A/N: Alright, I know that Hans went a little soft on himself in the last chapter, but let me clarify a little. That was from his POV. It was how he saw himself, making himself into the victim. Most of it was true, but maybe stretched a little to make his position seem worse. Hans is a bad dude, he's not to the point yet of accepting himself as the bad guy. He's still rationalizing his actions so he doesn't have to feel the guilt for them. Okay, short psycho-analyzing session over, I hope you enjoy this chapter and don't hate me for the way it ends! (Also, thank you for your awesome, encouraging reviews)

Her work room was quiet, oddly enough. Usually it was filled with servants and emissaries bringing news. Whether it was of her kingdom or of another, there was rarely such a lull. But she'd hardly had anything all day. Hans was in the other corner, working on something that he'd been writing in for quite some time. Elsa didn't bother to ask him what it was; he would have to show it to her anyway. In the quiet moment, she slipped off her glove and held her hand out.

A delicate snowflake formed above it, growing and changing and pulsing with different colors. For her, it was a simple action. One that was relaxing and peaceful, beyond what she could describe. After so many years of trying to shove down her powers and hide them, it was still incredibly strange to allow herself such a simple pleasure. Two years earlier, she would have feared to simply remove one of her gloves, much less willingly use her powers. But she finally had a rudimentary control over what she could do, even if she still had to be cautious.

"Queen Elsa." Hans' smooth voice interrupted her concentration and the snowflake dissolved into dust. She tucked her hand back into the glove and looked up, setting her hands in her lap.
"Yes Hans?"

He bowed slightly, a sign of respect. But she saw the smirk on his lips, saying that he cared little for the gesture and it was meant more to mock than respect.

"I've prepared a letter for your trade partners. Would you care to read it?" He offered out the slip of paper and Elsa waved a hand.

"Read it to me. I prefer to hear things." She said, accustomed to making excuses and them being bought without question. But rather than hearing him begin to read, the paper fell on the desk in front of her.

"Actually, I was hoping to hear you read it. You know, evaluate my own work so I can hear the faults in it." He told her. Elsa looked up, clenching her hands tighter so he wouldn't see the slight tremor. His knowing look made her wonder what he had put together. No, he couldn't have. She never allowed a slip. She pushed the paper away.

"Find somebody else to do that work for you. I don't have time to be your proofreader, bring it back to me when it's ready." She said disinterestedly. Turning away, she prayed that he would buy it and leave her be. He stayed.

"I would really prefer to work through it with you. Perhaps it seems to be a trivial thing, but this is for the trade partners of Arendelle. Seems to be something the queen should be very involved in." One of his hands rested on her desk, his voice patronizing with every word. Elsa slid the letter towards him.

"Fine. If you read it, I'll go over it with you. My head hurts from the reading I've already done today." The lie slipped off her tongue easily enough. It sounded real and plausible, even to her ears.

"But Your Majesty, you haven't done any reading today. I've been in here for the greater part of the day and you've had everything read to you. Surely you'd like a turn for yourself." Hans insisted, pushing the paper back. Elsa looked up at him, seeing his expectant look. He knew. He had to. He was just playing with her, making her uncomfortable for his own amusement. He was more observant than she gave him credit for.

"On second thought, I'm going to turn in early tonight. I believe I've done enough and I'm not feeling well. I will see you in the morning, Hans. Please inform the cook that I will not need a place at dinner." She told him, rising to her feet and walking towards the door. His hand caught her arm, stopping her from leaving.

"Unhand me." Elsa turned and told him in a low, angry voice. His hand slowly left her arm, but he took a step closer.

"Does your sister know? I'm sure she would be happy to teach you, you know." He said quietly. As if he was concerned for her privacy, not wanting other people to hear. Elsa raised her head, determined not to give into it if she didn't have to. Surely he could give her that dignity when it was obvious that they both knew.

"Know what? I doubt there's much that Anna can teach me." She said, hands linked politely in front of her, nothing giving away the torrent of emotions she was feeling inside. How could it be that her one enemy, the man that mocked her enough already, would be the only one to put together such a shameful fact about herself? And how would he use it against her?

"Besides how to relax every now and then? She could teach you how to read." He gave her a pointed look. Apparently he wasn't willing to give her that dignity.

Elsa pursed her lips, eyes falling to the ground. "Nobody knows. I am learning on my own, slowly. I prefer to keep it private." Not that he would care to honor that. He took anything he could and used it to help himself. He was selfish and self serving and he only cared for himself. She dreaded to hear what he would do with the information.

"I could teach you."

Her eyes shot back up to his face, searching for the malice. There was none. A hint of laughter, yes. But she saw nothing of anger or conniving in his eyes. Then again, what did she know about reading people? She had spent most of her life in her room, alone. She hadn't even taken meals with others after her parents died. She couldn't judge whether or not he had poor intentions. It was just another thing that irked her about him. Somehow he always managed to see right through her and know what she was thinking, but she could never read him. He was a blank slate.

