Broken Hero

Chapter 1

Elsa's POV

"Elsa! Elsa this is an emergency, get up!"

I jolted awake to someone pounding on my bedroom door. I fumbled for the bow I always left beside my bed as I blinked blearily.

"What's going on, who's dead?" I mumbled. Someone tackled me back onto the bed and I yelped. Whoever it was sat back up as I rubbed my eyes.

"Anna?" I asked. She knelt on my bed, face beaming. It was obvious no one was dying.

"Anna, I was sleeping," I moaned. I set the bow back down beside my bed. I hadn't needed it ever since I fought Hans and defended the Emperor, but you never knew when something might happen.

"I know, Els, but this couldn't wait!" she squealed. "Guess what?"

"What?"

There was no use going back to sleep now. Not when Anna was so excited about . . . something.

"I'm getting married!" Anna squealed. "Kristoff just proposed to me!"

I blinked for a moment, watching her. Even though a lot of the time I still saw her as the little sister I left behind when running off to war, the truth is it had been months. Almost a year in fact. She wasn't the same. And neither was I.

"What's wrong? Aren't you happy?" Anna asked. She gasped and covered her mouth. "That's right! You and Jack . . . I'm so sorry."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

"No, it's fine," I told her. "You should be happy."

But I couldn't stop the pangs of sadness which struck me. Almost a year since Jack had proposed to me and we still hadn't had our wedding. Things just never seemed to work out. The day after I woke up Jack was forced to return to his position in the army. It was weeks before the invaders were driven out completely. Then he was put in charge of the military training camp for three months. After that his schedule was hectic. We never had much warning before he had to leave again to serve.

And now my little sister was getting married before me.

"So Kristoff is back?" I asked, opening my eyes again. Anna recomposed her face to cover up her worried expression.

"Yeah, just got here. He says it took him so long because after the honorary military tour he stopped to buy the ranch and . . . but you didn't know?"

"Didn't know what?" I asked. Add it to the list, I thought. Just another thing I don't know.

"He ran into Jack on the road, they came back together!"

"Why didn't you say that first?" I yelped, leaping out of bed as butterflies erupted in my stomach. Only Commander Jack Frost could make me feel this way. I darted into my closet and changed into a white and blue kimono.

"I thought you knew!" Anna called as I took the stairs two at a time. I was too far to reply.

When I got into the welcoming room Jack was already there. He was talking to my father with Kristoff. He was still decked out in his military uniform.

"Jack," I said. Jack turned and gave me one of his heart-stopping smiles.

"Commander Frost was just talking about the Great Wall project with us," my father explained. That was my father, always being so formal. Even when it came to Jack.

But the Great Wall project? The huge wall the military was building around our country to protect it from invaders? Why was Jack . . ?

"I'm supposed to go sort out some problems there," Jack said. His smile disappeared. "After that I promise we'll be able to have our wedding. No other jobs."

"You said that last time."

"I know I did-"

"Did you know Anna and Kristoff are going to get married now?"

"We may have talked about it."

Pain stabbed up through me, but I pushed it down. Jack must have seen a shadow of it in my face.

"Is it still hurting you?" he asked.

I doubted it would ever go away. It was just my luck that both arrows Hans shot me with were poisoned. The result? Occasional pain attacks that I had no control over. At least it wasn't worse.

"Just go," I told Jack. "But as soon as you come back?"

"We'll have the wedding," he finished. "This is the last thing, I promise."

"When do you leave?"

"Right now. Kristoff's coming with me. We just wanted to drop by before we left."

"And you'll come right back?"

"Nothing would stop me."