The Crown's Entrapment

As soon as their confidential meeting with the king was over, Bartos and Gideon promptly went out of the king’s private study, both of them carrying a few choice thoughts as they walked.

“After so many years of searching, Calypso finally found a person with the gift of clairvoyance to see the past,” Bartos hummed positively. “This is good news indeed. I can’t wait to crush Nasser with this information.”

With a clairvoyant who could see the past so close at hand, everyone could finally witness what truly happened to their former king.

After so many years, the events that happened that day between King Lucian and Nasser… of how the king ended up being easily stabbed by a dagger with a deadly poison… They’d finally witness all the crimes Nasser had committed after all this time.

Also, he was anticipating how her sister would react upon the news of Calypso’s return, knowing how she had been waiting for the man for how many years now. It would be nice for Bella to wrap things up with him so she could finally move on with her life.

Turning to Gideon, Bartos arched a brow upon hearing no response from the man. His friend was spacing out, it seemed.

“Are your lips hurt?” he commented with a frown, noticing how Gideon was touching his lips. Caressing them, to be exact. Nothing worked to snap him out of it, it seemed. He even had to pat his friend on the shoulder just to get his attention.

“What’s going on with you?”

“Huh?” Gideon murmured as he turned to Bartos.

The latter shook his head. “You’re zoning out, Gideon.”

“Oh, that… It’s nothing.” Gideon murmured, his lips forming a cheeky smile as if he knew something only he did. “By the way, are you staying here for a good while?” He was the one preparing dinner, so he wanted to know if Bartos would be going back to his manor with his wife before dinner.

At the question, Bartos only raised an eyebrow. At the non-response, Gideon added, “I’m in charge of preparing dinner for the royal family, okay? So tell me if you’ll be joining us for supper so I can count you and Jayra in for the servings.”

“We’ll stay here until the trial is finished,” Bartos commented. “Jayra still has to continuously train the Princess in regards to spells and magic. Also, you’re really putting in the effort, huh.”

Gideon simply nodded with a grin and said, “Alright then. I’ll add you two to the portions during dinner. And yes, I’m making the effort. After all, it’s not like I’m the only man in Freya’s mind.” He sighed in determination, “We both know how close she is with Gilas, and how much she admires him on top of that.”

Bartos shook his head and scoffed, “Nevertheless, you truly are nailing it. To even go to such lengths of preparing dinner for the royal family to woo our Princess… You’re really attacking from every corner, my friend.”

Gideon chuckled and teased, “Aren’t you indeed the luckiest of all then, huh? Effortlessly managing to capture your mate simply with your constant frowns along with your mysterious and grumpy aura?”

To add to the effect, Gideon then copied Bartos’s trademark expression of frowning, creasing his forehead till his eyebrows weaved together like the wings of a bird. “This expression seems to be effective,” Gideon mumbled aloud, his face still scrunching up in an effort to tease his friend. “I wonder if I should copy this style of yours, my friend… Maybe Freya would easily accept me like Jayra did if I do this expression more often.”

He then faced Bartos, still mimicking his friend’s sullen and stoic look. “Tell me, am I doing this right?” Gideon asked, doing his best not to laugh while doing so. “Should I crease my forehead even more? Or should I sharpen my gaze a bit more like this?”

“Tsk… If this is how you want to act, then I’ll leave you to your business and go check on my wife instead,” Bartos scoffed as Gideon narrowed his eyes at him. “Stop teasing me like that. You look like a clown while doing that expression. You’re simply not born to do that thing with that kind of charisma!”

Taking the hint, Gideon chuckled as he let Bartos leave him in the dust. Still, he teasingly added, “Maybe I should also add a scar on my face too! Don’t you think?!”

“You’re hopeless!” Bartos snorted, his feet still firmly going in the opposite direction of his friend. “Just go prepare us dinner instead!”

“Who says I’m hopeless?” Gideon murmured with a wide grin on his face as he once again touched his lips. He was still the winner in their exchange.

Freya kissed him, and it definitely meant something along the lines of positivity! Hopeless? No way… He was hoping to hear a bit of good news soon enough. Why, he was already squealing inside just at the mere thought of him and Freya officially being in a relationship!

“It would be nice if she didn’t run away from me like that though…” he lamented. “I could’ve deepened our kiss. And from there…”

Quickly catching his thoughts, Gideon hastily shook his head as the perverted imaginations inside his head slowly began to overtake his thoughts.

Taking a step back, he looked up at the sky and let out a loud sigh as he whispered, “I should probably head back to the kitchen and prepare dinner for my future in-laws…”

With a shrug, Gideon turned around and went his merry way. He was happily whistling as he walked towards the kitchen, a beautiful smile still lingering on his face as he kept replaying the stolen kiss Princess Freya gave him just a while ago in his head. It was just too adorable of his mate, and he could already imagine what they’d do once they actually became a couple.

“But how could she kiss and run on me like that? That’s just unacceptable,” Gideon mumbled aloud. “I should talk to her about this over dinner.”

While the urge to do so almost made him go and do it, he intentionally didn’t follow after Freya once she ran away, knowing that his mate was probably feeling embarrassed about the whole thing.

“I feel like my heart’s about burst from too much joy,” he beamed. “This calls for a celebration. I’ll go ahead and prepare everything Freya likes!”

[Hey. You’re too loud,] his wolf, Eli, complained. [Just do your work and stop blabbering too much.]

Eli was the opposite of his character. Honestly, he thought Eli should be Bartos’s wolf. His inner wolf was just too serious at times, and he talked even less.

[How come you’re so boring, Eli?] he complained. [Aren’t you happy that our mate already took the initiative to kiss us? That means she likes us already.]

[Or she’s simply experimenting and checking what she will feel like if she kisses you,] Eli postulated. [She’s probably terrified that she ended up running away from you.]

[You’re such a spoilsport,] Gideon sighed. [I won’t let you ruin my mood with your pessimism okay?]

He scolded him, and as usual, Eli didn’t respond. It wasn’t like anyone could destroy his free and fighting spirit in everything right now, especially when it came to his mate.

Still, Eli could be right… That kiss might’ve not meant something so deep, but at least he was progressing really well. He would do anything in his power to make his mate Freya fall so hard for him. And if taking his time was the answer, then he’d do just that.