Frozen Heart: The Prophecy of Janis the Snow Queen

Exile and the Transformation

Three years later, a harsh winter came to the Kingdom of Misthaven. From inside one of the warmest places in the land, the castle commanded by the widow Queen Idonea, Janis watched snowflakes falling beyond the large stained glass windows of the ballroom. She wore a dark blue dress and her black hair in a braided bun. Janis looked down from a reverie to her ring on her right hand. She thought of Eric and his last words to her before he died. She brought her hand to her chest and she closed her eyes.

I will never forget you and the love between us, Eric. Janis thought to herself. She looked up again at the snowfall and then stood and walked closer to the window.

Her mind was in another place. Janis thought to herself again, I must find a way to have my revenge on that monster Idonea. But how? How can I fight a queen, and a queen that conjures fire from thin air at that?

Janis and Cyndra were reading quietly together in the library when their servant, Grizel, entered the room. "Janis," she said, "Her Majesty the Queen requests your presence in her throne room."

The girl with the dark blue dress set down her book without a word and rose to leave with the servant. Princess Cyndra watched with a frown as her friend left the library. She began to pray that Janis could be spared any further tragedies.

Janis entered the throne room to see the Queen sitting on her tall throne. She curtsied and said, "I have come, your Majesty. What do you want of me?"

"You have come of age, Janis." The aging monarch spoke energetically and without a hint of caution or concern. "It is time to know the truth, girl."

"The truth? Would it happen to have something to do with that secret, that I was to be the next queen? When I was a child, my caregiver mentioned 'the truth' to me, but she never told me what she meant. I think I know now."

"Helen was a loyal woman."

Janis flinched. Was the queen implying something had happened to her?. She didn't trust anything that came from her cruel lips, but despite that she asked, "How do you know her?"

"She was my midwife who delivered my daughter. I sent her away after Cyndra's birth. Three years after, Helen came back to the castle and she wept at my feet; she was in such a state. She ranted even to Peter, saying that the prophecy was fulfilled. At first I didn't believe her. I went to my magic mirror and I said 'Mirror, mirror on the wall, show me the latest prophecy of the Troll King!'

"Then, there I saw you within the mirror before me. You were the quietest, calmest baby I'd ever seen, certainly nothing like Cyndra. You had hair even then black as raven feathers. Your skin was white as snow and your blue eyes... they chilled my bones even looking at them from afar! 'A child born to the House of Chairn shall have a frozen heart and rule over a frozen world.' You are the prophecy, Janis. That's why I sent my guards to find you."

Janis backed away in shock and she thought to herself, That was the truth Helen never told me! I am the girl in the Troll King's prophecy... to rule over a frozen world. The Queen stood up from her throne and lifting her voice boomed, "Fate brought you to me in this castle, but it is your home no longer. From this night to the last night, I decree that you are to be forever banished. Your kingdom is elsewhere. Pack whatever things you call yours and go."

The young woman was shocked. Idonea never meant to give her the throne of Misthaven in Cyndra's place. She had another plan, and it had to do with this prophecy that always seemed mysterious and out of reach. Why would she do this? What does she want? Janis thought to herself. The tears started flowing from her eyes. She wanted to curse at herself, crying in the throne room, looking so weak in front of her sworn enemy. Instead she gasped and ran out of the large room as fast as she could, her footsteps echoing behind her.