The Crown's Entrapment

Clara woke up as the sun's midmorning rays hit her face. She didn't think that last night's events would hit her that hard, but she supposed that her own exhaustion was more than enough proof that what happened had indeed happened.

That was… assuming that she could even remember what exactly happened.

[That's what you get for drinking last night,] Sheba scoffed at her.

Her eyes widened as she groggily sat herself up on the bed. Looking around, she quickly noted that they were still in the inn that they stayed in to have a stopover. The plushie that she won in that archery stall was also in the room with her, the massive thing standing right by her side of the bed as she blinked away as much of the developing headache she had as she could. On her other side, Gilas seemed to still be asleep. He was fully clothed, thankfully, but there was indeed a stench of alcohol lingering between them.

[Drinking? I'm pretty sure I'd still remember that happening even if I somehow got drunk,] Clara dubiously thought.

[Well, think again,] her wolf remarked. [The fact that you're even talking to me this much means you're currently trying your best to come up with an explanation as to why your head's pounding at the moment.]

She shook her head just as she placed it on the comfort of her own palm. Surely there was a better explanation as to why she got drunk like this. Vaguely, she could remember Shila's laughter echoing in her ears as she and Gilas seemingly fought over something completely stupid and irrelevant. Like they were arguing on whether the sky should be black or white depending on the seasons?

"Wait, really?"

She frowned as more of last night's memories came to her. True, both of them began drinking right around the time they had their dinner with Shila. The older woman only had a glass of wine, while the two of them had a few bottles. Needless to say, they decided to one-up each other in terms of how many glasses of wine they could handle. And from there, it was all self-explanatory.

She could only sigh in relief. She didn't feel anything different to her body, so clearly they hadn't done anything beyond maybe that one kiss they shared in that festival.

[As if you didn't wish for more to happen.]

Rolling her eyes, Clara stood up from the bed, her legs almost failing her as a wave of nausea washed over her. She barely managed to keep herself upright as she held onto the nearest wall, her footsteps heavy enough for Gilas to also rise from his slumber. Not that she minded, really. Based on how high the sun was up in the sky already, she was pretty sure they were already behind schedule.

"C-Clara?" he mumbled from bed. "Why are you up so early?"

"Gilas, it's almost midday now," she managed to reply even as she struggled to make her way to the privy in their rented room. "We have to move if we want to get to the celebration in time."

She couldn't help but chuckle as she heard Gilas curse under his breath, her mate hastily getting up from bed before jumping right into his usual preparations.

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" he breathed, his own headache apparent on his frowning face.

"I just woke myself," she scoffed. "And I have a splitting headache at the moment as well…"

"Let's… Ugh… Let's get ready and head for our destination," Gilas sighed in resignation. "I'm sure the others are already waiting for us. If we push our horses faster, we might be able to get there without any delays."

***

Gilas sighed in relief as he looked out of his side of the carriage window. Thankfully, there weren't any more delays on their part, and their journey went smoother than he had anticipated. Their blunder of waking up late was pretty much undone as their carriage went faster than expected, the fair weather helping their horses make up for any lost ground that they inadvertently put for themselves.

"So, can I expect grandchildren in the next nine months?"

"No, Mother," he weakly chuckled. "Nothing like that happened last night."

"But I was certain that was why you two were up so late," his mother teasingly chuckled. "And the conversation you two had last night also supported such a conclusion."

He could only let out a resigned chuckle as he shook his head at his mother's insistence. Beside him, Clara was blushing furiously at the teasing onslaught, her own words never seemingly finding her as she remained quiet throughout the journey.

Then again, that was probably because she didn't remember what exactly they talked about that Mother was alluding to.

[As if you also don't remember,] Ham scoffed.

He inwardly sighed. Unfortunately, he also only had bits and pieces of what happened last night. But that didn't mean he couldn't pick up the pieces and go from there.

"We just had a hangover, Mother," he reasoned. "We also had to get a remedy on the go since we were running late."

"We're not that far," Clara voiced out after a bout of silence. "We're already in Everett Manor."

He almost let out another sigh in relief as sure enough, the massive and magnificent Everett Manor finally came into view. From there, their carriage went inside, and they all got off the carriage to get settled into their respective guest rooms.

"We'll be starting our own preparations for the party then, Son," his mother informed her as they came to a fork in the hallway. "I'll make sure to have Clara here ready and presentable for later."

Both him and Clara blushed at her words, but they simply gave each other a nod before they went on in their own ways. While the two women were preparing on their own, he still had his own preparations to attend to…

Although, he couldn't help but feel excited to see just what his mother had in store for Clara.