What do I know about Hans? Anna asked herself as the trolls tried to convince her that Kristoff was the one for her. I know that he has a lot of brothers. And he comes from the Southern Isles. But what else?
“Enough!” Kristoff finally shouted, cutting off Bulda and interrupting Anna’s thoughts. “She’s engaged to someone else. Okay?”
Bulda’s eyes narrowed and she leaned in closer to Anna. They stood that way for a long moment, their eyes locked. Finally, Bulda sighed and placed a hand gently on Anna’s heart. “Love is a powerful emotion. First love. Young love. But remember, you are young and your heart is just opening. Take some advice from an old troll who knows a little something about love. You must always remember that love is a gift given to all of us. It should be cherished, yes. It should be cherished and it should be reciprocated. Always. Because love is special, and anyone who gives you their heart is giving you a part of them….”
Bulda turned her gaze from Anna to Kristoff and a warmth infused her gray face. “But don’t forget that love comes in so many forms. The love I have for Kristoff goes deeper than the roots of the oldest tree. It is special because it is my love for my son. And so is the love you feel for your sister. Or that your parents felt for you or that Kristoff feels for Sven. Love is a beautiful thing. It has the ability to render you senseless. It can take over your head and alter your vision so that you can’t see what’s in front of you. Sometimes, that can be a fantastic thing. But other times it can end up hurting you.”
Bulda stopped and let out a breath. Taking Anna’s hand, she led her over so she was standing underneath an arch covered in flowers. “Remember, whatever it does, love should always, always be respected. It is the most magical thing in the world. But that’s just one old troll’s opinion.”
Anna was so focused on Bulda’s words that she barely noticed when a few of the younger trolls covered her in moss and hung crystals from her hair. As another chill overcame her, Anna shivered and hugged herself harder. She couldn’t tell if the chill was from the cold that now seemed to have invaded every part of her body or from the sudden doubt she felt about her own views on love.
She did feel better when she was around Hans, didn’t she? He had comforted her when Elsa’s magic had been revealed. And he had made her problems his problems when he agreed to watch the kingdom. No, she thought, her vision going blurry as her body was once again racked by a spasm of cold, Hans is a good person, whom I love. So why did the trolls seem so intent on matching her with Kristoff?
But I don’t love your son, Anna wanted to shout. I mean, I admit he’s a totally great guy, and when you get past the grumpy pout he can be kind of cute, but he’s Kristoff. And sure, he does bring out some good things in me. I didn’t realize I was brave enough to face that snow creature or attempt to hike a mountain before him. But so what? He’s my friend. I’m sure if I spent more time with Hans, he would totally make me into a better person….
“Do you, Anna, take Kristoff to be your trollfully wedded—”
“WAIT!” Anna shouted, snapping back to reality. Bulda’s talking and the other trolls’ attention had woven some sort of trance over her. “What?”
“You’re getting married,” a troll dressed in a priest’s robe explained.
“Oh,” Anna said, surprised she didn’t instantly say no. And then, before she could process what that might even mean, her ears began to ring, her vision grew blurry, and she collapsed in Kristoff’s arms.
“Anna, your life is in danger.”
Anna heard the words but didn’t process them. She couldn’t. She felt like she was sinking through thick, murky water. Everything was blurry and, try as she might, she couldn’t open her eyes. Voices spoke over and around her, but they sounded as though they were coming from miles away. It was as though she were stuck in some dream, just on the verge of waking.
But even in her semiconscious state, Anna knew it wasn’t a dream. She had been taken to Kristoff’s troll family, almost ended up marrying the ice harvester, and now she was being told she was in danger. No, she thought as she finally opened her eyes, this is no dream. Possibly a nightmare, but definitely not a dream.
Kristoff, she realized, was the only reason she was still on her feet. He had one arm wrapped around her waist and a steady, reassuring hand on her arm. He was looking down at her, worry lines creasing his face. She gave him a thankful smile and then weakly turned to the sound of the voice. A troll with a mane of hair around his head and a string of crystals hanging from his neck was staring at her intently. While his expression was serious and a bit intimidating, his voice was kind and gentle and, for some reason, familiar to Anna. She remembered Kristoff asking Bulda to get Grand Pabbie—mentioning the wisest of the trolls. This, she figured, must be him.
“There is ice in your heart,” Grand Pabbie went on, seeing that Anna was now listening. “Put there by your sister. If not removed, to solid ice will you freeze, forever.”
Anna could feel her heart beating and knew the blood still pumped through her veins, but just hearing Grand Pabbie’s words made her feel colder and less alive. “What? No,” she said, struggling weakly to stand up straighter. But the effort was too great, and she leaned back against Kristoff’s strong chest. She could feel his heart beating through his thick jacket.
“But you can remove it, right?” Kristoff asked, his voice strained. He squeezed Anna’s arm.
The troll sighed. “I cannot,” he said softly. “If it was her head, that would be easy. But only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart.”
Anna shivered. “An act of true love?” she repeated, confused.
“A true love’s kiss, perhaps?” Bulda said, turning to her husband and puckering her lips.
All around them, the trolls began to give each other kisses. If Anna hadn’t been so cold, confused, and downright scared, she would have found it adorable. Instead, she shivered again.
