Inga stood in the corner watching the final preparations for the evening's dinner and ball. She hadn't intended to arrive at the ballroom early, but once Gerda had stopped by her room offering to help her get dressed, she didn't want to make her come back later. Gerda had suggested her emerald green dress, which wasn't as tight as the one she had worn for the ball in Corona, but it was still too wide and too long to be doing anything else in, so there wasn't much left to do but head over to the ballroom. She had stopped by to see if her parents were ready, but they hadn't even given her a clear answer if they were going to be at the banquet beforehand.

Every few minutes a servant would come over and ask if she needed anything, even though she was trying to stay in the background and just watch. Finally, she told one that she could use something to drink. Other guests were slowly starting to come in. Her parents had informed Kai that it would be best not to wait for them to begin the evening. Inga silently laughed to herself that the Prince of Maldonia was probably expecting a more formal event in his honor. Thankfully, he had not arrived early. Her own table was still empty, and she looked around to see if there was anyone she would want to talk to before dinner began.

"Elizabeth!" Inga called as she nearly ran over to her table at the banquet. "Where's Lars?"

"Mr. Meyer took him aside to speak privately. They've been doing that quite a lot this week. How have you been?"

"Busy," she replied, setting down her empty glass on the table. She leaned in to whisper, "I really don't know whether my parents are showing up tonight, even after my mother promised not to leave me alone with that prince from Maldonia. I might need to call in that favor from the ball in Corona, since you're married now and your husband will be right here. I'm pretty much obliged to dance with the prince once, but after that-"

"I'll see what I can do," Elizabeth smiled. "Your dress is lovely, by the way. I've always loved emerald green, so bold."

Inga smiled and nodded, not wanting to admit that she hadn't put that much thought into the color of her dress. She stood quietly for a moment, looking around nervously. She sighed. "I don't want to bring it up, but, have you- has he made a decision? About, you know, that thing?"

"No. The Ambassador doesn't want to lose him, of course, but he also acts like saying 'no' isn't a real option, either."

"I can't see why," she scowled, barely keeping her voice down. "I don't understand it, to be honest. Really, I hate it. I… I thought you'd be here at least a year or two."

Elizabeth nodded. There was some commotion as Inga's parents had suddenly appeared at their table, and the footmen began bringing out the main course. Inga hurried back to her table.


Inga sat next to Frederick as they finished their main course. She wasn't feeling particularly hungry, but she had accepted every refill on her drink. Frederick would occasionally tell her about his conversations with the Admiral and the various naval officers present, and Inga would try to say something appropriately encouraging, since it was all exciting and new to him. Her father was always quiet at these events, but her mother was unusually reserved this evening, looking around the room, almost nervously, with none of her usual excitement about the event, or eventhe mirth she would quietly express if the guest list wasn't satisfactory. Still, they were here, so Inga at least wasn't going to be left completely at the mercy of Prince Tarkan.

When dinner was over and they were waiting for the dancing to begin, Inga wanted to go speak to Elizabeth some more, but Elizabeth's mother and sisters were keeping her busy. Inga decided that she would give them some space since they would be leaving the next day for Wesselton. She hoped that they would take Prince Tarkan with them. Inga looked around the room.

A footman came around with fresh drinks. Inga gladly took one. She noticed a dignitary whose name she forgot whispering to Prince Tarkan and gesturing in her direction. She couldn't pinpoint exactly why the Maldonian prince made her so uncomfortable from the one time he had spoken to her, but she wanted to avoid him as much as she could. Nearby, she saw Kate and Edith standing around giggling about something or other, so Inga decided to go join them.

"Inga!" Kate said gleefully as she stopped in front of them. "We were just saying, we haven't had a chance to speak to you since Isabel's wedding. How are you doing?"

"Fine," Inga replied, not sure what they actually wanted to hear. "How have you been?"

"Nothing much has been happening with us," Edith laughed, "though everyone is talking about Mr. Nilsen's promotion. What do you know about that?"

"I really wish I knew," Inga admitted. "They really don't tell me as much as you'd think."

