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Not every girl was born fortunate. In fact, most weren’t.
Freya knew this well and was reminded of it in all the women she saw at the banquets held. One woman now, in fact, can be seen across the room watching in bitter silence as her loyal valiant husband was putting on a poor display of it with another young thing by the food table. Just past her another girl was doing her best to stand out with makeup just a shade too saturated, and a dress that didn’t quite fit in this particular setting. All that extra work made her stick out unflatteringly so and to no avail as no men exchanged more than the necessary greetings with her before going on their way. Another girl who appeared even younger than Freya herself could easily be picked out as coming from a much smaller family name if not the streets themselves. It wasn’t in the gorgeous and modest dress she wore nor the way she learned to carry herself quiet and agreeable. It was in the ancient man on her arm who between coughing fits was showing her off like a prized horse.
Yes, not all girls get to find true love in this world and be engaged to it. Freya, however, was confident she was not most girls. She was not immune to the knowledge she got a pretty good start in life thanks to her family name. She also never peacocked herself in order to get men to approach her, they simply came on their own. And most importantly, she knew exactly the man she wanted would not be the kind to sleaze up with other women. After all, that man had just scared a poor girl half to death after she mistakenly tried to get too close to him minutes ago when they first stepped into the banquets' loud atmosphere.
As the man often did, he brutally shot down all and any advances that came his direction. Rarely with words and more so the intense glare downcasted upon them. To any other single girl who set their sights on the Omerta heir it would be a discouraging view to watch. The same could not be said for the girl walking along a few steps behind, aside the Omerta daughter. This time the party was hosted by a noble family closer to the Furiana estate and the three of them got the privilege to enter together, although even if it wasn’t convenient the three often found themselves close by at any party. Even now the two women stood side by side along the edge of the party. The room was filled with sounds of a perfectly synced quartet, constant chatter among guests, and heels clacking away at the clean marble. The combination of sound being just on the cusp of too much for conversation but not quite enough to prevent it.
“Ellen, do you have any idea who that girl who approached Izek earlier could be?”
Her eyes still followed the foolish girl even now across the hall pouting around what appeared to be her friends over her failed attempt on the cold man. The lilac fabric of her dress scrunching around the sorrowful girl’s balled fists in a mixture of disappointment and embarrassment. A polite smile remained fixed on Freya’s face as she watched the girl from her side of the room. One that could be interpreted as a bit more condescending had anyone around her noticed the direction her eyes were focused.
“I’m not quite certain, I had heard that invitations for this banquet were sent further out than usual. I’ve been so tied up preparing for her arrival I hadn't the chance to gather all the names of those in attendance in advance.”
Ellen had the sort of look on her face a kid might after being told they failed an important exam. Of course nobody expected her to learn every name of every person in attendance there but that did not stop the girl from being frustrated in this shortcoming regardless. She exhaled a disappointed sigh and brought her drink she’d been balancing between two fingers to her lips. As Ellen’s own face soured, Freya couldn’t help but let her smile falter at her words. She initially hoped Ellen could provide some insight so she could later find the right connections to pass on the wordless understanding most women had surrounding Izek. The understanding most women at these banquets had surrounding Freya. An understanding that wasn’t so much a cruel selfish claim as it was an inevitable. Instead she was reminded of ‘her’.
No name was actually spoken but the presence of this girl and her eventual arrival had hung heavy in Freya’s mind for weeks now. Ever since Ellen so casually revealed her brother’s soon to be wife and the extra work it was going to place in Ellen’s hands in the coming weeks. The girl who did not know the unspoken understanding that many of the women at this banquet hall, save for the girl still sniffing across the room, were aware of. Of course, this girl was not yet in Arendelle and very likely had little decision in her own fate bringing her here. That understanding, however, did little to stop Freya from letting her mind wander to conclusions she had not once considered before the girl's existence interfered.
Freya had a plan for her future. A plan she’d trusted would come to fruition for many years now. A plan her own family was both supportive and invested in. She didn’t need to see a ring on her finger yet to be certain it would eventually come to her. She also wasn’t foolish enough to believe it would just fall into her lap either without putting in the effort. Hence why Freya tied herself to playing the long game. Calculating all her moves over a long stretch of time in order to make that man slowly come to love and want her as much as she did him. Yes, for that satisfying goal she could wait a hundred years, so long as it was promised to her at the end.
