A Frozen Heart Page 11

  Instantly, a wave of people rushed past Hans, jostling to be the first ones inside. However, not everyone was eager to get to the soup. Hans spotted the Duke of Weselton and his two men lurking nearby. A few of the other visiting dignitaries stood across the courtyard from him. While most of them looked genuinely concerned about the state of Arendelle and its people, the Duke had his hands on his hips and was watching the scene unfold with disdain. It seemed now was a good time to take a few moments to visit Arendelle’s esteemed guests. The last thing Hans wanted was the Duke talking to them first. Turning to a guard who stood nearby, Hans handed the man a stack of cloaks. “Here. Pass these out to anyone who still needs them,” he ordered.

  As Hans approached the dignitaries, he mentally reviewed quick backgrounds on each. Once again, it seemed all his preparation for this visit was paying off. He saw the representative from Zaria, a thin, reedy man with a huge beard that reached past his belt. That, Hans knew, was a sign of wealth in the man’s kingdom. He would be good to have as an ally. He was one of the most respected men here, although not exactly the most outgoing of sorts. Next to him was Prince Wils, who certainly was the outgoing sort. Despite the rather dreary situation, he made a comment to Prince Freluke that Hans couldn’t make out and then burst into laughter. Hans tried not to smile. The man’s laugh sounded like a little girl’s. Gaining his support was not of great importance to Hans. Vakretta was a small kingdom with little to offer in the way of power or trade. Moving on, he spotted the lord of Kongsberg as well as the representatives from Blavenia and Eldora. Of the three, these were the two dignitaries who Hans wanted to win over. The lord of Kongsberg was too powerful. He wouldn’t need to listen to Hans, whereas the dignitaries would be more eager to gain power. The Blavenian was practically his already—their country was significantly in debt to the Southern Isles. And Hans was skilled at collecting what was owed him.

  Hans smiled to himself. Knowing a little bit about each of the men put him at a distinct advantage. They, he was sure, knew nothing of him. Why would they? Up until today he had been nothing more than a thirteenth son.

  But he was about to prove how little that mattered now.

  Stopping in front of the group of men, Hans bowed. The men followed suit. “Good sirs,” Hans began. “I’m sorry that this is not quite the celebration we had in mind. I do hope we have been able to make you as comfortable as possible given the situation.”

  “Quite so, quite so,” bubbled Prince Wils. “Who doesn’t like a little snow in summer?”

  “I, for one,” the lord of Kongsberg replied. “Prince Hans, have you any word from the princess? How much longer do you suppose we will have to wait for her return? I have people at home who will not be pleased by a long absence, and I find the whole thing rather suspicious. What is your role in all of this?”

  “I am doing all in my power to—”

  “What power?” the lord snapped back. “You have no real power besides what was handed to you by a silly little princess in over her head. I will not be made a fool. If this is all some grand scheme to keep us trapped here in Arendelle, I will make you suffer.”

  “Now, now,” Prince Wils said, his face distraught at the lord’s words. “There is no need for such threats, is there? What point would there be in keeping us here? I’m sure Prince Hans is doing everything he can.”

  “Prince Hans?” the lord shot back. “I have never heard that name before today and yet look at him. Running around as though he were king. It makes one suspicious….”

  Hans knew he had to regain control of the conversation—and fast. If the lord convinced the others of his doubts, it could mean ruin. A sudden surge of anger welled up in Hans and he forced it back down. This was not the time to let emotion rule. So the lord of Kongsberg was a bully. Hans had grown up with twelve bullies! He knew just how to deal with them—and the number one rule was never let them see you sweat. Turn the bullying back on the bully. Like his father had taught him, the best thing to do in a situation like this was act like a mirror.

  “Enough!” Hans said, silencing the lord instantly. “Do not think for a moment that just because you hold power in some faraway kingdom you can come here and treat me like a child. I am a prince! I am a prince betrothed to the princess of this kingdom. Do not dare question me or my motives. My motives are simple—protect Arendelle. We should be working together to help Arendelle, not fighting amongst each other like whales over a seal.” He stopped and took a breath. “Now, instead of throwing barbs, don’t you think our time would be best spent offering up suggestions on how to fix our current problem?”

