He was roused from his slumber by the heavy clattering of iron chains.
He bolted out of bed, his bare feet instantly protesting in shock at the cold tile floor. Was he being arrested? Had his brothers finally decided that Mother and Father favored him too much and hired a kidnapper to sell him into slavery?
But—no. It was much too cold for July in the Southern Isles. And the stout middle-aged man before him spoke with a distinctly northern accent.
Arendellean.
Right.
"Morning, Kai—er, afternoon," he corrected himself as the grandfather clock on the opposite side of his guestroom chimed quarter after noon just then.
"Good afternoon, your majesty. Did you sleep well?"
Hans waved dismissively. "Drop the formalities, bud. It's past noon, and we've got refugees to feed and houses to repair. Has Princess Anna returned yet?"
"She has not. But the blizzard from the north has cleared, so we're assuming that she has found the queen and is on her way back."
Okay, cool, one less thing to worry about.
"Send them to me as soon as they get here, okay?" If Anna had managed to convince Elsa to return to Arendelle, then they could work together to restore the kingdom to its pre-winter normalcy and then maybe he could get back to the original reason he needed to talk to Elsa so badly…
"Your highness," Kai's voice cut into his thoughts. "If you don't mind, the other dignitaries are expecting you in the east wing conference room to discuss Queen Elsa's sentence."
"Sentence? What—I'm sorry, I'm confused. Who authorized this meeting?"
"The Duke of Weselton, sir. He sent me to fetch you. He wants to sentence her majesty to exile—and I quote—'for dooming us to eternal winter.'"
"…It's been twelve hours," Hans deadpanned. "No, seriously, who gave him the right to call this meeting? And exile? He's going to make Anna go through all that trouble of braving the storm and the wilderness alone, looking for her self-exiled sister, just so he can send Elsa back into exile?"
"Well, I guess you and he will have plenty to discuss when you join the other dignitaries. May I remind you that they are expecting you? The Duke wanted to start without your supervision, but several delegates insisted that you come. It would be unwise to inconvenience them."
Han cast a suspicious glance at the other man. "Why are you holding those chains anyway?" Had the Duke of Weselton sentenced him to prison for, say, sleeping in and "abandoning the kingdom to its own devices this morning"?
"Oh yes. These chains. We found them in the dungeons, sir."
"…So why are you bringing them to me?"
"Here. Look at this. They bear the emblem of King Maurice on the cuffs."
Hans grimly turned one of the shackles over to inspect. "I've never seen handcuffs that lock around the wrist and cover up the entire hand before," he mused. "And the weight of them, the amount of iron it would have taken to forge these, is twice that of the chains we use for even our most dangerous criminals back home. Do you think…do you think the king and queen had them made especially for Elsa?"
"It's possible," the head of the castle staff replied solemnly. "As crown princess, she spent most of her time in her quarters and rarely interacted with the servants or the rest of the royal family, but I cannot imagine the king and queen were ignorant of her powers. They were the only people she ever allowed in her room. It is possible her parents had the shackles forged as a precaution against her powers."
"So you think Queen Elsa is a threat."
"I would not say that, given that she is my employer. But others are remembering the death of Lord Louie and its peculiar circumstances. An icicle to the head—an icicle in August, at that. And the queen has since revealed her ability to conjure ice and snow. This latest piece of evidence indicates that King Maurice knew of his daughter's powers and entertained the possibility that she was dangerous—feared her, even. It does not help Queen Elsa's case—"
The grandfather clock interrupted with another chime.
Kai sighed. "And that is my cue to remind you that your standing around here is not helping her majesty's case either. If you want to clear her name, you had best be off to your meeting."
"Ice proof shackles! They made ice-proof shackles for her! What more proof do you imbeciles need?"
Hans sighed and rubbed his temples. "For the last time, the fact that the king and queen made 'ice-proof shackles' does not prove that Queen Elsa is responsible for the storm that killed her parents. Why are we even having this conversation—can anybody here enlighten me?" He flailed his arms and glanced around the conference table, hoping the others would pick up on the please help me gesture.