“Anna,” Kristoff said. “We’ve got to get you back to Hans.”
“Hans,” Anna said, nodding.
She knew why Kristoff had said that—Hans was her fiancé. He was her true love. His kiss would save her. It had to save her. But she could not stop thinking about what Bulda had said about love. What it did to a person—changed them for the better. How it made them feel warm and comforted. Her heart, which was so fragile already, felt as if it were going to shatter as it began to pound against her chest.
Anna thought back to the questions Kristoff had asked her about Hans when they first met. Hans hasn’t had a chance to see anything but the good, fun side of me, she thought. What if he doesn’t like me when he gets to know me better?
As Kristoff put her onto Sven’s back and jumped up behind her, Anna shivered violently. She barely registered the movement as Sven’s gait went from a brisk walk to an all-out gallop. She was losing feeling throughout her body, and she knew it was only a matter of time before things got much worse. With the last of her energy, she looked up at Kristoff. His eyes were narrowed with concentration as he steered Sven through the trees, and his cheeks were rosier than usual. He’s doing this for me, Anna thought. He’s leaving his family behind and risking his safety to bring me back to Hans. And for what? For me? Because I’ve been such a good friend to him? She let out a sad moan. She had done nothing to warrant his loyalty. Nothing at all.
Mistaking her sad moan for a groan of pain, Kristoff looked down, worried. Under his kind gaze, she shivered. “We’ll be back soon, Anna,” he said gently. “I promise. I’ll get you home.” Reaching up, he took the hat off his head and slipped it over hers. “Just hang in there. It’s going to be okay. Hans is going to make it all okay.”
Anna opened her mouth to say thank you, but before she could, her vision began to blur and she felt herself slipping into unconsciousness. As the darkness swallowed her up, she had one last thought. Kristoff had said it was going to be okay. But what if it wasn’t? All this time, she had been sure that Hans was what she wanted. That he would be the one who could
save her. But for the first time since this whole thing had started, Anna wasn’t sure anymore.
THE CHANDELIER HAD certainly done its job. Elsa remained unconscious for the entire trip back down the mountain. Hans had managed to get Elsa safely locked in a tower where, with luck, she could do no more harm. The palace servants had been annoyingly persistent in asking after the welfare of their queen. He brushed them off as quickly as possible, assuring them that they would hear the full story of what had happened on the mountain in due time. As soon as I figure out exactly what that story is, Hans thought. The next few hours were crucial for Arendelle’s future—and his.
Hans made his way to the tower in which he had locked Elsa. Arriving at a large, heavy wooden door, he peered through a window into Elsa’s cell. It wasn’t exactly a dungeon, as the peaceful kingdom of Arendelle had no need for such things, but it was isolated with minimal ways in and out. Inside, Hans saw Elsa staring sadly out the lone window to the outside. She was watching as the snow continued to fall and the world became whiter and whiter. Her face was full of sorrow, and Hans couldn’t help wondering how terrible it must feel to know you had lost control of a situation so completely.
He never lost control.
Hans’s hands clenched as he continued to stare in at the queen. This was all her doing. This was all her fault. If Elsa had just kept it together and not lost her cool—literally—he and Anna would probably have been knee-deep in wedding planning. He would have been setting his ultimate plan in motion, figuring out how to overthrow Elsa, and proving that he, the loyal prince Hans, would be able to help Anna rule Arendelle well.
Instead, he was stuck trying to pick up the pieces of the mess Elsa had left in her wake. He had a kingdom full of very cold people, dignitaries breathing down his neck to fix the winter, a missing fiancée, and now Elsa, in chains but still powerful. For any other man, it might have been too much. But not me, Hans thought. I’ve already taken this and molded it to my advantage. I just need to keep doing that until everything is back on track.
Pushing open the door, he entered the room. He hung his lantern on the wall, and then he waited. It was best, he had learned, to let the enemy speak first. It gave him time to measure his emotions and properly respond.
“Why did you bring me here?” Elsa asked, when she saw Hans standing there.
“I couldn’t just let them kill you,” he said, forcing his face into an expression of concern.
Elsa lowered her head and stared down at her hands. “But I’m a danger to Arendelle,” she said sadly. “Get Anna.”
“Anna has not returned,” Hans stated harshly. Elsa recoiled and looked out the window again. Softening his voice, he went on. “If you would just stop the winter, bring back summer…please?”
Elsa raised her eyes until their gazes met. “Don’t you see…I can’t,” she said sincerely. “You have to tell them to let me go.”
Hans narrowed his eyes, trying to see if Elsa was being genuine, privately hoping that she wasn’t. But Hans could read people, and he knew Elsa wasn’t lying. She couldn’t stop the winter she had so recklessly started. And now she wanted to flee back to her mountains and leave her sister to clean up the mess. Her sister, who had not yet returned and was lost god knew where up on the mountain. The sister whom he was supposed to marry after he had helped save Arendelle. The princess who would then make him king and let him rule happily ever after…if she was alive.
“I will do what I can,” Hans promised her.
