Queen of Ashes │ Season 1 │The Journey

1 │Evening audience

Freya watched the slow movements of her potential victim intently. Her breathing was steady and quiet. The nearby animal had no right to hear her.

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...

Exactly as her father had taught her. Her arrow had been placed between her fingers for a few moments, steady on the bowstring.

One second was all it took to decide to launch an arrow at the victim. The shot was accurate and killed instantly. This was exactly what the young hunter was aiming for. She didn't take pride in inflicting death, but she did it to keep her practice and also because she had a quiet deal with the palace cook. She did not share this information with many, but all game eaten in the palace was hunted with her own hands.

As the King's daughter, she could not afford to officially give the loot to the locals simply because she was not supposed to have that kind of hobby, but she also couldn't share the information about supplying the royal kitchen with it.

She appeared in the world as a bastard child. The firstborn daughter of the King, but a bastard daughter nevertheless. She had never known her mother, just as the King had never admitted who and what her name was. He didn't like to talk about it, and after a few times Freya gave up trying. She couldn't complain though, her father had never shown that she was inferior in his eyes because of her origin. She knew well that many children in the kingdom could not say that both parents gave them half the affection and love her father had for her.

But life would be a fairytale without a few thorns. Despite the King's best efforts, the council refused to officially grant Freya the right to inherit, forcing him to marry a woman who was a stranger. From this union two children were born, Princess Eloise and Crown Prince Emmett. Her half-siblings whom Freya got attached to deeply. For her, it made no difference that they had only a common father. For her, these two mischief-makers were like full-blood siblings. Her feeling was mutual but overshadowed by the attitude of the Queen herself. Freya had the impression that from the very beginning, the Queen treated her as a competition for the King's attention and made her personal goal to make Freya's life anything but a bed of roses.

That was the reason Freya had to keep the game matter, and so much more, a secret from the Queen's ears. If the Queen heard that the meat was being hunted by the King's firstborn, she would forbid the servants to prepare anything with it, and the young hunter could not allow that. She loved hunting and she loved her bow. Using it was one of the few activities her father had personally taught her, meaning this activity was almost sacred to her. And since she did not like killing for the very matter of killing, she decided to keep her forest activities a secret.

She walked up to the dead animal, pulled out an arrow, and wiped it with a piece of cloth. Fortunately, the doe was not too heavy, so she attached it to her black mare—Frida—with little trouble. Once she was sure her cargo was secured, she mounted and set off toward the palace. The woods she hunted in were far from home, so she had to hurry to get there before dark. She had spent too much time in the forest either way. She set off in the early morning and traveled through the territories she already knew very well. After all, she spent what seemed to be like half of her life there—both escaping the glance of her stepmother and finding calm, being united with nature.

"My lady, I've been looking everywhere for you! Why haven't you told me where you were going? I've been going crazy with worry!" Her maid—Giselle—wasn't at all shy about scolding her. Not much older than Freya, at this very moment she looked and sounded like her ominous governess.

Freya motioned for the stable boy, handing over the reins as soon as he approached her.

"Give today's haul to Peter for me please." With her hands completely free, she placed them on her servant's shoulders. "Now, why worry dear, when you very well know that I can take care of myself no matter the place," she smiled teasingly.