So,
I'm posting this chapter before I've gone over it for typos, incomplete sentences, etc. I hope it's still readable (at least until I have a few moments to go over it more thoroughly), and I hope you enjoy it. :)
ssg.x.
CHAPTER 6
SNAKES AND LADDERS
It probably goes without saying that tensions between Elsa, the king, and the queen ran high during the tour of the capital. Bolstered by her new found confidence and determination to solve the mystery of the missing thirteenth son of the Southern Isles, Elsa didn't let the royal couple's palpable anxiety ruffle her feathers. In fact, as the day unfolded she began to feed off of it. They were hiding something, and if there was a chance it could hurt Arendelle in some way, Elsa needed it dealt with as swiftly and as completely as possible.
The first thing that struck her was that the people seemed mighty cheerful despite an alleged influenza outbreak. Not that she was expecting villagers to show up weeping and wearing burlap sacks, but normally there would be at least one or two subjects who would bring up political or personal concerns when given the chance to speak candidly with a monarch. There were a few moments where she felt her usual social anxieties creep up on her. She worried that people would be afraid of her, probably after having heard all the stories about Arendelle's ice witch plunging the entire kingdom into an eternal winter, but no one said a word about her powers. Still, the people were friendly and very chatty, for which Elsa was silently grateful.
Some offered her humble, heartfelt gifts – fruits and vegetables from their gardens, eggs, bread, wine, jams and jellies. She wasn't sure what the proper protocol was for receiving gifts. It didn't seem right to offer to purchase them. She briefly entertained the idea of donating the gifts to the poor, but she decided in the end to accept the gifts and make a charitable donation in the people's name to thank them for their hospitality. She imagined her parents would have done the same thing.
On arriving back at the palace, Elsa tried to sustain her nerve from last night. She told King Enoch and Queen Alma how beautiful their kingdom was, how the people seemed to adore them, how kind everyone had been to her, and how well she was being taken care of at the palace.
Then she asked to see Prince Hans.
At first they outright refused to let her see him. He was in no condition to receive visitors, they said. He was too proud to be seen in such a weakened state. Then they told her that it would be reckless and irresponsible of her to put her life in peril by visiting with Hans. She didn't tell them she was impervious to illness because she was no longer sure they could be trusted, but she did tell them that they needn't concern themselves with her health. She let the comment about her being irresponsible slide.
Pick your battles, she thought. She willed away the uncomfortable prickling in the very tips of her fingers with several deep breaths.
"You say Prince Hans was tried and convicted, but I never attended a trial. I'm not sure what the law is here in your kingdom, but in Arendelle I possess the right to confront my attacker, just as your son has every right to challenge his accuser."
Elsa knew it was a reach, and she hated having to bring up the ugliness of Hans' crimes again, but she was starting to get desperate. Her knuckles began to ache. She could feel the freeze gathering in them.
Calm yourself. Control yourself.
King Enoch was the first to relent. Queen Alma looked positively betrayed when he said that he would have guards escort Elsa to the wing where Hans was being quarantined.
Elsa thanked the King, hoping he could see that she truly meant it. He nodded sadly. Queen Alma's lips were pressed together so tightly it almost looked as though she had no mouth at all. Elsa tilted her chin up and tugged at the hems of her gloves. They all stood wordlessly awaiting the guards who would bring Elsa to Hans. She was relieved when they finally showed up, only because she wanted to be as far away from the king and queen as possible, but the fear that replaced it as she followed her silent escorts up dark stairwells and down even darker halls wasn't all that welcome, either. She didn't notice the frosty trail left behind by her every stride, like a carpet of lace, or the shoulders of the soldiers rising as they shrugged into their jackets. She couldn't feel the cold, and with their backs to her, she couldn't see their breath.
They finally reached a pair of doors at the end of one particularly long hallway. One of the guards opened them and stood aside for her to enter. After several more deep breaths, she tugged once more at her gloves and walked through. The doors slammed closed behind her, almost catching the back of her skirts, startling her half to death.
She looked up, one hand over her heart as though she could soothe it into beating at a normal pace again with the stroke of her palm. She had squeezed her eyes shut, but now she opened them slowly.
Not fifteen feet away from her was Hans, pale green eyes wide with astonishment. Elsa could do little more than stare back and bite her lip. He had been reclining on the window bench, but he abruptly stood up, quickly tucking something under one of the seat cushions. The sudden movement caused all her joints to cry out at once. She wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to control the freeze.
"You," Hans hissed, eyes narrowing.
It was amazing how his face and entire demeanour could change in an instant. It was like he'd just ripped off a mask. One minute he was easily one of the most handsome men she'd ever seen, and in the next he was…well…still very handsome, but dangerous - like some sort of beautiful, snapping beast whose face would change at the faintest whiff of fresh blood in the air. He wasn't drawing his sword to gut her like a fish just then, but he might as well have been. She imagined her beloved Anna, slowly freezing to death from the inside out, trapped in a room with this incarnation of Hans. Little by little, the temperature in the room they stood in now began to drop.
"What are you doing here?" he sneered, eyebrows drawing together, lip curling back to reveal his tightly clenched teeth.
"You're not sick," Elsa said, stating the obvious. Through the corner of her eye she could see the bed, which didn't look as though it had been slept in at all. He was wearing white linen trousers tucked into tall riding boots, and a thin, long-sleeved cotton shirt with an open neck that, had the temperature not dropped so significantly already, would have caused Elsa to blush. It was just his neck, but it was still far more of a man's neck than she'd seen before. He wasn't quite clean-shaven, but he hardly looked like a man too sick to lay a razor against his chin. His hair and the sideburns that ran the length of his face were, of course, still the colour of garnet.
Yes, he was handsome. Elsa could see why Anna had been so immediately drawn to him.
The snake.
Hans' face softened. He smirked.
"Oh. That," he said, relaxed now and clasping his hands behind his back, "I thought for sure my parents would have told you the truth, if no one else."
"The truth about what?" Elsa asked, unable to control the trembling in her voice. She was really beginning to regret any and every decision she made that brought her to this spider's web. She wondered for a second if she would be able to kill Hans if he gave her no other choice. Her gloves were literally about to come off when he finally decided to answer her question.
"I'm not dying. I'm going to die, but I'm not dying."
"Not dying…" Elsa murmured.
"No," Hans replied.
"But you're going to die?" she asked, confused.
"Yes," he said. Then he smiled a strangely peaceful smile that was altogether unsettling. Turning on his heel, he strolled back into the shadows of his little nook by the window. He sat down and crossed one leg over the other, patiently waiting for Elsa to catch up.
Elsa's blue eyes grew to the size of saucers. Her jaw dropped just the tiniest bit. Hans gave her a little nod, still smiling that smile. This time she could see the cracks in it, could hear his heart breaking, or maybe it was the sound of her own. Up until this very moment, she wouldn't have believed he had one.
"You're being executed. Your parents are having you executed," Elsa said, feeling ill.
"Atta girl," he replied softly.
