The Crown's Entrapment

"Freya, may I come in?"

Freya sighed as she heard Gideon call out to her from behind her doorstep. She had just entered her bedchamber and weakly sat on her nearest chair. She was well aware that he had followed behind her even before then. In fact, it even added to the reason why she intentionally slammed the door before his face.

[First lover's quarrel? Your mate isn't even aware what's wrong,] Poona teased.

Well, she had no plans of telling Gideon about Aurelia's case. It's just that she was really annoyed, and she was quite bad at hiding that particular emotion.

She let out a sigh before yelling, "Fine! Come in!"

The door immediately swung open, and Gideon immediately walked towards her, bending down on one knee before holding her hand. Looking up at her face intently, he asked… "What's wrong?"

Freya stared at him for quite some time, wondering if he was truly not aware of Aurelia's feelings for him.

[I don't think he's aware,] Poona stated. [He's probably too blinded waiting for your return to even notice the special feelings Aurelia has for him.]

Freya couldn't help but inwardly scoff at such an observation. Ever since she had noticed the different look Aurelia gave Gideon that one time, she quietly observed his mate for any signs of him knowing about it. So far, she was convinced that Gideon wasn't aware of her sister's feelings. Instead, his mate simply saw Aurelia as his little sister. That was probably also the reason why he didn't pay too much on suspicious details like how Aurelia looked at him in a different light.

Shaking her head, she let out another sigh as she looked down at him.

"What is it?" Gideon asked.

"I'm just probably tired…" she answered as she broke one of her hands free from his grasp before using it to cup his cheek. "Do you want a warm bath?"

It wouldn't hurt, seeing as he was dirty. And not only him, but she also probably needed a bath as well. The two of them definitely needed a good bath!

Hearing her words, his eyes sparkled, and she unknowingly chuckled as she quickly understood the look in his eyes. He was way too transparent, and she could easily tell what was going on inside his mind with a small peek alone.

"Go and get something to change yourself with," Freya warmly instructed. "I'll go ask my chamberlain to prepare the bath so we can bath together. Mother and Brother aren't here anyway so…"

"I'll be quick!" Gideon excitedly replied before quickly rushing out of the door.

Freya chuckled. She no longer cared if anyone would smell their scent off each other after they did it. They'd soon do the Ritual of Marking anyway. And besides, people were way too busy with other things right now to even pay attention to her and Gideon.

Preparing for a wonderful time with her mate, Freya smiled as she suddenly telepathically received some wonderful news regarding her sister-in-law. Princess Xenia was back, and she had successfully survived the Element Forest.

With her spirits rising, she immediately dismissed her servants as soon as the warm bath was ready. She then started undressing before immersing herself in the water. Washing for a while, she smiled when she heard Gideon telepathically calling her.

[I'm already in the private privy,] she boldly told him through their mind link. [Come and join me…]

Freya knew that such words were unexpected of her, but what else was there to be shy about when they both already saw each other naked? They've even done intimate things to each other's bodies already. Well, not the complete process of mating just yet, but it was intimate enough already as it was.

And with those thoughts running through Freya's mind, she couldn't help but feel her face redden as she bit her inner cheeks in anticipation. She found herself wondering if today would be the day that they'd finally mate. But knowing her mate, she highly doubted it. The two of them would probably at most, only end up doing intimate things to each other by other means instead of going to the point of completely mating with each other.

A few moments later, Gideon barged into her private privy. She had a huge bathtub that could fit both her and Gideon inside, and she chuckled upon seeing how he quickly stripped naked in front of her. Of course, he was already hard in between his legs, and she couldn't help but tease him for it. "Is it normally that hard whenever you walk around?"

Gideon chuckled as he joined her inside the tub. "It's only like this whenever I'm with you sweety…" he cheekily murmured before pulling her close to him and hugging her from behind. "Tell me what's bothering you. I clearly saw how annoyed you were a while ago. Are you perhaps jealous of Aurelia?"

She fell silent. A few beats later, she found her voice as she asked, "What makes you think it's like that?"

"First off, before you ask me about Aurelia and the possibility of the two of us developing feelings for each other that's more than what's expected between siblings, let me tell you that it's never going to happen," he reassured her. "Even if the two of us don't share the same blood, I'll only see her as a little sister. Honestly, that's all it'll ever be. There's nothing going on between us except for the familial kind of love."

He then sighed as he continued, "But seriously, I'm more worried about Aurelia. I ended up being a bit overprotective of her as a sister because I witnessed just how much she suffered when she lost the only family she had. She loved her mother and father so much, and my family bore witness to how adorable they were together… But in one day… Aurelia's world came crumbling down when her parents didn't return to her alive."

He sighed deeply and followed, "As his brother, I want her to have a good life… to have a man beside her that will treasure and take care of her…"

"And you believe that Calypso isn't that man?" Freya questioned.

Another frustrated sigh came out of her mate's mouth. "I don't know anymore, sweety. In the end, it's still up to Aurelia, so I have no choice but to simply support her on whatever decision she inevitably makes." He then growled as he added, "Still, I'll definitely kill Calypso if he happens to play with my sister's feelings or take advantage of her!"

Freya turned around to face Gideon. Cupping his face, she murmured, "Just give my cousin a chance for now. I mean, I know he has a bad reputation with women, but everyone deserves to get a second chance to become a better person, right? What if Aurelia's the only person that he needs in his life for him to better himself?"

She took a breath before continuing to make her case. "You're aware of my cousin's past… Of how his mother left him and my uncle. That incident left a deep wound on him, so I strongly believe that's the reason why he treats women like that… But Aurelia's different… She's his mate, and she might just be his salvation as well."