Page 89 of The Frog Prince

Otto calmed with his words. “You’re right.” He sighed and looked around at the mess. “I should stopper some of these, just in case.”

He looked around himself, his frown deepening the more he searched.

“What is missing?” Alwin asked, getting back to his feet.

“There don’t seem to be any storage supplies.”

It wasn’t so large of a request. Alwin might be able to trade a belonging for it.

“Wait here.”

“Alwin, no. You don’t have to trade away anything else for me. I’ll do it.”

Alwin smiled. “It’s of little consequence. They are just material things.”

“Not to me.” Alwin met his serious gaze. “You made your frogs retrieve your golden ball from the bottom of a well, and I’ve seen how you handle your clothes so carefully. They’re a part of you. You treasure them.”

Alwin felt as transparent as glass.

“The magic requires a trade.”

“Then take from me.”

Alwin refused outright.

Otto set his jaw. “Half the value then.”

Alwin tilted his head, not expecting that compromise. “Half?”

Otto held out his hand to shake on it and Alwin smothered a laugh of surprise, his heart aching with the kindness.

He stepped forward and shook. “I’ll bring some options.”

“I’ll grab my bag.”

They went in different directions, Alwin retracing the path to his chest and dragging it all the way back and through the ruined doorway. Otto glanced up from where he was emptying his own things onto the desk, then rounded the table.

Otto looked from him to the chest and back again. “Is this yours?”

“It’s something from long ago,” Alwin said quietly.

Otto frowned at him for a moment before turning back to the chest itself. He looked it over, rubbing at the fine carvings underneath the moss. He drew in a shocked breath. “This is the Hallin royal seal! Wait…no…this is different…”

Alwin stiffened. That was Alwin’s personal seal, not his family’s. A single green leaf in front of a sun motif instead of a tree like the full royal crest. But how did Otto know that?

He watched Otto trace the lines, brow heavily furrowed as if he was trying to recall something long since passed. “I’ve seen this once before, but it escapes me. Do you know what this is from?” he asked Alwin eagerly.

Alwin couldn’t answer, the magic intervening.

“Someone dead,” Alwin said instead.

Otto was not unintelligent, and his brilliant mind worked over the words swiftly.

“The missing prince!” he gasped. “Do you know what happened to him? Rumors swirled around both kingdoms, but there was never a definitive answer as far as anyone knows.”

Alwin’s heart hammered, the truth so close, if only Otto could reach it. But why would he jump to such a conclusion, that Alwin could be Prince Adalwin of Hallin?

“How do you know the personal seal of a long-dead prince?” Alwin asked instead of answering something he couldn’t.