The French dignitary had lost interest in the conversation as soon as the Duke began revealing his ridiculous conspiracy theory and was currently muttering something that sounded like "absolutely senile" to the Spaniard beside him.
The Irish delegate cleared his throat. "We do not know for sure if Queen Elsa meant for last night's snowstorm to happen. Nor do we know for certain the circumstances leading to the demise of her parents. To suggest that she was responsible, based on very circumstantial evidence, while she is not present to defend herself, is slanderous at best and treasonous at worst."
Hans shot the man a grateful look. "Thank you, finally! And let's not forget that Queen Elsa is our host and we her guests. It is not our place to decide what happens when she returns. I promised Princess Anna that Arendelle will be in good hands while she is gone, so if anything needs discussion, it's the matter of food. The palace's stores are going to run low, what with all the refugees currently staying here, not to mention the number of people crammed into one place will soon raise the risk of plague—"
"No wait just one minute, don't you go changing the subject on me," the Duke stammered. "Do none of you fools realize that there is a dangerous criminal roaming the Arendellean wilderness, who could easily take even more innocent lives with her ice magic and…"
"The castle cook says the food stores should last another week at most," the German interrupted loudly. "Seeing as the storm has stopped, I think chances are good that Anna and Elsa will be back by nightfall, so then we can send everyone home, and we won't have to worry about food shortages."
"Excellent. So it's settled. We'll all go about our business and wait until Queen Elsa returns." Hans rose from his chair, dismissing the meeting.
Weselton intercepted him as the other dignitaries filed out of the conference room. "A moment of your time, your majesty?"
He sighed, shutting the doors once the last of the men filed out. "If you're trying to convince me to depose Elsa, forget it."
"Why, because that airheaded fiancée of yours will never trust you again? Need I remind you that you've got a job to finish?"
"Will you keep your voice down?"
The older man huffed in indignation. "Elsa has doomed her political career, and you're engaged to the heir. All you have to do is exile her, and then the throne will be yours after the wedding!" His eyes narrowed. "Why are you defending her anyway? Going soft? It would certainly make for an interesting tale when Prince Hector hears he was right to send me along after all…"
Hans was tempted to retort that, with all the ships currently frozen in the fjord, there was no way any news from Weselton could reach Hector until the queen returned and thawed them out. Whereupon the regicide plot would be revealed to Elsa, and then Hans could jump aboard the first ship bound for the Dutch Republic to save his parents while Arendelle dealt with prosecuting the Duke and rallying alliances with the other nations against the princes of the Southern Isles.
Yes, things were turning out very nicely in his favor.
But if he revealed his plans to double-cross his brothers and disclose their Plot to Elsa, then the Duke would have even more cause upon her return to remove her from power—by exile, or even execution. And his henchmen were no doubt lurking nearby, poised to beat him within an inch of his life until he agreed to follow through by marrying Anna and handing control of Arendelle over to Hector.
And then there was the whole issue of Anna finding out about the Plot. She would be crushed to learn of his duplicity, even if he'd meant for it to protect her, and may even believe that he had only been using her and their engagement to garner Elsa's favor.
Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Kai peeked in. "You highness, the snow has resumed. A group of villagers has arrived and requested additional cloaks and blankets."
Hans waited until the door was firmly shut and Kai out of earshot before addressing the Duke. "I wish I could say that this has been an enjoyable chat, but duty calls. Gotta keep the people of Arendelle happy so they'll accept a foreigner as king and all…"
In stark contrast to his own flippant tone, the Duke's voice abruptly transformed to a growl, and his eyes—whose usual foggy appearance Hans had often mistaken for the mark of progressing senility—suddenly gleamed with terrifying lucidity.
"Fine. But I'm watching you, boy. Don't think for a minute that I won't rat you out to the people of Arendelle. How will they—and the other nations—react when they learn that the benevolent savior, who was engaged to their princess and who kept them alive through the Eternal Winter during their beloved queen's absence, was only trying to steal her crown?"
Hans prayed his eyes did not betray his fear. Apparently he'd severely underestimated the older man, who had now leaned in so close that it took every ounce of self-control he had not to recoil from his fetid breath.
"With or without your help, we will take this kingdom."