Edith looked at Kate and smirked a bit.

"What is it?" Inga asked.

"Well, we probably shouldn't say it here," Kate said a little too loudly.

"Now you have me curious," Inga grumbled.

"Fine," Edith sighed, pulling them toward the kitchen door away from the other guests. "Someone was saying that the position is probably going to him to cover up his father's death."

"Cover up?" Inga was confused. "Why would it need to be covered up? He died from natural causes. And who was saying this?"

"Kate, do you remember who it was? It was right after he and his brother left Hudson's the other night."

"No one in particular, just some dock worker."

"Did this person say anything else?" Inga probed.

"Well..." Edith said, looking around, lowering her voice and leaning in, "there was some question about whether his father was even his father. The two brothers look different, and apparently his mother tried to hide being pregnant before she left Arendelle. So there might have been some kind of fight."

"Did they have any proof?" Inga asked, looking around to make sure they were still alone. "People like to talk nonsense, you know."

"I remember now!" Kate almost jumped up. "He said he was loading the ship that took her to Corona. It was the middle of the night, and the whole thing was rather hushed-"

"Kate!" Edith grabbed her, trying to whisper, "maybe think about who we're talking to?"

"What? I know my aunt had something to do with getting her to Corona."

Edith leaned in, about to say something else, when they heard the musicians beginning to assemble. Inga quickly excused herself.

Frederick was waiting at the other end of the room. "See if you can figure out what he's hiding," he whispered in her ear.

"Who?"

"Tarkan," he snorted. "He was acting weird after you left me with him last week. You have to give him one dance, you know. Might as well make it worthwhile."

"I'd rather not," she groaned. "It means I'd have to talk to him."

"So? You talk to him, he talks back, you learn something interesting if you're lucky."

"I just, well, it's not that simple."

Frederick snorted. "You know this one wouldn't be such a problem if you weren't so insistent that nothing happened with the last one."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she whispered back with a glare.

He only nudged her and nodded his head toward the group from Maldonia walking toward them.

Inga felt her entire body tense up at the uncomfortable memory of the encounter with Prince Tarkan in the empty ballroom as he approached now and was officially introduced to her.

"Your Highness, may I have this dance?" he asked with stiff formality. Inga politely accepted his hand, trying hard to keep her face neutral and not roll her eyes as he led her to the center of the room to signal the music for the waltz. He placed his hand on her back firmly, yet it made her feel insecure, and his grip on her hand felt unforgiving. "You have been nearly impossible to find this week. I almost would think you were avoiding me."

"I've been quite busy," Inga stated, hoping it would sound more like an apology than an insult.

"You may have heard, I will be sailing to Wesselton tomorrow."

"Yes," she replied tersely. "I hope you enjoyed your stay."

"I must admit, I was rather disappointed."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"There will be others, I assure you."

"Of course," Inga said, wondering how much longer the music would be playing. He was talking just enough that she couldn't lose herself in her own thoughts and go through the motions of the dance. She tried to keep up her end of the conversation like the etiquette lessons had drilled into her. "I hope you find someone deserving."

"I'm sure I will, and besides, I've learned things during my stay that will make up for my initial disappointment," he smirked.

"Oh, really?" she asked, slightly unnerved.

"The locals really are quite friendly here. I can understand why your family doesn't look elsewhere."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, if I understand your… parentage?"

"So?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean that as an insult. I was merely curious. When my father suggested visiting Arendelle on my tour, he mentioned that he had been interested in Her Majesty many years ago, before she was Queen."

"I've… not heard that. But I imagine it would have been purely a theoretical interest."

"He was quite charmed with her when the two of them were visiting Corona at the same time," Tarkan smirked.

"Well, if that had come to anything, we wouldn't be having this conversation now, would we?"

"That is true," he acknowledged.

"Tell me, then," she hoped to change the subject, "Where did your father meet Queen Nora?"

"It was all arranged," he replied flatly.

"I take it they're not arranging things for you?"

"It's not so simple," he explained, "My father was an only child, so there was no question that he would inherit."

