A Snowball's Chance in Hell
Chapter Ten
Anna awoke groggily the next morning, cracking an eye open to glare at the sun peeking through her window. She pulled a pillow over her head to block it out, but the damage was done. In those few seconds of consciousness, her mind had started to churn just enough to make drifting back off to sleep impossible. She rolled onto her back and let the pillow fall to the side while she stared at the ceiling. Pieces of the previous evening came back to her as she lay in bed.
She must have dozed off snuggled up to Elsa, because the next thing she remembered after promising her sister an answer was Elsa gently shaking her awake and telling her it was time for bed. She had shambled through the gardens and the hallways, guided by Elsa's arm around her shoulders. Once they reached her room, Anna had flopped unceremoniously on the bed, and she vaguely recalled asking Elsa to spend the night while her sister covered her up. Elsa had merely chuckled and bid her goodnight with a quick kiss on the cheek before heading to her own room.
Anna sat up and stretched, twisting until she got a satisfying pop out of her back. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she stood up and shuffled toward her closet. On the way, she caught sight of herself in the mirror. Yikes. The bun that she had done her hair up in for dinner was in ruins. Locks of hair stuck out at all different angles, and the bun itself had loosened to sag down behind her neck. She quickly started pulling out pins and running her fingers through her hair to work out any tangles. However, she ran into several stubborn knots that refused to come undone. Her gaze shifted back to the mirror, where she saw her hair in an even more chaotic state than it had been. First things first, she thought. I need a bath.
After poking her head out of the room and flagging down a passing servant to request a bath, she made her way back over to her closet. She perused the shelves for something to wear that day. While she contemplated a couple of different dresses, her mind went back to the past few days. She thought about the dress her sister had worn to their chess game, the foot that had run up her leg to make her cough and choke on her wine, and the joke Elsa had made about her almost marrying 'the runt of the litter.' Anna knew that it was all in good fun, yet she couldn't help but feel like she should be reciprocating somehow to try and even the decidedly lopsided score.
Her thoughts focused on the chess game, when she had been turned into a stuttering, gawking mess by a simple change in clothes. She wandered deeper into her closet, her eyes darting among the dresses. She caught sight of the sleeveless yellow one she had worn a few days ago before Elsa's brief disappearance. Her hand hovered over the hangar, but she couldn't quite bring herself to grab it off of the rack. Her gaze moved down to a splash of green a few dresses over. Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she reached over and plucked it off of the rack before turning and marching out of her closet.
If I'm going to do this, I might as well do it right.
What am I doing?
Anna's handmaiden, Yvette, was halfway through lacing up her dress when she finally grasped the absurdity of what she was doing. Dressing like this because Elsa will enjoy it, to try and get a reaction out of her? Her gaze shifted to the mirror in front of her and she looked over her dress. It was a deep forest green, strapless and sleeveless with a high neckline. However, the uppermost portion of the chest was made of lace, leaving much of Anna's chest on display. This is… flirting, isn't it? Or at least a kind of it? She swallowed nervously while her eyes trailed down the dress. The skirt was decently long, ending just above her knees, but there was a slit up the right side that ran almost all the way to her hip. Supposedly, it was all the rage with sophisticated women in the east, but to Anna it merely looked like it would be cold.
Maybe Yvette knows? She wondered. Having a handmaiden that was only a year or so older than herself was nice when she needed someone to talk to, but she wasn't quite sure how to bring up her dilemma. Yvette? Do you think it's okay to want to ravage my sister? She almost laughed out loud at how preposterous it sounded.
"There we are," Yvette said with one final tug on the lacing. She leaned to the side a bit to look at Anna's reflection in the mirror. "Do you require anything else, your highness?" She watched for the small signs she had seen from the princess earlier; a brief furrow of the brow, a quick bite of her lower lip. She could tell that the princess had something on her mind, but it wasn't her place to ask about it. All she could do was wait for Anna to broach the subject on her own. As the silence dragged on, Yvette stepped out from behind Anna and dipped into a slight bow. "If there's nothing else, then I—"
"Wait," Anna blurted out. She turned to face Yvette, who was looking at her expectantly. "I actually have a… question for you, if you don't mind."
