Regardless of any misfortunes both forced and brought upon himself, Kristoff was determined to do everything in his power to make things right. He, still dizzy, stumbled out of the room and down the hall. There were no servants, no other guests. He was completely alone, but determined enough to change that.

The brothers must've thought that he wouldn't get out of the locked room, for they did not lock the door that led out into the palace. Excited, Kristoff threw it open and ran out, looking around. A few servants milled about, but they were too busy preparing for the upcoming wedding to possibly pay attention to some scraggly-dressed boy.

"Oh, it's so wonderful that she changed her mind, Hans deserves a nice girl." A middle aged woman sighed, helping a younger girl to dust.

The young maid huffed "I suppose."

"Oh, darling, don't be jealous."

"I'm not!" the young maid lied.

"You're allowed to have your dreams, but you must know the odds...commoners don't marry royalty. It simply does not happen. Anna will be a good match for our Hans."

Kristoff slowed his walking and adverted his eyes trying to listen as long as possible. It felt as if he had swallowed a hot stone, and he bit his lip to keep tears back. Of course he was going to marry her. The little weasel probably orchestrated this whole thing! How did people not know she was brought here against her will? Surely she was fighting back, Anna wasn't the type to lose hope, to just give up! He knew that for sure, she had proved it time and time again. Perhaps she wasn't strong enough anymore…

But Kristoff would fix this. He would find her; heal her. He'd do whatever it took to make her well again and wait until she forgave him. She just had to, Kristoff couldn't bear to be without her. This had to be fixed!

"He could marry anyone he pleased, what makes some vapid ol' princess better than me?" The young maid sniffed and Kristoff sneered. 'Vapid' was not a word to describe Anna in any sense. Clearly the two women hadn't met.

"Royal lineage is important." The old maid insisted. "And you haven't met her, she could be the perfect girl for Hans."

The young maid stiffened, offended. "Well," she sneered. "There's always Jacob."

The old woman threw down her rag and looked at her. "Don't go near Jacob."

"Oh, don't worry about the lineage or whatnot, Marie. I'm only playing." the young maid said a little tauntingly, a twang in her voice suggesting that she wished she wasn't.

"You don't know Jacob like I do." Marie shook her head, shuttering a little. "He's not a good man."

"He's good looking though." the young maid signed longingly. "He's got better muscles than Adam and Alex combined, and he's better looking than Hans."

"And does he know it." Marie snapped.

"So what?" the young maid shrugged. "Why keep it from him."

"He's entitled and rude."

"All the royals are, to a degree." the young maid was starting to get a little frustrated. "Why won't you just leave him be?"

"He's done things you, God willing, will never hear about." Marie shuttered. "I'll hear no more of this! Back to your work - and when Jacob comes today, stay away! Mr. Tellings will tend to him during his stay."

Kristoff picked up his pace now that the conversation was void of any useful information, ducking around a corner and hoping to pick up another clue as to where Anna might be.

"When is the wedding?" the bakers were conversing in another kitchen. "We've got to get as much done early as possible, you know Hans' will reject whatever we make first."

"Maybe not!" A baker said hopefully. "Perhaps love has softened him."

Kristoff scoffed at the same time with the first baker. "Unlikely." he mumbled, piping more frosting onto a cake.

"It's in a week - on Saturday!"

"Damn it Janie, it's already Monday! That's less than a week! Go get started on the tarts, we'll stick them in the icebox. They should keep."

Saturday! Kristoff's heart sped up. He didn't have long! How could they, why are they-

"Oh, hello there." A deep voice spat.

Kristoff whipped his head around, looking right at Adam.

Adam did not lunge at Kristoff like he expected, but did a much more fearsome thing; stood there, smirking. "I think you might've just solved our problem." he tapped his fingers on his side.

Kristoff turned to run away, but Adam was quicker and Kristoff was dizzy and tired. Kristoff felt his head being smacked against the wall again, and he was dragged off and down the hall to a different room where a much worse plan was to be carried out.

"Princess Anna…" Hans said in a singsong voice, entering Anna's room.

Anna didn't even bother to sit up, thumbing through a bland book.

"We have a formal dinner tonight."

"I'm not going." Anna stated like a fact.

"I'll cut you a deal. If you come to this dinner - and behave! - then I'll let you roam around the castle as you please." Hans smiled, knowing it wouldn't matter.

Anna gasped. This she had to think about. She was so tired of being cooped up, of being held in this room that was no better than her cell on the ship. Not to mention, being able to roam around might give her the ability to escape. IT was just one dinner, and he was already planning to marry her, how much worse could he really do?

"Okay." Anna said, nodding, determined but a little defeated.

Hans smiled. Finally, he could introduce his bride.

"Make sure you dress nicely." he huffed. "I'll send a maid in to dress you. Dinner is in an hour, be on your best behavior and go along with what I say. Or there might be some...consequences."

Anna huffed. He didn't scare her. But she did so want the ability to roam freely, and thus would hold her tongue.

The maid dressed her in a tight purple gown that would've been lovely under most other circumstances. The dinner was delicious, but it didn't matter. The conversation was lively, but she didn't participate. She poked at her food and hardly even noticed she had fallen into the gaze of Jason.

He stared at her, sized her up. No, she certainly wasn't here willingly. She looked uncomfortable but, hell, any girl who had just sighed her life over to that piece of work Hans had to be feeling a little more than cold feet. She would be easily persuaded, hard to resist, and unlikely to be able to put up a fight. And if she tried, well, she weighed, what, 115 pounds? She was short and petite and perfect for what exactly he had in mind.

And to think, a gem like that could just be hiding in the castle.

Forewarning, the story is rated T for a reason. The subject matter gets a little tricky in the next couple chapters (nothing too intense, nothing graphic) but just a heads up.