"Are you not the oldest, then?"

"Oh, I am the oldest, but my father has not selected his heir yet. They would like to see a legitimate line of succession, naturally."

"That seems like it puts a lot of pressure on you."

"It's probably for the best. It can cause complications if a monarch succeeds to the throne without a clear line of succession, you know."

"Who is winning right now?" She took a second to realize she had asked this out loud, and tried to remember how many drinks she had accepted from the footmen.

"As far as legitimate heirs, there are none yet," he explained.

"I see…" she replied cautiously. His accent was just thick enough that she was willing to believe he had misspoken, and wasn't trying to imply what it sounded like to her. She had quickly finished off her most recent glass of wine, and she was starting to feel it, so she knew she'd need to be careful what she let herself say.

Tarkan continued as if he hadn't heard her. "My sister, of course, you met in Corona. She had no luck there on either of the royal heirs she met, though I suppose your brother is still too young."

"Yes, I agree there," Inga said firmly, noticing Frederick passing nearby as he danced with Edith.

"She also had warned me that I might not have luck here," he continued, frowning at her.

"No one has had that kind of 'luck' here," Inga smirked back.

He sniffed dismissively. "As for my brother Josef, he is engaged to a princess from Bavaria, though her parents insist that she wait until she is twenty-one, so I may yet have time to establish my own legitimate succession before him."

"You seem to like emphasizing that the succession needs to be legitimate," Inga spoke without thinking.

Prince Tarkan cleared his throat. "You do a poor job of acting naive," he said with the slightest hint of a sneer.

"I never claimed to be," she told him.

"Good, because you will limit yourself considerably if you… expect otherwise from men."

"Is that so?" she sighed, relieved to hear the music ending. She curtseyed and he bowed, and she politely took her leave, glad to be done with that. She knew well enough that there were plenty of men who were going to view her as nothing more than a treaty concession or a business transaction, but seeing it so bluntly laid out was infuriating, even when she was completely sober, which she was quite sure she wasn't at this point.

Inga looked for Elizabeth again, but she and Lars were now dancing, and she couldn't talk to Frederick because Kate had convinced him to dance with her now.

"Edith," Inga called as she walked over, finding another round of drinks being passed around.

"Inga," she pouted a little, "I wish I had found you earlier. I was hoping you'd introduce me for a dance with Prince Tarkan, but now he's dancing with the daughter of Duke… Duke… oh, I forget his name, but he's on the royal council. She's so full of herself."

"You're not missing much," Inga grumbled. "And, from what he said, I'd be very careful around him, if I were you."

"What's that?" Edith asked.

"Never mind," Inga sighed. "I have no proof of anything."

"Proof of what?" Edith probed.

"Just…" Inga took a sip of her drink. "Just that he kept going on about legitimate heirs, and pretty much all but admitted to having the illegitimate kind."

"Oh!" Edith exclaimed, looking around a bit, moving them closer to the corner.

"He seems to think it's pretty commonplace."

"Well, you've read more than I have," Edith reminded her.

"True, going by what I've read, it's rather common, but in real life, I'd like to think that's all exaggerated. The idea of marrying someone who only wants me for my title and position and keeping to myself while he goes off with every girl in the countryside-"

"That wasn't exactly the kind of reading I was thinking of," Edith laughed, "but you have a point."

"Oh, so," Inga said with another sip, "before the dancing started, you and I were discussing something else."

Edith laughed a little too loudly. "Yes, your new ambassador to America. I'm sure you didn't learn anything about him from that Maldonian prince, but it's funny because what I heard about Mr. Nilsen-"

The second dance ended, and Elizabeth walked over to join them. Edith gave Inga an embarrassed look, clearly aware that they needed to change the subject.

"Sorry, I interrupted something," Elizabeth said innocently, starting to turn around.

"Oh, no," Inga insisted, "well, we were talking about the ambassador position. Sorry if that's awkward for you…"

"It is awkward," Elizabeth admitted, "but there's nothing to apologize for. I know it must be interesting."

