A Frozen Heart Page 8

  Reaching over, Hans gently pulled the white strand of hair loose and held it in his fingers. “You are destined for something, Anna. I can feel it. And I think, maybe, with you, life can be so much…more.”

  Anna smiled. “Do you really think so?” she asked softly.

  Hans nodded. “Can I say something crazy?” he asked.

  Anna smiled.

  “Will you…marry me?”

  Anna felt her heart skip a beat. She saw Hans looking down at her with hopeful eyes. She listened to the water pouring over the ancient rocks and wondered if this was the first time they had seen someone propose. She felt the cool mist wash over her skin and shivered. It was as though every sense was heightened, every emotion magnified.

  True, she had just spent what had to be most amazing night of her life with Hans. And true, it felt like they were in perfect sync. And true, he was funny and handsome. And true, he seemed to be a great listener with a big heart. The part of her that believed in love at first sight wanted to scream yes. But there was a smaller part of her that was whispering, “Think about what you are doing, Anna! You’ve just met this boy. Maybe you should take the time to get to know him.”

  I don’t have time, she argued to the little part of her that was being annoyingly realistic. The gates will close tomorrow, and then who knows if I will ever see Hans again. And I don’t think I can imagine a world without Hans in it. Not now.

  Slowly, Anna looked up at Hans. She knew what she needed to say. She knew what the right thing to do was. All she had to do was open her mouth and say the words.…

  WHAT WAS I THINKING? Hans thought in the moment after the question popped out of his mouth. Proposing to Anna after one evening was what Lars would call impetuous and his father would most likely call idiotic. True, he only had twenty-four hours to win Anna over. But had he moved too fast? Hans shook his head. He was going with his gut, and his gut had told him that this was a good idea. Or was that just all the chocolate fondue gurgling around? It was hard to tell.

  Looking down at Anna, Hans waited anxiously. It had only been a second since he’d asked, but as he waited for her answer, it felt like an eternity. He could see Anna’s brain working, and he imagined she was weighing the pros and cons. She wasn’t stupid. That had become clear over the course of the evening. But she was a romantic and she was spontaneous. That might be all he needed to ensure he never had to go back to the Southern Isles, or his father, or anything else he had fled. Now if only she would give him an answer.

  Just then, Anna opened her mouth.

  Hans sucked in his breath, ready.

  But she closed it again.

  Hans’s eyes bulged.

  Anna took her own deep breath. “Can I say something even crazier?” she asked.

  Hans crossed his fingers behind his back and nodded.

  “Yes!” she cried, throwing her arms around Hans and squeezing him with all the might she could muster.

  Hans let out a sigh of relief as a warm feeling flooded his chest. Now, now, he told himself. Remember why you’re here. This is a business transaction, nothing more.

  “Oh, Anna,” Hans said, squeezing her hand. “You couldn’t have made me happier. This is everything I always wanted and never even knew!” Which is true, he added to himself. I did want to marry a princess, I just never thought it would be Anna. Funny how things work out.

  Anna laughed and began jumping up and down. “There is so much we have to do. Of course, we must get married soon! I’ll need to talk to the seamstress about my dress—white, of course. Maybe with some lace on the sleeves? And a long train. I’ve always wanted…. Oops!” Unfortunately, the ground Anna had been jumping on was slick from the water, and her feet slid out from under her. Hans grabbed her arm and steadied her.

  “Ha! Guess you’ll be doing a lot of that for the rest of your life.”

  “I’m going to live to save you,” Hans said, smiling. The right words just seemed to spill from his mouth.

  Anna grinned. Gripping his arm tightly, she continued to make her plans. “Anyway, so we’ll need to get my dress. And figure out what kind of food we’ll have. I’m particularly fond of cheese, so we must have a cheese plate. And fondue, obviously.” She winked at Hans.

