A shiver of fear went up Hans's spine. What was happening to him? The incident with Herre Kjeldsen and the one with Queen Elsa added up to two recent occasions on which he had had trouble with his powers. Was he losing his ability?

He spotted a waiter carrying a large platter of sandwiches toward the buffet table, balancing it delicately on the fingers of one white-gloved hand. With another deep breath, he gathered his power and sent it in the waiter's direction. Bring me one of those sandwiches, he ordered.

Instantly the waiter stopped in his tracks, pivoted on one foot, and crossed the ballroom until he was standing directly in front of Hans. He held out the platter. "Would you care for a sandwich, Your Highness?" he asked, rather dozily.

Hans saw the familiar glazed look in the waiter's eyes and breathed an internal sigh of relief. His abilities were still working, at least on this man. He took one of the sandwiches from the platter and dismissed the waiter with a nod.

As he ate, however, he realized that being able to command a waiter mattered little if he couldn't command Queen Elsa. How on earth was he supposed to get her to marry him if his powers had no effect on her? One look at her was enough to tell him she was the reserved, cautious type, which meant that simply getting down on one knee and proposing to her was out of the question.

What was more, his previous attempt to command her had apparently resulted in his own ability backfiring on him. His left temple felt as though someone had driven an icicle through it – an icicle which had begun to melt and chill his entire brain. It reminded of the time he had eaten too much lemon sorbet as a child and developed a terrible headache as a result.

On the opposite side of the ballroom was a pair of French doors which led to an outside balcony. Perhaps some fresh air would help to ease his rapidly growing headache. He popped the rest of the sandwich into his mouth and washed it down with a swallow of champagne, then headed for the doors.

As he crossed the room, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. One of the dancers on the ballroom floor - a heavyset man in a dark blue uniform – was bending over, and as he did, he bumped into a small, slight woman in a green gown. She let out an oh! of alarm, and Hans recognized her voice.

Princess Anna.

She lost her balance and pitched backward. If someone didn't catch her quickly, she would end up on the floor.

Well, it wouldn't be gentlemanly of him to let a lady fall, would it?

With one great stretch, he reached out and caught the princess's hand, pulling her upright. She gasped, surprised.

"Glad I caught you," he told her. He knew he was grinning a little foolishly, but he didn't care.

Her shocked expression vanished and a broad smile split her face. "Hans!" she exclaimed, and he could hear the delight in her voice.

His heart leapt. She remembered his name! And what was more, she was happy to see him!

Calm down, Prince Excitable, he told himself. She's probably just glad you saved her from falling on her rear end in front of all these people.

But the princess was looking directly into his eyes, and Hans thought – no, he KNEW – he saw something more than gratitude there.

She liked him. He was sure of it. Hadn't she waved at him during the coronation ceremony? And – or had that just been a wonderful dream – hadn't she told him down by the docks that he was…well, gorgeous?

Summoning all of his courage, he made her a short bow and offered her his other hand. "Princess Anna," he asked, "would you care to dance with me?"

They whirled around the ballroom for what seemed like hours: he with one hand on the small of her back, and she with one hand on his shoulder. The princess danced with effortless grace, and Hans – if he did say so himself – wasn't such a bad dancer either. Years of swordsmanship lessons had made him quick and light on his feet.

A particularly lively number came to an end, and the band announced that they would be taking a short break.

Disappointment settled over Hans like a veil. He didn't want to stop dancing, because that meant he would have to let Princess Anna go.

You can make them keep playing, he reminded himself. Just give the bandleader a little push. They can rest later. In, say, an hour or so.

He was about to summon his power when Princess Anna stood up on her tiptoes and whispered something into his ear.

"It's hot in here. Do you want to go outside with me?"

Her sweet, warm breath made the hairs on the back of his neck tingle with pleasure, but he maintained his composure.

"I'd love to," he whispered back. "But what if someone sees us?" They would both be disgraced if they were caught outside without a chaperone.

"I know a back way out," she said. "Come with me." And seizing his hand, she pulled him toward another set of doors at the rear of the ballroom.

"Are we almost there?"

"Shhhh! Keep your voice down…there are guards on patrol!"

The corridor that led out of the ballroom was long and dark, and its lush rose-coloured carpeting helped to muffle Hans and Anna's footsteps as they tiptoed away from the party. All along the walls, flickering candles in cut-glass sconces illuminated portraits of Anna's royal ancestors and of the Norse gods of old.

Hans paused briefly before a painting of a roguish-looking man with flame-coloured hair and a sharply pointed nose. "Who's this?" he asked.

"That's Loki. You know, the ancient trickster god," Anna told him.

Hans studied the painting for a moment. "He's kind of creepy. Look at that smirk – you can tell he's up to no good."

Anna cocked her head to one side. "You think he's creepy? I've always found him kind of handsome. In fact – " she squinted at the portrait – "he looks a little bit like you."

Hans gasped in mock horror. "Take that back!" he told her, giving her a friendly punch in the arm. He tried to maintain an expression of feigned shock, but inside, his heart was leaping. She said it again! She thinks I'm handsome! Well, she thinks Loki is handsome, but she says I look like him, and that's good enough!

Anna laughed out loud, then clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oops. I should follow my own advice about keeping quiet."

They continued down the hallway, trying to move as noiselessly as possible, until Anna stopped before a set of double doors. "In here," she said, grabbing Hans by the hand.

She pushed the doors open. Hans saw that they led to a large, empty room with a gleaming hardwood floor.

"This is one of my favourite rooms in the whole palace," Anna told him. "When I was a kid, I used to take off my shoes and see how far I could slide in just my socks."

Hans laughed. "I used to do that when I was little, too," he said. "I must have spent hours and hours trying to beat my own sliding distance."

