The Crown's Entrapment

Clara blushed madly as images of her time with Gilas flooded her mind's eye. Every sensation and touch seemingly replayed itself throughout her body, making her feel less than comfortable as she did her best to compose herself.

[There's more where that came from if you really wanted it, you know,] Sheba teased.

[We're right out in public right now,] Clara growled at her wolf. [Don't make me feel things that I'm not supposed to feel!]

She gritted her teeth as she took a deep inhale, focusing in on the growing heat pooling in between her legs and smothering it with a heaping dose of hard composure. It wouldn't do for her to be acting like an idiot right now, especially since Gilas himself seemed to be doing more than enough of it for the two of them.

Seriously, his eyes were practically undressing her from where he stood. Also… what were they saying about the Queen being pregnant?

"Gilas, are they saying what I think they're saying?" she curiously asked.

"W-what? Oh, about the Queen being pregnant?" Gilas hesitantly asked in return. "Have I not told you about that?"

Clara narrowed her eyes at her mate. "No, you haven't," she growled. "Why haven't you told this to me? Since when did you even know about this?"

To her disappointment, Gilas averted his gaze from her as he replied, "About halfway through our journey to the castle…"

She took in another deep breath as a wholly different emotion started flooding her senses. On the bright side, annoyance and regret did well in smothering her earlier feelings of arousal, but it still didn't help that they were still negative feelings. Hearing that the Queen was now pregnant with Darius's child gave her mixed feelings… both of happiness and regret…

'I guess that's that, huh…' she couldn't help but think to herself.

"In my defense, it was so that Mother wouldn't-"

"No, that's enough," she cut him off with a resigned shrug. "At least you actually told me about it."

Gilas apologetically nodded at her, and she simply gave him a soft shrug before then turning her attention back to the audience they still had around them. It was then that she was reminded that they were still being watched, still being observed while the two of them argued…

"A-Anyway, I'm assuming you already asked about some of the things that need doing?" Clara quickly changed the topic, ignoring the fact that he felt… things upon seeing Gilas look at her like that. "Having practically lived here, I'm sure there's a lot of work that needs doing."

"R-Right, but the guards just said to me that barring the usual upkeep, there's nothing too pressing that we need to address," Gilas remarked. "Perhaps that may change tomorrow, but for now, we can probably rest-"

"Oh, right! There's something that's specifically addressed to you, Lord Gilas."

The couple both turned to look at the one servant that suddenly chimed in. The young servant walked up to Gilas, a pensive look on his face as he began his report.

"One of the guards reported that Pinra is requesting for your presence," the servant explained. "Deep within the dungeons, the guard said that she almost sounded apologetic."

Clara raised an eyebrow as she watched Gilas let out a hum, seemingly taking in any and all words that the servant was currently saying to him. Pinra was a name that she hadn't heard in what felt like a very long time, and her name made Clara remember a few choice memories that she almost thought were already lost to her.

'Oh, right… She's still alive,' Clara inwardly recalled. 'The Queen had spared her that day, saying that it was better for her to live with her failures…'

"And this guard says that she's desperate?" Gilas asked, taking Clara out of her musings. "How can we be so sure?"

"I-I'm simply relaying his words, Lord Gilas," the servant meekly bowed.

"Where is this guard then? I want to hear it straight from the source."

Even in the dead of night, the castle became abuzz as Gilas began making his way to the castle dungeon's entrance. Right behind him, Clara had no choice but to follow, a pensive look on her face as she observed the way her mate moved. As she focused on her thoughts, her mate had made himself busy talking to the guard that supposedly bore Pinra's request.

Clara didn't hear exactly what was said, but based on his tone alone, she could tell that Gilas was going through with it. Somehow, she could tell that he was considering going down there and meeting the woman himself… something that even she knew would be ill advised.

"Gilas, are you sure about this?" she couldn't help but chime in as soon as he turned to her. "Shouldn't you be talking about this with the King first?"

"Clara, as much as it pains me to say it, Pinra's still family," Gilas mumbled. "If… If there's a speck of regret in her, we might be able to turn her to our side."

"Are you hearing yourself right now?" Clara incredulously asked. "This is the same woman that wouldn't hesitate to kill you just to get Nasser's attention."

"That's only because of her upbringing… I think…"

"You think?" Clara scoffed. "Gilas, she tried to kill you. Kill me. Kill all of us, really."

Gilas remained quiet, his thoughts unknown to her as he visibly stewed in her words. But seriously, the choice should be obvious. Pinra was locked up in the dungeons for a reason. Sure, she still would've liked for the woman to actually die, but the Queen also had a point for keeping her alive.

"I know… But still, we should hear her out," Gilas replied.

Clara frowned. "How about you do that tomorrow then? Along with someone that can actually watch your back?"

"With you then," Gilas finished her thought for her.

"Who else?" she scoffed. "I faced her once. I can face her again."

Also, she really didn't want to have Gilas be alone with the woman. Doing that was just asking for trouble.

Thankfully, Gilas had seemingly seen sense and turned to her advice. Together, the two of them retreated to their bedchamber, leaving tomorrow's problems to their future selves.

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