Inga noticed Edith shifting uncomfortably. "Elizabeth," Inga probed, "did Lars say anything more about his family here?"

Elizabeth sighed. "He didn't really learn anything. The Ambassador was asking us the same thing the day we returned from our honeymoon. Lars told me his brother thinks he's being rather silly for even trying to learn anything, and maybe he's right."

Edith glanced knowingly at Inga, who gave her a quick frown before returning her attention to Elizabeth. "I wish I knew more," Inga sighed. "Then maybe I could understand what my parents were thinking."

"The best we could figure is that Elsa had something to do with it," Elizabeth replied, "because she has spent a lot of time with Mrs. Nilsen, of course."

"Doesn't that get confusing now?" Edith giggled.

"Oh!" Elizabeth laughed in surprise. "You know, it's funny, I hadn't really thought of that… it just hasn't come up here, since nearly everyone uses first names. I suppose if she comes with us, we'll have to figure something out, because there would be two of us they could call 'Mrs. Nilsen' and that would definitely get confusing."

"So, where is your husband now?" Edith asked.

"Mr. Meyer made him come with him to talk with some other ambassadors," Elizabeth sighed. "To be fair, one of them spent several years in America, so I suppose that will be helpful."

Another dance was announced, and Inga soon found herself dancing with a series of dignitaries who were both tolerable and forgettable.

It was nearing the end of the evening when Elizabeth's mother and sisters found her again. Inga was thankful that Prince Tarkan had at least lost interest in her so she never needed Elizabeth's assistance in avoiding him.

Kate and Edith found Inga as a last round of drinks were brought around. Kate was eagerly repeating their earlier conversation concerning the gossip from the old dock worker, while Edith filled her sister in on Inga's suspicions about Prince Tarkan. Inga noticed Kai pass near them, but he was only going over to her parents. Given everything lately, she wasn't surprised that they left without saying anything.

"Right," Edith said, touching Inga's arm to get her attention, "when Elizabeth came over earlier, I was about to tell you what I heard about Mr. Nilsen."

"Lars, or his father?" Inga asked.

"His father," Edith clarified, then trying to whisper, "if he really was, of course!"

"Your Highness," Kai interrupted, startling them. "I need you to come with me."


Inga followed Kai to the library. He motioned her to go in, and quietly stepped back. Her parents were both standing inside, but nobody else was there.

"Kai, close the door on your way out, see that we're not disturbed," her mother said quickly.

"What's going on?" Inga asked once they were alone in the room. "One minute I'm just talking at the party, and the next minute Kai comes over and tells me to come with him..."

"It's about your conversation, or, rather, that-" her father stuttered. He looked at his wife for help, his hand nervously at the back of his neck.

"You shouldn't be discussing Lars and his family. Not so carelessly," her mother added.

"You don't want me talking about the ambassador position? Look, it doesn't make much sense, so of course people are going to talk, and Edith and Kate are going to hear a lot of that talk. You've been telling me for years I should spend more time with them, but all of a sudden you don't want me to talk with them?"

"No, of course I don't mean that," her mother assured her. "It's just that you… you should be in a position to dispel rumors if need be."

"That doesn't work when it's about me, so why should I even bother if it's something I don't know about?"

"That's not what I'm talking about."

"Well, I haven't actually heard any other rumors. I mean, I guess there was some talk about the older Mr. Nilsen and maybe there was something funny about his death, but the word of some guy on the docks twenty years ago doesn't seem like much to go on."

Her parents looked at each other, clearly not sure what they should say to that.

"His death was completely natural," her mother blurted out.

Inga found the statement odd, suddenly thinking of all the odd things she'd overheard or noticed the last few months. "I didn't think his cause of death needed defending. Unless it does? Is that why Lars is getting this position now? And is that why he was supposed to get a position in the Corona palace guard and not the Diplomatic School? And the pension?"