  For a moment, the lord said nothing. He just looked at Hans as though for the first time. Then he bowed his head ever so slightly. “I’m sorry, Prince Hans. You do indeed seem to have the situation well under control. I suppose all we can do is wait for Princess Anna’s safe return.”

  “Yes, that was my thought exactly,” Hans said, trying not to smile. Bullying the bully. He would have to remember to thank his brothers the next time he saw them. This was probably the first time in his whole life they had actually helped. Now the whole group was looking to him for guidance. He would just have to spend a little more one-on-one time with a few of them, and then he would have not only control of Arendelle, but allies to boot.

  Unfortunately, there was still one large, or rather one quite small, person who could get in his way. Hearing footsteps behind him, Hans turned to see the Duke of Weselton approaching. “Well, this should be interesting,” he said over his shoulder to the other men.

  “I’ve never trusted that man,” Prince Wils said softly. “Never trusted him one bit.”

  “Neither do I, Prince Wils,” Hans said. “But I suppose we should hear him out.”

  “His mustache worries me,” the Eldoran dignitary added. “It’s just so…bushy. It looks like an animal.”

  Laughing in agreement, Hans squared his shoulders and, with newfound confidence, turned back just as the Duke came to a stop in front of him.

  “Prince Hans,” the Duke began immediately. “Are we expected to sit here and freeze while you give away all of Arendelle’s tradable goods?”

  And now to shut down bully number two, Hans thought. “Princess Anna has given her orders and—”

  The Duke cut him off. “That’s another thing,” he said, sneering. “Has it dawned on you that your princess may be conspiring with a wicked sorceress to destroy us all?”

  Instantly, Hans’s expression went from obliging to icy. “Do not question the princess,” he said, his tone as dark as when he had cut down the lord of Kongsberg. “She left me in charge, and I will not hesitate to protect Arendelle from treason.”

  “Treason?” the Duke repeated, looking confused and suddenly slightly scared.

  Hans nodded and was about to explain just what he meant when he heard the sound of hooves clattering over ice. A moment later, Anna’s horse galloped into sight. He was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. The saddle was tilted to the side, and one stirrup was missing.

  Grabbing the reins, Hans began to soothe the horse. But he needed soothing as well. Something had happened to Anna. Turning, he saw that the men were now looking at him, their frightened faces mirroring his own. Without Anna, he had nothing. What was he going to do now?

  “HANG ON! We like to go fast!”

  As Kristoff shouted his warning to Anna, he slapped the reins against Sven’s neck, urging the reindeer on. Up ahead, the North Mountain rose into the night sky, blocking out the stars and casting long shadows on the woods below.

  If Anna had stopped to think about what she was doing, she might have been scared—or at least a bit nervous. After all, she was racing toward Elsa on a sleigh of questionable quality with an ice harvester she had just met. But she didn’t have time to think.

  “I like fast!” Anna shouted back, the wind whipping her long braid behind her and flakes of snow pelting her cheeks. Leaning back on the bench seat, she put her feet up on the dashboard and
her hands behind her head. She looked up at Kristoff and smirked, daring him to drive faster. Take that, Mr. Ice Man. You’re not the only one who is adventurous. I’m all about adventure.

  “Whoa, whoa!” he shouted, pushing her feet back to the floor. “Get your feet down.” For a moment, Anna was surprised that he actually seemed concerned for her safety. But then he added, “This is fresh lacquer. Seriously, were you raised in a barn?” Then he spit on the dash and shined it with his shirtsleeve.

  Anna raised an eyebrow. The irony of Kristoff asking if she was raised in a barn was not lost on her. Nor was the spit that flew in her face as Kristoff continued to clean his precious sleigh. And he thinks I have no manners? “Um, ew!” she said, wiping her face and giving him a look of disgust. “And no, I was raised in a castle.”

  “So tell me,” Kristoff said. “What made the queen go all ice-crazy?”

  Anna sighed. She had known sooner or later she would have to tell Kristoff the whole story. She had just hoped it would be later. “It was all my fault,” she explained. “I got engaged, but then she freaked out because I’d only just met him, you know, that day. And she said she wouldn’t bless the marriage—”

  “Wait,” Kristoff said, cutting her off. “You got engaged to someone you just met?”

