Page 126 of The Frog Prince
“Nothing could be as important as you here, alive, in front of my very eyes,” she declared, bridging the distance as she often did. Always strong. Always assertive.
She grasped his face in both hands and Alwin closed his eyes in acceptance. Her fingers moved, no doubt feeling the texture of the makeup.
“What…?” She swiped at his cheek and gasped. “Alwin…”
“I am not as I once was,” he said, stepping out of her hold.
She froze in shock, still holding her hands up, makeup smeared all over her fingertips.
Knowing it was better to get it all out now, Alwin held his gloved hand out to Otto. He took it gently, cupping the underside of his wrist like it was precious and slowly working the fabric off. He caught Alwin’s distant gaze, love shining through as a reminder of his words.
The glove fell away, but Otto didn’t let go of him, tightening his hold through Alwin’s parents’ reactions of horror.
It was hard to mask, and Alwin didn’t blame them for it.
“Frog Prince…” his father gasped, hand tightening on the back of his chair. “That…that was you all along?”
“Yes.”
“How?” his mother demanded. “How could…”
“Queen Schön.”
“What did she do to you?” his father breathed.
Alwin repeated the story numbly, exhausted and wrung dry from having to relive it so many times in one day. He wanted to curl into a ball and rest. To find a lily pad big enough for him and Otto and float away. He wanted to be somewhere his skin wasn’t starving for moisture and his throat sac wasn’t pinched and trapped. Where his fingers could breathe and his face didn’t itch from makeup.
He had nothing left when he finished. He was a hollowed-out husk as he stared at his parents, silently begging for them to accept him.
“And the others? Jurgen?” the queen asked, searching his eyes.
Alwin closed them, unable to speak it again.
“They have a fitting burial site. Alwin did everything he could.” Otto came to his rescue. “The queen tricked him and them. She cursed Alwin and murdered the others. He’s been alone all this time, trying to find a way to break the curse and return to you.”
“My son,” his father said, gentle as ever.
Alwin opened his eyes to find him stepping forward, reaching a careful hand toward him.
Alwin wanted to take it like he was still a child, but at the same time he wanted to shy away and hide behind his sunshine. The conflicting instincts were tearing him straight down the center.
But he had to know. He had to see if there was enough love left in his parents for them to embrace who he now was.
He stood still as his father’s fingers wrapped around his own, holding his hand up in front of his eyes and looking at his green skin in silence.
Alwin startled when his mother’s hand joined theirs, connecting them the way she always did when he was a little boy.
“You said the curse would allow you to turn back to your former self if you were loved,” his mother said before turning to Otto, face hardening. “Do you not truly love him?”
“Mother—”
“I love him more than I love myself.” Otto spoke over him, stubborn chin jutting. “Everypart of him.”
The stress on that word wasn’t subtle, it was pointed and sharp.
“I chose this myself,” Alwin said, mediating as best he could. “I gave up parts of myself for a greater cause.”
“What cause could be greater than your humanity, Son?” his father asked.
