Author's Note: This story is taken from my other recently-completed multi-chaptered Hans redemption story, "The Queen's Admiral." If you haven't read that one yet, I recommend you do so to understand the context of where this goes. This won't be as long, probably four or six shorter chapters and will focus on the romance between Elsa and Hans that I left off telling.
Chapter One: A Royal Engagement
Elsa paused from reading the long document from the Southern Isles to shut her eyes and pinch the skin between her brows in an effort to relieve her aching forehead. She waited a full minute before she let go and opened her eyes. Immediately, she wished she held the pressure point for another minute more. Or maybe three. The stack of documents on her desk was so staggering it made her dizzy just looking at them. But run through them she must if she wants to get her wedding well underway.
Her betrothal to Hans was nothing short of a dream come true. Ever since Eric had broken off their engagement she had assumed that she would never marry for love. As queen she was obligated to marry well for political purposes for the betterment of her people. It was a huge blessing in itself that for years she was never pushed to the corner of using her hand in marriage to gain a political alliance, except for that one moment when she offered to marry King Sigurd's son to guarantee the support of the Southern Isles in the war against Weselton. Thankfully, that had fallen apart after her would be groom turned out to be dead.
To her joy, Sigurd ended up offering the one brother he had that she did love, though of course Anna had been instrumental in setting that up. Sigurd may have given his youngest brother the reward he had longed for by arranging a marriage between them but it didn't mean it wasn't a political marriage. Sigurd made sure the Southern Isles was getting quite a lot out of this union by sending a very long treaty and several pages of supporting documents to be signed prior to their wedding. It detailed everything from the sharing of common resources, several exclusive trading agreements for high-value products up to the provision of military aid in times of war. There were provisions that greatly favored Southern Isles such huge discounts Arendelle had to extend when the former country bought their products while tariffs in the Arendelle ports for Isles exports were lowered. This was on top of the immediate charity aid Arendelle had to provide for at least one year.
Elsa's council was practically livid when the documentswere read and pleaded with her to negotiate more favorable terms on behalf of Arendelle. Elsa would have been outraged too if it had been any other country who would have given her those terms. But Sigurd had one ace he knew he had: She loved Hans and she was determined to see this wedding settled the easiest and fastest way possible. Even then the negotiations took three months. It probably would have been longer had Hans not personally flown back and forth from Arendelle to the Southern Isles using the Carpet to smoothen things with Sigurd and argue better terms for Arendelle. Hans had managed it even better than she could and this morning he had returned with the final draft with more than satisfactory terms. Now all that was needed was her final review and signature, and then the wedding itself can proceed one month from now.
The wedding preparation was an entirely another ugly matter. People from all over Europe and probably even beyond were calling her marriage the wedding of the decade. Everyone was anticipating it and expecting a grand affair. The guest list had already ballooned to 500 and that was just the foreign dignitaries.
Newspaper reporters from all over the world had suddenly turned up in Arendelle, attempting to get as much information as they can. She had read that papers such as The Times in London and almost all the New York presses had run up the latest details of their wedding on a regular basis. Twice, her staff had caught nosey reporters sneaking into the castle, attempting to find out what her wedding dress would look like and what will be served as dessert at the reception. There was even a group of them that practically camped out in the village, waiting like a pack of wolves to get any new details. She could have sent them away but she knew it would not do well to be seen as an oppressive monarch in the eyes of the world. Besides, the hype was good for establishing relations and opening more opportunities for both Arendelle and the Southern Isles from nations as far as the Americas and the East. The investments that poured in alone since her wedding was announced, was estimated to set Arendelle towards an economic prosperity she had never before achieved in her seventeen-year reign. But it also put a lot of pressure on Elsa to make sure everything was perfect. So in between reviewing that monstrous treaty, Elsa was tasked to work on the wedding details. It was a good thing she had Anna to do most of it which she did so with a passion, but Elsa still had to make the final approvals herself which took quite a lot of time. This was why her desk was loaded tonight with décor plans, menus, gown sketches and a thousand other details she had not even started going through.
