Rapunzel and Eugene were seated near the front row next to a young man that Rapunzel knew she recognized but couldn't place from where.
He flashed her a grin that reminded her of the first time she'd met Eugune right before she'd whacked him on the head with her frying pan.
"It's good to see you again, Princess," he said and then took her hand and kissed it.
"Damn," she thought and wished she was better with names and faces. It wasn't a skill she'd had much time to develop.
"You too," Rapunzel said.
His perfect smile faltered, or maybe it was a trick of the light through the stained glass windows. "I'm Prince Hans of the Seven Isles."
"Oh, yes, please extend your brother my congratulations."
"I will certainly do that," he said.
A hush fell over the crowd as the choir began to sing the most entrancing melody Rapunzel had ever heard as the priest walked front and center. His hat made him taller than owner of Oaken's Trading Post they'd visited on their way into town.
Rapunzel released a gasp that hopefully only she could hear when the soon to be queen joined the priest. It was the woman from the window in the courtyard, and she was even more breathtaking up close even if her ocean blue eyes looked haunted.
Rapunzel dared her to look at her, but the woman's stare was fixed on the priest who mumbled something too quiet for the audience to hear.
Princess Elsa quickly removed her gloves and then took the ornate staff and ball that were handed to her. She faced the audience but her gaze went directly above their heads. Rapunzel couldn't help but think Elsa seemed a bit, well…terrified, like a deer as it sees a huntsman.
Rapunzel wished she could tell the almost queen that she was doing great and that it would all be over soon, but this wasn't the Snuggly Duckling. She couldn't distract the beautiful woman's troubles away with a song.
The priest proclaimed, "Sem hón heldr inum helgum eignum ok krýnd í þessum helga stað ek té fram fyrir yðr," and Rapunzel's mind translated: "As she holds the holy properties, and is crowned in this holy place, I present to you… Queen Elsa of Arendelle".
The word Arendelle was barely past the priest's lips before the newly crowned queen shoved the staff and ball back into his hands.
Without another glance towards those gathered to meet her, the Queen slipped away as she had from the window. There one moment and gone the next.
"She could have at least stayed for me to shake her hand," the Duke of Weselton huffed. "We are, after all, her most important trade partner."
Rapunzel wondered if Corona traded with Arendelle. Maybe that was something she could discuss with the Queen. Certainly her parents wouldn't mind.
"One day," Eugene said as they filed out, "that will be you being crowned Queen."
"Let's hope that day isn't for a very long time."
"I will never be king," Prince Hans said. "You're lucky you're an only child."
Rapunzel would have given anything for a sibling, though she never would have wished her fate for another. Maybe if she'd had another soul with her, she would have seen beyond Mother Gothel's twisted version of love sooner.
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself," Rapunzel told herself. She needed to stop thinking about when she was a prisoner and remember that now she was free. She had Eugene and her parents and a kingdom full of people who loved her.
So why did she still feel so empty?...So haunted by the past.
Sometimes she wondered if her mind and heart would always be trapped inside that tower and no amount of adventure could free her.
"This way," bellowed a servant, "this way to meet Queen Elsa of Arendelle."
A spark of excitement jolted Rapunzel out of her dark thoughts, and they were immediately replaced with nerves as she began rehearsing what she would say to the most beautiful, mysterious woman she'd ever met who despite her fear at her coronation pulsed with…the word danced at the back of Rapunzel's mind until an image of healing Eugene with her last strands of…magic.
Queen Elsa was magic.
"Don't be foolish," Rapunzel's thoughts took a tone that sounded a little too much like Mother Gothel's. "If the Queen had powers, everyone would know. Wouldn't they?"
Rapunzel held her breath as the giant doors opened to a ballroom empty except for one solitary queen.
She froze when Queen Elsa motioned towards her and then pointed at her side. Was the Queen beckoning her?
Her heart soared at the invitation as she began to break away from Eugene and Prince Hans.
Then Rapunzel nearly lost her balance when the red headed girl she'd seen earlier that day rushed past her to stand by the Queen.
Rapunzel felt ridiculous for thinking for even a moment that Elsa would call her out of the crowd. The girl must be Elsa's younger sister, Princess Anna.
"You don't belong here," Rapunzel told herself. "You will never be one of them."
"I have to go," Rapunzel told Eugene. The weight of her foolishness pressing down on her along with every insult and taunt she'd heard from Mother Gothel rising up like a tsunami.
"Where are we going?" Eugene asked.
"No, you stay here," Rapunzel said. "I need a moment…alone."
He wouldn't follow her.
No one would.