ততততত

𝐓 𝐎 𝐁 𝐈 𝐍

Aspen was fucking right.

The moment I stepped foot back inside that damned castle, I felt myself reliving a memory I never wanted to return to. It was like every whip lash against my skin ignited with hellfire, the pain reminding me to get the fuck away before my soft heart scorches me once more. But I kept going back to that castle. Now that I'm reinstated into the Adoridian militia, for Aspen, I have to do my part.

Weeks have passed and I force myself to do my patrol, to arrive for training where the generals and captains murmur about my lineage. They know who I am. They know that the Parias' were once noble, but fell from grace at the attempts to slaughter the king. I almost regret coming back here—but when I see Aspen at home, curled up into a serene bundle beneath rough-stitched quilts—I know that I made the right choice.

Except, the only one who thinks I haven't made the correct choice is Aspen. She seems to be curious about Princess Imogen, about what I know about the wedding. If I've learned anything, it's that Aspen knew everything about Leighton until he decided to spend the last remaining months in Lagulon. She's desperate to be back in that loop, but I keep my tongue tamed on that matter.

My patrol shift ends around midnight, and I enter the house at some god awful hour. Without realizing it, I had one hand popping open a bottle of wine, downing it in several thirsty gulps.

It's been weeks, and I thought I'd be content with this mundane life I wished for.

But it fucking sucks.

I slump down in a chair, my eyes drifting to Aspen's bedroom door. It's opened just a crack, just enough for me to catch the moonlight draping over her peacefully sleeping body. She's safe with me, but for years I was under the impression that Aspen would be this helpless little creature.

I am so fucking wrong.

She's grown to be a hurricane ravaging whatever path she crosses, sweeping away any being that defies her. Leighton hasn't wrecked her; if anything, his attempts to fracture her had only made Aspen stronger. It's like she's immune to his darkness, because even a storm can rage in the dead of night.

It makes my existence here irrelevant.

Aspen needs me, but she doesn't need my protection. She just needs to know that her big brother is on her side, no matter if she stumbles and falls.

When the wine has all but disappeared, I stagger into my own bedroom. It's these four walls that bring me to another world, one that I foolishly still let myself indulge in. In this world, there is moonlight, vanilla, and fire.

I strip from my armour and intricately embroidered Adoridian tunics until I'm in nothing but my boxers, then lay down on my bed. From here, I see the moon. Moonbeams coat the streets, reminding me of tendrils of illuminating golden hair. Every reminiscing thought of her feels like a slap in the face, a sign that I shouldn't be a doting lovesick boy.

But I am. My heart is so soft, so weak when the fantasy of Imogen knocks at its door. It just had to be this way. We have to stay separated.

Separated.

Apart.

Not in the same kingdom, room, realm.

I doubt the space will ever suffice me. It's been weeks, and yet it feels like I left Imogen alone in her bedroom yesterday. I still feel her final kiss crushing against my mouth, the whisper of those three coveted words "I love you" escaping those glossy lips. She'd clung to me before she let reality make the decision for her, but its a choice neither of us want. It's a choice determined by war.

I thought this would make everything go back to the way it was, but this isn't how it was. It never will be.

Not unless Leighton is eliminated from the throne.

I sit up from my bed and run a hand over my face. I never desired to make myself a target ever since my father attempted to assassinate the brutal king, but I can't help recall all the times I uttered the words 'I'll kill him' from my lips. Leighton is the seed of everything that's corrupted the foundations of this kingdom. We're chained to him—me, Aspen, Imogen, the kingdom of Adorid—and by performing his will and exposing Ruslan, I've only kept myself bound to those same chains.

I need to set the world free and rid him like a disease plaguing the lands.

"For fuck's sakes," I mutter under my breath, dumbfounded on my epiphany on what to do.

I burst from my bedroom and march straight into Aspen's bedroom, throwing on a shirt to hide my ugly scars. I just need to be sure I'm not drunk-ass crazy for coming up with such an irrational though.

"Aspen."

She blinks awake, her hazel doe eyes widening, then falling shut with fatigue. "What do you want? It's the middle of the night."

"What percentage of the castle would willingly rebel against Leighton?"

She jars further awake at such a question, sitting up like lightning. Her nose crinkles as she ponders over my words. "I can't give you an accurate guess, but most of the upper guards and noblemen side with Leighton. He pays them well, and blesses them with an abundance of gifts and riches. They seethe with power." She crooks a brow at me. "Why did you wake me up to ask this?"

I take a seat at the edge of her bed, running a hand through the cowlick in my chestnut hair. "Because I can't fucking sleep."

"So you're thinking about Leighton?" she sighs. "He's not the most pleasant to think about when you're trying to sleep. You should think about Imogen. At least she's got a nice face."

"I was," I mutter, my cheeks blushing red, but Aspen can't see it in the moonlit room, "but I know I can't free her from that goddamn betrothal without finding a way to get Leighton off that throne."

A slight smirk builds on Aspen's precious lips. "You want to free her?"

"More than anything," I whisper. "Dad's last task was an attempt to free the kingdom by killing Leighton. I... I think I need to do the same."

She sets a hand on my shoulder, her nails digging into the shirt I slipped over my skin. Does she remember the scars that deform me? It's better she doesn't. It's better to keep that part of me a secret.

