Nine
There wasn't much irregular with Elsa bursting into Hans' room, despite the time of day. But she could see from the startled and confused look on his face that she must have looked an absolute scene; face red from hurrying and a bunch of papers crumpled tightly in her palm.
"We haven't been honest with each other," she stated bluntly once the door had shut, her focus concentrated on the man who sat at his bed with a glass of water and a book she'd allowed him.
He set the glass and book on the floor since she hadn't allowed a table. Standing, he rolled his neck and Elsa could hear the minuscule cracks it made.
"Oh? Are you seeing other magicians?" he asked, voice light. He'd been in a decidedly good mood lately. She supposed bathing was a likely candidate for the attitude.
But her serious expression sobered him, the playful look in his eyes dying.
"What is it?" he asked.
She looked down at her fist and the papers- which consisted of the letters she'd been receiving and hiding in her pillow- had just a slight dusting of frost across the top.
"You never told me why you first came to Arendelle."
Hans scoffed, crossing his arms. His mood seemed to be returning quickly after assuming the situation wasn't as bad as she'd made it out to be.
"I came here to become king. I thought that was obvious."
"No, I mean why you wanted to be king. And don't bother to answer, because I already know," she said, holding up a hand to keep him from talking.
He slumped his shoulders, a pout taking over him.
"What I want to know is why you never told me about your family's plan," she rushed, like if she didn't finish it in one breath, she wouldn't be able to say it at all.
This drew his attention better than a slap across the face could. The pout transformed into shock automatically. He was a mirror to the past, an exact replica of when she'd discovered his fire. Elsa was stripping every last secret away from him.
"I... I don't know what you're talking about," he said, eyes glancing down. The year all alone truly had changed him. The expert liar Elsa had known briefly was all but completely gone.
"Your oldest brother, Campbell, is heir to your mother's throne," she began, unfolding the letters and skimming for content. "Your second, Francis, whose boat you took, is king consort of the Western Chain. John, prince consort in Changeshe. Alecksander, archduke of the Northern Settlement. And you still have eight other brothers who are sweet-talking their way into other courts, don't you?"
Hans' confusion grew, hostility and defensiveness overthrowing meekness. "How do you know all that? What's in those papers?"
But Elsa didn't pause. "Twelve brothers, twelve kingdoms. Your parents devised a plot to control our entire ring of trade. Imagine their surprise when an unexpected, unneeded thirteen showed up."
Hans crumbled, acting as though he was only two feet tall again. He didn't say a word.
"You were never meant to take Arendelle, were you?" Elsa said, quieter. "Your parents sent you here after telling you that they'd decided to use you in their plan. You thought you'd finally been recognized by them. But they knew you'd fail. I just can't understand why they would ruin their relations with us to-"
"You're wrong," he snapped.
Elsa stopped talking, staring at the man who had interrupted her. He looked angry, but his green eyes were soft when they caught hers.
With a deep sigh, he rubbed his forehead and pushed his hair back, although the longest of it had been cut days ago. He gestured to his bed, as her stool had been left behind in the cell.
It shouldn't have been hard, to just get on the bed and sit, but Elsa had to make herself do it. Sitting on the same thing as Hans automatically made them closer in distance. Why did that terrify and excite her?
He sat at least three feet away, decent enough to give her her own space. He stared at the wall adjacent from the bed, trying not to meet her glance again.
"You're not wrong about the first part," he began in a murmur. "I was a surprise to everyone. There were only supposed to be twelve princes, twelve people to control the entire chain of trade. The Southern Isles would thrive with royalty in every kingdom. But my father had little to do with it. He was king consort, after all. The queen was the one who desired power."
Elsa remembered him speaking fondly of his father, the only person who didn't seem to have damaged him in some way.
"And you're wrong about them sending me. Jørgen, my seventh brother, was promised Arendelle. Francis was lending him the boat, since his delegate was attending. They'd pick up Jørgen and lead him to woo you or your sister or someone else in court and become powerful.
