/* Author's note – Well hopefully no one has stopped reading because of last chapter. I shall take it as a compliment that I was able to sow doubt about Hans, but I promise that you will all be happier at the end of this one. This does however bring me right up to where I am in writing, so there may be a slightly longer than usual delay before the next chapter. Maybe. I promise to still keep the wait as short as possible. :) */
Anna felt her heart beating erratically as they approached Hans. She didn't trust anything Pierre had told her, and she was thrilled to see Hans, but why was he there? Why was he alone? And why hadn't he even glanced her way? For a moment, Anna was so consumed with curiosity about what Hans was doing there that she barely registered this was the first time she hadn't been escorted straight from her carriage to her tent.
Throughout the sea voyage, she had remained locked in her cabin, with only the occasional visit from Pierre. She knew there had been guards posted outside her door, but they didn't respond to any of her attempts to speak with them, so she had given up. Once they landed, she had only been permitted to go anywhere with Pierre at her side, and even then they were only short trips from ship to carriage to locked room to carriage to tent. Whenever they arrived where he was leaving her, Pierre would take away her shoes and stockings to discourage her from attempting to run away. She scanned the horizon, but they were in an open field, and with Pierre at her side still holding both of her wrists. Anna knew she wouldn't be able to outrun him.
When they reached his camp, Hans finally looked up. His gaze darkened as it settled on Anna, but she could tell it was Pierre he was speaking to. "I thought you didn't want me to talk to her."
Pierre let go of Anna's hands and pushed her slightly, knocking her off balance. "On the contrary, I want you to tell her what you told me."
Hans' gaze shifted to Pierre. "I assume you already did that."
"Of course, but you don't really think she believed me do you?"
Anna watched Hans smile and felt a chill. He looked the same way that he had just before he had locked her in a room to die and she couldn't understand why. Pierre couldn't have been telling the truth.
"Well I suppose the cat is out of the bag now," said Hans in a cold, unfamiliar voice, "So much for any chance of becoming king after all."
Chills ran down Anna's back. "Hans?" she asked, "You can't mean…"
The look he gave her made her want to cry. How could she have been so stupid? Twice? Beside her, Pierre laughed mockingly, "Why would I help you? There is nothing for me to gain. With Princess Anna as my wife I will be king of Arendelle myself, and then I will have no need to rely on an intermediary who could decide at any time that he is no longer interested in being my ally."
Anna took a hesitant step closer to Hans and Pierre immediately reached out to restraint her again. She didn't resist, but she also didn't back down. "Hans?" she repeated.
He looked back at Anna, and for a moment she thought she saw something in his eyes. Something soft, or desperate, or pleading… but then it was gone and his eyes were hard as steel. "Why the shock princess? Leopards can't change their spots. I have always wanted power. What power is greater than that of a king?" He laughed without humour, then stooped to re-roll his bedroll and strapped it back onto his horse. "Well I suppose there's no point in staying with you any longer," he said with a glare at Pierre. He turned back to Anna and his voice was mocking again, though still laced with something else she couldn't place, "Do enjoy your last night of freedom princess. And bundle up, it can get cold at night." With a final mocking bow, he jumped into the saddle and spurred his horse into a gallop.
Anna felt emptiness come crashing in as she watched him ride away. Pierre took advantage of her distraction to start towing her back to the centre of the camp where her tent waited.
Two hours later, after she'd been forced to endure Pierre's taunting throughout a dinner she could barely bring herself to touch, Anna was sitting on her bedroll trying hard not to cry. "I won't cry over him!" she said to herself, blinking furiously as the tears burned. One escaped, then another. She dashed them away impatiently. "I won't!"
Despite trying not to think about Hans, Anna found herself running over his words again and again in her mind. She closed her eyes tight, clapped her hands over her ears and started humming. It didn't help. Her eyes suddenly flew open as what Hans had said ran through her mind again: "…becoming king after all." She stopped breathing and stared straight ahead at the wall of the tent without seeing it. She finally exhaled, and one word escaped with it: "King…"
Drawn back further into her memories, Anna realized that Hans had been trying to tell her something without Pierre knowing. "He knows he'd never be king…" she whispered.
