Page 98 of The Frog Prince

But if you ever go astray, the midnight blue will strike.”

“That sounds more like an instruction manual than a game.” Alwin chuckled once Otto had finished.

Otto froze.

Rings of midnight blue.

“You don’t think…” he said, and Alwin lifted his head from his shoulder and finally met his eyes, that clever mind catching what he was implying in an instant.

He looked around them, mouthing the words of rhyme silently. “It’s possible.”

Otto felt his heart hammer in his chest. “But it’s a silly game.”

“Sometimes the biggest things hide in the minds of the most unassuming people. Children know more than we give them credit for.”

“But…” Otto struggled to comprehend.

“You’ve tried everything else, and we did come here for answers. What does it cost to try?”

Sixteen

Alwin

He didn’t want it to end. He didn’t want to put a stop to the magic between them. Everything inside him screamed that if he got up now, if he let Otto out of his arms, out of his body, that would be it. He’d never have him again.

But Otto had obligations and a heart that yearned to help others, and Alwin refused to stand in the way of that.

He allowed himself one more kiss to Otto’s neck, then stood, his cheeks heating at the squelching sound that followed and the image of Otto soaked in Alwin’s release.

“I…apologize.” He looked around, trying to locate his scattered clothing, uncomfortably aware that he was fully naked in front of Otto. Fully exposed in all of his inhuman glory. Green skin, longlimbs, a soft cock hanging between his legs without balls to rest on. More frog than human.

He grabbed his shirt and rushed to get dressed, but a hand wrapped around his ankle, halting him.

“Alwin.” Otto tugged. “Alwin, look at me, please.”

He forced himself to meet his eyes, wringing his shirt in his hands.

“Don’t hide from me,” Otto said, standing up, messy and filthy and flushed. Beautiful. Alwin could almost feel the marks on his back turning blue again when Otto stood before him, taking Alwin’s hands in his own and making him stop fiddling with the shirt. “It wasn’t just the heat of the moment. I still find you stunning.”

“Oh,” Alwin said smartly, truly wondering how all of his tutors had considered him a gifted child at one point. He was a bumbling mess.

“I do not regret this,” Otto said. “I do not wish for this to be the only time. I never, not for a singular moment of that, imagined anyone else in my arms. It’s you, Alwin. And I want all of you.”

“I…” Alwin’s eyes stung uncomfortably. “I want you too.”

“Good. Then I hope you know there is no need to apologize for this.”

Alwin watched in silent mortification as he pointed to the mess Alwin had left on his clothing.

“I could use magic.” Alwin looked around at his clothes. “I think I have—”

“No!” Otto said, and Alwin jumped in place. “You will not be bargaining pieces of yourself just to remove the evidence of what we shared.”

“You are not bothered?” Alwin asked.

Otto shook his head. “Not in the slightest. Smug? Maybe.”

“Smug?” Alwin asked, shocked by his choice of word.