"It would be easier said than done," Aspen tells me. "Killing Leighton won't rid the darkness that lies on that throne. It's woven into every high lord and guard in these lands—even the ones who you would never suspect. Eliminating Leighton would only give the throne to someone else."

My father told me long ago that it was written in the ancient scrolls that if Leighton Federline fails to produce an heir, the throne will be passed on to the Parias family. We're supposed to be eradicated, and yet we live.

But It's not like the high courts would even let us near the throne.

She looks away from me. "I'm not saying that all is impossible... I'm saying that removing Leighton from the throne involves countless tedious layers to unravel, but I'm ready to help you if you wish to take it on."

If I'm not completely out of my mind, then what I'm about to do will most certainly get me killed. This is the mission my father laid out for me—only he failed to complete it.

When our eyes meet again, all I can say is, "I'm going back to Lagulon."

I need to build an alliance, and Lagulon is the same kingdom my father sought out. Hell knows what they told him. Maybe King Orion will remember the late Berin Parias, or maybe it was all a faded mirage, but I won't need to go knock on his doorstep, begging on my knees for him to aid me. I have Imogen as my inner intel, the one who might convince her father to listen to a wanted thief like me.

Only if she agrees.

Except, she admitted her kingdom is weak compared to Adorid, and it's the reason she found herself tied to the betrothal to Leighton.

I will free her, then free anyone who's been ruined by bloodshed, until all that's left for these people is hope.

Aspen nods her head, but opens her mouth with a slight hesitation. "I'm not going with you."

"Aspen, you can't—"

"Listen to me," she cuts off. "When they discover that you've fled once again, they'll force me to go back to being Leighton's pet. You'll need me to be in those locked corridors when Imogen arrives as his wife, and you'll need me to be at her side to ward off Leighton. I know how to protect her within those walls, Tobin."

I shake my head. "I did all this shit to get you out of there."

"And now I know that you need to go back to Lagulon and be by her side," Aspen takes a seat next to me once more. "Seek out who in the Lagulonian courts you can trust first before you fortify any plans on how to advance. You need to know your allies."

A tendon in my jaw ticks at the thought of leaving Aspen here alone. She isn't some delicate flower that needs to be tended to, but she isn't just some ordinary woman. She's so young, yet it's like she's walked this earth for ages.

"No," the one word is all I can say as my tongue twists in my mouth.

"I can't go, Tobin," she whispers. "If these plans fall sideways, Imogen needs you to be her backbone when Leighton shatters her spine, because at the end of the day, we know she will marry him."

My fists clench, and my gaze wanders to the taut veins bursting from my forearms from the all-consuming wrath within me. "I can't watch Imogen marry that prick."

Aspen takes my hand in hers, squeezing my fingers tight. "In order to win the war, we need Imogen to marry Leighton. We need her to fight in Adorid and continue the ceasefire."

"And if I kill him before then?"

Aspen's eyes widen. "Unless you have every court in order, every alliance pledged to your allegiance... then the death of Leighton will bring the kingdoms to a full fledged war."

It's a task greater than I can fathom, a weight that will burden me until the war ends and dawn rises. The kingdoms of Lagulon and Adorid have been sentenced to the reign of warfare for as long as Leighton sits on that throne. But how can I, a thief with a price on my head, possibly convince the people that we have to fight, even if our army is small?

It's a lost cause, but Aspen is right about one thing: I will be by Imogen's side.

I will rebuild her.

I will forge my weapon into the moonbeam that she is, and together, we will burn these lands until they ignite.

I chuckle and set my hand atop her messy chestnut curls, roughing them up. "How are you so fucking wise?"

She giggles. "You inherited dad's foul mouth. I got his wisdom."

I grunt. "Sounds about right."

Those hazel eyes meet the kind brown irises of mine. "You're leaving tonight, aren't you?"

I never openly admitted that to her yet—but I am, ever since the realization dawned on me in my bedroom. This love for Imogen has rooted itself deep within my soft heart, and I can't bear to watch her and her kingdom wither away because of that bastard of a king. Gods, now I'm stuck in the thick of it all.

I lay back in Aspen's bed. "Not yet," I say, only to watch a faint smile curve her lips. "I still have a couple hours left with my bundle of chaos."

Aspen snuggles in her bed beside me, just like we used to do when she was so small. She purposefully attempts to steal all the quilts, but I let her, because hell knows when I'll be able to come back. I feel as if I'm tossing Imogen's beloved secret away by going back to her. Aspen was my fight. She was the reason I tied myself into Leighton's schemes in the beginning.

Now, my fight will be for Imogen.

For her people. For mine.

For freedom and hope and everything in between.

"Take care of her in that castle for me," I whisper.

Just when I think Aspen's fast asleep, her voice breaks the night: "Just until you can bring her back to yours."

── •✧• ──

Surprise update! I finished this chapter yesterday, and decided that instead of keeping it a secret until Friday, I would post it now! I am impatient, and so are you. I'm already making headway on the next chapter, so expect another update this weekend!

Also, I apologize that there won't be a lot of Tobin and Aspen chapters for awhile now, but there will be PLENTY of Tobigen content in the upcoming chapters.

Remember to vote, comment, and share! I greatly appreciate it <3