"Of course, your highness," Yvette replied, smiling.
"It's kind of personal, and I'll totally understand if you don't want to answer it. It's just that you're really the only person I can think of to ask about this. Not that I don't trust someone like Kai or Gerda, I just—" Anna clamped her mouth shut to cut off the words pouring out of it. Just ask her already. She had to take a few breaths before she trusted herself to speak without rambling again. "Have you ever… been in love?"
Yvette's smile took on a knowing twist. "Has someone felt Freya's touch, perhaps?" she asked. The princess looked away, but her face quickly flushed with color. "Well, congratulations, your highness. Kristoff is a fine young man, and I'm sure—"
"Kristoff?" Anna repeated. She stared at Yvette in disbelief for a moment before remembering that no one other than Elsa actually knew about what had happened with her now ex-boyfriend. "No, it's not him. It's… someone else." She risked a glance back at her handmaiden, catching a concerned look in return. "I… broke things off with Kristoff."
"And have you revealed your feelings to this… mysterious man who has captured your heart?" Yvette asked. She saw Anna chewing on her lip, and she realized that she had touched on the crux of the princess' problem. "Well, to answer your original question… Yes, I was in love once."
"With whom?" Anna wondered aloud, latching onto the change in topic. She regretted asking almost immediately, feeling like she was prying into a private part of Yvette's life. "I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I know it's personal, and I understand if—"
"It's fine, your highness," Yvette said, cutting across Anna's rambling. She paused for a moment while she worked on the best place to start. "It was a few years ago, just before I entered your service, your highness. His name was Gregor, and he worked down at the docks helping unload cargo from incoming ships. I met him one morning when my father had sent me to buy some fish, and Gregor nearly dropped a crate of silks on me." She chuckled at the princess' shocked gasp.
"I was fine," She reassured Anna. "Just a little startled. Gregor wanted to make it up to me somehow, but I insisted that there was nothing to 'make up' and went on my way." She pursed her lips when she saw the princess trying to bite back a snicker. "Yes, it's obvious now, but back then I was more concerned with getting home so that my parents wouldn't worry about me." She blew out a breath while Anna tried to control her budding giggles.
"Anyway," Yvette pressed on with her story. "I saw him a few more times down by the docks, and I would always stop to talk to him for a bit. He was kind and courteous, and we just… clicked with one another. Eventually, we started spending time together outside of when we would run into each other at the docks. We would spend hours walking through the town or wandering about the fields outside." She paused, taking a moment while regret for what came next coiled in her gut, just as it did every time she thought of it.
"As the days and weeks passed, I realized that I felt something for him that I'd never felt for anyone else," she said. "It took some time for me to figure out it was love, but even after I did, it was so… powerful. It scared me that I could care so much for one person, and that it was possible he could feel the same way. I was afraid of it, of being so important to someone." She closed her eyes and sighed. "So, I started avoiding him. I don't know why, other than that I was scared of being so incredibly in love with him." She swallowed, staying silent for a time.
Anna tried to keep quiet as well, to let Yvette speak at her own pace, but her curiosity quickly won out. "What happened?" She asked. "Did you ever tell him?"
"I never got the chance," Yvette replied, her voice wavering a bit. She took a deep breath to calm herself before speaking again. "Two long, miserable weeks after I started avoiding him, I finally worked up the courage to see him again. I figured that even if he didn't feel the same way, rejection was better than the constant uncertainty. So, I made my way down to the docks to look for him… only to find him in the arms of another woman."
Anna gasped, bringing a hand up to her mouth. "Oh my goodness," she breathed. "Did… did you talk to him at all about it?"
"No," Yvette replied sadly, her eyes downcast. "They didn't notice me because they were too busy… with each other, so I simply left. I went home and did my best to forget about him."
"I'm so sorry, Yvette," Anna said, placing a comforting hand on the other woman's shoulder.