On evenings like these, she couldn't help but wish that things could be a lot simpler with a more intimate wedding with Hans. She hated being the center of attention and she knew her wedding would certainly be a crowd-drawer even bigger than her own coronation. She already dreaded what Hans had termed "a circus event" that was to be their wedding. She expected she wouldn't be enjoying it at all until the wedding was over and she could get to her honeymoon.
The thought of her honeymoon sent a tiny thrill through her. Despite their engagement and her now open relationship with Hans, Elsa had refrained from becoming truly intimate with him. From an early age, her mother instilled in her the value of preserving her virginity until after marriage and she could not conceive of breaking what society deemed appropriate to a woman like her. Hans as a true gentleman never pressured her to do more than she was ready to give. He also understood her need to keep away from a potential scandal before their wedding. It was bad enough that people gossiped about their non-existent sexual relationship, she didn't want to add proof to it by engaging in it before their wedding day.
Besides, they didn't exactly have many opportunities to be alone. The last three months had kept them both so busy on their own individual tasks. The disaster wrought on by Heinrik's failed take-over had left half the castle in ruins and destroyed several houses in the villages. So in between the wedding planning and the treaty negotiations, there were still the rebuilding efforts that needed supervision. It didn't help that she spent most of the last three months limiting her movement to allow her broken leg to heal. Fortunately, with Godmother Maleficent's magic, she can already walk about normally, though she wasn't going to try her luck running anytime soon.
Hans was currently seeing to the added security measures for the wedding. With five hundred guests, dozens of foreign press and practically the whole village expected to be swarming in, it was sure to be a security nightmare. She expected he wouldn't be finished until very late tonight and he would probably go home to sleep with the Potts family above the Rose Pub where he still lived whenever he was home in Arendelle.
I'll just see him tomorrow, she thought. Or in my dreams. She put down the document, shut her eyes again and tried to imagine his lips on hers. It was so tempting to just go to the docks right now and order him to take her to his cabin in the Alexandra.
"Admiral, a word please," she said out loud and reveled in the idea of using the familiar line to get rid of everyone around him and call him to bed her. That line will definitely be used often in the future.
"You called, My Queen?"
She startled at the sound of his voice. He was standing right outside her window with Carpet under his feet.
"Hans," she called out as she felt warmth flood her cheeks. "You're early."
He jumped inside the room, high-fived Carpet as thank you before the adorable little rug flew away.
"I wanted to see if you need help in getting some work done. Now I see, you've been neglecting the paperwork completely. Are you daydreaming of someone?" he teased with a smirk tilting the corner of those lips she had been imagining just a while ago.
"Maybe," she pouted as she stood from her chair. She moved to face him and leaned back in front of her desk, arching her body forward and jutting out one leg from the slit of her blue gown for his viewing pleasure.
Even in the early days of their friendship during their adventure through Tastris to the Southern Isles, she noticed Hans had a way of eyeing her legs whenever he thought she wasn't looking. That one time she wore a very short dress that showed an ample part of her legs in front of him while they were fishing in the river in the Isles was the first time she ever conceived of a naughty idea of teasing him. In hindsight now, maybe she just wanted to get back at him for sleeping with their hostess. It worked like a charm for even she could see how uncomfortably enticed he was that day and couldn't do anything about it other than sneak glances at her. At one point during the whole fishing contest she asked him a casual question about Viscaria's cooking and he responded with a dazed "Yes-it-was-good-but-what-was-her name-again?" while he struggled to keep his eyes above her chin (she also magically lowered the neckline of her dress an inch).
Right now she was satisfied to see that Hans' reaction to her legs was still the same, though he was less subtle in showing them. She willed the slit of her ice gown to lengthen to reveal more skin to him.
"Is there something you wish to talk to with your Admiral?" he asked without removing his gaze to what she knew was quite an attractive view.
"Yes, but I might not mean you. I'm thinking of temporarily promoting Gulbrand to Admiral for the time being."
His eyes shot up in surprise to meet hers and he replied with indignation. "Don't you dare!"