That all considered, it’s no question this girl on her way right now became another piece on the game board that Freya had been trying to strategize her win on for so long. Freya had been rolling the dice time and time again, moving her pieces with purpose, and spending her chips carefully. She can’t exactly see the board but she’s certain that after playing as long and as competitively as she has that she has to be close to the end. This means very little though when a new player sits down across from her and cluelessly gets to set her piece right at the finish line. Not even once looking at the rest of the board to see how much Freya has invested into it already. She can’t see the new player yet and she can’t see the end to advance her piece to and it all frustrates her immensely.
Freya has put a lot of thought these last few weeks into this game. Usually she’s playing it without much thought. Years of playing the game with her promise to win at the end had become part of her every day routine. When she wakes up and chooses her earrings she’s setting up a play. When she reserves her childhood friend for another cup of tea she’s admiring her strategic hand. When she runs into Izek on her way out and troubles him with small talk, she’s playing her wild card and confident in getting the best results. Now someone else is trying to play her game and they have just laughed in her face and cheated their way to the end. So be it, if this new player gets to make her own rules Freya can as well. Who’s to say reaching the unseen finale of the game means exactly that? If that’s the case Freya only has to pull this girl’s piece down and slip her own piece into that spot. The spot it rightfully belongs in.
Ultimately, this girl will stand no chance against Freya and her long laid out plans, even with the giant wrench of her existence being thrown into them. She won’t win because she can’t win. Not after all the time and effort Freya has been putting in throughout the last few years. To call it unfair would be an understatement to the absurdity of it all. Not to mention this girl fares from the corrupt southern churches of Britannia. A natural predator lurking in their very halls waiting for the right moment to attack. If this girl truly believes she could just waltz in and-
“Anastasia Florentia!”
Ellen suddenly shouted out, face as stoic as ever to the untrained eye. To those who know Ellen, however, they can read the excitement in her eyes after being able to successfully recall the name of the defeated girl across the room. Her glass would have spilled at her outburst had she not lowered the contents to half in the time she spent thinking this matter over. The unexpected words were able to shock Freya out of her bitter state in fact. She hadn’t even realized until that moment that she had begun to stare daggers into the lilac dressed girl as if she were the unwanted girl instead.
“Pardon?”
“It finally came to me, I had only a brief moment to go over the list but I’m certain. That girl from earlier had to be from the Florentia house and the Florentia’s only have one daughter, Anastasia.”
“Ah, I see.”
Now would usually be the time she would either praise or tease Ellen for her dedication to her unimportant question. Instead she kept herself more reserved, still picturing her gameboard before her. This went unnoticed to Ellen as she began to drum her fingers against her glass, likely trying to conjure up more useless names to pin to more useless faces in the crowd. Freya found herself scanning the room now for him.
It didn’t take long, it never did, to find him in a crowded room. He either drew in a swarm of people around him or he had already scared them all off leaving him mostly alone. Just look for the largest pile of people or the emptiest spot on the floor and he was sure to be occupying it. This time he had failed to yet reach the part of the night where the crowd dissipates in fear and awe and was caught in conversation by a few families. That was to be expected when noble houses not normally in attendance got the chance to be in the presence of a man that was set to be important one day. They would flock to him and set their claws in now to reassure their position or bargain for higher when his regime comes. Freya would usually be feeling pity for both the fools in front of him and Izek himself before laughing about it with Ellen.
Now, however, she felt something closer to confusion and bitterness on the back of her tongue. Izek had to agree to some extent to a marriage to the Pope’s daughter. Sure it was his duty as a man set to one day lead their country to secure a spouse at some point. Freya could even understand that a marriage like this could work to unify the South and the North and make Britannia stronger. But what did he feel past that, past the obligation and expectation of him? What did he feel for her?
Izek was not one to open up on personal matters willingly and Freya wasn’t one to recklessly poke into things he would not discuss. That’s exactly why she’d been agonizingly drawing out their eventual mutual love for eachother. She would chip away at that glacier with her bare bleeding hands slowly but surely. The frostbite had long since set in but that only made the fire she sought buried behind it all that more tantalizing. She has already seen results from her hard work as well. No other woman, save for the man’s dear sister, could get as close as she does without being made well aware they had crossed a line and being pushed back behind it. Freya had already earned her way across that line. The trouble is there were still a few more lines to go before he would realize just what that meant.