"It's quite alright, your highness," Yvette said. She brought a hand up and laid it over Anna's. "I was young, and I let my fear get the better of me. Besides, I doubt Gregor could have felt the same way if he was so easily able to… replace me." She refocused on the princess and smiled. "So, if you were to ask for my advice, I would suggest that you not wait too long. I know that the feelings of budding love can be intense and confusing and frightening, but if you truly love this man, you owe it to both him and yourself to let him know."
Anna bit her lip and shifted nervously on her feet. "Umm, about that," she muttered. She pulled her hand away from Yvette's shoulder, wringing them together over her stomach. "It's just that… it's not… she's not…" Anna trailed off, worry twisting at her insides. Oh no, what if she knows I'm talking about Elsa? What if she thinks I'm talking about her?
"Ah, I see," Yvette said, smirking. "So, some young maiden has stolen your heart, then. Well, my advice doesn't change. Tell her, for her sake as well as your own. Love is fleeting, and it can disappear as quickly as it arrives if you don't care for it." She reached out and rested a hand over the princess', giving them a reassuring squeeze. "Now, do you require anything else?"
"No, that's all," Anna replied. She tore her eyes away from the floor and met Yvette's gaze. "Thank you for… everything, really."
"You're quite welcome, your highness," Yvette said, dipping into a slight bow. "If I might beg my leave of you, Kai has requested my assistance in preparing for today's events."
"Oh, of course," Anna said. "I didn't mean to keep you, I just—" She stopped herself before she could start rambling again. "Thank you… again." Yvette nodded and made her way over to the door, pausing to give the princess one last reassuring smile before heading out. Anna turned back to the mirror and looked herself over again. She tried not to focus on the swath of pale freckled skin of her chest that the dress left on display, instead turning Yvette's words over in her head.
"Love is fleeting"... but Elsa and I have loved each other for… well, practically forever. It's not like that could just go away, right? She ran her hands over her stomach and skirt to smooth out invisible wrinkles, the silken fabric luxuriously soft on her hands. Despite her mental assurances, she couldn't help but recall her sister's nervous inquiry about whether or not she had come to a decision yet. She's just nervous. We both are.
Even as the thought crossed her mind, it felt unfair. She was nervous about what either accepting or rejecting her sister's feelings would entail, but what Elsa had done was on another level entirely. Elsa hadn't merely confessed feelings of love. She had laid herself bare before Anna, and she had entrusted her heart to Anna's care. Anna focused on taking deep, even breaths as the gravity of her decision made her chest tighten. Suddenly, the room felt too small, and she had to scurry out into the hall. Once there, she stood rooted outside of her door for a few moments, unsure of what to do. Her mind flashed back to the chess game again, focusing on how easily Elsa had turned her into a stammering, blushing fool.
Well, that's why I'm dressed up like this, she thought determinedly. Let's see if I can't return the favor. She started down the hallway toward the throne room, trying desperately to infuse her stride with a confidence she didn't even remotely feel. Thankfully, she only passed one servant on the way, and he had been too preoccupied carrying a cask of ale to give her more than a courteous bow of his head.
Anna paused outside the throne room doors, tugging down on her skirt a bit. She couldn't shake the feeling that the slit up the side was flashing her underwear every time she took a step. Actually… that might help. She checked to make sure no one could see her, then dug up under her skirt and pulled the side of her underwear down until a white edge peeked out through the slit. I should have worn cuter panties, she thought wistfully. Taking one last breath to gather her nerves, then pushed the doors open.
"Oh, Elsa!" she sang as the doors parted. "I was ju—" The words died in her throat when she saw that the throne room was empty. She stood in the doorway and crossed her arms, annoyed at her sister's persistent ability to foil her carefully laid plans by never being where Anna expected her to be. After releasing an irritated huff, she turned on her heel and stalked off in search of her sister. She marched through the castle halls and swiftly found herself in front of the door to Elsa's study. She decided to forego the singsong greeting she had tried at the throne room, in case the study proved to be empty as well. "Elsa, are you in there?" she called, knocking on the door.
"Yes," came Elsa's muffled reply.