  As Anna continued to rattle off a list of things they had to do, Hans only half listened. If only Father could see me now, he thought. He would have to be proud of me. All his other sons relied on him to make their matches. But not me. I did this all on my own. I can’t wait to rub it in his face. And the faces of all my brothers. Which reminded him…

  “We will need to have my brothers at the wedding,” Hans said, cutting Anna off mid-sentence. “As my groomsmen.”

  “Yes! Absolutely,” Anna said eagerly. “What would a wedding be without family? How soon would they be able to get here? I can’t wait to introduce them to Elsa….” Suddenly, Anna’s eyes grew wide. “Elsa! We have to get back to the castle and tell her our news right away. She is going to be so happy for us! I just know it. She’ll probably want to help with all the planning. She has beautiful penmanship. She can totally help with the invitations. And then…”

  Hans put a hand on Anna’s arm. “My dearest,” he said gently. “Perhaps we should go tell her the news before we start assigning her work, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, you’re probably right,” Anna replied. “I’m just so excited.”

  “I am, too, Anna. I am, too. Now let’s go find your sister.”

  As they walked back toward the castle, Hans began drafting a conversation with Elsa in his mind. If he thought asking Anna to marry him had been nerve-racking, the idea of asking Elsa for her approval was downright terrifying. He was going to have to pull out all the stops to try to impress her. Starting with making sure he looked head over heels in love with her younger sister. He just needed to get her to like him long enough to let him marry Anna. And if she didn’t like him after? If he couldn’t find an easy way to overthrow her? Well, he had always been a good improviser. Perhaps he would just have to change up his plan a little. Maybe get rid of Elsa altogether. It wouldn’t be that hard. Crazy things happened around castles. One never knew when an accident might happen….

  He stopped himself. He would deal with that if the need arose. For now, he just needed to make sure he was as charming a prince as possible.

  Hans didn’t have long to prepare for his introduction to the queen. Anna sprinted back to the castle so fast he was barely able to keep up. Entering the ballroom, Hans was surprised to see that people were still dancing. Time had seemed to fly by while he was with Anna. He had just assumed it was late and the ball was over. Yet the dance floor was still packed. The band was still playing, and food and drink were still coming out of the kitchen.

  He and Anna pushed their way through the crowd. “Oops!” Anna said as she elbowed a young man. “Pardon!” she called as she passed by a waiter so fast that the tray the man was holding almost went flying. “Sorry!” she shouted as her foot caught the train of a woman’s dress, ripping it. By the time they made their way to Elsa, Hans felt like he had been through a battle.

  Beside him, Anna stood panting as she looked at her older sister. Compared to Anna, Elsa was calm and composed. It seemed as if she hadn’t moved since the ball had begun. Her dress was smooth and unwrinkled, and every hair on her head was still in place. Looking over at Anna, Hans smiled. She, on the other hand, was a bit of a mess. Her hair was disheveled and there were water stains on the bottom of her dress. But it was hard to even notice. All anyone could probably see was the happy smile plastered on her face.

  Let’s hope Elsa sees how happy she is, too, Hans thought as Elsa took in her sister. Then she looked at Hans and raised an eyebrow. Hans gulped.

  Quickly, Anna dropped into an awkward curtsy. “Elsa! I mean…Queen,” Anna corrected herself. “Um, may I present Prince Hans of the Southern Isles.”

  Hans bowed deeply. Then he stood up straight and smiled his most charming smile. “Your Majesty,”
he said.

  If he had thought Elsa would return his smile, he was wrong. She merely nodded and gave him the slightest of bows. Okay, so charm might not be the best tactic with Elsa. Hans remembered the advice his father had given him after a particularly unsuccessful attempt to collect some back taxes. If you wanted to get someone to like you, you just had to act like a mirror. People loved their own reflection. He decided to mimic the comradery he had witnessed between the two sisters as best he could.

  Anna, however, seemed blissfully unaware of Elsa’s lack of interest and was nearly jumping out of her skin in her excitement to share the big news. “We would like…” she began.

  “…your blessing…” Hans added, trying to look as hopeful and innocent as possible.