All this thinking would be utterly pointless to any other girl but it was crucial for Freya who still had much more planning ahead of her. Someone who still very much had a chance like her. In due time Izek will come to light and his position will give him the power needed to arrange things to how they should have been from the start. He will realize like a fool what has been in front of him all along and in turn Freya will laugh and tease him for it and forgive him. But right now, she continues to watch him across the room. Eye contact going unmet for the rest of the party.
•
“Yes, but who’s next to you..?”
The new duchess of Omerta spoke to Ellen as if they were as close as Freya and Ellen herself. Freya had left many sheets soaked in tears dreading this girl’s descent down the staircase and confidently clacking heels in the Omerta halls. Already treating this castle like it was owed to her. Yes, Freya had heard the rumors and chatter and had an idea of what she was meant to deal with as soon as this girl’s presence dominated the room. In fact, Ellen had already confessed earlier the girl was causing trouble on just her first night here. Ellen was too kind to point out the attention she was demanding in that dangerous act but Freya picked up on it easily. Besides the North had to be far too cold for a delicate girl like her to adjust to in only one day, putting out that fire was intentional. The only part that was unintentional was setting the fire in Freya’s own.
“Please extend your greetings. She is one of my oldest friends, Freya Van Furiana.”
With Ellen’s introduction it was now Freya’s turn to make her impression on the girl that was looking down on her from the steps where she stood. If she wanted she could act indifferent and give the girl a cold shoulder making it clear how exactly Freya felt about her existence in one mean glance. That girl was looking at her now in feigned kindness that did not match her reputation. Freya knows it all so well, she wore the expression often around others and had it mastered to perfection. It was exactly how Freya preferred to play her game. So in turn, Freya now looked up, closing one eye with a playful smile toward the girl on the stairs.
“Hello, Lady Rudbeckia! I’m happy to have met you!”
Freya will take the friendly approach and sneak in just enough clues when necessary to get the message through subtly as she does best. She never was one to deliver the bitter words to the person’s face. That work was handled by the women who she whispered ideas to while Freya remained free of all responsibility to such rumors. The reaction from the girl only further solidifies her clever crude personality that Freya suspected from her. Practically jumping out of her skin with practiced restraint so as not to alert everyone of her unease. She was smart enough to pick up on Freya’s veiled malice in just a few words and was already putting herself on guard. Clearly familiar with her strategy, this could prove either useful or troublesome for Freya but only time will tell.
Nonetheless, Freya will continue to play her charm to her advantage and smile gleefully. Now that this girl is here in front of her now she can make new plays on the gameboard. This girl may have her spot now but she isn’t deserving of it like Freya is. No, this girl is here with the purpose to bring the Omerta’s down and Freya’s plans with it and she isn’t hiding it well. This girl is more wicked than Freya herself, if her goal is oppressing the North further and Freya’s is love, Who here is the bad guy?
“Nice to meet you, Lady Furiana!”
That couldn’t be right.
Freya is certain this girl’s acting is just too good.
However, in that moment, Freya felt like the girl seemed quite genuine in her words to her. There was no real indicator that proved she was speaking honestly but somehow Freya just knew. Perhaps it was how brightly the girl was beaming down on her, similar to the brightest sun blinding as you emerge from a dark cave. This girl was warm, in a way that immediately made Freya feel small. More insignificant than grateful for its rays shining on her uncomfortable skin. It made Freya feel wrong. As if all her horrible thoughts on this bright girl in front of her were rooted in something evil. That couldn’t be true, Freya was fighting for love she was innocent in this unspoken battle.
Yet in that moment she felt as if she had just lost to good.
In less than a fraction of a second Freya waves off the notion entirely. Composes herself flawlessly and makes a swift remark on the girl with her teasing gripes in Ellen’s direction. Of course, it was as Freya had heard, the girl was an exceptionally malicious actor. One that might even rival Freya’s own practiced faces and lines. Freya only allowed herself to cast a cautionary glare at the girl meant to size her up that only she would catch. Freya has been playing this game for a very long time and nobody played as well as her. They would continue to shuffle on to the next banquet with a facade that the three girls were all happy in each other's company. But the carriage conversations there, the lavish party and its promising unfold of events, and the quiet after Freya was laying in her bed at night staring at the ceiling. During it all, Freya had one thought recurring over and over in the back of her head like a knife pressed against her spine ready to cut.
Not every girl was born fortunate. In fact, most weren’t.