Chess Piece

For It Is Time to Share the Burden

Some things do come one after another in a way that was almost impossible to stop.

With her willingness to finally let herself admit to her feelings, ones that she had tried to bury and pushed away whenever it had showed the smallest of hint of it's existence, it had opened doors that she had shut close within her, including the desires that she held over her husband; her want over him, natural humane wishes that made her blush.

And it seemed that he too shared the same thing as she.

Wet hot tongue ran over her lips made her gasp, because never once did she ever felt such sensation, and Hans had used her momentary shock to deepen the kiss, to urge her to open her mouth and let him in, and cautiously her own tongue had come to dance with his, tangled as her fingers clutched against his hair, urging him, though she could not tell for what.

Her back was met with the mattress underneath when he had moved her, although their kiss remained unbroken, and now that she was lying down his hands had gained more freedom to roam over, one of his palms ran over the naked skin of her arm while the other held onto her waist, keeping her in place even when she truly had nowhere to go, her own hands finding themselves running over his back, feeling his muscle and his warm skin for the very first time, and she truly blushed.

For she was touching a man's bare torso, having his body hovering above her as they kissed in a way that she had never done before, and her cheeks burned. His touch against her skin was enthusiastic, eager, and she could tell how patient he had been waiting for this, to explore her.

His mouth left hers, and she had almost protested for it, because she had never felt this way before, and she liked it, she did not wish to lose this moment; and yet it had taken no time for his lips to press against her neck instead, right above her pulsing vein that made her heart skipped a beat and a moan erupted from within her, such sound so embarrassing that her breath hitched up in surprise.

And frost formed inside her satin gloves from her lack of focus.

He would not have noticed, would not have seen nor felt her slip up, and yet still she had pressed both her hands against his chest, creating a distance between them as she struggled to even out her breathing as she looked up to see the furrowing of his brows. "I'm sorry," she murmured as she pushed him further away until he sat back up on the bed before she joined him. "I-"

"If you find yourself not ready for this, then I won't-"

"No, it's not-" the words came into a halt in her throat, once she considered the prospect of revealing her secret to him, secrets that no one knew except her parents, secrets she had hid from the whole world, including her sister. Yet she truly could not bear to hide it anymore, to have no one else knowing of her ability ever since the death of the late King and Queen, and if they were to live the rest of their lives together then he would have to know sooner or later, and she much preferred to tell him herself than to have him knowing by accident. Thus she had taken a deep breath, pressing her gloved hand against her chest to calm herself. "I need you to listen, Hans, for it is important for me for you to understand."

His eyes never left hers as she took another breath, this one shakier, as she held onto the tips of her right glove, believing that perhaps he was truly the one who she should share this part of her with, at least for now, until she was ready to share it to the world. Silk brushed against her skin as she tugged her glove off her hand until it had completely came off and the air of the bedroom enveloped her bare hand, letting her skin breathed.

Holding her hand between them, she had turned her palm up, gesturing with her eyes for him to turn his attention to it, and she did caught the slight movement of his hands, as if he had wanted to touch hers, yet refrained himself from doing so. This would be the third deep breath she had taken by now, as she let her eyes fluttered closed and directed the coldness inside her onto her hand.

And a single snowflake at the size half of her palm conjured up for him to see.

There was nothing but silence then, thick in the air as green eyes remained transfixed on the floating ice over her palm, the lips that had been burning against hers only moments ago were unmoving, and it was suffocating. She was unable to read his expression the way he did hers, unable to determine of what was on his mind as he watched the snowflake lightly danced in the air.

"Say something... please." She may fear of what he would say, yet the silence was no better, and she could not take it. If she was a monster then there was nothing else that she could possibly do about it, for she had asked for her magic to be removed, yet it could not be done for it was a part of her. And if he would call her as such, for him to hate her despite what she felt for him, then-

"It's beautiful." His eyes had looked up at her, to see how taken aback she was for his comment, for never once she ever thought someone would see her curse in a way he did. "Could you do more?"

Had he truly asked her if she could do more? Conjuring a snowflake was the safest thing that she could do as not to harm him and he wished to see something more? "Hans, you don't understand!" Of the danger she possessed, of what she was capable of doing to him the same that she had done to Anna, even worse.

"Yes, I don't." There was a smile on his face and not the slightest fear in his eyes, she was not prepared for such a mesmerized reaction from him; he did not even cower away from her. "I don't understand why would you hide such talent, such gift."

"'Gift'?" Her lips had repeated the word in disbelief as she curled her hand back, dismissing the magic under her fingers as she looked at him with a furrow of her brows. "It's a curse, Hans." Had her husband truly gone mad? It would have been such a perfect couple, a witch and a madman. "I can hurt you, I can hurt anyone."

His hand reached for hers, and when she had pulled the bare one away from his grasp and held it close to her chest, he had taken a hold of her still gloved one. "But I know you wouldn't." The certainty in his words was unbelievable, as if he knew her more than anyone else, yet he was mistaken. His knowledge of her was no better than Anna's, perhaps slightly more now that he had known of her power, but no more than that. "I know you would never use your power to hurt people."

Yet she had. It was an accident, of course, as she had told her father and mother, and still she could not help but blame herself for it, for her foolishness and for her lack of control, she could have avoided the incident had she able to refuse Anna's request to use her power that night. "I can't control it."

"As a matter of fact, I think you have done quite well at our wedding." His hand still held hers, as it appeared that he would not let go of it anytime soon, and she could do nothing but to advert her gaze away from his piercing look. For her to go gloveless that day was a requirement that she could not avoid, for he had to put the ring around her finger, and it had taken her whole self-control not to let any ice be seen. "You are capable of doing it, if you put your belief to it."

Her intention to show him of her magic was not for him to encourage her like this; it was more to give him the reason on why she could not tell what was troublesome to her to her council, as it had been from the beginning, why she could not let herself be so intimate with him without the fear of freezing everything over. Letting her hand slipped out of his grasp, she had sighed as she put on her discarded glove once more. "Now you see why it's so difficult for me." Because she couldn't believe in herself, not when she had caused harm during her childhood, knowing that her powers were much stronger than it was then.

"I can help you, I don't know how, but I want to." His voice was an absolute sincere as his hand had reached up to tuck the fallen strand of her hair behind her ear. "Don't shut me out, Elsa."