A Heart Cold as Ice (Freeze these Broken Hearts)

The Coronation

There the future queen stood at the altar, stiff and breathing heavy. Her sister stood by her side, waving at someone behind Varian's field of vision. The crown is placed on her head, and she slowly and shakily reaches for the scepter and the orb on the velvet pillow. 

"Your Majesty, the gloves," the Bishop whispers. The princess takes off the gloves gingerly, as though they would break if it handled too much, and puts it on the pillow. She grabs the scepter and the orb, hands shaking as she faces the crowd. 

The bishop starts saying something in Old Norse, a language Varian has yet to pick up. Varian shuffled back a bit into his seat and watched. He looked at Rapunzel, whose green eyes were wide. 

Then something pulled his attention back to Princess Elsa. Was it just him, or were the scepter and the orb getting frozen? 

"...Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" the bishop announced. 

"Queen Elsa of Arendelle." he murmured with the crowd. As soon as that sentence was finished, she threw the objects she was holding onto the pillow and stuffed her hands back into her gloves. She breathes a sigh of relief. 

----

The party was...surprisingly warm. People ate, talked, and danced. Not that Varian payed any mind to any of that, he was too busy looking for the new queen. He found a man who seemed to be dragging people off somewhere. "Hello, sir...sir, have you seen Queen Elsa?" Varian asked him. 

The man laughed. "I can take you to her, young man." 

Eugene and Rapunzel stopped dancing and Rapunzel shook Eugene's shoulders. "Did you hear that? We're going to meet the queen!" 

All of them followed the man, Kai, he said, and he led them straight to the place where the two royal sisters were laughing together. 

"Your Majesty, Princess Rapunzel of Corona, her partner and the Royal Engineer of Corona."  Rapunzel gives a little how. Elsa smiles. 

"Queen Elsa," Rapunzel starts, "It is an honor to meet you."

The queen smiles. "You too." 

Kai pops up from nowhere with a skinny old man. "Your Majesty, the Duke of Weasletown." 

"Weselton. The Duke of Weselton." the man snaps. Eugene chuckles but at Rapunzel's glare turns it into a cough. "Your majesty, as your closest partner in trade, it seems only fitting I offer you you first dance as queen."  the Duke says. 

Queen Elsa smiles. "Thank you, only I don't dance." 

The Duke scowls. "Oh?" 

The queen nods her head towards Princess Anna. "But my sister does." 

The princess's eyes turn wide. "...what?"

The Duke chuckles and gives the girl a glance. "Lucky you." 

The princess raises a hand. "Oh, I don't think--" instead the Duke yanks her arm and drags her away before she could even protest. 

The princess shoots the Queen a desperate look. She just chuckles. "Sorry." they watch as the two dance awkwardly. You would wonder if the Duke has ever even danced before. 

"So, Royal Engineer, hmm?" the queen's attempt at small talk snapped him out of his daze. "Someone as young as you?" 

He rubs the back of his neck. There are little under a million things he wanted to talk about other than his position, but first impressions are everything. "well, you see, Queen Elsa--" 

"Elsa. Just Elsa."

"Elsa, you might find me a little more able than you think I am." he shoots her a small, lopsided grin and she chuckles. 

Anna comes back, limping, around a minute later. Elsa smirks. "Well, he was sprightly." Varian laughs. 

The princess winces when she sets down her feet. "Especially for a man in heels." 

Elsa notices her limping. "Are you okay?" 

Anna grins. "I've never been better. This is so nice. I wish it could be like this all the time. " she replied, breathless, although you could wonder whether it was because of the dancing or the party. 

Elsa smiles back, longing in her eyes. "Me too..." her eyes widen as she catches herself. She stiffens and looks away from them. "But it can't."

Anna shrugs with a smile. "Why not? If--" 

"It just can't!" Elsa says, pain on her face. Anna's eyes narrow and her smile drops. 

"Excuse me for a minute." she walks away and Elsa watches after her, resisting the temptation to call her back and apologize. 

Varian glances up at the queen. "Elsa? We'll be on our way. See you later." Elsa sighs. 

"Sure...see you." 

(shout out to the wonderful 19 people who's read this for now. Like, I was expecting five on the first day! Thank you!) 

(also to the two people who voted on this) 

(and to @Nabalia for putting this on her reading list! You have no idea how much joy it brings a new writer to see that somebody is actually reading their story)