The one you had before you were adopted.” He looked at her intently. “I know this will be hard to understand, but the castle is your home.”
“What?” Anna heard a whooshing sound in her ears. I have to find Elsa.
Hans continued. “You’re an heir to this kingdom. Your parents gave you up because Elsa struck you with her magic and almost killed you.”
“No, I’m…no…Elsa wouldn’t…she didn’t…” Anna couldn’t find the words to express what she was feeling. Something inside her was starting to crack. Hans wasn’t making sense, and yet she knew he was telling the truth.
Do the magic! Do the magic! she heard a child say again with glee. That child was her.
“It’s true,” Hans insisted. “You don’t remember, but I have the proof right here.” He knelt down by her side and pulled a piece of parchment out of his jacket pocket. “This is a letter from the queen to Elsa telling her everything.”
Anna’s heart drummed faster. She reached for the letter. Hans held it away from her.
“Elsa is a threat to this kingdom and must be punished for her crimes, but your family legacy remains intact. You’re the next in line for the throne! Don’t you see?” Hans smiled eagerly. “With Elsa gone, summer will have to be restored! Then you and I can rule Arendelle together.”
Anna tried to sit up. Her body was shaking, and such varied emotions were swirling that she thought she might implode. What was Hans saying? “I thought you loved Elsa…don’t you?”
Hans’s face fell as he rose to his full height. “As heir, she was preferable, of course. But after what happened on her coronation day, there was no saving her. You, though…the long-lost princess of Arendelle—the people will adore you once they see their beloved queen’s letter and realize who you are. Don’t you see? My finding you before Elsa was fate.”
“Elsa was looking for me? She’s seen this letter?” Anna pulled herself up to stand and staggered toward him. “She knows she has a”—Anna played around with the word in her head before saying it aloud—“sister?” Her heart started beating even faster.
“Yes,” Hans said. “I didn’t tell you earlier because I was trying to protect you.”
Anna heard the wind howling outside the large window, rattling the frame. The glass was iced over and she could see nothing but white outside.
She and Elsa were sisters?
If it was true, why couldn’t she remember her life as a princess of Arendelle?
Why would her family have sent her away unless Hans was right that Elsa’s magic almost killed her?
Anna closed her eyes tight, begging herself to remember, but nothing new came to her. Frustrated, she took it out on Hans. “So you learned Elsa tried to kill me and you were willing to lead me right toward her?”
Hans’s eyes flickered in surprise. “I…The queen’s letter said it was an accident, but…”
There was something he wasn’t telling her. “Let me read the letter for myself, then.”
Hans put the letter back in his pocket. “You’re upset. Why don’t you calm down first? I’ll hold the letter for safekeeping.”
She felt a flash of anger. “So instead of making things right with Elsa, you’ve been trying to sweet-talk me?” Hans’s face reddened. “What is this battle everyone keeps talking about?” Hans shifted slightly. “And where is Elsa? If you know, why don’t you let me talk to her so she can see for herself that the past is in the past? Maybe she’ll stop this storm.”
Hans’s face was grim. “She’s had her chance. I’ve tried talking to her—in her ice palace on the North Mountain, in fact. She isn’t willing to negotiate, which means she’s sentencing Arendelle and the rest of her kingdom to its doom. She knows all about you, but instead of helping you, she’s cast you aside, just like she did Arendelle.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” Anna argued.
Hans gestured to the frozen window, which was still rattling. “But she has. Look outside! We can’t last much longer. The people are looking to me now for rescuing.”
“How are you going to save them?” Anna scoffed. Hans didn’t say anything. “Wait. You’re going to kill her?” Hans was still silent. “You c-can’t!” she stuttered. “You have no right to decide her fate!”
Hans didn’t flinch. “I’m the one saving this kingdom, and the people will thank me for it. I’m just sorry you won’t be at my side when I do.”
“You’re no match for Elsa,” Anna hissed as the rattling from the window grew louder.
“No, you’re no match for