Hours had passed while Elsa recovered from one of her most terrifying experiences. She laid on her bed, staring at the still defrosting ceiling, every time she had managed to thaw it, a thought would arise that would trigger her powers to spark up once again. A warm summer breeze ran over her cold skin as Hans walked back into the bedroom from the balcony. “I'm just going to finish off some…work, sweetheart… I’ll be back in a few hours.”
Elsa immediately sat up and looked at him slightly confused “Its Sunday… You don’t need to work. If it is anything urgent I will come with you. After all, we run Arendelle together” Elsa insisted, this was nothing like Hans, he usually wanted to put work off for as long as he could so the two of them could spend time together. Was his father right, the fact that he was trying to take over Arendelle? Or was he not actually going to do work… he could be going to see another woman or…
“Elsa?”
She suddenly shook herself out of her thoughts of worry to bring her attention back to Hans who was now half way through getting changed into his usual attire. “Did you hear a word of what I just said?” he asked, one of his hands signaling to the new ice growing around the room. Elsa sighed and shook her head, making the ice recede. “I said that it’s fine, you need to rest up ready for the work we have tomorrow, and as you said before, I doubt we would get much work done if we go together”
Elsa huffed and crossed her arms. “Fine. Just don’t be long please” she begged as her paranoid thoughts flooded her mind. “Of course, I wouldn’t want to be away from you for long anyway my love” He said with a gentle smile as he looked at himself in the mirror making sure he looked presentable, which only made Elsa worry more, what need is there to make yourself look good if you're simply sitting in an office alone? After he had finished tidying himself up he walked over towards Elsa and left a soft kiss on her cheek. “Try not to freeze everything I own, and I’ll be back in time for dinner, I love you”
She forced herself into a one sided smile and a nod of her head, and with that he left, a ridiculously happy smile on his face, shutting the door behind him. She decided to get herself dressed, immediately deciding on one of her favourite dresses, a dress she knew Hans loved. She quickly moved onto make up, keeping a simplistic look except the bold red lipstick that complimented her deep blue eyes. She tidied up her hair, pinning it up into a bun, similar to on the day of her coronation. She turned to the full length mirror, but instead of looking at herself she stared at the shards of ice that grew behind her. “Conceal” She said to herself, smiling as it faded. She brushed herself down and walked towards the door Hans had walked out of just half an hour ago. She walked out, quietly looking down every corridor she passed until she had made it back to her parents old study. She took her seat at the piano once again. She refused to let herself sit in her bedroom bored with just her thoughts to stress her out. No, she refused to let herself be unhappy any longer than need be. She began to play the only piece she knew, letting each note soothe her, she didn’t know much of it but she continued to repeat it over and over, never boring of the beautiful melody. After the ninth time of repeating herself the door made a small click and slowly creaked open.
“I can practically play it with my eyes closed now see!” She said cheerfully, not bothering to look round as she assumed it could only be Hans, he must have heard the piano echo down the cold walls of the castle.
“Very impressive”
That wasn’t Hans’ voice, it was vaguely recognizable, yet she couldn’t place a face to it, her fingers immediately lifted from the white and black keys as she turned around to the doorway to see a man she had hoped to avoid. Prince Edward of Aria. The last time she had seen him she was dipped back in his arm with one of his hands creeping up her thigh. He was currently staying in Arendelle as Elsa allowed after Aria had got into some conflict with an opposing country, the fight between them causing damage to their kingdom, and the king and queen had ordered for the prince to be sent somewhere for safety, and of course Elsa happily agreed, always willing to help any kingdom, except of course the Southern Isles now.
“I could hear the music while I was taking a walk, and decided to come and see who had such a talent, I'm over-joyed to see it’s you Queen Elsa” He said with a relaxed tone, way too flirtatious for Elsa’s liking. She rose from her seat and created an artificial smile. “Such a pleasure to see you too, we should probably evade the topic of our last little get-together, I can’t say I remember it all to well anyway, but Hans and Anna certainly informed me of the events”
The prince gave a smug smile “Fantastic dancer, pianist. Oh Queen Elsa, you're talented in so many other ways I'm sure”
Elsa refrained from letting her jaw drop from his comment “I'm unsure of what exactly you're implying, yet I’ll try to take it as a compliment”
He clicked his knuckles and walked towards her “I used to play the piano, I haven’t for a long time, so I may be a little rusty” He said as he confidently as he took a seat next to where Elsa just sat. He pat the seat for Elsa to sit again, and Elsa sat confused herself to why she was letting him take control. He began to play a rather simple, yet beautiful piece. “You don’t trust him, do you?” He asked, continuing to play.
“Of course I trust him! He loves me just like I love him” She protested, how would such a young and inexperienced prince know her feelings for Hans after the events that had only happened that day. He shrugged his shoulders “You just seem on edge, and rumors have already begun that you're cutting contact with the Southern Isles… is that not where your husband came from?”
Elsa raised her eyebrows as she held in a small laugh “Seems like word gets round rather quick then, they're not rumors, its all actually fact. And again, yes Hans was once one of the thirteen prince’s of the Southern Isles, but he is nothing like any of them, I can assure you.”
Prince Edward scoffed, messing up his so far flawless performance. “I don’t mean to offend you in any way your majesty, but really, it seems you only just met the man you now claim to be in love with. I was never one to believe in true love though of course, rather childish I’d say”
Elsa rolled her eyes, he always seemed to have a lot of opinions she couldn’t care less about. She had only fully noticed he had stopped playing when she felt one of his hands rest on her leg. She swiftly stood up and raised one eyebrow at him. “And I was never one to believe in being unfaithful to my husband” She stated, trying to hide the disgust and anger in her voice. “Therefore I shall go and attend a romantic meal with my husband, maybe I’ll see you around and maybe you would have learnt to control yourself” She said calmly before leaving and storming quickly towards to dining room only to see two figures at the end of the corridor, The lighting only allowing Elsa to see simple silhouettes. One of them clearly recognizable as Hans, his height and broad shoulders making his easy to spot but the other was a woman, slim figure and in a quite formal dress making it difficult to recognize, silhouette’s of most women looked rather similar, hair up, ball gown and a poised and graceful walk. What was he doing with another woman when he claimed to be working?
Don’t forget to leave a comment etc! I’ll love you forever -m x