"What would you get out of it?" She asked warily. She wanted to hear what demands he had, what he wanted to stay silent about her secret. She wanted to know if it would be worth it to keep. Hans smiled down at her.

"You mean time with my wife isn't enough?"

My wife. It was the first time he'd called her that. It sounded strange on his lips, and she wasn't sure that she liked the way it felt. She also wasn't very comfortable with how close he was standing, so she took a step back. He followed.

"You must want something else. It's always about something else, with you." She said stiffly, refusing to take another step back. He would enjoy the fact that he was making her that uncomfortable too much.

Hans raised his hands. "No strings attached this time, Your Highness. Just an honest offer." His smile looked harmless and convincing. But she wasn't about to buy into it so easily. She narrowed her eyes.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

She huffed. "Why offer? If you don't gain anything from it, why would you do it?" She demanded, feeling her patience wear thin. Hans' smile grew wider and he took a small step forward.

"Despite what you may believe, Your Grace, I'm not a heartless beast. Is it so impossible to think I would do something just because it helps somebody else?" His eyebrow raised up in question, his expression so innocent, she almost did feel silly for questioning him. But the past made it too hard for her to let go of it so easily.

"It is. I will think on your offer. Now I will retire for the night, if that is acceptable to you?" She looked up at him, annoyance drawing in every line of her face and body. She didn't need his permission, obviously. She just wanted to make it clear that she did not appreciate being manhandled and he was not her keeper. He only smiled back, offering a slight bow.

"Of course, My Queen. Sleep well."

Elsa turned and hurried from the room, eager to escape his stifling presence. She didn't actually want to sleep just yet, but she was at least alright with missing a meal. Her appetite had been lacking for some time and she had to force herself to eat most o f the time. Her mind was too full of other things, little worries and such for her to think about something as small as food. A night to herself would be good. A night without having to watch Hans eat would be even better. Anna wouldn't be happy about being abandoned, though. With Kristoff off on an ice run (he still insisted on taking those every now and then), her sister wandered the castle in boredom most of the time.

Elsa knew the two shouldn't have been allowed to marry. She knew that as a princess, Anna should have met and been courted by other royalty, married to a prince from another country to create a tie. But Elsa hadn't the heart to force such a thing on her sister. She was the queen, and she had used that power to insist that Anna and Kristoff could marry, no matter what traditions were. She didn't think that Anna fully understood it, though. That was why she had been so upset with Elsa for marrying Hans. To Anna, life was simpler than politics. One married for love, and no other reason.

But life wasn't so simple. It was complicated and messy and only a few were so lucky as Anna and Kristoff to not only find each other, but be allowed to be together. If Elsa had to give up her own chance at love for them, it was an easy sacrifice to make. They deserved to be together. Even if Kristoff did always have a lingering reindeer smell.

Hans had spent plenty of time thinking. He had been suspicious for a while that Elsa couldn't read, but he had never really convinced himself. What queen could get by without actually knowing how to read? But the more he watched her, the more it seemed plausible. She had everything read to her. She rarely wrote, besides to sign her name. She dictated to others what she wanted to say, claiming it was too difficult to write in gloves.

He had to admit, it was a well thought out and cunning deception. Not one person seemed the wiser. He just happened to be someone that liked to notice the little details that so many other people missed. Like the fact that their queen was illiterate. He supposed that it made sense, though. She had lived in seclusion all her life, he remembered reading about her before ever coming to Arendelle. She never left the castle. He did finally know why. As a child, she must have turned away even tutors, keeping her from ever learning. Which meant that all of her manners, her abilities as the queen, her decision making, it was all either taught to her by her parents or instinct. Impressive, really.

And she kept it all to herself. Anna should have put it together. But she wasn't exactly the most observant person he'd ever met. Any peculiarities she just breezed over and continued on with her life. It wasn't necessarily a bad trait, it just meant that she didn't notice all the little things around her. And how many times had heard his mother tell him that the devil was in the details? Hans always loved the details.

Yet he honestly held no ill-intentions towards Elsa or teaching her to read. It seemed only right that the queen knew how to read, and if nobody else knew, that sort of limited her options. And it was rather fun to watch her try and figure him out, ferret out the reason in his gesture. She was quite determined to paint him as the villain in every aspect of her life. Sometimes he just wanted to shake her for it. No, people rarely actually changed. But sometimes a person was more than just a mistake they had made in the past.

It was pointless. He was never going to be anything but evil to the two sisters. Well, it wasn't as if he wanted them as friends. He had only managed to make one friend in the castle. The same guard that had shown him to his room his first day in Arendelle. The man's name was Jasper and surprisingly enough, he shared Hans' distaste for the queen. Of course his was more rooted in distrust of her powers, while Hans had far darker reasons. Still, the subject came up from time to time during their spars.

