Day 13

扫一扫收听英文朗读

However, while Hans immediately sensed that this was not taking the turn he had hoped but rather the turn he had feared, Anna seemed to think her sister just needed clarification about the engagement. “Well, we haven't worked out all the details ourselves. We'll need a few days to plan the ceremony. Of course we'll have soup, roast, and ice cream, and then—” She looked over at Hans.

“Wait. Would we live here?”

“Here?” Elsa repeated.

Ignoring the look on Elsa's face, Anna kept going with her plan. “We can invite all twelve of your brothers to stay with us—”

“Wait,” Elsa said, cutting off her sister. “Slow down. No one's brothers are staying here. No one is getting married.” As she said this, she glared right at Hans.

He could practically hear what she was thinking. Her look said it all. She wasn't fooled by him. All of his smiling and loving glances at Anna hadn't done a thing to win Elsa over. To her, Hans was a stranger. With that one look, he knew Elsa was asking the question Anna should have been asking all along: What are you after?

Looking down at Anna standing beside him, he saw that the smile had faded from her face. It had been replaced by an expression of confusion, as if she couldn't quite process what her sister had just said. “Wait, what?” she asked Elsa, her voice shaking.

“May I talk to you, please?” Elsa answered. “Alone.”

Anna shook her head stubbornly. Then she linked her arm with Hans's. “No,” she said, the quaver in her voice gone. “Whatever you have to say you can say to both of us.”

“Fine,” Elsa said. “You can't marry a man you just met.”

You can't marry a man you just met.

“Anna,” Elsa said, “what do you know about true love?”

“More than you,” Anna snapped, suddenly furious.

Staring at her sister's ice-cold expression, she tried to understand how they had gotten to this point. Weren't sisters supposed to be happy for each other at times like this? Did Elsa really not understand how much Anna needed this?

Anna was sure there must be a way to change Elsa's mind. But when her sister finally spoke, her words broke Anna's heart all over again. “You asked for my blessing, but my answer is no.” Elsa turned to go. “Now, excuse me.”

Anna had been so caught up in her anger at Elsa that she had almost forgotten Hans was still at her side. To her relief, he stepped forward now and tried to support her. “Your Majesty,” he said, grabbing on to Elsa's arm. “If I may ease your—”

“No, you may not,” Elsa said, cutting Hans off. “And I think you should go.” Ripping her arm free, she once again turned to leave. Passing by Kai, she paused only long enough to add, “The party is over. Close the gates.”

“Wait!” Anna shouted. She reached for her sister's hand, but all she managed to do was pull off Elsa's long glove.

Elsa's reaction was swift. She spun around, and Anna saw that her sister's face had grown pale and she had begun to shake. It was as though Anna had chilled her sister to the bone, not just removed a single glove. Elsa reached out desperately. “Give me my glove!” she pleaded.

“Elsa, please,” Anna begged. “Please. I can't live like this anymore.”

Elsa's eyes filled with tears. “Then leave ...” she said, her voice weak. Turning, she once again began to rush away.

“Why do you shut me out? Why do you shut the world out? What are you so afraid of?” The questions tumbled out of her mouth, one running into the other.

“I said, enough!”

And then, as Anna watched in horror, a stream of ice shot out of Elsa's hand. Within seconds, huge sharp spikes of ice littered the floor. Guests cried out in shock. Some tried to run away, while others clung to one another.

“Sorcery!” Anna heard the Duke of Weselton say as he ducked behind his men. “I knew there was something dubious going on here!”

Anna looked over at her sister, all thoughts of a wedding gone. Surely she couldn't have seen what she thought she'd seen. Yet ice was still trailing from the tips of Elsa's fingers. And the look of pain on Elsa's face was almost too much for Anna to bear.

“Elsa?” she said softly.

For one brief moment, the sisters' eyes met, and then Elsa turned and ran.

Anna watched her sister race away. What have I done?