Page 34 of The Frog Prince (The GriMM Tales #6)

Fifteen

Otto

“ S o, anything in particular you’d like to do today?” Alwin asked as they sat on the stairs leading into the ruins, eating their meager breakfast of mushrooms and berries.

The frogs had been so proud to present it, and Otto absolutely refused to let Alwin bargain more precious items in exchange for more.

Otto’s breeches sat low on his hips, and he had his cape on but his shirt unbuttoned. He had taken to wearing very little around Alwin, as much as the weather and nearby fires would permit, desperately hoping he could coax him into doing the same.

Alwin was stubbornly shy about Otto seeing any more than he had already shown him, even at night in their lilypad bed. Otto was trying to be respectful of it, which was incredibly hard because Alwin was…well…Alwin, and Otto wanted him.

All the time.

Especially now he had gotten a taste of what was under that collar.

“I have quite a few ideas, actually,” Otto said, throwing Alwin a teasing look, relishing the way his skin flushed and he choked slightly on the food.

“Gutter mind,” Alwin said, with a rather impressive eye roll and a shove to Otto’s shoulder. There was a smile teasing the corners of his lips and a slight tremble to his fingers that let Otto know his flirting attempts weren’t in vain. “Other than that.”

“Maybe,” Otto said, getting serious again.

His attempts at finding a cure were failing faster than he could come up with new ideas.

He had depleted his stash of medicinal herbs with zero to show for it, and now he was getting worried.

And anxious. And so disappointed in himself, because the days were passing faster than he was comfortable with and he was nowhere near a solution.

“I’d like to go to the clearing again,” he said, turning to look at Alwin.

“That can be arranged. Any new ideas?”

“No,” Otto said. “And I don’t even know if I’ll get any once I’m there. I just…”

“You need to try.”

Otto nodded. “Yes.”

“Then we can go. I doubt anyone will be there.”

He said the words loudly, not really to Otto, but off to the side. It resulted in the tall grass around them rustling and croaks sounding loud and clear in the air before fading to nothing.

“Did you just send your frogs to scare people away?” Otto asked.

Alwin shook his head. “They’re frogs, Otto. They’re not the scariest of creatures.”

“Right…”

“I sent them to give a very firm suggestion that there are better places to be than there,” he said.

“Alwin…”

“Go get ready.” Alwin gave him a gentle push. “I’ll wait for you by the well.”

Otto rushed back inside to dress less scandalously and more appropriately for the weather, gathering a few things in his bag before rejoining him.

They found their way to the clearing even faster than they had when they went from Otto’s village. The little gap in the hedge was barely visible as they pushed through and emerged on the other side.

It looked just as magical as last time, like the ground just didn’t allow footprints to linger.

Like anything anyone touched just refused to be moved or changed by it.

It looked like an enchantment nobody would ever be able to untangle, and Otto allowed himself to truly take it in this time.

And he realized that while it looked the same, it felt different to him.

The last time, his emotions had been clouded by the residual fear and unease the forest and Alwin had awakened in him. It had felt like all the beauty was marred and the magic of it was tainted.

But now, the truth of it shone through for Otto.

The beauty was part of a forest that just existed as people twisted it and turned it into a grim story. The resilience of it existed in the face of people wanting to use and obtain and steal from it. It was like a little heart of the forest for Otto now.

“I love it here,” Otto said, and Alwin smiled.

“Do you want any more flowers?”

Otto shook his head. “I don’t want to take any more than absolutely necessary. I need to think first. See if I come up with any good ideas to try before picking any more. It would be wasteful to just keep taking and keep getting it wrong.”

Alwin nodded as a gentle breeze picked up, rustling the leaves and flattening the grass. The tiny slivers of sunlight were peeking through the canopy, painting stripes of gold on the ground.

“What do you want to do then?” Alwin asked and Otto walked to the middle of the clearing, sat down, and sprawled himself on his back.

He closed his eyes and stretched his hands up above his head.

“This,” he said. “Just this.”

He heard slow steps coming closer and then felt a tickle at his side when Alwin sat down. He felt stiff next to Otto, too upright to truly enjoy the day.

“Lie down,” Otto said, waiting for a few moments until he felt Alwin comply. Without opening his eyes, he felt him stretch out at his side, and for the first time in what felt like too long, Otto felt unburdened.

“Not what I had in mind when I asked you what you wanted to do.” Alwin’s voice was soft, the croak in it helping it blend with nature so well that Otto shivered.