Hans was an excellent swordsman. As prince, he had been trained in the art from a young age, until he was quite proficient at it. Until even his brothers rarely wanted to have a match with him, crossing blades. It had been his one pride, the one thing he could do better than the rest. Unfortunately, that ability had been sorely underused once he was demoted to the place of a slave and given the most backbreaking and menial tasks. Sparring with Jasper had refreshed the memory and brought him back to his prime quickly. The other man lost most of their matches, yet he continued to fight with Hans.

He supposed, at one point, that it was what friendship felt like. Having little to go on, with no experience in the matter, he could only assume that it was. The two talked, they sparred on a regular basis, and exchanged quips often. As far as he could tell, those were the aspects of a friendship.

"Daydreaming again? It's a wonder you've ever managed to win a match at all with how your mind wanders." Jasper's voice broke through his musings and Hans chortled. He swiped a cool cloth across his brow, wiping away the sweat that had gathered.

"I think you misunderstand what exactly a break is." He replied, looking to the side where Jasper sat. It made him feel a bit better to see that he looked twice as tired as Hans felt and his face was dripping with sweat. Hans tossed the rag at him.

"Clean yourself up, you'll scare the pretty young girls in the castle that you've been chasing after." He told the other with a roll of his eyes.

Jasper caught the towel and wiped his face with it, tossing his hair back. "I suppose you don't have to worry about that, already being married and all."

Hans groaned, shaking his head. "You know that it wasn't my wish to be married to her, I-"

"You had no other choice if you wanted to escape from the Southern Isles, I've heard it a thousand times. The Queen used you as she uses all of us. She's no more fit to rule than the palm reader in town." Jasper said bitterly, tossing the rag aside. Hans looked to the side, giving Jasper a wry look.

"I think you're more upset for me than I am." He said dryly. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he didn't think Elsa was an unfit ruler. She had done well with the hand she'd been dealt, it was her fault that it had been a poor hand to begin with. Not everyone saw it that way.

"Then you ought to be more upset! You of all people know what the Queen is like. I wish you had succeeded in your attempt to take the throne in the first place. Arendelle would be better off in your hands than that witch." Jasper spoke passionately, as he always did in matters of politics. As usual, Hans felt it somewhat uncomfortable to hear such extreme talk, but he never voiced it. He simply nodded and stayed silent. Elsa was many things, but she was no witch.

"What if I told you you could have a second chance at the throne?"

Hans had been tuning him out, but he straightened up and payed attention at the sound of those words. Suddenly things had gone from harmless talk to something very real and very serious, and he was going to pay close attention.

"What do you mean by that?" Hans asked, knowing he had to be very careful. They were speaking of treason, something no person took lightly. He doubted that Jasper was a plant, the man was far too passionate to not mean everything he said. Which meant that he was actually asking Hans about treason.

Jasper glanced around, checking for people, before speaking in a low voice. "I'm with a group of people that doesn't trust that woman to be ruling. We don't want sorcery as the head of the kingdom. There-" He looked around again, hands tapping quickly against his side. "There's been talk of removing her from the throne, but we need someone to take her place. Someone that can step in easily, without much question. I talked to some people, told them you weren't under Elsa's thumb, you think for yourself."

Hans sat still for a long moment. Here, he was being offered everything he'd ever dreamed of. He knew that he would be a good king, he knew it. Ever since he had been a child, he'd wanted to rule over a kingdom, he had dreamt of being an only child so many times. Of his father proudly passing the crown down to him. His father hated him, though. The chance that Jasper was offering him? It was the last chance he would ever have to be king. Elsa would never give that to him, he knew that. He tried to ignore the fact that his stomach churned at the thought of betraying them a second time. Elsa would die. Most likely executed, or burned as a witch for what she was.

"How do you propose to get rid of her? She has magic." Hans pointed out. There was no way a few men could apprehend or kill her. She was too powerful. He ignored the strain of worry to think of Elsa in such a position.

Jasper's voice dropped another octave. "Poison in her food. After that, fire. It has to be the only way to counteract the ice inside of her." He said in a hushed tone. "The princess could be a problem after that, but she can be controlled. What we need is someone that can immediately step in a smooth the situation over. We've been working on getting someone in place, but with you here… It's a perfect storm."

A perfect storm. But there was no assuming that it could work. Hans didn't want to act on anything until he knew how serious it actually was. If they could actually do what Jasper claimed they could. Hans leaned forward.

"I need to know everything. I can't do this if I don't know that it will work. I won't face another humiliating defeat, and I won't go back to the Southern Isles. I have to know this plan is completely foolproof before I agree to anything. Tell me everyone involved."