A/N: Hey guys! I'm soooo glad you're enjoying the story! I love all the reviews so far. ;) Remember to follow, favorite, and review! You guys are awesome! :) Here's where it starts to get a little interesting...
They didn't speak as they battled the wind and the fog, but simply made their way across the bridge and into the castle courtyard, where both fountains were now frozen. As they first entered the castle, it didn't seem any warmer. But when they neared the dining hall, the air suddenly grew warm and the pleasant smell of smoke wafted out into the hallway.
Rapunzel sighed, her cheeks and nose a bright red. She grabbed his hand and sprinted the rest of the way into the dining room where perhaps hundreds of people were getting as close to the three big fires as they could, talking quietly.
"Over here." Eugene led her to a fire that was surrounded by several women, gossiping and idly chatting in friendly manners. Before she could take a seat on the ground, Eugene took Rapunzel by the shoulders and looked straight into her eyes.
"I'm going to go find some extra blankets and food to take to the innkeeper and his sons. Can I trust you to stay here?"
"You can always trust me, Eugene," she said with a prim smile.
"Well, not sure about that one." He winked at her and then went on his way, in search of a castle guard. Only a few steps down the hallway he spotted one and called after him.
"Can you help me?" Eugene asked as the guard turned toward him. "The innkeeper and his sons don't have food or adequate clothing for the weather. I was going to take them some cloaks and food, but I can't carry it all on my own."
"Of course, sir. Let me just finish delivering these blankets." He gestured to his load and then turned down the corner of the hallway.
"Can you help me?"
Prince Hans stopped as he heard Flynn Rider's voice from outside in the hallway. He pressed his ear to the door of the parlor room and listened to Flynn's conversation with the castle guard. From the sound of footsteps in the silence that ensued, it sounded like the guard was coming down the hallway the parlor was in.
Making sure his movements were silent, Hans twisted open the handle of the door and stepped out into the hallway. The guard stopped a few feet away and bowed. "My-"
Hans leaped forward and clamped a hand over the guard's mouth, signaling for silence. He nodded, and Hans released him, waving him into the parlor. Once they were both inside, he closed the door as softly as he had opened it.
"The man you were just speaking to- was he adequately tall, dark-haired, tan skinned?"
The guard nodded, confusion painted on his features.
"Here's what I want you to do, and this will just be our little secret..."
The tension from the castle guard rolled off of him like a wave. It wasn't an angry tension, but a nervous one. Eugene tried to ignore it, but the kid was practically shaking in his boots. Well, that was understandable, given the temperature, but still.
They finally reached the inn after the worst awkward silence imaginable, and Eugene breathed a sigh of relief as he walked through the door. However, the fire was now only black ashes, and the innkeeper and his sons were nowhere to be seen. They had probably gone to replenish the fire.
"Well, I guess I'll just-"
But his words were cut short as something hit the back of his head hard. He collapsed to the ground instantly, dark spots covering his vision. The last thing he heard was the castle guard muttering apologizes, but whether it was to himself or him, Eugene didn't know.
It was blissfully warm. Eugene woke up with yawn, taking his time as he turned over on the bed...
Wait. This wasn't right. He sat up and realized that he was covered in the cloaks he had brought for the innkeeper and his family. As he looked down on the ground, he found the plates of food he had brought lying there, empty.
"What the-"
"Flynn Rider. You are being arrested on the charge of theft from the Crown."
He barely had time to flip over and see the castle guards reaching toward him before he was handcuffed and the cloaks were thrown off of him. Eugene reprimanded himself for not seeing this sooner. Were he back in his thieving years, this plan would have been clear from the beginning. But the absence of mischief and the presence of Rapunzel had weakened his ability of catching the red flags of danger, perhaps even too much. And he suddenly realized how foolish he had been and what this all was- why the castle guard had been so nervous, why he was suddenly being arrested...
It all reeked of Prince Hans.
Somehow he had found out that he was here. And he had found a way to keep him quiet, just like last time.
"No, wait, you need to understand! It's not me you should worry about, it's Hans!" he exclaimed as he was shoved through the doorway.
One of the guards elbowed him roughly in the gut. "Prince Hans, thief."
He gasped in a quick breath, clenching his teeth against the pain. "I'm a prince too, if anyone cares. Prince Eugene of Corona? Sound familiar?"
The guard holding him hesitated in his footsteps. Eugene looked up to see the other guard's confident expression falter.
"Prince or not, you are still under the laws of Arendelle."
"But I was framed!"
"Hmph. I haven't heard that one before." The guard's expression was unwavering again, staring with a hard glare through the fog.
Eugene knew he had one hope now: Rapunzel.