The Queen's Monster, Chapter #1

Chapter #1

It had been a year since the Great Thaw. Arendelle had prospered under Queen Elsa's rule, despite cutting trade with a large trading partner. The seas surrounding the castle was a shimmering blue in the spots that weren't hidden in the shadows of the mighty trading vessels. Merchants came from as far as Spain, India, and China to sell their wares and catch a glimpse of the beautiful Queen and her powers.

Elsa had been born with the ability to control snow and ice. Though many thought it beautiful, it gave the Queen many insecurities. She had lived majority of her life in isolation trying to suppress her growing powers out of fear of hurting the ones she loved. She now knew how to control her powers, but her doubts remained a shroud of fog in her mind.

Elsa watched behind a closed window at the bustling market outside the castle gates. From the distance, she caught the glimmers of jewelry, saw the bright cloths of reds, blues and greens. She inhaled and imagined the smell of pepper, cinnamon, and mint. She wanted to go out. She wanted to walk under the sun with her sister and browse everything the merchants had to offer. But she couldn't; there were duties she had to as queen. With a sigh, she turned away from the window and returned to the stack of papers waiting for her examination and hungry for her signature.

She spent the next hour reading each paper, some getting a signature others not. She had just put down a page with the proposal for a tax increase when there was a knock.

"Come in." Elsa said regally. In came Gerda, an old maid that had worked in the castle since before Elsa was born. The woman approached the queen carrying a small tray with a letter on top. When she was next to the queen, lowered the tray,

"Your Majesty. This came for you." Elsa smiled at Gerda and took the letter.

"Thank you." The elderly maid bowed slightly and left the room. Elsa turned the letter over to stare at the seal engraved into the wax. She recognized it: it was the seal of the Southern Isles. With shaking hands, Elsa opened the letter.

It was from the King of the Southern Isles. He asked how the Queen and her sister were and if all was well in Arendelle. Elsa skimmed across the rest of the letter until she reached the near bottom. Her eyes were glued to one line. Once read, she nearly dropped the letter.

I have to report to you that Hans the Traitor is dead.

Elsa breathed heavily as she held the letter over her heart, her hand clutching tightly to the chair's handle. He was gone, the man that had attempted to murder her and take her kingdom was dead. Letting the letter drop onto her lap, Elsa let out a small sigh of relief, though her mind was feeling the opposite. She knew she should be feeling elated at Hans' death but, from some reason, she felt a twinge of guilt and remorse. How or why she was feeling it, she couldn't decide. Maybe it was because, during Anna's explanation of everything that had happened, she had mentioned his family and their supposed cruel treatment of him.

Anna…

Elsa looked back down at the letter and knew that she had to tell Anna what had happened. She deserved to know. The Snow Queen stood from her chair and strolled back to the window, smiling when she saw Anna skipping back to the castle with a bright smile on her face.

Elsa just barely stood at the top of the large stair case when Anna came bursting through the main door, giggling like a little child.

"Elsa!" She called out, running up the stairs two steps at a time to her sister, "It was amazing today in the market!" She piped, speaking so fast that Elsa could barely understand, "There was a vendor bringing things all the way from India! He even let me try a spice called cinnamon! I ate too much and it burned so much in my throat but he was so nice to give me some water and-"

"Anna!" Elsa interrupted, a smile playing on the Queen's face at Anna's enthusiasm before it disappeared as she gave her sister the letter. The princess slowly read the carefully written words, her eyes widening at the sight of the sentence near the bottom,

"Is this really…" Anna started slowly. Elsa nodded, taking the letter back and folding it.

"Yes. It's from the royal family themselves." Anna continued to stare at the letter before throwing her arms around her sister and hugging her tightly. Elsa wrapped her arms around her sister as she heard the young woman let out a small sob. Elsa could only imagine what Anna could be feeling right now. After all, she was the one that was hurt the most by Hans. "Hey." Elsa cooed softly, gently getting Anna out of the embrace and placing her hands on her shoulders, "It's alright, Anna. It's all done. He got what he deserved." Anne looked up to her sister and smiled.

But as the princess walked away to tell her fiancee the news, Elsa started doubting her own words. Had he really deserved it?