Anna grinned and pushed the door open. She strutted into the room with as much confidence as she could muster, giving what she hoped was a sultry gaze. However, her sister didn't so much as look up from whatever piece of paper she was hunched over as Anna entered the room. Anna stopped halfway to Elsa's desk, biting her tongue to keep from letting out a frustrated groan. She waited for a few moments to see if Elsa would look up, but the queen kept scribbling away at her paper, pausing only to dip her quill in the inkwell on occasion.
Eventually, Anna grew impatient and walked the rest of the way around to the far side of Elsa's desk. She leaned up against it, flaunting the slit that ran up the skirt. "What are you working on?" she asked. She turned her shoulders and leaned over a bit, pretending to get a better look.
Elsa finished her signature on the bottom of a page and sat back in her chair, staring down at the dense, political language saturating the document. "Nothing too interesting," she said. "Just the papers re-establishing trade with the Southern Isles. Prince Ullr and his brothers are leaving with the tide in a few hours, so I need to—" She finally looked up at her sister, and her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes roved over Anna's dress, all thoughts gone save for the burning desire to push Anna down onto the desk and ravage her.
Conceal, don't feel. Conceal. Conceal, she chanted to herself, though the mantra didn't have as much effect as it usually did. Her nails bit into her palms, fingers clenched painfully tight to keep from reaching out and caressing her sister's delectable curves. Conceal. Conceal. Con… Are those her panties? Elsa's eyes wandered up the slit in Anna's skirt, fixating on the tiny sliver of white fabric just before it closed. Heat coiled in her body, tightening and burning in her core.
Conceal. Conceal, damn it. She finally tore her eyes away from Anna's skirt, only to immediately fall into the mesmerizing trap of her chest. Lace criss-crossed over her sister's chest, giving the illusion of coverage while leaving everything underneath in plain view. Elsa's gaze greedily devoured everything it could, feasting on the pale freckled skin she'd been dreaming of seeing for weeks. She tried to swallow, but her throat was dry.
She's so close, Elsa thought desperately. I could just reach out and… Salacious images ran rampant through her mind. She saw herself tearing at Anna's clothes, smothering the uncovered skin with kisses and nips. She could almost hear her sister moaning her name, almost feel Anna's fingers running through her hair. The warmth in her core roared to life, becoming an all-consuming blaze that threatened to push her beyond the bounds of reason.
No.
Elsa closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. She summoned her magic, letting the power flow through her body but not giving it an outlet. The fire coursing through her veins sputtered and died under the whirling maelstrom of her magic. Once she was firmly in control of herself again, she blew out the breath, releasing her magic in a small flurry of snowflakes that accompanied it. She opened her eyes and met her sister's gaze evenly.
"You look exceptionally beautiful today, Anna," she said, smiling warmly. "Are you going somewhere special?"
Anna could only stare in disbelief, all attempts at seduction forgotten. For a few glorious moments, it had looked like she'd done it. Elsa had been staring at her with a ravenous hunger that sent a chill down Anna's spine. Elsa's eyes had raked over her body in all the ways she had desired. Part of her had expected her sister to take her right there on the table.
Then it all just… vanished.
One slow, deep breath later, Elsa was back to her normal self, completely and utterly in control. If Anna hadn't borne the brunt of her sister's lustful gaze mere moments before, she would never have believed it even happened. While she sat there dumbstruck, she saw a few snowflakes fall from the tail end of Elsa's exhaled breath. Oh, that is so cheating.
Anna sat in silence for a few moments, silently fuming over her sister's shenanigans. It wasn't until Elsa raised an expectant eyebrow that she remembered her sister had asked her a question after cheating her way out of the reaction Anna had worked so hard to earn. No. I didn't come this far to lose because she cheated.
"Not really, or at least not yet, anyway," Anna replied nonchalantly. "I was just looking for you." She pushed up off of the desk and walked around the side, noting with satisfaction that her sister followed her every move with rapt attention. She made her way over to a bookshelf along the wall and pretended to peruse it for a few seconds, letting her hips sway with each step. She turned back and walked in front of Elsa's desk, planting her feet a good distance apart so that her leg pushed out through the slit of her skirt a bit. She watched for a moment while her sister's eyes danced from her face, to her chest, to her exposed thigh, and back again. "You don't think this dress is too… revealing, for the party, do you?" she asked, smiling innocently.