  “Yeah,” Anna replied with a shrug. “Anyway, I got mad and so she got mad and then she tried to walk away, and I grabbed her glove—”

  Once again, Kristoff interrupted her. “Hang on. You mean to tell me you got engaged to someone you just met?”

  Anna wondered if Kristoff had a hearing problem. She had just told him yes less than a minute before. And why was he looking at her like she had two heads? If he was going to insist on asking her the same question over and over again, they really weren’t going to get far. “Yes,” she finally said. “Pay attention.”

  As she continued to describe what had happened, she felt Kristoff’s gaze on her. It made her uncomfortable and she wiggled away a bit, talking faster. Still, he continued to stare at her. Do I have something on my face? Anna wondered. Or in my teeth? And why won’t he watch where he’s going? She shook her head as she finished telling him what had led to Arendelle’s winter in July.

  But Kristoff didn’t seem interested in Elsa and her magic at all. “Didn’t your parents ever warn you about strangers?” he asked.

  “Yes, they did,” Anna said, pointedly looking at Kristoff, the strange ice harvester she had just met that day. “But Hans is not a stranger.”

  Kristoff raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? What’s his last name?”

  Ha! His last name. What a stupid thing to ask! Of course I know his last name. It’s…it’s, uh…I have it. I know it! Anna frowned. She didn’t have it. “Of-the-Southern-Isles?” she replied, hoping her answer sounded the least bit convincing.

  “What’s his favorite food?” Kristoff asked, clearly not buying the last name.

  “Sandwiches,” Anna retorted. What was this? Twenty Questions? What did it matter, anyway? So she didn’t know a few things about him. She had plenty of time to learn that stuff. But as Kristoff continued to grill her, it became clear that it was more than a few things she didn’t know.

  “Best friend’s name?”

  “Probably John.”

  “Eye color?”

  “Dreamy.”

  “Foot size?”

  Anna shot him a look. “Foot size doesn’t matter.”

  Kristoff shrugged. He paused, and for one brief moment Anna thought maybe he was going to stop with the inane questioning. But then he kept going. “Have you had a meal with him yet? What if you hate the way he eats? What if you hate the way he picks his nose?”

  “Picks his nose?” Anna repeated, repulsed at the thought.

  Kristoff nodded. “And eats it?”

  “Excuse me, sir. He’s a prince.”

  “All men do it,” Kristoff said, shrugging.

  What he clearly means is that he does it, Anna thought. Which doesn’t have any bearing on what my Hans does. And if on the slim, slim, slimmest chance Hans ever has done such a thing, I’m sure it was done gracefully and that he didn’t then eat it.

  “Look, it doesn’t matter,” Anna said, trying to put an end to the conversation. “It’s true love.”

  “Doesn’t sound like true love.”

  Anna nearly laughed out loud. “Are you some sort of love expert?” she asked, looking the burly man up and down. She was willing to bet that the only thing he had ever loved—besides himself, obviously—was his reindeer.

  “No,” Kristoff acknowledged. “But I have friends who are.”

  “You have friends who are love experts?” she said. “I’m not buying it….”

  Suddenly, the sleigh began to slow down. Sven’s pace grew more hesitant as he raised his head, ears perked and nostrils flared.

  “Stop talking,” Kristoff whispered. When she opened her mouth, he clamped his hand over it. “I mean it! Shhh!”

  Well, I never! Anna fumed. Just because I was winning that argument doesn’t mean…

  But then Kristoff stood up and raised his lantern. Anna gulped. The light had illuminated the woods that surrounded them—and revealed several pairs of yellow eyes. Several pairs of yellow eyes that were moving closer. This, Anna thought, is probably not good.

  “Sven, go!” Kristoff shouted, giving voice to Anna’s fears.

  “What are they?” Anna asked as she was thrown back onto the sleigh’s seat.

  Beside the moving sleigh, she could see flashes of white as the creatures, whatever they were, moved in and out of the trees, keeping pace with Sven.

  “Wolves,” Kristoff said, throwing the reins over the dashboard and jumping into the back of the sleigh.

