‘wake up’ and get him to stop, but she just couldn’t. How could she?! She was practically burning in embarrassment!

After what felt like forever, Gideon’s lips finally left hers, his lingering taste almost taunting her with how little of it she could taste while she was feigning unconsciousness. There was no way that she’d wake up now. Not when what awaited her was his handsome face probably looking at her like she was some kind of sleeping beauty.

[Isn’t that exactly what’s happening right now?~] Poona teased.

[Not the time, okay?!]

“Ugh… This is getting nowhere,” she heard Lord Gideon lament. “I should just take us back to the castle.”

Feeling herself getting lifted up, Freya kept herself from grabbing on, letting him take on her weight as he carried her back to their horses. All the while, her mind kept replaying those scant few seconds that their lips were pressed together.

In a way, she already got her reward, even if she was technically too ‘unconscious’ to even enjoy it.