“What did you have in mind?” he asked.

“Something more adventurous, I think. Something exciting.”

“I’ve never been one for excitement to be fair,” Otto said. “And I really do need answers. Peace of mind might help with that.”

“Hm…you might not get that today.”

Otto cracked an eye open to look at him.

“Why not?” he asked as something thumped against his thigh and then clambered up his chest. He sat up, making the thing flail and fall, and he cupped his hands under it to catch it.

It was the tiniest frog Otto had ever seen.

It was pale pink in color, and about the size of his thumbnail. It wiggled on his palm, pointing at something behind its back and gesticulating wildly as it croaked.

“Oh my, why is it so small?” Otto asked.

“It’s a little grass frog,” Alwin said. “Completely strange for it to live around these parts, but there are a few around.”

“What happened to it?” Otto asked as the frog kept trying to convey something to him, at one point literally jumping and grabbing his nose, staring into his eyes and croaking as loudly as it could manage.

“Well, it’s quite a tale. Are you sure you’ll be able to suffer through the tragedy?”

Otto’s stomach tied itself into knots at the words.

“Oh poor thing,” he said, lifting a finger to pet the tiny thing on the back as it hung off his nose. “You went through something so rough.”

“Indeed,” Alwin said solemnly. “It had to hop over not one, not two, but three different lily pads to reach this clearing, and then when it finally did, the breeze knocked it over.”

Otto fell silent, looking cross-eyed at the frog on his face.

“Wait, that’s it?” he asked.

Alwin nodded. “That is it. Quite the adventure it had.”

“I thought it had been hurt or hunted or something.” Otto peeled the frog off his nose, only for it to clamber up his thumb and wrap all its limbs around it.

“No,” Alwin said as the frog kept screaming at them both. “You asked if any of my frogs would ever talk to you. There you have it.”

“But I can’t understand it.”

“It does not care in the slightest.” Alwin ran a thumb over his shoulder slowly. “I am afraid you’re stuck with it.”

“What?”

“It has just informed me that you’re warm and it’s staying,” Alwin said, looking at his arm, and Otto watched as the frog detached itself from his thumb and clambered up inside his sleeve cuff, walking along his arm until it settled somewhere on his shoulder.

“Staying,” Otto repeated.

“It would seem it has adopted you.”

“Right.”

“Congratulations,” Alwin added, plucking at his sleeve and tugging it away from his arm.

“Thanks,” Otto said, eyeing the movements. “Are you okay?”

“Hm?” Alwin asked. “I am, why?”

“You keep fiddling with your sleeve.”

“I’ll be perfectly fine.” He scratched at his skin, and a flake of his skin fluttered down.

“You’re dry,” Otto said, looking around. “We’ve been away from the water for a while and the day is relatively warm for this time of year. You’re dry.”

“A few hours won’t hurt me, Otto,” Alwin said as Otto reached inside his bag. “Enjoy your day.”

Otto took a small flask out of his bag and uncorked it. “Take your shirt off.”

“What?” Alwin asked, looking down at the flask, then up at Otto in question.

“Take your shirt off,” Otto repeated. “I brought water for you.”

He watched Alwin freeze in place, eyes wide and unblinking. “You…”

“I brought some water for you,” Otto said. “I suspected we’d stay a while, and there is no water here so I filled my flask with some water from the glen. It’s not much, but it should help until we’re back home.”

Otto noticed he had said home .

He realized Alwin had noticed it too, because those round eyes got impossibly large, but neither of them commented on it. Otto squished down the feeling of rightness as he said it. It wasn’t the time.

“Otto…” Alwin said, but Otto shook his head.

“Shirt. Off, please.”

Alwin took another weighted second before he tugged at the bottom of his shirt, looking away as he pulled it up and off his body.

A chest he had only dreamed of before was revealed before him, miles of green skin with intricate markings filling his vision and making his head spin from how pretty he found it. His hips really were that narrow and his throat really looked that soft and delicate.

He shuddered out a breath.

“Back to me.” Otto refused to acknowledge how protective he was feeling of Alwin in that moment. Of how fragile he looked as he hunched in on himself and turned around, hiding from Otto, covering up who he was.

He wouldn’t talk about it because he knew Alwin wouldn’t want him to, but he’d do his best to show him there was no reason for him to hide.

He lifted the flask and brought it to the nape of Alwin’s neck, tipping it and sending a cascade of murky water down Alwin’s dry skin.