Chapter 14

Kai was walking to the well to fetch some clean water for the queen and princess. He had a very long day and was looking forward to spending the rest of the evening with his family. He was very concentrated on his task when the gallop of a horse caught his attention. Kai was surprised to see the queen and his son riding together. Kai had always warned James about boundaries with the queen and here they were blissfully unaware of his presence hugging and making sweet talk. Kai was livid when he saw the way they were treating each other. There was no doubt in his mind that they were romantically involved and keeping it a secret.

Once Elsa and James arrived at the castle they were greeted by Johannes.

"Your grace I have some news to report."

"Did you find any information on the spy?" asked Elsa

"Unfortunately no but I did learn that Kristoff is currently in the dungeon and he is accused of attempted murder."

"Murder…does Anna know?" said a very shocked Elsa

"No she does not, He asked me to make sure she didn't find out." Said Johannes

"We have to get to the bottom of this." Said James

After thanking Johannes for his services Elsa and James hurried down to the dungeon. They immediately spotted Kristoff siting in the corner of his cell looking absolutely miserable.

"Kristoff what happened?" asked Elsa in concerned tone of voice

"I was ambushed in the woods and I tried to defend myself when your stupid guards showed up and accused me of murder."

After explaining exactly what happened James and Elsa grew very concerned.

"I have no doubt about your innocence but this will be very hard to prove." Said James

"So that means I'm going to die while the idiot brothers over here are treated like victims?"

"No that means we have to find evidence." Said Elsa

They paced in the cell for what seemed like a long time trying to find a piece of evidence that could exonerate Kristoff. Elsa knew that as queen she could not make decisions based on personal reasons but it was very hard to not do that when Kistoff risked life and limb to help her end the winter even though he didn't know her.

The queen was so busy thinking about Anna, kristoff, Sven and the impending trial that she didn't notice the severe drop in the room's temperature.

"Elsa you're doing it again." Said James

"Oh, sorry."

After thirty minutes of silence Kristoff spoke.

"So how is Anna doing?" he said while trying to not sound to interested.

"She is trying to be strong for her baby but your absence has taken a toll on her." Said Elsa.

James decided to go check on Sven and give them some time to talk. Elsa ordered the guards to leave in order to have a private conversation.

"Did you know?" asked kristoff while looking Elsa straight in the eye

"Yes." Elsa could not look away from his angry gaze.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was going to but then I decided that Anna had to be the one to tell you."

Kristoff walked away and sat in the corner of the cell giving Elsa his back.

"I know Anna hurt you but my sister loves you with all of her heart."

"If she really loved me she would have told the truth."

"She was scared." Said Elsa

"That is still no excuse."

"Dammit Kristoff can't you see that Anna was a naïve girl that was used by that piece of shit! He treated her like a pawn!"

Once again the room began to drastically drop in temperature but Kirstoff didn't notice it he was so surprised to hear Elsa swearing that he didn't realize he was shaking. She did notice and decided to calm down and defrost the room again.

Kristoff analyzed what Elsa said for a while. He knew that she would never get so passionate about something if it wasn't true and now he felt like a complete idiot. He realized that he had let his insecurities cloud his judgment. As soon as Kristoff came to this conclusion his longing to be with Anna came back with crushing force. His heart ached and all he wanted was to hold her in his arms.

"I don't think I can get her back at this point." Said Kristoff while looking at the floor.

"Don't give up yet maybe there is some way to make this better."

Anna was too anxious to go to sleep and decided to go for a walk to clear her mind. She was slightly annoyed by the fact that the guards where following her around while she was trying to be alone but she knew that it was for her own good. Anna decided to get out of the castle for a while so she opened the gates and stepped out. She clumsily made her way to the river bank . Her overgrowing bump made it hard for her to walk without looking like a penguin but she was determined on making it.

The princess contemplated the water and watched as it rocked a little boat. She soon remembered that it was the same boat she landed in when Sitron hit her. All of a sudden and unwelcomed wave of grief hit Anna so hard that her knees buckled. She kept a straight face for the guards but one stray tear still managed to run away. Anna refused to stay there and suffer any longer she began to make her way to town when she noticed some odd hoof prints in the wet dirt.

"It's not a horse or a donkey so it must be… Sven!"