  “…of…” Anna said. Then she looked over at Hans and smiled.

  “…our marriage!” they finished in unison. Hans reached over and took Anna’s hand. That’s what couples announcing their intent to marry did, right? Elsa was totally going to soften. She was going to open her mouth and say…

  “I’m sorry. I’m confused.”

  That was not what Hans had expected to hear. Maybe an “Excuse me?” Or even an “Oh.” But what was she confused about? They wanted to get married. It didn’t seem complicated to him.

  However, while Hans immediately sensed that this was not taking the turn he had hoped but rather the turn he had feared, Anna seemed to think her sister just needed clarification about the engagement. “Well, we haven’t worked out all the details ourselves. We’ll need a few days to plan the ceremony. Of course we’ll have soup, roast, and ice cream, and then—” She looked over at Hans. “Wait. Would we live here?”

  “Here?” Elsa repeated.

  “Absolutely!” Hans said at the same time, his tone a little too eager for his liking. Of course they would live in Arendelle. Returning to the Southern Isles wasn’t an option. He was done with that place. Finished for good. The only time he would ever even think about returning was when he had managed to pull this all off and he could sail there with his own fleet, trumpets blaring and a crown on his head.

  Ignoring the look on Elsa’s face, Anna kept going with her plan. “We can invite all twelve of your brothers to stay with us—”

  “Wait,” Elsa said, cutting off her sister. “Slow down. No one’s brothers are staying here. No one is getting married.” As she said this, she glared right at Hans.

  He could practically hear what she was thinking. Her look said it all. She wasn’t fooled by him. All of his smiling and loving glances at Anna hadn’t done a thing to win Elsa over. To her, Hans was a stranger. Someone who had just swooped in and messed with her sister’s heart. Which was, technically, true. With that one look, he knew Elsa was asking the question Anna should have been asking all along: What are you after?

  Looking down at Anna standing beside him, he saw that the smile had faded from her face. It had been replaced by an expression of confusion, as if she couldn’t quite process what her sister had just said. “Wait, what?” she asked Elsa, her voice shaking.

  “May I talk to you, please?” Elsa answered. “Alone.”

  Anna shook her head stubbornly. Then she linked her arm with Hans’s. “No,” she said, the quaver in her voice gone. “Whatever you have to say you can say to both of us.”

  Hans tried not to groan. Why did Anna have to go and say that? Pitting the two of them against Elsa would only make the queen angrier. And more intent on separating the pair. Please don’t say what I think you are going to say, he pleaded silently, looking at the queen’s stern expression. Please don’t ruin everything I’ve worked for. Not now. Please just do not say…

  “Fine,” Elsa said. “You can’t marry a man you just met.”

  …that. Please just do not say that.

  Hans let out a sigh. Well, that went just swimmingly, he thought. If “swimmingly” meant drowning in an ocean full of sharks while wearing stone shoes.

  YOU CAN’T MARRY a man you just met.

  Elsa’s words echoed in Anna’s ears. She wanted to scream. She wanted to throw things and make a scene that would have people all over the kingdom talking for years to come. She wanted to grab her sister by the shoulders and shake her and beg her to be human. Beg her to understand that this was all Anna wanted in the world. But Anna knew she couldn’t do any of those things. No matter how much she might want to let loose all the frustration and sadness that had been building for years, she would never do that to Elsa. She would never really make a scene and ruin Elsa’s coronation. And yet she couldn’t help wondering…Elsa had spent years denying Anna the love of a sister. Why did she have to deny her this, too?

  Maybe that’s the problem, Anna thought, suddenly hopeful. Maybe Elsa just doesn’t know what Hans and I have. Maybe I just need to tell her. “You can if it’s true love,” she said, trying to keep her voice even despite the emotions raging through her body.

  “Anna,” Elsa said, “what do you know about true love?”

  “More than you,” Anna snapped, suddenly furious.

