Page 28 of The Frog Prince (The GriMM Tales #6)

Otto pushed his nose into the air. “I take pride in it. It leaves everyone on their toes. What will I choose next? What will I combine? How ever do I come up with this?”

“You are a strange one, young master,” Alwin said, shaking his head fondly as he watched Otto continue his tactically unpredictable eating.

“I do hope Gisela is doing well,” Otto said after a few more moments of silent chewing.

“She is strong and capable,” Alwin said. “I am sure she can handle herself.”

“Henne is not harmless. He might look frail and old, but he… The lack of scruples makes him dangerous.”

Alwin nodded. “I’ve seen many like him over the years. Greed rots the soul, and his is black. Maybe he wasn’t always like this, but he’s on a path he can’t come back from now.”

Otto nodded somberly, picking at the remnants of their meal.

“Farwin is with her,” Alwin said, hoping to lift his spirits. “I know that doesn’t seem like much to you, but he knows he is to notify me the moment Gisela is in danger. He can lead her to the safest parts of the forest if necessary. He knows them all well.”

Otto nodded without a word, and Alwin frowned at the gesture.

“What else is unsettling you so much?” Alwin asked.

“I have no proof,” he said.

“Of?”

Otto fiddled with the cloth the bread was wrapped in. “I have been suspicious of Henne for months now. At first I thought it was simply incompetence and laziness, but now I think…he might be the one making people sick.”

Alwin’s breath caught in his throat. “What makes you think that?”

“Nothing I can substantiate.” Otto’s jaw clenched.

“There are misdiagnoses and incorrect prescriptions, yes. I have a book full of notes I collected over the last few days, but nothing that indicates a source or proves definitively that it came from Henne. It could be incompetence, except…there’s a gut feeling I have. ”

“It was brought on by something,” Alwin said, like he was talking to an adviser. “You have a good head on your shoulders, Otto. Trust your judgment.”

Reaching into his bag again, Otto pulled out one of his notebooks and flipped through it.

“As I mentioned, there are too many different symptoms to truly connect these illnesses in people. And yet they all started at roughly the same time, and they haven’t spread beyond our village as far as we know, despite us having contact with other people passing through. It just doesn’t add up.”

“The question is why,” Alwin said. “He’s desperate for recognition, to move up in the world. Leaving a village of bodies behind him achieves none of that.”

“If I am to trust my gut like you suggested, then my worst fears have come true,” Otto said. “His own plan has gotten away from him.”

“Are you saying he doesn’t know how to stop this anymore?”

“I think he’s gone too far. It’s out of his control and he can’t fix it. It’s why he was desperate for me to find a cure. It’s why he’s been desperate to find you.”

“Saving a whole village of people on the brink of death is certainly a tale that would spread his name.”

“Yes.”

Alwin sat there for a moment, thinking. “I should confront him.”

“What?!”

“I can offer him what he wants. A deal, for the source of the sickness.”

“Alwin, you can’t. I want nothing more than to help people, but you don’t make deals with people like him. You said so yourself.”

“People’s lives are at stake,” Alwin said. “I can’t ignore it.”

“I know. I can’t either.” Otto’s voice shook before he visibly steeled himself. “Which is why I’m going to cure them.”

Alwin fully believed him.

“What do you need? I’ll give it to you.”

“A place to work and equipment. Henne must have found something in the forest. He wasn’t able to bargain with you, and he’s made no long trips since this first started. That means I can find what he used right here, I just need the tools.”

Alwin got up from his seat. “Follow me.”

He led them to another broken room, laying a hand on the wall and feeling the thrum of magic through its center. He closed his eyes and whispered to the power that lived inside him, feeling the shape of how much he would need to pour into the well.

He only had one thing of significance left.

Another small piece of me for it.

It was sealed with the sound of the well echoing back.

He heard Otto’s gasp behind him and felt the weakness and rigidity as part of him solidified into this form. Never to be changed. Not even with the breaking of a curse.

He couldn’t mourn it as he opened his weary eyes and saw Otto’s wonderous expression at the workstation that had formed in front of his eyes. It was made from the forest itself, the magic taking parts of nature and reforming them to fit Otto’s needs.

There was a sturdy table with winding legs made from twisted branches and vines. The same materials made cradles that protruded from the table itself to cup all manner of alchemical equipment. Vials, beakers, alembics, and retorts, all lined up perfectly.

Otto ran his hands over every inch of it before turning back to Alwin with stars in his eyes. “This is amazing.”