"Not at all," Elsa replied absently. Keeping her gaze level with Anna's eyes was difficult, but she held steady… for now. "It's a bit chilly out, though, so you might want to think about taking a shawl along." Her eyes flashed down, roving over Anna's bare shoulders and dipping down to her cleavage for an instant before she forced them back up.
"Well, I don't mind a little cold," Anna said, strutting up to the desk. She reached up and pulled out the pin holding her hair in a bun and shook it out, letting it cascade down over her shoulders. She leaned down and rested her hands on the edge. "A bit of a chill in the air can be—" She paused and took a breath, pushing her chest out as she did so. "—invigorating." she purred.
Elsa opened her mouth to respond, but no sound came out. Instead, she nodded and tried to swallow to clear her throat. She had given up on trying to keep her gaze level with Anna's, especially given the alluring look her sister was giving her, but she couldn't handle Anna being so close. It was one thing to be able to be able to see the vast stretches of uncovered skin on her sister's chest and shoulders, but it was something else entirely to have them close enough that Elsa could reach out and run her fingers over them. She could feel the embers of arousal flickering back to life within her, so she closed her eyes to draw on her powers again.
Not this time, Anna thought wickedly. She carefully climbed up onto the desk and leaned in close to Elsa, gently blowing a warm breath over her sister's ear. Elsa yelped and her eyes flew open again. She opened her mouth to say something, but Anna never gave her the chance. The princess lunged forward and captured her sister's lips in a kiss. Unfortunately, she put too much force behind her surprise attack and pushed Elsa's chair over, sending both of them tumbling to the ground. The cushioned back of Elsa's chair softened their landing, but the sudden plummet to the ground left both of them disoriented.
Anna pushed herself up and looked down at her sister. The view was extremely reminiscent of her last fantasy, with the minor exception that Elsa was still fully clothed. For now. Her sister stared up at her in surprise, so she dove back in and resumed her assault. She kissed Elsa fiercely, occasionally nipping at her sister's closed lips.
Elsa could only stare at the ceiling, her brain unable to comprehend what was happening. She's… I don't… what? She tried to get Anna's attention, but any attempts at speaking were smothered under a relentless tide of kisses. Elsa placed her hands on Anna's shoulders and tried to push her back, but she quickly lost her will to do so. The urgency of her sister's kisses combined with the soft warmth of Anna's skin under her hands melted her resolve in an instant. She hungrily returned the kisses, whimpering as Anna snaked a hand around the back of her neck to pull her closer. The slight sting of teeth against her bottom lip disappeared, replaced with a probing swipe of her sister's tongue. Elsa parted her lips slightly, moaning lewdly when Anna dove deeper into the kiss.
All of Elsa's were overwhelmed by Anna's taste, her feel, her smell… even behind her closed eyelids, Elsa could envision her sister's copper hair falling down around them and encasing them in their own private world. The embers of her earlier arousal flared back to life, sending heat coursing through her veins. While she did her best to match Anna's nimble tongue—there are so many places I can't wait for that to go—she let her hands drift down her sister's sides, dragging her nails over the thin fabric that still separated them. She could feel her sister clutching at her dress, as if Anna were a hair's breadth away from just ripping it off of her. Who knew she could be so… aggressive? When Elsa's hand finally reached Anna's hips, she snaked a hand through the slit in her sister's skirt and relished in the warmth of Anna's bare skin.
A knock at the door startled them, causing both of them to pull back and finally break the kiss. They both turned toward the door in panic, simultaneously praying that whoever was on the other side would wait for an answer before entering.
"Your majesty," Kai's voice came from the other side of the door. "Prince Ullr and his brothers are taking the final load of their belongings out to The Reef Runner before the gathering in the town square, and they wished to know if the trade papers are ready yet."
"Shit," Elsa swore under her breath. She tried to sit up, and Anna scrambled off of her, clambering to her feet and tugging on various parts of her dress to get them back in place. Elsa quickly grabbed her chair and set it back upright at her desk. She glanced over at Anna, who was perusing a nearby bookshelf. "Come in."
