Page 33 of The Frog Prince

“Youdid this to her,” he said calmly, slipping past them and over to the small table, sitting down with one leg crossed over the other as if he belonged. It was a facade of indifference he had learned young and well.

“Me?!” Otto exclaimed, looking between Alwin and his sister.

“We had a deal, Otto. A magically binding one. I held up my end of the bargain. You were supposed to hold to yours. Did you really think you’d get everything you wanted without doing your part? You believe magic is that easy to trick?”

Otto visibly swallowed, all golden color draining from his skin and leaving him ghastly white. “I didn’t trick anyone.”

Alwin snorted, adjusting the lamp so it was positioned in the middle of the table as a way to distract himself from the burning in his chest. “No. You outright lied and now you are paying the price.”

“Is she going to go back to the way she was?” Otto asked, and Alwin had to fight not to try and soothe the pain he heard in his voice. The pain of an older sibling who would do anything for the younger.

“Otto, I’m fine,” Gisela said, but Alwin could see she was swaying on her feet, her chest working harder. With these eyes he didn’t need to be looking directly at them to see them perfectly.

“The magic demands its price,” Alwin said somberly.

“Make it stop!” Otto demanded.

“I already did. The conditions of our agreement are still in place. It is your move, Otto.”

Alwin watched defeat flitter over Otto’s face as he opened and closed his mouth, searching for an excuse. His eyes wavered and his hands shook and Alwin couldn’t stand it. Despite the injustice and the betrayal he was feeling, Jurgen was right, he had always had a soft heart—which seemed to have latched on to this healer despite everything.

“I…” Otto’s voice faded to nothing as he stared at his sister, the love between them plain to see. A bond forged so strong it could not be shaken.

He pictured Lorenz in her place and his heart wept anew. How he missed his brother. The easy understanding between them. The shared looks that meant more than words. The loyalty to each other above anyone and everyone else.

Alwin missed his entire family, but he ached for his brother. He just hoped the sacrifice he had made would make him happy.

Gisela took Otto’s hand in hers. “You tried, Otto,” she said softly. “You tried and I’m thankful. You don’t have to sacrifice yourself for me. That isn’t fair.”

“I need you to be okay,” Otto said desperately, face crumpling. “I can’t lose you. How can I go through life with you no longer there when I look back. You’ve always been trailing behind me.”

“And you’ve always been standing in front of me, shielding me from everything,” she said, eyes watering. “But some things you can’t protect me from.”

Alwin felt those words reverberate through his bones. He sighed, feeling Farwin poke at his chest from his pocket. Nudging him the way his treacherous heart already was.

“What if we stayed here?” Alwin said.

Two blond heads whirled around to look at him.

“What?” Otto asked.

“You are terrified of both me and my home. What if we stayed here where you’re comfortable and where it’s familiar?” Green flashed through the orange light as Alwin gave a nonchalant wave of his thin hand, trying to distract from the clear fact that he would probably be swayed to do whatever Otto asked of him. “Then it would only be me plaguing your nightmares instead.”

“What a tempting offer,” Otto bit out at the suggestion, covering his terror with a barbed tongue.

“I aim to please.”

Otto’s cheeks turned dusky pink at the words, his shoulders drawing up and any fight in him draining. He avoided Alwin’s eyes, looking everywhere but at him.

“You…you would stay here?” he asked quietly.

“I do hate repeating myself.”

“In my home?”

“Do you suggest I live in the garden?”

The way Otto’s face twitched told Alwin that it had certainly been a passing thought. For what did creatures do but sleep outside?