Everyone in the room looked at her father, then at Freya. Freya dropped her eyes and watched Buddy. He was like a statue spider.
The king started to laugh. He was holding his belly and bending over in his throne with his eyes clenched shut. Freya felt the bottom of her stomach drop out at the sound. Was he mad? She looked at the griffin to gauge its response.
It was lowered to the ground now, as if ready to strike. At this angle Freya noticed that part of its right wing was bent out of shape, a feather seeming to stab into the wing rather than running the same direction as the others.
The griffin let out another loud cry. The kings bear was still beside him and at the sound of the griffin it reared up on its hind legs and grunted in warning.
Still laughing, the king waved his hand at the bear. “Relax Baldur. We have nothing to fear from these people.”
The older woman’s face remained in a calm expression. The younger one narrowed her eyes but her griffin relaxed a bit.
“Falkor,” It was strange for Freya to hear the older woman address her father by his first name. “You can’t pretend this doesn’t exist. Its not the poor.” She smiled sweetly at the king who stopped laughing at the comment.
“I am sure you know a lot about Snawcar, but you haven’t been in my land for many years Sonya. Reserve judgement until you have spent some time.” The king stood up and placed both his hands on the table. Baldur started to rumble beside him. “The streets offer more to see than in here.” Freya noticed her father’s fingers curling against the table top. His nails chipped at splinters in the wood.
A bird flew through the door, an eagle with a wingspan twice the length of Freya’s arm. Its beak was covered in some dark liquid. It landed on Sonya’s shoulder, clinging to the thick fur of her coat.
She reached back and stroked its face. her fingers came away red. “I have every right to be here. Regardless, are you going to leave your own daughter on the streets?”
Whispers spread about the room and Freya was confused. Why would she be going onto the streets? She turned to her father, hoping for an answer. He was watching the young woman with the griffin.
Freya looked between the woman and her father. That wasn’t possible she thought. Her father had never mentioned a sister. He had said that her mother left after they split up. She hadn’t asked if she was an only child, she just assumed.
She waited for her father to argue. To say that the woman in front of him was nothing to him and that she was his only daughter.
He pressed his lips together. Then looked at Sonya.
“She has no claim to the throne here. This is not her home.”
“You can’t even speak her name.” Sonya grinned, her eyes narrowing. Her daughter didn’t react.
The king shook his head. “Go home woman and claim your throne in that icy wasteland of yours.”
“Snawcar is quite loyal to Aurora.” Sonya made a point of pronouncing every syllable of the name. “And she has as much claim to this throne as our youngest does. If not more, for being the older sibling.”
Freya stopped breathing for a few moments after Sonya had said “Our youngest”. Her mind raced around, trying to understand how she now had a new family member. One minute it was just her and her dad, the next, she had a mum and a sister. The fact that Sonja had said it so plainly left no room for doubt but still her irrational mind tried to deny it. Her father couldn’t have kept this from her for this long? What would change now? She felt her eyes watering and couldn’t see past the tears there.
She caught Aurora glancing at her and tried to sniffle the tears away silently. She would not let them see her cry.
Her father was still standing and he started to laugh again, but this time the laugh wasn’t near as hearty. “You actually think I am going to let you and her take the throne from me?”
Sonya looked at Freya. “The throne belongs to her now.”
“Not yet.” Freya was a little hurt at how quickly her father had spoken. Did he think that she couldn’t stand up to this woman on her own? Freya was about to speak when Sonya got there first.
“It is only a few hours until the sun rises on a new day Falkor and this girl is meant to be on the throne tomorrow. You have already set the date. So, can she defend her throne, or does she need her daddy to do it for her?”
The king clenched his jaw and Freya could hear his teeth mashing together. She knew that if her father decided to postpone her becoming queen, then the nobles wouldn’t be too keen to follow her at all. What kind of ruler can’t handle conflict? It would make her look like the worst choice for the throne. But if he didn’t step in and handle it, Freya wasn’t sure what she would have to do to keep the throne. Or if she would be able to do it.
“Freya will be a strong queen.” The king spoke and slowly lowered himself into his seat.
“Let her show us how strong she is then.” the venom in Sonya’s voice made Freya’s skin break out in unpleasant goose bumps.
Aurora started to approach the table where the royals were sitting. She was taking off her gloves. She was headed right for Freya and suddenly Freya didn’t know where to look. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rowan move forward to try and reach her. One of the other servants held him back.
Aurora reached the table and dropped her heavy woollen glove in front of Freya. This action wafted dirt left behind by the leopards’ paws onto Freya’s lap.
“I propose a challenge,” Freya was shocked at how much more mature and deep her sisters voice was than her own. “to decide who will take the throne. There is a myth about these lands that the true ruler is the one who can tame the dragon spirit animal who lives in the mountains,”
The king shuffled in his seat and glared at Sonya.
“Whoever can get to the dragon and tame it first shall be queen of Brecastell and Snawcar.” Aurora looked over her shoulder at her mother who nodded.
“You would risk your own kingdom based on a myth?” The king scoffed at Sonya.
“We would risk everything to get what we deserve.” Sonya said while maintaining eye contact with the king.
Freya watched their exchange and was surprised to see that it was her father who looked more shaken. He tried to stare Sonya down but his gaze kept straying to Freya. She saw something in those eyes that she hadn’t seen in a while; worry.
“Well, little sister, do you accept my challenge?” Aurora looked from the dropped glove to Freya.
Freya would swear that the whole room went totally silent as they all held their breath. Looking at the mangy glove she felt like her arms were made of metal and her lap was a magnet. She wrung her hands together and tried to think of a way out. There must be something I can say, she thought, to get rid of them both. She searched the crowd for Rowan, and he was right where she had last seen him. when she met his eyes, he slowly shook his head.
She scanned the room. there were so many eyes fixed on her that it became hard to tell which ones belonged to which faces.
Then the blue eyes of the boy from the clown performers caught her attention. He didn’t look scared, he watched the whole thing unfold with a determined and rigid stance. He only moved to rock onto his toes and back again.
If he wasn’t scared, then Freya had no right to be. She was the future queen and had to be braver than any peasant. Or at least she had to pretend to be. Focusing on not shaking as she lifted her hand, Freya took the glove.
“I accept.”
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