The castle door was still slightly ajar when I got there. I was lucky the darkness and the atmosphere of fear that this place exuded was enough to keep intruders away. Although it didn't really matter if the door was locked up tight when most of the windows were broken anyway.

I closed the door, much to the chagrin of the creaky hinges. Back in the castle. Back in this prison. I wondered briefly what would have happened if I'd run away, but of course there was no use in that, so I pushed the thought from my mind.

Being back here was exhausting. My future pressed down on me, a lifetime of this dismal place with nothing but fear and guilt to keep me company. I was so weary, so tired. Then there was a knock at the door.

"Princess?"

Under any other circumstance I wouldn't have opened the door, but I was worn down by the thought of spending the rest of my life alone here. So I let him in.

"I guess you can call me Elsa. But in public you can call me 'your majesty'.

Kristoff bowed. "Your majesty. It suits you. I guess you didn't lie."

"No, I didn't." Suddenly I wished I had. I was embarrassed for the gross condition of the castle, the sagging tapestries and threadbare carpet, the stains on the walls.

It had been decaying long before my parents died. After they lost Anna they stopped caring. Or were they, too, afraid of her? Or me? Kristoff stepped in the door. Sven trotted right in after him.

"Nice place," Kristoff said. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"So it's a bit of a fixer upper. No big deal."

We ended up sitting in the courtyard for most of the day, talking. I learned that his family was rather large and lived out in a clearing in the forest, independent of everyone else. The way he spoke of them was so foreign to me. I wondered what it must be like to have a family that loved you as much as Kristoff was obviously loved. The differences between us were so great that by the time the sun set, I felt even lonelier than I had before. We shared a quiet supper of bread and carrots. To my disgust, he allowed his reindeer the first bite before finishing the rest of the carrot.

"You should go back. There's nothing good in this castle."

"Well it's getting dark. I was actually going to sleep just outside, if that's alright."

"Outside the castle?"

"Yes?"

"Is it that horrific you can't bear to spend a night within these walls?" My instinct to keep him safe from Anna's terror was warring with my desire to share this burden with someone, to not be alone for once when the nightmare began.

"It's not that. I just didn't think you'd want a random stranger sleeping in your house. And yeah, I'm a little scared of that sister of yours. What is she?"

"She's some kind of ghost, I think. I'm not sure. She's dead."

"I gathered that."

"And I don't care if you sleep in the castle. It's your funeral. Anna won't be happy."

"Can Sven come too?"

"I guess so. It's dirty enough in there already."

"Hey, what's that over there?" Kristoff pointed to the corner of the courtyard. "That wasn't there earlier."

The blood in my veins turned to ice.

"It's a snowman."