Anna looked up at him, and a mischievous smile crept over her face. "I bet you couldn't slide as far as I could," she said.

"Bet I could. Farther, even."

"Oh, yeah? Prove it," Anna said, and kicked off first one shoe, then the other.

Hans felt his eyes widen. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious." The princess crossed her arms over her chest and stared defiantly back at him.

Hans was not one to ignore a challenge. He bent down and pulled off both of his black leather formal boots. "Watch this," he said. He took a deep breath, crouched down, and ran a short distance down the length of the room. When he thought he had gathered enough momentum, he jerked to a stop and let himself slide a good three feet along the polished floor. He turned back to Anna and bowed.

The princess rolled her eyes and made a dismissive noise. "Pfffttt…that's pathetic. Let a professional show you how it's done." Like a bull preparing to charge, she pawed the ground with one stockinged foot, then broke into a run. But when she tried to stop herself, she lost her footing on the slippery floor and fell on her bottom with a whoop of surprise.

Hans ran over to help her up. "Are you OK?" he asked, offering her a hand.

She let him pull her to her feet. "I think so," she said. "Nothing is bruised except my – dignity." Red-faced, she winced and rubbed her backside with her free hand.

Hans grinned at her. "Some professional."

Anna opened her mouth to retort, but just then, the doors they had entered through began to creak open. "What's going on in here?" called a male voice from outside in the hall.

"Oh, no – it's one of the guards! Quick – in here!" Anna seized Hans's wrist and pulled him toward another set of doors at the opposite end of the room. Hans allowed himself to be yanked along, but as they ran through the doors and rounded the corner, he reached out and found the guard's mind. You didn't hear anything, he told the man, giving him a mental push. Go back to patrolling.

There was a pause, and then the doors where the guard had been standing clicked shut again. Hans breathed an internal sigh of relief.

Anna cocked her ear and listened as the sound of the guard's footsteps faded away. "That was close!" she said. "We'd better go outside before he comes back."

"I'll go get our shoes." Hans ran back into the room, grabbed his boots and Anna's shoes, and darted out into the corridor where the princess was waiting for him.

Once they had pulled their footwear back on, Anna led Hans down the hall and out onto a spacious balcony. A light evening breeze stirred the wisteria flowers that hung from the palace roof above them, carrying with it their sweet, heady scent.

Anna straddled the balcony railing and sat down on it as though she were astride a horse. "Ohhhh…it feels so good to be outside," she said, leaning back against an ivy-covered post.

Hans swung one leg over the railing and seated himself across from her. "Ballrooms do get stuffy after a while," he agreed.

"I love parties, though," Anna said. Then she frowned. "Well, I love this party, anyway. We've never really had any others."

Hans raised his eyebrows, surprised. "Never?"

"At least not as far back as I can remember." Anna looked downcast for a moment, but brightened almost immediately. "Oooh, I almost forgot! Do you want a snack?"

"A snack?"

"Yes. I thought we might get hungry, so I brought some food with me." She reached down and rolled up one of the lace-trimmed cuffs of her bloomers. Nestled against her leg were two cone-shaped pastries. "Look! Krumkakes!"

Hans was astonished. "You smuggled krumkakes out of the ballroom? In your – undergarments?"

"Yes. Now do you want one or not?"

Hans grinned. Krumkakes. In her underpants. What a girl, he thought to himself. He accepted the slightly broken pastry that Anna was holding out to him and took a bite.

Anna shook her head. "No, no, you're supposed to put it all in your mouth at once!" she told him.

"The whole thing?"

"The whole thing!"

Hans did as she asked, but when he bit down on the krumkake, a bit of its cream filling squirted out and landed on his chin, making Anna giggle.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't very dignified," Hans said, feeling his face redden. He took a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and wiped his chin.

Anna flashed him an impish look. "Oh, I bet you do things that are even less dignified than that," she said slyly. "I bet you breach protocol all the time."

Hans stuck his nose in the air. "Never. I am the perfect picture of sophisticated grace at all times," he said.

"I don't believe it," Anna teased, her eyes twinkling. "I bet you even…pick your nose."

Hans tried to look offended, but he couldn't hold back his smile. "Pick my nose?" he said, feigning affront. "Excuse me, miss. I am a prince."

They laughed, and then there was a brief silence.

"Speaking of princes, I heard you're from a huge family," Anna said, breaking it. "You have – how many brothers?"

"Twelve older brothers," Hans replied. "Three of them pretended I was invisible. Literally. For two years." He didn't tell her that the reason they had pretended he was invisible was because they were terrified of his mind-control powers.

"That's horrible." The sympathy in Anna's expression was so apparent that it made Hans feel guilty for not telling her the whole truth.

He tried to shrug it off. "It's what brothers do," he told her.

Anna nodded. "And sisters," she agreed. She gazed down at the tiled floor of the balcony. "Elsa and I were really close when we were little. But one day she just – shut me out, and I never knew why."

She looked so sad that Hans wanted to take her in his arms and hold her, but that would have been far too forward. Instead, he gathered both of her hands into his. "I would never shut you out," he said.

There was another silence, and then Hans cleared his throat. "I know we just met," he said hesitantly, "but would you like to…go for a ride with me? I mean, I'm guessing you haven't seen much of your own kingdom since the gates were shut." He shifted slightly on the railing, feeling his face redden. If she says no, you're going to have to excuse yourself and find a hole to crawl into, and that REALLY wouldn't be dignified.

But Anna looked up at him and nodded enthusiastically, and the joy on her face made his heart swell like a balloon.

Once again, Hans couldn't keep himself from grinning ear to ear. "Let's go get my horse."