Alwin smiled weakly and held himself up by the wall. “Good.”

His smile fell. “But what did you bargain?”

Alwin shook his head. “Nothing I wasn’t willing to give.”

“Alwin—” He took a step forward.

“Please.” Alwin held up a hand. “This is the only way I could think to help. We came here because of me. We can’t let them suffer.”

Otto paused, looking like he wanted to argue before sighing and accepting Alwin’s choice.

“There’s one more thing I have for you,” Alwin said. “The room we prepared for you.”

“Prepared?”

“Before,” he said, and realization dawned on Otto’s face.

“Before I decided not to uphold my end of the deal,” Otto said flatly, clearly still ashamed.

“Yes, well… It’s all right.”

No , a frog croaked from behind the well, hopping onto the edge of it and glaring at Otto.

It lifted one tiny leg and shook it in the air, pointing at a deep scrape on the bottom of its foot.

Hurt moving stone , it said to Alwin, who leaned over to inspect it closer. It was hardly an injury at all, but he also recognized the little spadefoot as one of the more…dramatic frogs he had lingering around.

“I am very sorry you got hurt, but it was an accident,” Alwin said softly, trying to keep his voice down so Otto didn’t hear.

The frog extended his injured leg higher into the air, refusing to let go.

“I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

The frog glared for a moment before putting the foot down and waddling away agonizingly slowly, as if Alwin hadn’t seen it hop around just seconds ago.

“What was that about?” Otto asked.

“It has a flair for theatrics,” he said. “Nothing to worry about.”

“I saw the scrape on its leg. Does it need help?”

“That will be healed by morning, Otto.” Alwin’s heart expanded three times at the thought that Otto cared enough about one of his frogs to even offer to help. “Like I said, melodrama is rampant around here sometimes.”

“I wonder who they got that from,” Otto said slyly.

“Well I never.”

He led the way out of the room in the wake of Otto’s laughter, and up the half-visible stairs poking from the mud between what remained of the once beautiful structure.

He wished he could have seen it with Otto’s eyes for the first time. As part of an adventure. Unburdened by becoming something he didn’t think should exist.

He would have found it beautiful.

It seemed Otto did too, if his hitched breath and round, glimmering eyes were anything to go by when they entered.

The rubble from the half-collapsed wall and roof had been cleared out, leaving only a gaping opening into the forest and the still water of the glen beyond.

Tree branches had made themselves welcome guests over time, hugging the rough walls and slithering over them like curious fingers.

Water sloshed against the outer wall a few inches below the broken floor, filling the air with a natural sort of white noise that made one feel like they were floating.

And the flora of the space…oh, that was the best part. Countless bioluminescent mushrooms and flowers in every imaginable color littered the floors, the walls, and the grass leading into the water. They made the space sparkle and glitter. A glimpse at the true magic of the castle.

Opposite that natural beauty, under what remained of the roof and between the still-standing walls, lay the bed Alwin had made for Otto.

It wasn’t too high off the floor, but was raised enough to be noticeable, constructed from the softest grass Alwin and his frogs could find and covered in the largest lily pads like bedding. It was large and soft looking and Alwin was proud. Proud of what he was able to accomplish and provide.

He watched Otto, waiting on tenterhooks as he took in the offerings. As he walked around the room with careful steps and peered outside, touching the walls and then the bed.

“It’s beautiful,” Otto said, glancing over his shoulder at Alwin.

The relief that flooded him made him realize just how nervous he had been about showing Otto this. It was humble, unlike the gifts Alwin had given years ago. No gold. No jewels. No riches. But still everything he had.

“Thank you,” Alwin said, looking into Otto’s eyes and seeing glittering reflections tempting him to dive in. He forced himself to step back. “Get some rest. It was a long journey.”

He turned to leave, but Otto’s voice stopped him.

“Where do you sleep?”

Alwin pointed outside at the water, and Otto’s gaze followed.

“There are many places for one such as me,” he said. “Do not worry, young master.”

Alwin went to leave again, but Otto’s voice stopped him.

“Will you stay?”

Alwin thought he was probably dreaming. Their eyes met, and the swirl of wanting in Otto’s gaze took Alwin’s breath away. “What?” he whispered.

“Stay,” Otto said, not breaking eye contact. “This room is beautiful, and you worked hard on it, so you deserve to enjoy it. And…”

“And?” Alwin prompted softly when Otto bit his lip and trailed off.