Chapter 25 Tobias
Tobias
The silence was stifling. Tobias, Leila, Enzo, and Raphael sat in one of their two rooms in a new inn slightly more comfortable than the last. The wooden chair creaked beneath Enzo’s shifting weight while Raphael bobbed his knee, no doubt counting the passing seconds.
Leila’s brow was furrowed, the churning of Her thoughts explicit. But Tobias was calm.
He’d been thinking about this moment since the morning before, when they’d first learned of their locked-in state.
It had kept him awake that night, his eyes boring holes into the ceiling, his mind turning over each misstep, every consequence and solution.
Hours later, there was nothing left but ease.
He understood his circumstances. He accepted them.
The lock clanked, and Hylas entered the room, promptly shutting the door behind him. Raphael and the others bolted upright. “So?”
Hylas frowned. “No change at the borders.”
Leila and Raphael cursed under their breath while Enzo grumbled something in Kovahrian. Still, Hylas lingered by the doorway, his gaze cast toward the floor.
Leila raised a knowing eyebrow. “What else?” When Hylas shied away from Her gaze, She glowered. “What else, Hylas.”
He sighed. “They’re to begin random searches and seizures next week. Maybe sooner.”
The news was lost on Tobias. He’d expected this outcome, or at the very least something similar in its horrendousness.
They’d been dodging their fate for months, and the length of time they’d evaded it was truly admirable.
But they’d run out of quick fixes and good fortune. There was no denying that any longer.
“We’re fucked.” Raphael hopped up from his seat and paced the wooden floor. “We’re absolutely fucked.”
“There must be a solution.” Hylas joined the others, pulling up his own chair and slinging his charcoal cloak across its back. “We’ve avoided capture thus far.”
“There isn’t a solution,” Raphael spat. “Don’t you understand? We’re stuck here waiting for death. This room might as well be a dungeon.”
“Stop it, Raph.” Leila’s voice was firm, but Her gaze was frenzied. “We just need to focus. We came to Trogolia for a reason.”
“We chose Trogolia as our passage to Kovahr for their lax borders.” Raphael swung his hands wildly as he spoke. “Now, they have the most stringent borders in all the ally realms.”
Enzo pounded his fist into his open palm. “I kill soldiers with bare hands.”
“Yes, we’ll just kill all the soldiers and kill all the civilians and kill kill kill until we kill our way to Kovahr.” Exhaling, Raphael collapsed into his chair and kneaded his temples. “I need a drink. Do we have beer? Or maybe something stronger?”
Leila stood, Her chin resting on Her fist, and the fear in Her eyes broke Tobias.
It was disguised as deep concentration, a stern regality that often masked Her real feelings, but the slight tremble in Her hands betrayed Her.
She was terrified, just as he had been the day prior.
He wasn’t anymore, and he knew exactly what they needed to do.
She was going to hate him for it.
Sighing, Leila shook Her head. “This is My fault.”
“Your fault?” Confusion plastered Enzo’s face, his heavy brow knitted. “I do not know this.”
“I’m the one who lights up like a lantern,” She said. “I’m the one—”
“With unmistakable shadow magic,” Raphael added.
Leila frowned. “Thank you, Raph.” It was Her turn to pace the floor, Her fear working its way to the surface. “If I weren’t so conspicuous, we could’ve traveled with ease. But I’ve got this damned skin and this damned magic—”
“Eh, Raphael told Flynn.” Enzo pointed Raphael’s way. “It is his mistake, yes?”
“It doesn’t matter who’s at fault,” Hylas said. “What matters is what we do next.”
Leila ignored him, lost in Her pacing. “It can’t end like this. It just can’t.” Her eyes were on the path ahead of Her, Her words more for Herself than anyone else. “Kovahr is right there, within grasp. We need their numbers. We need an army. We need—”
“A decoy,” Tobias finally spoke.
“Precisely.” Leila stopped in Her tracks. “Wait, what?”
“Brontes needs a reason to believe The Savior isn’t here in Trogolia,” Tobias said. “A definitive reason. He’d withdraw his troops, send them to wherever he assumes She might reside, and thus She’d have the freedom to move with ease.”
“Naturally,” Raphael scoffed. “But that ship has long since sailed.”
“Has it?” Tobias glanced among his allies. “Just one effective decoy, and that’s it. The borders are open, and Leila can secure Her army.”
Leila grabbed the back of Her chair, leaning against it as She looked at Tobias. “What exactly are you getting at?”
“Brontes believes we’re here in Trogolia.
Flynn has led him to this point. But he doesn’t have any proof.
Nothing of the sort.” The words spilled out of Tobias with an ease he hadn’t expected, as numbness took hold of him.
“If we gave him inarguable evidence to the contrary, he would uproot his men in an instant and send all his troops in the opposite direction.”
Leila pursed Her lips. “Tobias. Out with it.”
Her expression had turned forbidding, but he wasn’t deterred. “We need bait in the south. That will point him toward Ethyua, far enough from Trogolia to grant You passage to Kovahr.”
“We don’t have bait,” Raphael said.
“We do. We’ve had it all along.”
Silence swept the chamber once again, but Leila didn’t once break their gaze. She knew what he was going to say. Her narrowed eyes had become an unspoken command, but She couldn’t sway him. He’d made up his mind.
“It has to be me,” Tobias said. “I’m the bait.”
His allies remained quiet, but their faces spoke for them, loud and emphatic.