"It has nothing to do with that," her mother said quickly, "or, well, not direct-"

"What do you mean? Either it has something to do with that, or it doesn't," Inga interrupted, starting to feel overwhelmed with possible conclusions. "It might almost make sense if you were making him ambassador to Corona, but there are at least a dozen other nobles and rich retired trades people you could give the American position to. Usually, someone that young only gets a position like that if-"

Inga looked up as she suddenly remembered Edith's statement connecting the mystery of Lars's family with her own gossip about the Maldonian prince. She glanced back and forth between her parents' faces for clues.

Her mother spoke first, quietly but firmly. "If the person is related to someone important?"

Inga felt her stomach drop. The thought had briefly occurred to her when she had been talking about the rumors with Edith earlier, but hearing her mother say it out loud, she could no longer dismiss the idea of Lars being some kind of relation as nonsense. She tried to stay focused, even though she felt unmoored. "So who is he?" Inga demanded. "Some bastard cousin from your grandfather?"

Her parents looked at each other, shifting uncomfortably.

"Closer than that," her mother clarified, pausing just enough for Inga to interrupt again.

"How much closer are we talking? Your father? Elsa? Is that why she's so concerned?"

"I can explain-" her mother began.

"Are you sure?" her father interrupted, looking at his wife. "Maybe tonight isn't a good time."

"We probably should have told her already," her mother responded, quietly looking up at him, "you were clear on that point."

Her father sighed and nodded.

Inga tried to understand why they weren't just getting to the point. "If you have something to tell me, why not say it already?"

"Inga," her father sighed, "You've had too much to drink, I just think this might be better when you've had some time to rest-"

Inga clenched her fists, finding herself thinking of Prince Tarkan's comment about her playing innocent, and she started to wonder if she had been blind to things. Why was her father wanting to wait to tell her? What had Edith said about Lars and his brother? They certainly didn't look very alike. She could almost see more of her own brothers looking at him. But he couldn't be that close, could he? She would have heard something. Unless there was a cover up… Like when her father had stayed back in Arendelle, and her mother had spent months being courted by foreign princes, while Mrs. Nilsen was hurried out of the country shortly before Lars was born and given a nice pension.

"You?" Inga said, looking at her father. "So all this about nobody before you met Mother?" Inga felt her voice grow increasingly strained. Nothing made sense, but her father was the only conclusion she was coming to at the moment. She felt frantic. "Or was it even before you knew her? The timing doesn't work otherwise… I thought I knew you!"

Her father stood silently, his face pained. His hands were at his sides in tight fists, but he was unwilling to offer any correction or clarification.

Her mother stood up and glared at her daughter. "Stop, Inga!" she shouted, startling both her daughter and her husband.

"I'm sorry." Inga apologized meekly. "I shouldn't have jumped to the conclusion that it's… that Lars is that close."

"No," her mother sighed. "You were absolutely correct. About part of it, at least. Lars is your half brother."

She couldn't read a thing on her mother's face now. It was a complete blank. Her father looked sad.

"Wait, what?" Inga said, looking from her mother to her father.

"This summer you were asking why I'd never talked about my trip to Corona-" her mother began.

"But," Inga interrupted with confusion, "what about Mrs Nilsen? You said you didn't know her-"

"I didn't. Elsa arranged all of that, because he would need a wet nurse. I…" her mother took a breath, looking down. "I asked Elsa not to tell me. I didn't want to know. And I… we… your father and I… we didn't know it was Lars until you asked me about Mrs. Nilsen."

"What… But…" She looked at her father. "You knew?"

"Yes, he's known… Not then. But long enough."

Inga sat down and tried to process everything. She felt a bit sick to her stomach. She stood up again, not wanting to stay where she was.

"We should have told you sooner, but it never seemed like the right time," her mother said.

"And this seemed like the right time?" Inga cried. Her head ached. How could it be her mother? Yet, of course it could have been. She had known the story practically her whole life, she had just never questioned the details of it. And now she had said things to her father that she couldn't take back, she could only apologize. She walked to the door and stepped out of the library, not even able to think now. The sounds of the lingering party guests echoed down the hall as she turned to the staircase in the opposite direction, desperate to get away.