The rain refused to relent.

Hans offered to put an invisible shield over the two of them again, and this time Anna didn't raise a fuss. The faster they got back the castle, the better.

They spent the rest of the trip in silence. Anna kept her eyes blankly focused on the road, on the castle walls as they began to loom higher and higher. When they reached the entrance hall, Hans disappeared through a pair of side doors while servants stepped forward to take Anna's drenched cloak. With gentle tugs and pushes, they politely herded her off the main carpet—Anna belatedly realized she'd been dripping mud and water on it.

It wasn't until they had her upstairs with a hot bath drawn and Anna was submerged, sitting alone in silence, that the full weight of what had just happened—of what Hans had done, of what she'd done back—crashed into her.

Her fingers gripped the sides of the porcelain tub. She struggled to breathe.

Everything was fine.

Totally fine.

What'd happened beneath the tree, it had just been part of the plan. And like… hormones or something. Fluke occurrence. Product of the moment. That and Hans was attractive, physically if not personality-wise, so it only made sense that she would've followed his lead. Because that was all it'd been. Following his lead.

Anna groaned, covering her eyes as she sunk lower into the bath.

She remained like that until there was a knock at the door—her maid. The woman entered with Anna's permission, set out some outfits next to the vanity, and then left. Anna still didn't move until the water started to cool. Finally, she scrubbed the mud off as best as possible, toweled herself dry, and surveyed her clothing options. Two had been laid out: a casual pajama-like dress and a fancy dinner one. They marked a clear choice—hide away for the rest of the day or parade straight back out.

Anna reaches for the casual one first. Her chest felt too skitterish, her head off kilter for another confrontation. There was no way she could go to dinner the way she was. She had no idea what she'd say, no idea what he'd say.

But at the same time…

She paused with her hand on the smooth cotton.

If Anna didn't face him tonight, she'd just have to face him tomorrow. And doing so would just make that confrontation even harder tomorrow. It was best to face him now and… and she would follow his lead. If Hans wanted to ignore what had happened beneath the tree like he'd ignored whatever had happened back in Wallonia, she'd ignore it too, and if not…

Well, it was all part of the plan, right?

Anna forced herself to leave the casual dress where it was and picked up the fancy one.

All according to plan.

Anna swirled her spoon back and forth through her onion soup. Across from her, Hans was equally quiet, not even looking up from his food. Both of them had washed up, all evidence of their earlier… fight scrubbed away. She frowned; while she'd told herself she'd follow his lead, eating in complete silence for a full hour wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind.

As the servants cleared the soup and brought out the main course, Anna gathered her courage and cleared her throat. The noise echoed around the large dining hall, bounced around her own head…

Whatever she'd had in mind to say bounced out with it.

But it had drawn Hans' attention and now he was staring at her.

"I was going to say something…" Anna said lamely, feeling the need to offer some explanation for the noise. "But then I forgot."

He stared, obviously judging her. "I see."

And then he went back to his food.

Anna sunk low in her chair. She poked at her food, every little noise she made amplified by the great room.

She had no idea what he could possibly see in her. Silly little Anna—not a queen, no magic powers, constantly saying things that sounded ridiculous to even herself. It had to be some sort of game to him because there was no way he'd actually… no reason he would ever… But even as she tried to convince herself of that, she reminded herself that there'd been a lot of investment from his end for a simple game. Fourteen months she'd spent in Weideland castle. Next week marked fifteen.

Anna couldn't think of anything else he'd spent that much time on.

Hans suddenly scraped his chair back.

"What are you doing?" Anna asked blankly.

"My apologies," he said. "It's that you're— I should've given you the hall for yourself tonight. You need to eat more than I do."

Anna stared after him in confusion as he began to leave… until it hit her. He'd linked Anna's lack of appetite to the events of the afternoon. Linked it to his presence here.

"Wait!" Anna called out, stopping him. She heard her voice echoed back to her. "It's not… you…" She hesitated beneath his stare because, okay, the afternoon was what the silence and awkwardness was from, but it wasn't responsible for her current lack of appetite. "It's just… don't you think this hall is a bit big?"

"The hall," Hans repeated.

"Yeah," Anna said, forcing herself to continue. "We're just two people. This place was built for… what? Twenty? Don't you feel like you get sucked in by it sometimes?" Hans looked like he had no idea what she was talking about. "Well, I do, so… Isn't there anything in this castle that's… you know? Smaller? Just a little less formal?"

Hans frowned. "There are a lot of rooms," he said slowly. "For just you or…?"

Anna wanted to say, yes, just her, but she knew what she had to do. People were counting on her.

She laced her fingers together in her lap. "Both of us."

Without taking his eyes off her, Hans snapped his fingers. A butler approached from the servants' hallway. They whispered together; Hans nodded once, twice, and then servants emerged and gathered their plates. Anna cautiously rose from her seat. As she neared Hans, he held out his arm.

She looked impassively at it.

Part of her wished she could chuck aside her pride and her rage and play fully at getting along, but she was still too angry at him for the town. And maybe that was for the best.

He needed to learn that there were some things he couldn't just wash over.

Anna lifted her gaze to his face, her eyebrow raising in measured judgment. She caught a flash of disappointment in his eyes, but he lowered his arm.

They left the dining hall, then made their way up a flight of stairs and into a small, cozy room off the east wing. Their plates had already been re-laid out for them on a plain, four-person table next to the window. Outside, the sun had set, the palace lights casting a dark glow over the nearby forest.