Kai pushed the door open and strode into the room, his eye catching sight of Anna over by the wall. "Ah, good morning, your highness," he said, bowing. The princess smiled in return, then went back to the book she had been reading. Kai watched the princess for a moment, seemingly on the verge of speaking, but he continued towards the queen's desk instead. He stopped in front of it and waited patiently.
What did he want again? Elsa wondered, trying desperately to look busy. Truthfully, her mind was a thousand miles from whatever Kai had asked her for. She was still painfully turned on, and she was sure that her hair was a mess, not to mention the flush she could feel burning in her face and neck. She flipped through a few pieces of parchment that she had grabbed at random when she sat down, trying and generally failing to keep her mind off of the intense make out session that she and Anna had been in the middle of mere moments ago. But no matter how hard she tried, all she could think about was the warmth of Anna's bare skin under her hand, the taste of her lips, or the feeling of their bodies being pressed so close together.
The trade agreement, right.
"One moment please, Kai," Elsa said as she gathered up the trade agreement pages, flipping to the last page, which still needed her seal. Unfortunately, the candle she'd lit to provide wax for her seal had gone out at some point. She pressed a finger to the parchment, freezing her seal onto it and adding a layer of magic it to preserve it.
"Here we are," she said, holding the papers out to Kai. He took them and turned to leave, but paused before doing so, looking back and forth between the queen and princess for a few moments. "Was there something else?" Elsa asked.
"No, your majesty," Kai replied, finally turning and heading toward the door.
Elsa went back to pretending to work until the door closed. Once it had, she slumped down and pressed a hand over her eyes while the heat in her face shifted from one of arousal to one of embarrassment. The rest of her body, however, stuck with arousal, and heat continued to pool between her thighs while her mind re-lived the kiss she'd shared with her sister yet again.
Elsa pulled her hand away from her face and gazed back across the room at Anna, who was still pretending to read a book, though it was upside down. She couldn't help but smile brightly as she stood up and walked across the room. "So, I take it this means you've made your decision?"
Anna's heart dropped like a stone, and a hand flew up to cover her mouth, letting the book she had been holding tumble to the floor. Oh no. What have I done? She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't force any words out. She could only watch in horror as Elsa pieced together the meaning of her silence. She saw her sister's sultry smile falter and fade away and her bright, glittering eyes slowly pool with tears. No. No no no. Not this. Please, anything but this.
"You… haven't decided, have you?" Elsa asked in shock. "Anna, why… how could…" Her emotions welled up within her, threatening to overwhelm her, but she quickly wrangled them back under control. Conceal, don't feel. Control it.
"Elsa…" Anna whispered, cautiously extending a hand toward her sister. Shit, shit, shit. No. Why? What is wrong with me? "I… I didn't—"
Elsa smiled sadly and held up a hand to silence her sister. "It's fine," she said, though the look in her eyes showed that it was anything but. "Excuse me, I need to go get ready to see Prince Ullr and his brothers off." She calmly turned and walked to the door, pulling it open and disappearing into the hall. Only the sound of Elsa's heels receding down the hallway drifted through the doorway behind her.
"No," Anna whimpered, her hand still extended toward the doorway. She let it fall, her entire body slumping against the bookshelf behind her. Why? Why? Why did I do it? She rubbed angrily at her eyes. Stupid, stupid Anna. In her mind, all she could see was the scene playing out over and over again. She saw Elsa slowly realize the truth, the awkward stiffness with which she had tried to assure Anna everything was okay, and the raw hurt in her eyes.
Way to go, Anna. I don't think you could have fucked that up any worse if you'd tried, she thought bitterly to herself. She pushed off of the bookshelf and strode across the room. She felt the need to do something, but she wasn't really sure what. She looked down the hall that would take her to Elsa's room, where she was sure that her sister had retreated to. Part of her wanted to chase after Elsa and find some way to apologize or make up the hurt that she had caused her, but she didn't trust herself after what had just happened. Instead, she turned and headed the other way, letting her feet carry her aimlessly while she tried to straighten out the mess in her head.