Four hours the princess and her fiancé waited outside Elsa's room, a charged silence stretching between the two as the minutes slowly crept by. Anna sent the remaining guards away, positioning two to stand at the bottom of the spiral staircase leading to the residency wing while the rest were dismissed back to their posts. After that she began pacing the length of the hall looking worriedly at the closed door every handful of seconds. Never had Anna felt more useless. Even during the Great Freeze, when Elsa had accidently frozen her heart and that bastard Hans had tricked her into believing he'd loved her, she'd never felt this amount of crushing anxiety and pure helpless fear. It was like a boulder was being slowly lowered onto her chest with each step she took, making every breath a titanic feat to accomplish. Every creek of a floorboard or bump in the royal chambers set her heart pounding. When the door finally opened it was all Anna could do to keep herself from lunging at the Physician.
"Please, tell me she's going to be alright," Anna said, hands clutched to her chest. Malkof blinked a few times, shaking a dusting of snow from his shoulders and acclimating to the dimness of the hall before answering with a weary sigh. A second later, Captain Revel emerged from the room and quietly shut the door behind him. He gave Anna a sad look, head down and shoulders slumped, before dismissing himself and disappearing down the hallway. Anna watched him go, her cloying dread mounting by the second.
"Prin— Acting Majesty, there is much I need to discuss with you." Anna felt that helpless weight double but steeled herself. Malkof glanced over her shoulder at Kristoff and frowned. "Perhaps we should—"
"Physician Malkof, Kristoff is my fiancé, and anything you have to say to me can be said in front of him," Anna snapped, unsure where this untapped authority was coming from. The royal Physician looked as if he might argue but dropped his gaze and relented.
"As you wish, but let us move away from the door. Your sister is resting." So the three moved a little way down the hall to where a covered wall sconce threw out a pool of golden light.
"Will my sister be alright?" Anna asked before Malkof could open his mouth.
"Acting Majesty, your sister was gravely wounded by the assassin's blade. Three of her ribs were broken, from the blast of magic she used to kill the man I have to guess, but the worst of it is…" Malkof hesitated fractionally before reaching into a small pocket at his side and removed something large wrapped in a white silk cloth. Slowly, he unwrapped the bundle revealing it to be the handle of a plain looking dagger missing half its blade. Malkof leveled his brown eyes on Anna and sighed again.
"I'm afraid there is no easy way to say this. The blade that pierced your sister's chest broke when she separated herself from her attacker. The guards searched the square and courtyard behind the castle walls and were unable to come up with the missing piece. I have no other option than to believe the blade is lodged within your sister's chest, and," Malkof lowered his eyes as well as his voice, "we are unable to reach the shard."
This time, Anna did crash to the floor, all strength leaving her body. She stared stupidly at the carpet, her mind slow to process all that she'd heard. Hands wrapped around her stomach, she barely heard Kristoff address the Physician as he sank down behind her, arms encircling her shoulders.
"There isn't anything you can do?"
"No," Malkof replied flatly. "We risk further injuring the queen by searching for the shard."
"But she can't live with a piece of metal under her ribs!"
"Do not think me a fool!" Malkof snapped. "I know what this means better than you, Master Ice Harvester."
Anna felt Kristoff rise and move towards the royal Physician and roused from her stupor. "Stop it the both of you! This isn't the time to be arguing!"
"Apologies, Acting Majesty," Malkof said stepping back and bowing his head. "I fear my grief is getting the better of my judgment. Master Kristoff, if there was anything more I could do I'd have done it. There are limits in my line of work. I cannot perform miracles."
Kristoff glared at the Physician as he helped his fiancé to her feet, the entire weight of her small frame leaning against his. He put a protective arm around her waist and pulled her close. Finally, the princess seemed to gather her wits and addressed the royal Physician as calmly as she could manage.
"What now?"
"We make her comfortable," Malkof said quietly. "I've given her a tea that will dull the pain and lightly sutured her wound. The bleeding was stopped with an herbal poultice, but I'm afraid that's where the good news ends. You may go in and see her. I will return in a few hours to administer another dose of pain medicine. As it is, I am dangerously low on herbs, so should you need anything, one of my apprentices will be within a guard's shout. At your leave, Acting Majesty."
Malkof bowed his head and Anna dismissed him. Only once the little man was half way down the spiral staircase did Anna bolt for the bedchamber door and run to her sister's side.