She could hear them outside of her cell—the echoes of public disenchantment.
"King Hans said this winter would come to an end, if we prayed hard enough—so why do these dark days continue?"
"Perhaps he was just trying to reassure us … anyway, I'm sure it will end soon."
"Reassure us? Don't be a fool, Fredrik. He only tells us to pray to distract us from the truth: that neither he, nor anyone else in this land, knows how to lift Queen Elsa's wretched curse."
She wanted to take some pleasure in the knowledge that the people had begun to question Hans's rule—that they were beginning to realize just how little their own king understood.
But it's my wretched curse.
The thought shattered any sliver of satisfaction she might have extracted from the exchange outside her window, and she stared out with a face full of regret.
They're my people, but they're suffering because of me.
She knew that, beyond the mere grumbles of discontent with the king, there was a general hopelessness settling over the population of Arendelle; many of the old and sick had already died from the persistent cold, and more still were threatened on account of their livelihoods being lost and their crops having died many weeks before.
The pain of knowing that it had all been caused by her own inability to control her temper, however, had by that point settled so deeply within her heart that, at times, she didn't know what to feel anymore.
But I'm sure he'll remind me, if I ever forget.
She quavered with fury as his image summoned itself in her mind, and it took her everything in her power not to throw off the gloves and burst out of her cell purely out of spite.
I can't, though.
The only thing she would allow herself to do, in fact, was to continue to refuse to eat—though even that had become a feat of extraordinary willpower.
I have to have at least this much power over my own body.
She faced the window with renewed determination, and ignored the knock on the door that signalled a fresh plate of food would soon be passed through it.
"The King says you will eat," the guard said roughly, shoving his arm through the slit and presenting the food to her, spilling some of the cabbage soup over the side of the tray in the process.
Her nose wrinkled at the smell as she turned to stare at the tray in distaste.
"And you can inform your King that I will do no such thing," she growled back hoarsely, her throat sore.
She touched her neck briefly with her gloved hand, expecting the guard—as he usually did—to withdraw the food again, and wait until the king himself came and delivered it to her in person.
That, at least, had been the routine for the past two weeks.
Instead, he suddenly tossed the tray at her onto the floor with a roar of frustration, and the turned-over soup splashed across her white dress.
"I don't know who you are, or why the King keeps you as well as he does," he began, disgusted, "but you should be damn well grateful to 'im for giving you some of the best stock the country has left, day in and day out."
YOU ARE READING
The North Wind
Fanfiction[Frozen; Alternate Ending; Hans x Elsa.] "If they knew you were still alive, they would never stop hunting you," he told her bluntly. "As long as you're here, you're safe from them." Elsa's stare turned hard and bitter at these words; and yet his da...