"Why?" she asked, smugly. "My current Admiral isn't eligible to serve under the Arendelle navy. Besides, he's too busy."
"I'm not too busy."
"Yes, you are," she replied as she lowered her neckline two inches to reveal her cleavage. His green eyes promptly moved down. "Too busy ogling the Queen."
He licked his lips as a bead of sweat fell down his sideburns. "You're right, I am too busy, but with something else."
Hans moved forward, grabbed her by the waist and claimed her lips in a fierce kiss that burned with its intensity. She put her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss as she pulled him closer to her.
"I've missed you," he whispered when they pulled away momentarily to breathe.
"I've missed you too," she whispered back before she brought his head back to her for another kiss.
She savored the warmth of him, the familiar scent of his skin and the feel of his sideburns on her fingertips. She ran her hands up to his hair, delighting at the sensation of each movement of his fiery hair against her touch. He responded by moving his lips down to her chin, a silent plea from him to explore her further. She granted it willingly by tilting her head back to allow him access to her neck, which he covered immediately with heated kisses.
He pushed her against her desk and lifted her to sit her on top of it but she stopped him as she remembered it was currently loaded with documents.
"The treaty from the Southern Isles," she warned.
He saw the document lying on the left side of the desk. He turned to right side that was covered with menus and wedding gown sketches.
"You don't need to see dress plans or dessert menus do you?" he asked.
"I'm making my own gown and we're having chocolate for dessert," Elsa replied.
"Good," he replied. He swept the entire pile so it fell to the floor then sat her on the now empty space. He brought her down to her back while his lips attacked her neck. His hands moved down from her waist to her thigh.
Usually, they stopped at this point from going too far with their intimacy, but tonight she just didn't care. It had been a long day and the thought of waiting for another month for their wedding which she expected she would not enjoy at all was grating at her nerves. Suddenly, she just wanted to rebel against it all.
She pulled him down to her so that he was directly on top of her on the desk. She hooked her arms underneath his coat and felt his muscles underneath the layers clothing before one of her hands snaked down to explore parts of his body she had yet to feel. At the same time, she magically increased the slit of her dress up to her waist and used her other hand to guide his towards more intimate territory.
"Elsa, stop or I won't be able to," he warned with moan.
She felt a sudden boldness overcome her and she replied: "Maybe I don't want you to. You can take me right now."
A look of shock followed by eager hopefulness passed his features for a moment, but he shook his head. "Not here, someone might come in."
"My room then," she blurted then immediately regretted it. She thought of doing this in her room and was suddenly unsure she wanted to do this tonight. Her mother's warnings triggered in her head and she felt guilty. Did she really want to add strain to her nerves with even more gossip if someone saw them walk to her bedroom together? Someone inevitably would. They do have dozens of servants all eager for any juicy tidbit about their relationship and more reporters outside hungry for any news.
He stared at her intently. "Elsa I'm only alright with this if you are. From the look on your face, I don't think you are."
She smiled shyly at him. He could always read her so well.
"I can still wait Elsa, I love you that much. I won't ask you to do something if it means you would worry more about it later."
"Thank you Hans," she replied gratefully. He lifted her up to a sitting position and he cradled her head on his chest. "I would you know, if we were married now."
A playful smile formed on his lips. "We are married."
She giggled as she remembered. "That doesn't count."
He tenderly ran his fingers through her hair. "I wish it did. I took those vows seriously."
"You did?" she asked as she pulled away from his chest to stare at him.
He kissed the top of her head and playfully ran a gentle finger along her chin. "I was already in love with you then. I thought it was the only chance I would get to say that to you so I meant it in my heart, even if you didn't know."
Elsa felt warmth rise from the hairline that he kissed and all the way down to her toes at his admission. She too had kept a few things from him that night and it was time he knew. Still, she felt a bit shy telling it to him as she had kept that secret for so long. "I have a confession. A part of me… wanted it to be real too at the time."
His eager eyes begged her to know more. "Tell me about it?"
She stepped away from his arms and patted the empty part of the table next to her. He sat down next to her but clasped one her hands. She leaned her head on his shoulder and told him…