freya noble { seven } fin

"Freya."

Her gaze snaps back to her mother, who has fallen silent at the dinner table. It is just the two of them in the room on opposite sides of the table- everyone else had already exited to the outdoors. The dim golden light pours down Freya Noble's face, illuminating her gentle features, her amber-brown eyes. But her mother is in shadows except for a slant of light refracted from one of the diamonds of the chandelier, cutting across her face in a diagonal from her eye to her chin.

From that single slant of light, Freya can see the steel in her mother's eyes. She can imagine her austere features in the darkness, her mouth hardened into a flat line on her harsh face.

"You're unfocused," her mother points out. "The cult is bearing down on us, and you're not listening to my advice."

"I'm sorry, I-"

"You're not letting your eyes wander too much, are you?" she asks accusingly.

"What do you mean?"

"Keep your eyes off the Bellavance's bastard boy."

Freya's cheeks flame at her words. Christian Bellavance is Aramis's half-brother; they share a father, but not a mother. She can't deny that he isn't a looker- more so than his little brother- but she understands her responsibility enough not to pay too much attention to him.

"I haven't-"

"Remember your obligation, Freya."

And she does. She couldn't forget with the way her mother breathes down her back, bores her gaze into her skull.

Her mother has always been harsh with her, always a reminder with her stone gaze of her responsibilities and obligations.

On that particular night, Freya has had enough of it.

She is usually one to hold her tongue- she knows her place- but not this time. Freya narrows her eyes at her mother, in almost a glare, and says boldly, "If not for my obligation, we wouldn't even have an issue with the cult! It's all because they don't like the Bellavances bootlegging- all that nonsense about it poisoning the district. If we weren't involved with the Bellavances, the cult wouldn't look twice at us."

And then the thought occurs to her- if they weren't involved with the Bellavances, her father might still be alive. But she knows better than to say that. So instead, she finishes with, "But you'd rather have power over safety."

Freya watches as her mother's face screws up in anger, and scarlet washes over her flesh. She takes a deep breath, as if she is preparing to scream with all of the air in her lungs and all of the might in her heart. Her hands curls into fists on the table, and a tremor runs through her body from her core. But then, she exhales, gets up from her seat, and stalks out of the dining room.

This could mean two things: one, her mother knows she is right and is going to let it go, and two, her mother knows she is right and is going to make her pay for defying authority.

It has always been a well known fact that Freya would rule. Her parents deal illegal firearms on the black market, a business that has earned the Nobles wealth and with that, respect. She didn't know exactly what her parents did for a living until she could keep a secret, but she had always known that there was someone she needed to marry and responsibilities to uphold. She just didn't know the specifics.

Freya Noble was born to lead, something her mother seems to forget by the way she hovers over her, waiting for her to make a mistake so she can immediately correct her. She's figured out by now that her daughter doesn't want to marry the Bellavance's boy. He is too arrogant, too entitled, for Freya's taste. But she is set on etching into her daughter's mind that what she wants doesn't matter.

Only power does.