"But I got so envious, even more than I usually was. And eventually I just... snapped. On the day that Jørgen was to leave, I had already packed my things and told the crew there had been a change in plans, and that I was to take Jørgen's place. I made them leave before anyone could ask questions. Next thing you know, my head's spinning and I'm on my way to Arendelle."
He fell silent and Elsa looked up. He looked ashamed. That year truly had molded him into someone else... unless it was still just acting. She remembered Alecksander's theory that it had been Hans stealing away members of the family, and she grasped the letters tighter.
"My fifth brother, Louis, is currently influencing the czar's decisions in the Eastern Territory. Loius is unmarried, but everyone knows that the czar is awfully fond of taking on new lovers despite his drag of a wife," Hans said with a slight chuckle. "But I'm not the only failure. Charles has been working in Aruna for years with no success. Well, as far as I know. He might have finally broken through this year."
His green eyes were dulled by the conversation topic. His shoulders were slumped in defeat and his voice wavered in the very slightest. No one could lie that convincingly. Even last year, his entire facade seemed so... artificial. He couldn't have been kidnapping his family.
"You really can't go back, can you?" Elsa asked quietly.
He tilted his head to glance at her.
"They all think you're dead, and are glad of it. If you went back, they would punish you for nearly ruining their plans, not for trying to take over."
He nodded, staring at his hands. "I fear for my life."
Elsa shook her head slowly. "If you're being honest, then your mother is a very wicked woman."
A choked laugh escaped, his shoulders rising and falling sharply. "Oh, you don't know the half of it."
He sighed, bowing his head down as the laugh subsided and they fell into quiet again. He raised his head and looked to her, eyebrow raised.
"I must know, how did you guess? I mean, first my fire, now this? Am I truly an open book?"
Elsa felt unnecessarily guilty, the letters searing in her hand. "Well... I haven't been completely honest either."
As if he could read her mind, his gaze trailed to the papers. He leaned forward and attempted to grab them, but Elsa swiped her hand to her chest, tossing him a warning glance.
"What are those?" Hans asked curiously, a slightly dangerous edge in his voice.
She set them on her lap and held the first one- the one from Alecksander- to him warily. She could be making a huge mistake. If he was the one who had started taking his family members, then who knew what showing him these letters could mean for him? For her?
He took the letter, unexpectedly gingerly. His face twisted in recognition.
"This is the seal of the Northern Settlement," he stated, looking to her for a response.
She nodded, then pointed with her eyes from him to the letter, wordlessly suggesting to read it.
He pursed his lips and opened the envelope, proceeding to read its contents.
Elsa kept her eyes on him as he read. She noticed how his eyebrows were active in his reading. They arched and sloped as his lips silently uttered Alecksander's words. They finally set low to give the effect of eternal confusion. Slowly, he lowered the letter into his lap, still staring at it.
Eventually, he turned his head to her and see could see something else written there. Was it... fear?
"Why didn't you show this to me?" he asked quietly.
You're my prisoner, I'm not obligated to show anything to you, her mind answered.
"I... I don't know. I thought I could handle it myself. I didn't know what to think, but then these letters came from Changshe and the Western Chain," she said, handing him the other letters, which he quickly snatched and nearly ripped open.
"No one else has seen the letters," Elsa explained as his eyes darted from line to line. "I've been keeping the mail away from Anna and Ingvalda, just in case there's more. I don't need them to be worrying about this."
"Who's Ingvalda?" Hans asked while still reading.
"She was my father's cousin, I think. I don't know. She was sent for when my parents were lost at sea to become custodian and wear Arendelle's crown until I was old enough to become queen. She still lives here, helps me out. She does most of her old duties, truth be told."
Hans looked up, eyebrow perched again. "She does all your work?"