Hans stayed at the door, gesturing for Anna to take her seat first. Halfway to the table, she paused.

The table occupied the right half of the room. A crackling fireplace with two high-backed chairs occupied the left. It took Anna less than a second to make her decision—she grabbed her plate and silverware and plopped herself down in one of the fireplace chairs. After another second of deliberation, she brought her feet up onto the cushion, tucking them cozily under herself.

Hans looked on with guarded disapproval. Anna flashed him a defiant smile. She dug into her food, watching him from the corner of her eye. He hesitated at the table, then grabbed his plate and took the chair opposite her.

She continued to watch Hans between bites. He sat with his legs casually half-crossed, right ankle resting on top his other knee, but his back remained stiff. He was staring off to the side, at what seemed to be a random point in the wallpaper. He looked just as stiff in this small room as she'd been in the cavernous dining hall.

Good, a vindictive part of her thought.

"I take it your family never ate casually like this?" she asked instead.

Hans didn't immediately answer. He'd moved his gaze to the fireplace as it crackled in the silence.

"How did you guess?" he finally said, with a wry quirk of his lips. "It might've been different starting out, but by the time I came around… Thirteen brothers… Dinner was the one place my parents could put a halt to the chaos. Every single night, six o'clock sharp, all of us sat down together. Full table. No exceptions."

Anna frowned. "That sounds kind of strict."

Hans shrugged. "It was only dinner."

It didn't seem like it, but Anna pressed forward.

"We kind of had that…" she said between chews. "Sort of. Mom and Dad… They would try to have us all sit down, but Elsa got to stay in her room whenever she felt 'sick.' " She paused to do the air quotes. "We managed to sit down at the table about half the time, but other nights—especially when Dad was busy with kingdom stuff and it was just me and Mom—we kept it much more casual, like this." Her eyes flicked to the ceiling in thought. "I liked the casual."

"Of course. It was a bandage."

Anna dropped her eyes, frowning at him.

"Otherwise you would've noticed the holes," he explained.

Anna's frown curled into a scowl. "At least our family gave each other options," she muttered. "When we showed up, we all knew we wanted to be there."

Hans didn't have a response to that.

They ate the rest of the main course in silence. If the castle servants had any thoughts about the king and his captive ditching the official table, they didn't voice them. It wasn't until dessert was brought out that Hans spoke again:

"I'm sorry for earlier," he said. "At the town."

Right. The town.

Anna knew she should drop the subject, accept his apology. Dragging out fights would only make them hate each other more, and she needed to be sucking up to him if she wanted to suck out his powers…

But she couldn't help it.

"And what are you sorry for?" Anna asked, digging her spoon into her crème brûlée.

Hans held his plate with both hands, his spoon and dessert untouched. "I can't tell them."

"About your powers? Why not?"

Hans looked up at her, his eyes hollow. "You know why not."

Anna scrunched her nose as she mentally retraced a few steps based on the events of the day. "So… let me get this straight. No one knows about your powers except me?"

Hans sighed. "You, your sister, and I'm assuming your idiot cousin from the way the two of you gossiped the last time you were here."

Anna hadn't told Rapunzel about Hans' powers, Elsa had… but he didn't need to know that.

"What about all those Arendelle soldiers you froze to the halls of our throne room?" she asked.

Hans waved his hand dismissively. "I took care of them—" He froze, stopping himself too late. He sighed, running a hand through his bangs. "Memory-wise. I took care of them memory-wise, not—"

"Right," Anna said with a bitter snort. "Like that's so much better."

Hans sat up. "What? You'd rather have me kill them?"

"No! Obviously, I wouldn't—!" She sucked back an irritated breath. "I'd rather you not do anything at all!"

They glared at each other, perched on the edges of their seats, jaw muscles twitching. Hans didn't seem willing to take the next blow though, and when he settled back, Anna did too. She returned to her dessert, stabbing it with her spoon.

"What would you have me do?" she heard him ask. "Seriously?"

Anna regarded him warily. "What do you mean?"

"You obviously hate my past, but that's the one thing I can't change," he said calmly. "So, going forward, what would you have me do?

"Seriously?" she asked. He gave her a nonchalant nod. "Okay, then… Very first thing? Tell everyone the truth. Tell everyone about your powers. Tell everyone about the people you murdered to gain this throne."

They held each other's gaze.

"And then?" Hans asked.

"And then let them judge you."

Hans stayed silent, and then finally began his dessert, spoon breaking through the untouched crust.

Anna stared at him in disgust. He was an unrepentant coward of monster. She couldn't believe she'd kissed him earlier, couldn't believe she'd thought…

"You won't do it," Anna said. "Will you?"

"No," Hans said without looking up.

Of course.

Hans' reputation, his image, was his life. He'd probably sacrifice his powers before he voluntarily sacrificed that.

"But…" he continued, slowly, and maybe it was Anna's tiredness bleeding through but for once she couldn't catch any hint of sarcasm or mockery, "I do promise to keep it under consideration."

A/N: Somewhat shorter chapter this week. Next week's will be almost twice as long (there wasn't a great place to split them better) and possibly delayed by a day or two because of a road trip I'm taking to see the solar eclipse, but... yeah.

Either way, see you guys then. Hope you guys enjoyed!