Hunted Queen

Chapter Forty Three • Family

Hello! 

Happy Second Advent! I'm celebrating with a cup of "glögg" with almonds and some gingerbread cookies! Here's a little extra chapter just as a thank you for being so awesome and supportive of this story!

A lot of you are asking for when Jade and William will see each other again and I know you are (intensely) waiting for a reunion but I don't want to spoil anything! 

Much love to you for sticking with me and this story! 

-Jade- 

Hours later, Jade sat at the servant girl's family's table, Brother Richard to her left. They were just about to eat supper, which they had been graciously offered by the girl's mother the second they stepped across her threshold.

Jade had instantly noticed that the servant girl, named Maj, was the spitting image of her mother. Maj had the exact same raven black hair as her mother, who also had beautiful curls that bounced as she moved. The only thing that set them apart was that the mother's hair and faint streaks of grey. They also shared the most beautiful color of rich brown in eye color which complemented their hair perfectly. And in them there was the same spark of life. 

Maj's father was also dark of hair but nothing close to his wife and daughter's. He did not have much of it left but it was easy enough to tell that what little hair he had was of a walnut brown shade. His eyes a soft hazel color. 

There were in fact little to no signs of Maj's father visible when one first laid eyes upon the family of three. Not before having studied the shape of their faces and how they carried themselves could you tell that Maj was related to her father. Maj had her father's round cheeks and lips, the bottom one a little bit heavier than the upper one. 

She also noticed that their hands were rough, but that did not necessarily mean that Maj had gotten it from her father, it could easily be from working from morning to dusk. 

Jade's eyes fell to her own palms for a second and noticed that hers were no longer what they had been when she lived in Thornstead. Now they were softer and in her eyes more fragile since she barely worked anymore. 

"Thank you so much for this." Jade said, giving the girl's mother a grateful look when she was served a piece of chicken meat. "It is very generous and kind of you to let my father and I join your fa-"

"Oh, stop that." The woman answered gently and sucked her teeth. "When I have food to spare I share it." She continued before pointing at her husband with the carving knife in her hand. "Otherwise, someone takes more than they need."  

"Oh come off it, dear!" Maj's father Ove chuckled. "If there is anyone who gets seconds its my little squirrel." He said and looked with warm eyes at his daughter. 

Jade's nose wrinkled in amusement of the comparison he made between the little animal and his daughter. Not having seen anything but red or brown squirrels in her life, she wondered if black squirrels existed. 

"That is because that cursed Ahke does not feed her enough when she is working!" She exclaimed in frustration that conveyed that Maj sometimes went hungry while working, and her mother was not happy about it. "Besides, she needs it. All skin and bones she is." 

"Aye, calm down Magda, dear." Ove chuckled and gestured for his wife to sit. 

Jade's eyes darted to Maj, not having truly looked if she was as thin as her mother stated. A warm feeling filled her when she noticed that Maj was not thin at all, she looked well fed and perfectly healthy, and Jade knew that her mother was just like any other mother. Thinking that their child needed more food even though they were fine.