  Wolves. Okay, I can handle wolves, Anna thought. They’re just like dogs—only bigger and meaner and I think they have sharper teeth. She shuddered. Then, taking a deep breath so Kristoff wouldn’t see she was scared, she called out to him, “What do we do?”

  The sleigh lurched to the right as Sven swerved, barely avoiding a huge tree stump in the middle of the path. Kristoff was thrown off-balance. His arms waved wildly in the air, and for a moment it looked as if he was going to go flying. Then he steadied himself and shot Anna a stern look. “I’ve got this. You just…don’t fall off and don’t get eaten.”

  “But I want to help,” Anna protested.

  “No!” Kristoff shouted over his shoulder as he rummaged through the sleigh’s supplies, looking for makeshift weapons.

  “Why not?”

  “Because,” Kristoff said. “I don’t trust your judgment. Who marries a man she just met?”

  The words hit Anna like a slap in the face. Kristoff sounded like Elsa. Who did he think he was? Her sister had already made her feel foolish, and now this man-child was acting all high and mighty. And on top of that, he didn’t think she could handle herself against the wolves! For a moment she was too stunned to speak. Then she sat up straight, eager to prove him wrong.

  Scanning the sleigh, she saw a long lute. It wasn’t perfect, but it was made of strong wood and, in this situation, could pass for a weapon. Anna looked back up just in time to see a wolf leaping toward Kristoff. With a cry, she drew back the lute and swung….

  “Whoa!” Kristoff shouted as the lute whizzed by his head and slammed into the leaping wolf, knocking the creature back down to the ground. He looked over at Anna, surprise on his face.

  Ha! she wanted to say. Bad judgment? Look whose judgment just saved you! But there was no time to gloat. The wolves were coming at them faster and faster. With a howl, one leaped up and grabbed Kristoff by the sleeve. Anna watched in horror as Kristoff was pulled clear off the sled. Grabbing a torch that had gone flying out of his hand, she raced to edge of the sleigh and looked over. Somehow, the man had managed to pull free from the wolf and grab hold of a loose rope.

  Behind him, the wolf that had grabbed him kept coming, determined to get his prize. As Kristoff let out a bloodcurdling scream, Anna fr
antically looked around the bottom of the sleigh. There was some hay, a few loose carrots, what looked like an old sandwich…Kristoff really ought to clean this thing out more often, Anna observed. What I really need is a—Aha! Yes! A blanket. Reaching down, she grabbed an old blanket from the floor of the sleigh and touched the tip of the torch to the material. Instantly, the blanket burst into flames.

  “Duck!” Anna shouted, throwing the blanket in Kristoff’s direction. It flew right over his head and hit the wolf, knocking it off Kristoff and into the others that were following.

  “You almost set me on fire!” Kristoff shouted as Anna reached out her hand and pulled him back into the sleigh.

  “But I didn’t,” she replied.

  Hearing a loud snort from Sven, both Anna and Kristoff turned back to face front. As soon as they did, Anna wished they hadn’t. Up ahead, and getting closer by the second, was a massive gorge. It had to be at least thirty feet across, and Anna didn’t even want to imagine how far down it went. Anna looked over at Kristoff, hoping he might have some brilliant plan. But he just stared at her blankly.

  Okay, so we have a gorge. And we have a reindeer. Her mind flashed to the first time she and her horse had jumped over a creek. It had looked so wide and terrifying, and yet after they had leaped over it, Anna had been ready to go again. This would just be like a really, really…really big creek. “Get ready to jump, Sven!” Anna shouted.

  “You don’t tell him what to do!” Kristoff shouted. For a brief moment, Anna thought he was going to offer up an alternate suggestion. But then he shoved a bag in her arms and scooped her up. “I do!” he said, throwing her forward so that she landed on Sven’s back. He quickly unhooked the sleigh from Sven’s harness.

  “Jump, Sven!” he shouted just as they got to the lip of the gorge.

  Anna grabbed hold of the reindeer’s mane and braced herself for the impact of Kristoff landing behind her. But the impact never came. As the reindeer pushed off into the air above the gorge, Anna looked back. Kristoff was still on the sled! He hadn’t gotten free in time! Luckily, the momentum of the high-speed chase had sent the sleigh flying out over the middle of the gorge. It looked like he was going to make it to the other side after all.