It's time

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"Freya."

"Freyaaaa."

"Freya!!!"

That was the sound of a young man calling out to a girl standing in a daze as she stretched the string of her bow taut. Her expression remained cold and indifferent as she eyed the bull's eye on that boss yet her heart and mind were in a place of hurt.

Why? It was because today was her birthday but it was also the day that her parents died so yes there was nothing to celebrate despite it being her birthday. She had decided to spend the day hunting in the foggy mountain range which was a part of her backyard.

But who would have thought her uncle would ask him to take her cousin with her? Despite growing up in the same environment, he had no hunting skills whatsoever.

She was starting to suspect that her uncle insisted that they go together because he thought she would be sad and lonely hence Lionel could keep her company.

Because her cousin couldn't survive the deep wild she was forced to dial it down for him and shoot arrows at unmoving targets. All this while she had been watching her cousin fail miserably thus she decided to demonstrate how it was done.

But who would have thought that when she pulled the bowstring to its limit she would get distracted and her very steady mind would veer off course? It took Lionel calling her three times for him to get out of her trance.

Her lifeless eyes were suddenly revitalised and she glanced at Lionel from the corner of her eyes. "What?" she asked acting like she wasn't the one who was lost in thought just now.

Lionel squinted his eyes studying her expression carefully looking for any traces of sadness or anguish but who would be able to judge the expression on a glacier when it was frozen stiff?

"What's wrong with you? You have been zoning out for the past two minutes... Is this part of the process?" asked Lionel looking for any signs of depression or grief. His father asked him to look out for those clinical signs and report them back to him.

With a whoosh, the arrow whistled as it ripped through the air before hitting the bull's eye. Freya put down the bow her expression distant as she said, "You have to have a sound mind so yes it is part of the process."

The concept of a sound mind was so foreign to Lionel that he couldn't fathom how one could keep their mind silent and calm. In his head, he was already calculating wind direction and trajectory angles for a more accurate bull's eye.

"Oh," said Lionel as he accepted the bow from her. This was meant to be a demonstration but Lionel didn't learn anything at all. He seemed much worse than before because his arms, wrists and shoulders were already sore.

He already felt like going back home and continuing to formulate the new drug he was working on. Lionel really hated being outside. He was what others would call a nerd or genius of some sort who loved the indoors.

The only reason he was outside was that his father wanted him to keep his cousin company as today was the death anniversary of her parents and sadly also her birthday.

"Are you going to shoot the arrow or are we going to be here the entire day?" she asked and Lionel couldn't help but complain,

"Okay, okay don't rush me."

Lionel inhaled deeply as he eyed his target. For him, it was enough if he could only hit the target. As he exhaled he released the string but was startled into changing the direction of his aim upwards when his name was suddenly called.

"Young sir Lionel!" called out a deep raspy voice and whoosh the arrow shot upwards.

"Incoming!" yelled Lionel before running for his life. Who knows where this arrow would land? The man who had called his name earlier grabbed the war boomerang hanging on the side of his waist but Freya beat him to it firing three arrows subsequently changing the direction of the misfired arrow raining down like a missile.

"AAAAAHHHHH!!" screamed Lionel while running away like his pants were on fire.

The man glanced at the two vastly different people and couldn't help but shake his head. One was cowardly and the other had the spirit of a warrior. Realising she was staring at him, he straightened his back and said, "Miss, the master is looking for the both of you. He said the matter is urgent."

Freya glanced down at the arrowhead that fell to the ground and bend down to pick it up before saying, "I am coming."

The man nodded his head and wisely chose to walk away. Freya rubbed the family crest engraved in the arrowhead with a lost expression.

Ten minutes later she pushed the main gate open and entered the courtyard with a downcast air surrounding her. In three to four steps she was out of the icy mountain wind and was walking towards her uncle's workbench with lots of herbs, powders and poisons.

Lenox looked up and met his niece's eyes before lowering his head and continuing with what he was doing. Lionel who ran back cowardly didn't look at her either. He was back in his little world and all he saw was the work in front of him.

"Sit," said Lenox pointing at the chair opposite him and Freya sat down. He placed a small porcelain jug in front of her.

Freya's finger tapping the table lightly stopped as her brows furrowed. Lenox didn't keep her guessing either. "It's time... His majesty has opened up his doors to all fair maidens in all of Odasal kingdom. The crown prince has come of age," he said scrutinizing her reaction.

From the day he cut her open from her dead mother's belly, he had vowed to exact revenge on the entire royal family. He raised her in that deep dark desire to avenge her family. The day they had been looking forward to had finally come.

Freya showed an unsettling smile as she picked up the porcelain jug. After a short moment of silence, she said, "Then I will make sure to catch the prince's eye."

"If I were the crown prince I would be terrified. Cousin, you look like a hyena ready to gnarl on a carcass ouch...," said Lionel only for him to get smacked upside his head by his mother who just happened to walk in on him.

"Who are you calling a hyena? That's your older cousin you are talking about," she said with her hand on her hip like a typical auntie yelling at hooligans at the fish market.