  Had her sister seriously just questioned what Anna knew about true love? What did Elsa know about true love? At least Anna had been among the living since their parents died. She hadn’t shut herself away from everyone and everything. Anna could feel her anger at her sister growing. I was the one who kept trying, Anna thought. Every day when we were younger, I was the one who went and stood in front of her door and begged her to play with me. I was the one who tried to coax her out for silly games and bike rides around the castle. And every time, it was Elsa that turned me down cold. It was Elsa who offered me nothing. I always wanted my sister back. I always wanted her to love me. She was the one who couldn’t have cared less.

  If not for the crowd that had slowly come closer and closer, Anna might have screamed her thoughts at her sister. How dare Elsa tell her what she could and couldn’t do? After all these years of ignoring her, why did Elsa even care what Anna did with her life?

  Staring at her sister’s ice-cold expression, she tried to understand how they had gotten to this point. Weren’t sisters supposed to be happy for each other at times like this? Did Elsa really not understand how much Anna needed this?

  I just want to feel the happiness that comes with trusting someone with your whole heart. I want to know what it feels like to be with someone who wants to be with me, who doesn’t turn away from me. Why? she asked Elsa silently, looking into her sister’s eyes. Why is that so hard to understand? Why can’t I find out what true love is, even if you don’t want to?

  Anna was sure there must be a way to change Elsa’s mind. But when her sister finally spoke, her words broke Anna’s heart all over again. “You asked for my blessing, but my answer is no.” Elsa turned to go. “Now, excuse me.”

  Anna had been so caught up in her anger at Elsa that she had almost forgotten Hans was still at her side. To her relief, he stepped forward now and tried to support her. “Your Majesty,” he said, grabbing on to Elsa’s arm. “If I may ease your—”

  “No, you may not,” Elsa said, cutting Hans off. “And I think you should go.” Ripping her arm free, she once again turned to leave. Passing by Kai, she paused only long enough to add, “The party is over. Close the gates.”

  Close the gates? No! Anna screamed silently. This wasn’t over. The party wasn’t over. Her time with Hans couldn’t be over! If the gates closed, she knew she would never see her prince again. She would be stuck inside the castle with a sister who refused to speak to her. She’d be lonely forever.

  “Wait!” Anna shouted. She reached for her sister’s hand, but all she managed to do was pull off Elsa’s long glove.

  Elsa’s reaction was swift. She spun around, and Anna saw that her sister’s face had grown pale and she had begun to shake. It was as though Anna had chilled her sister to the bone, not just removed a single glove. Elsa reached out desperately. “Give me my glove!” she pleaded.

  Anna shook her head as she felt tears well up in her eyes. She d
idn’t want to fight with her sister. Just a few hours earlier, she had truly thought there was hope of salvaging their relationship. It would start with laughing over the Duke of Weselton and then a shared secret, perhaps, and then, voila! They would be true sisters again. And now…she honestly didn’t know what was worse; her sister denying Anna’s happiness or the fact that if Elsa didn’t change her mind, Anna would never be able to forgive her.

  “Elsa, please,” Anna begged. “Please. I can’t live like this anymore.”

  Elsa’s eyes filled with tears. “Then leave…” she said, her voice weak. Turning, she once again began to rush away.

  Anna recoiled, the words hitting her like a slap across the face. All of the anger and sadness she had been holding back poured out of her. “What did I ever do to you?” she shouted to her sister’s retreating back. Her words echoed over the ballroom, which had gone silent, all eyes on the sisters.

  “Enough, Anna,” Elsa whispered harshly.

  “No!” Anna was done suffering silently, done with the thousand unanswered questions. She wasn’t going to let Elsa cut her out of her life without first getting some answers.

  “Why do you shut me out? Why do you shut the world out? What are you so afraid of?” The questions tumbled out of her mouth, one running into the other.

  “I said, enough!”

  And then, as Anna watched in horror, a stream of ice shot out of Elsa’s hand. Within seconds, huge sharp spikes of ice littered the floor. Guests cried out in shock. Some tried to run away, while others clung to one another.