As he left the cell, part of him wanted to scream at Elsa, to reveal his true colors and end things right then and there. Forget caution and well-calculated moves. Elsa was useless to him now. She wasn’t going to help him with Anna, and she couldn’t stop the winter. Why not destroy her and be done with it once and for all? That would be one fewer obstacle in his way.
No, he thought, collecting himself. He had not made it this far to throw it all away in a moment of rage. There would come a time to kill Elsa. He had come to realize that there was no other way. But that time was not now. It would serve his purposes better to eliminate the monster with an audience. It would solidify his power, and he would be able to show everyone that he had tried to end winter. For now, he needed to get to Arendelle’s advisers and tell them the bad news—winter wasn’t going anywhere.
Hans’s footsteps echoed loudly as he made his way quickly back through the winding halls of Arendelle’s castle. He pushed past a servant, brushing off her attempt to ask him a question, and didn’t even look into the Great Hall to see how the people were faring. He barely registered the icy wind that was now seeping through the cracks in the windows or the snow that continued to fall wildly outside. Hans knew he had only one course of action. If he wanted to salvage anything of his original plan, he needed to get his fiancée back to Arendelle. He could deal with Elsa and her powers later—after he became king. Which could only happen if he married Anna. So despite the fact that the last thing he wanted to do was head back out into the cold, Hans knew he had no choice.
At last Hans arrived at the doorway to the library. “I’m going back out to look for Princess Anna,” he said, addressing the dignitaries and guards that had gathered there to await his news.
“You cannot risk going out there again,” the dignitary from Eldora protested, fiddling with his mustache.
Hans shook his head. “If anything happens to her…”
The Blavenian dignitary cut him off. “If anything happens to the princess, you are all Arendelle has left.”
All Arendelle has left? The words sang in Hans’s ears, and for a glorious moment it felt as though the snow had stopped and he was bathed in the warm glow of the sun’s rays. This was a gift. A box wrapped in gold paper and tied with a silver bow. He looked around the room, struggling not to smile despite how badly he wanted to do so. He, Prince Hans Westergaard of the Southern Isles, was All. Arendelle. Had. Left.
And then it hit him. What that really meant. What he had not been able to see because he was so focused on his current plan. This whole time he had been thinking he needed one of the sisters to make him king, but he had set himself up perfectly to need no one. If what the Blavenian dignitary said really was true, he would actually be better off if Queen Elsa fled or died and Princess Anna never returned. It was perfect. And given the fact that Anna was still missing, it didn’t seem like he would have to wait long to announce his new role.
Or…maybe not.
Just as it looked like Hans was in the clear, the door to the library flung open. Standing there, held up by Kai and Gerda, was Princess Anna. She seemed terribly weak, and her hair was now more white than bronze, but she was alive. And, from the way she was looking at him now, still very much under the impression that they were betrothed.
“Anna!” Hans cried, rushing to her side and catching her just as she collapsed into his arms. He wasn’t sure what Anna seeming so weak meant for him, but he did know that he had to play the part of the doting fiancé. “You’re so cold.”
“Hans,” Anna said, “you have to kiss me.”
Had he just heard her correctly? Her teeth were chattering pretty loudly and she was barely speaking above a whisper, but it had sounded a lot like she had told him to kiss her. “What?” he asked.
“Now,” Anna answered. Closing her eyes and puckering her lips, she tried to bring her mouth to his. But she was too weak. With a cry, she fell back.
From somewhere nearby, Hans heard one of the men clear his throat. In the excitement of Anna’s return, he had forgotten they had an audience. Tearing his gaze from Anna’s pained face, he saw that Gerda was waiting to speak. “We’ll give you two some privacy,” she said.
As Gerda began to usher everyone out the door, Hans pulled Anna closer to him. She was so cold, he could feel the chill even through his thick jacket. Her skin was like ice, and with every passing moment, her lips were turning bluer. She seemed to be freezing from the inside out, if that was even possible. Which, given what he had seen today, it
definitely was.
Hans began to lead Anna over to the couch in front of the library’s roaring fireplace. “What happened out there?” he asked as they walked.
“Elsa struck me with her powers,” Anna replied sadly.
“You said she’d never hurt you.”
Anna shrugged, defeated. “I was wrong.” She could barely keep her head up to meet his gaze, but when she did, Hans was taken aback by the emotion he saw in her eyes.
No one, Hans realized, had ever looked at him the way Anna was looking at him now—with simple love and need. She needed him. For the kiss, yes, but it seemed like there was more there. It was as though she needed him to fill the hole left by her sister’s rejection.
Hans shook his head. He wasn’t there to fill a hole in Anna’s heart. He was there to win a throne. He had heard what the Blavenian dignitary had said—without Anna, he would be all Arendelle had left. If Anna died now, everything would fall into place for him. That was the far simpler, cleaner, less emotionally messy plan. The Westergaards didn’t do emotion—that was the one legacy he had been given.
Gently, Hans lowered Anna onto the couch and wrapped her in a blanket. Her shivering, despite the new warmth, only increased. She was getting worse by the minute. Was this the result of Elsa’s magic? Hans knew it was powerful and strong, but he had yet to see it be this deadly.
A Frozen Heart Page 18