Page 125 of The Frog Prince

“Welcome back, Brother,” Lorenz whispered and Alwin hid his face against his brother’s shoulder.

They had mere hours to reach the palace. After so many long winters, only hours stood between him and finally being back where he belonged.

With Gisela, Farwin, and Jurgen waiting at a local inn, Lorenz and Cinder led them down the now-unfamiliar halls of the palace, their shadowed figures hardly making a sound. Alwin didn’t want to wait a day to regroup or rest, even though the temptation to hide was strong. Seeing the imposing face of the palace growing larger in the distance as they passed houses of Hallin architecture had been surreal. Being inside again was even stranger. Nothing had changed from what Alwin remembered, yet everything had at the same time.

So desperate was Alwin to return that he hadn’t realized these halls would no longer feel like home. They weren’t the warm, comforting arms that had cradled him in his memories. He didn’t know how long it would take before they felt that way again. Perhaps they never would. And as his steps echoed around stone walls, he realized he was strangely at peace with that.

He had learned that he could make his home in something as small as a golden ball or a simple frog. His home was where he laid his heart. His home was walking right beside him, holding his hand.

They rounded the corner to his parents’ private rooms and Alwin’s breath hitched as he stopped in the shadow of the door, unable to take that final step.

Otto’s large hand squeezed his fingers, and he cursed the fabric between them, suffocating his skin.

This would be his life now.

In plain sight but still hiding the secret, vulnerable parts behind smoke and mirrors. He supposed that wasn’t so different from how it had been before he had green skin to hide. The mantle of a monarch was a mask, one he had seen his father and mother slip on and off many times.

But Alwin’s looked much different, and he didn’t know if anyone would accept it.

“Alwin?” Otto whispered at his back, stepping closer and pressing them together. He laid his chin on Alwin’s shoulder.

Alwin closed his eyes. “Yes?”

“Whatever reaction they have, be it good or ill, remember that I think you’re beautiful, inside and out.”

Alwin’s throat grew thick, his eyes stinging under his closed lids. Queens and the evils of the world aside, self-acceptance was probably the hardest battle he had ever had to fight.

He turned his hooded head toward Otto, skimming his nose over Otto’s cheek and gaining strength.

“Would you like me to go in with you?” Lorenz asked.

Alwin cast a glance his way and shook his head. “If I cannot even face our parents, how will I help lead a kingdom?”

“One seems a little more difficult than the other.”

Alwin wanted to laugh, but it was swallowed by anxiety before it exited his mouth.

“Just deal with the guards, if you would? That would be entirely bothersome.”

“Give us two minutes, then slip in.” Lorenz nodded, then entered the room before them, leaving the door ajar.

There was muffled talking, and then Alwin and Otto did as instructed, slipping past the guards’ turned backs and through the antechamber to his parents’ bedroom. Both his mother and father looked up from their seats before the fire at the entrance of the two shadowed figures, his father bursting to his feet and opening his mouth, ready to call for the guards.

Otto closed the door and Alwin lowered his hood.

All the air in the room vanished in an instant.

“Alwin?” his mother whispered, green eyes wide.

“Yes.” Alwin’s voice shook so much over one tiny word. They were in front of him at last, after eight long winters of missing them, but unlike with Lorenz, he couldn’t make his feet move.

His mother got to her feet slowly, her eyes moving over every inch of him as if expecting him to disappear between one blink and the next. She rushed forward, reaching for his face, then his hands.

He reared back on instinct, only Otto’s hand at his back keeping him from falling over in his panic.

His mother frowned, tearful and confused by his reaction. “Alwin? What’s wrong?”

Alwin couldn’t hold her gaze, or that of his father. “There are things you must know.”