When Hans pulled away from kissing her, Anna gave him a goofy grin, then threw her arms around his neck and pulled him back down to kiss him again, this time, more intensely. She was deliriously happy – she loved Hans and he loved her. They were going to get married!
Hans drew back first again and used his hands to restrain her. "Anna, there is one thing I have to say," his voice was apprehensive and she wondered what he could possibly feel nervous about after she had agreed to marry him. "I'm not trying to take over Arendelle again. I'll sign whatever papers you want in front of any witnesses you name to forfeit any right to government of Arendelle after our marriage. I swear to you that I'm not using you." His eyes were wide, intense, and begging for her to trust him.
Anna smiled, "You don't need to do that Hans–"
"But I will," he interrupted, "I don't want anyone to be able to accuse me–"
Her hand over his mouth stopped him from finishing. "It's impossible for you to be king of Arendelle," she said.
"Wait, what?"
A giggle escaped her at his use of her phrase. "Arendelle law allows for ruling queens and requires that the monarch have Arendelle's royal blood. You don't qualify. It wouldn't matter if you did want to be king and we were married, you could only ever be a prince, and that only as long as I was queen. You would lose any title if I died."
Hans was confused, "But if we had no heir…"
"Then one of our local dukes or duchesses would be the next king or queen. Whoever had the closest blood ties to the throne."
"Then–" he stopped, dumbfounded for a moment. "Back at Elsa's coronation…"
"You were wasting your time," said Anna with a smile, "You never could have been more than my advisor at best."
"Wow." He just stared at her with wide eyes for a minute. "Wow," Hans repeated, "I feel kind of stupid now."
She could stop the laugh that his reaction caused, "Good thing that's not what you're after anymore."
Brought back to the present by her words, Hans shook his head. "Are you sure you don't want me to still write something for your sake so you know I mean it?" he asked.
This time Anna frowned at him. "Absolutely not," she said, "I love you and I trust you. I know that's not what you want anymore."
Hans relaxed enough to smile sheepishly, "Actually, it was never what I really wanted. I was just too stupid to know what I wanted."
Hans wasn't betraying her, he was trying to save her! It had all been an act for Pierre. Anna was so relieved that she gasped aloud and couldn't stop the sudden flood of tears. For a moment, she was afraid it might draw attention, but then she realized that Pierre would expect her to be upset after what happened and would be more likely to be suspicious if she didn't cry.
Certain now that there was more to his message, Anna swept her feet under her to kneel on her bed and narrowed her eyes as she concentrated on every word Hans had said. After 15 minutes, the only other thing that seemed to be important was his parting comment: "Do enjoy your last night of freedom princess. And bundle up, it can get cold at night."
"Last night," she murmured softly to herself. That's strange, she thought, We're still two days out of the capital, so this won't be my last ni– "Oh!" she interrupted herself, "Last night! Cold!" He was letting her know that Elsa was nearby and that they were planning a rescue sometime before tomorrow night! That was the only way this could be her 'last night'. She was more inclined to believe they were going to come for her tonight because of his warning about the cold, so Anna knew she needed to be ready.
Unfortunately, Pierre still had her shoes and stockings, but she would do what she could. The ground was too rocky and uneven for bare feet, so she wracked her mind for a solution. Inspiration came as she was staring at her hands bunched up in the fabric of her dress.
Taking advantage of the tears of relief still streaming down her face, Anna faked a sob to cover the sound of her ripping off a long strip of fabric from the bottom of her skirt. She carefully and thoroughly wrapped it around her right foot as thick as she could, then did her best to imitate hysterics while ripping off three more. She added a second one to her right foot, then wound the other two around her left. Anna nodded in satisfaction and allowed herself to calm down as she scrutinized her work. It wasn't much, but it would be better than nothing when it came time to run.