Elsa felt her cheeks warm. "I don't make her; she volunteers to do it. I think she enjoys all the work. And it's hard to let old habits die, so it's very kind of her to take my harder duties while I'm still transitioning into the role of queen."
He looked skeptical (as if he was in any place to judge her actions), but returned to the letter. She let him read in silence until he pushed the papers away.
"Well, good riddance to them," he muttered, staring out the window.
Elsa pursed her lips and looked down at the letters. She wondered again if it had been stupid to let him see these. She picked them up and sorted them back into their envelopes as Hans closed his eyes and leaned against the wall.
"You've gotten no more letters?" he mumbled, covering his face with his hands.
"No, I only got the last two today," Elsa said. She ran her fingers against the paper of the letter, thankful that there was no ice trail following them. "Are you really so indifferent to your family?"
Hans was quiet, hands hiding whatever expression could possibly betray him.
Elsa began to panic. What if he was the one? The person who had stolen away his family members; what if he killed them? He was shielding his face because he was trying to decide to react, wasn't he?
As her heart quickened, he finally ran his hands down to reveal a hardened face. He wasn't about to betray any emotion.
"Yes," he answered coldly. "And indifference should be seen as a kindness to them. When did they ever show me an ounce of concern? Well, they don't deserve any of mine. I'm glad the queen's plan is ruined. I applaud the killer, kidnapper, whatever they are."
Elsa felt disappointed.What else did you expect? her mind asked.A tearful admission that despite the years, he's forgiven them and is concerned?
"Not even towards your father?" she asked quietly.
She saw his jaw grow taut. There was the chink in his armor.
"Thank you for showing me these letters," he avoided the question with a slight twist of his wrist, waving the letters away like they could disappear into thin air. "Though it's no concern of mine."
"If anyone finds these, you should be concerned," Elsa warned, rising from the bed.
Hans crossed his arms. "Oh?"
"After all, Alecksander thought it might be you," Elsa said, each word quieter and slower than the last. Way to be subtle.
Hans sat up straighter, arms uncrossing. "You think...I-?"
"I'm not saying anything," Elsa hurried to cover. "I'm only saying that you'll never get your boat if anyone catches one word of these letters."
The concept of life imprisoned waned his temper. "And what am I to do about it?"
Elsa pondered, the with a sigh said, "Hope. And hurry with our lessons. The sooner you leave, the better."
But as she spoke those words, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. Would it really be better? After all, the only other person she'd ever confided in was Anna, but that was so sparingly. Years of being told to keep secrets from Anna made it hard to confess anything to her.
One thing Anna said while she had been monolouging earlier today had stuck with Elsa. ...and the gates have been open for a year but you still don't have any friends...
Elsa hadn't ever had a friend. Besides, Anna, of course, but they were of the same blood. She'd often imagined what it would be like to share such a bond with someone by choice.
In seemingly a fit of insanity, she blurted, "Hans, are you my friend?"
The prince leaned a little, like the words were a wind that had blown him back. "What?" he asked with a slight laugh.
Elsa knew her face was burning. What a stupid thing to say.
"That's hardly a question for the queen to ask her prisoner," Hans said, making her want to take the words back immediately.
"But," he continued, "I... I suppose so."
Why did butterflies seem to brush against Elsa's stomach as he spoke those words? She couldn't help but smile, just a little bit.
"Though, I suppose I wouldn't know," Hans confessed. "I've never had any friends."
"Me neither," Elsa said quietly, eyes slowly trailing towards Hans'. Green met blue and faces turned faintly crimson.
There was something they both tried to say, but neither could figure it out for themselves. So words were left unspoken, and their eyes eventually broke contact.
"So... lessons. Tomorrow at two?" Elsa asked.
"Yes. Yes, of course," he said. "And I will do my best to hurry."
The idea of hurrying was strangely less than desirable for both the queen and the criminal.
More secrets uncovered and two dweebs unknowingly falling for each other. What could be better?
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