Page 41 of The Frog Prince

This one, he reminded himself, he didn’t know.

“You were having a nightmare. I could hear you through the walls, crying out. I couldn’t help but come and check on you.”

“Why?” Otto asked, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. A barrier between himself and the prince, however flimsy.

“I do not enjoy the sounds of people suffering needlessly,” the prince said quietly, face half obscured by shadows before he stood up and perched himself on the edge of Gisela’s bed, sitting sideways.

Otto flinched.

It was barely noticeable, but the prince saw it. He sighed deeply and shook his head.

“I mean you no harm,” he said, and the voice inside Otto whispered that he already knew that. He was coming to see it with every passing moment.

“I find that hard to believe,” he said, fighting against it.

“Have I given you any reason to believe I would cause you harm?”

Otto felt a surge of something hot simmering in the pit of his stomach.

“You mean other than bargaining with my sister’s life?” he asked, looking down at his crossed arms.

“I did no such thing,” the prince said, and Otto whipped his head up to look at him. He found him with his thin arms resting against bony knees, the four fingers crossed loosely between his thighs. His head was hung low, eyes focused on the floor. “I offered you the option, which you took. The magic did the rest.”

“Magic you control,” Otto argued.

“Magic Idirect,” he said. “Nobody controls it. I simply facilitate the bargain if someone offers enough to trade with it. Nobody tells it what to do with no consequence. Why do you think the price is so steep? Some things you are not even able to bargain with magic for.”

Otto snapped his mouth shut as the truth of that sank in.

“Gisela got sick again because you didn’t uphold your end of our agreement, Otto. There was nothing I could have done to stop that,” Alwin said quietly.

“Well it worked out in your favor, didn’t it?” Otto didn’t want to stop bickering. He didn’t want the guilt to work its way to the surface. He was at fault, but blaming the monster was easier than admitting he was behaving like one too.

“Ah, yes,” the prince said. “Being housed by someone so opposed to me being there is truly a dream come true.”

“You can leave then.”

The prince stood up and Otto felt a cold flash run through him.

“I can, indeed. Would you like me to? Would you like me to consider our agreement unfulfilled and just let whatever should happen, happen?”

Otto clicked his mouth shut, because Gisela’s life was on the line. He knew that.

“Why?” Otto asked.

“Hm?”

“Why these conditions? Why ask these things of perfect strangers?”

“I have my reasons.” The prince looked away.

“And you won’t share them?”

“Like you said, we’re perfect strangers. It’s not something I’m comfortable sharing with strangers.”

“But you’re comfortable staying in my house?”

“I’m hoping staying close will get us to a point where I can give you the answers you require,” the prince said cryptically. “Now…it’s late and we’re both tired. Maybe we should go back to bed.”