A/N: Author's note will be in next chapter ~

Pre-epilogue

Some time later

On any given winter day, Elsa was likely to be found in the library, feet tucked under her and leaning against Hans as he read from a book of his choice. His arm rested comfortably over her shoulders while her head laid against his chest. She could read now, after his not-so-patient tutelage and unending insistence that she be able to. Yet she seemed to preferred to listen to him read while she half-listened, half-dozed against him.

A warm fire lit the fireplace and a blanket covered the two of them, though the winter cold had never bothered his wife like it ought. It was a remarkably peaceful existence for two people that had come from such conflict and strife. Now they were content to sit together and enjoy quiet company without interruptions, taking solace in one another and escaping from the rest of the world.

He never would have expected such a life for himself. As a young man, dreams of grandeur filled his head, of ruling and making himself into something great. Now those dreams felt far away and almost laughable. He wouldn't trade a single minute of reading to his wife in the quiet library for a hundred years of ruling his own kingdom. He was truly content, a word that he had never imagined applying to him, never so much as thought of. In fact, he might have scoffed at the idea of the word, several years earlier.

Content might have meant lazy. Complacent. Now it was finding joy in what he had right in front him, not driving himself to madness because he wanted more. When he held Elsa, he held the world in his arms. He had never thought himself an overly poetic man, never considered that he could be the type to fall in love or let romantic notions slip into his head. Yet when he considered Elsa, he found himself thinking the most ridiculous, flowery things. And he wouldn't trade any of it.

"Hans?" Her voice stopped his own flow of words, and he tilted the book shut, holding his place with only his thumb. He looked down at her, seeing her head tilted up at him. Her eyebrows furrowed in the middle, that look on her face that told him she had been thinking. There was no telling what she would come up with when she had been thinking.

"Yes my queen?" He asked her, pressing a brief kiss to her forehead. Words, titles, things that he had once used to make a mockery of her now slipped off his tongue like second nature. Now rang with truth off his lips every time he spoke them. She licked her lips, eyes landing on his chest while her fingers played at the hem of the blanket.

"Do you still want to be king?" She finally asked, voice sounding small and unsure of herself. The breath left Hans' lungs in a sudden exhale. He tightened his hold around his wife, tugging her a little closer and resting his chin on the crown of her head. He needed to find exactly the right words to explain himself.

"I've always wanted to be a king." He started slowly, hand rubbing over her back when he felt her tense, just a little. "Ever since I was a child, I knew I would be a good ruler. A better one than the people around me." He shifted again, loosening his hold and moving her around so he could look her in the eyes. His fingers took hold of her chin and lifted it.

"But Arendelle has the ruler it needs. It's lucky to have the queen it does. All I want to be now is your husband." He told her, leaning in to seal his words with a kiss. She must have approved of his response, because her own was like fire, despite the ice in her veins. The book fell unheeded from his fingers as all his attention turned to his wife and showing her without words exactly how he felt about her. Her hands were on his chest, reaching past his jacket, then slipping up around his neck.

His lips pulled from hers to her jaw, to the creamy skin on her neck, hands instinctively tugging her hair loose to let it fall through his fingers. He pulled her against him and returned his mouth to hers, letting icy air flood is lungs.

"I think," he muttered breathlessly between kisses, "we ought to retire for the night."