Hylas’s eyes shot wide, Enzo gaped blankly, and even Raphael looked befuddled.
But it was Leila who stole Tobias’s focus—Leila, who hadn’t moved, hadn’t so much as blinked, yet the air around Her had darkened.
An eternity passed before She spoke, and Her tone came out venomous.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I can shadow walk to the Krios Woods, as close to the Ethyuan border as I’m able,” Tobias said. “I will make myself known, and I will—”
“Die? That’s your genius plan?”
Tobias’s stomach clenched. Her voice was the edge of a knife. He hadn’t seen this version of Her in some time.
“He won’t kill me.”
Leila let out a derisive laugh. “I know My father better than you do, and he’s killed far greater threats with less cause.”
“I am his key to finding You. He needs me.” Tobias spoke with gentle, placating intention. “He will keep me alive as long as he believes there’s a chance I’ll speak.”
“Perhaps there are other avenues to explore.” Hylas cleared his throat, desperate to end the tension. “Brontes must assume the two of you aren’t traveling alone.”
“You’d have me sacrifice my mother and sister?” Tobias said. “Brontes believes the four of us are together. I’m unwilling to let any of them be marred by his hand.”
Hylas was quiet for a long while. “I could go.” He sat tall, though his eyes revealed his terror. “I’ve experienced his wrath and survived.”
Tobias rested a comforting hand on the man’s shoulder. “With all due respect, I doubt he knows you’ve joined our trek. You’re useless to him, and he will end you in an instant.”
“Well, this has been a hilarious display of stupidity, but if anyone has a real, actionable plan, I’d be glad to hear it,” Leila scoffed. She turned on Her heel, resuming Her pacing, and Tobias sighed.
“Leila—”
“I like it.” Enzo shrugged. “Tobias is bait. It is good.”
“For fuck’s sake, Enzo, read the room,” Raphael muttered.
“Tobias will not be bait.” Leila pointed a sharp finger Tobias’s way. “As your Savior, that is my will.”
“And as Your promised, my will is my own,” Tobias said.
“You are unbelievable.”
“Brontes needs a reason to leave Trogolia. He needs a win—a captor he can announce to the masses and claim as victory.” Tobias followed Her path with his gaze, and something within him splintered when Her breathing quickened. “No one else can take that place. No one else—”
“Literally anyone else,” She spat. “Anyone can be bait.”
“His objective is You. You are all he wants. And I am Your closest ally.” He set his jaw. “If he has me—”
“He won’t have you,” She said. “He won’t.”
“It’ll be temporary.”
“Your life will be temporary.”
“He won’t kill me, Leila,” Tobias maintained. “I know You know this.”
“Fine.” Leila stopped short and crossed Her arms. “Then he’ll torture you instead. Is that what you want? Or are you really so naive as to believe yourself untouchable?”
The ire in Her voice was palpable. He knew this was coming—Her razor-sharp words and hands shaking at Her sides. She was fighting to barricade Herself, to wear Her fury like armor, but he saw what lay beneath it—the helplessness he’d caused Her. The hurt.
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
Leila’s lips parted, disbelief washing over Her face. “You’re fucking mad.”
“It is good idea.” Enzo casually bit into a plum. “Tobias is perfect distraction—”
“Tobias is My promised, I will not lead him to slaughter!” Leila’s voice came out in a roar.
Tobias nearly flinched, but he kept himself still, refusing to bend or sway.
He didn’t need to see Her colors, as She emanated a fiery kind of pain, Her gaze alone rancorous.
She flourished the ribbon on Her wrist. “Or is this just a joke to you?”
Her words pierced something soft within him, and he stood. “You know that isn’t so.”
“United as one.” Her carriage was strong, but Her lip wobbled. “Yet you stray from My side—martyr yourself without care for the consequence.”
“Darling—”
“Don’t call Me that!”
Raphael rose from his seat, approaching Her as if She were a wild animal. “Leila—”
“You know what?” She shook Her head. “It doesn’t matter, this plan of yours. I forbid it. This is My life and My army, and you’ll do as I say.”
Tobias’s heart lurched, but he didn’t give in to its plea. He’d gone over their circumstances a thousand times over, and no other path ended with Leila alive. Sacrificing himself was their only move.
She knew it too. That’s what wounded Her so.
“I’m leaving, Leila. With or without Your consent.”
“You’re not going anywhere! Do you hear Me?” She spun toward the others, red-faced and feral. “Have you nothing to say? How can you sit back and listen to this?”
Hylas’s dark gaze flitted between the quarreling lovers. “Leila, I think—”
“I refuse,” She hissed. “I will not hear another word from your lips. I will not indulge this idiocy a moment longer.”
Something akin to disgust overtook Her gaze. Tobias didn’t take offense, didn’t feel much of anything but a deep, probing guilt. The thickening of Her voice revealed Her weakness, and when She spoke next, Her words broke him.
“Why must you always treat yourself as disposable? Does My love for you mean nothing?”
Tobias’s insides shattered. She stormed from the chamber, slamming the door hard enough to send it rattling on its hinges.
Hylas winced, but Tobias remained still, a statue mortared to the floor.
He had broken Her heart, something he’d sworn never to do, not again.
He glanced down at the ribbon wrapping his wrist, and a pang shot through him.
He’d promised to devote the rest of his days to Her, and he was honoring that vow.
He would save Leila, even if it meant losing Her forever.