Chapter 21 Tobias

"Tobias!" a deep voice called from behind as I walked toward the dining hall.

My first thought was that my father was at the school, but the timbre of the voice was off.

I turned, a scowl forming on my face as Niko strutted toward me with a wide grin.

"How's it going, man?" Niko asked, easily dodging my attempted punch to his shoulder. It was a half-hearted attempt, anyway. I was glad to see him.

I rolled my eyes and stepped back to lean against the wall with one foot hitched behind. "Not practicing my Arthur impersonations, that's for sure."

"Well, when you spend every waking minute with the general, it's almost expected."

I couldn't tell if Niko was joking or if he was merely pointing out the irony of his unhappy situation with sarcasm. "How's that going? "

Niko shrugged. "I'd rather be here, if I'm being honest." He moved to lean against the wall next to me, as if the action proved his words.

"You don't have to tell me," I said. "I wouldn't want to spend every waking minute with the general, and he's my father."

"It's not too bad, and my mom's happy," Niko offered. "Especially when I told her that I'm basically Arthur's assistant. And since Arthur just travels around having secret meetings, I'm a glorified coat rack and coffee runner."

"Well, I'm glad it's not me," I said, clapping a hand on Niko's shoulder.

Niko ran a hand over his near-shaved head. I knew this was his way of prepping himself to ask an awkward question or say something that caused trepidation, so I waited.

"How's Ashlyn?" he asked after a moment.

The mention of her name angered me. "Being reckless."

Niko's head snapped to me. "Reckless?"

"She and Arya snuck out to the city yesterday."

"They left the Dome?" His tone was incredulous.

I nodded. "They said they needed a girls' day. Whatever that means." I scoffed.

"It's probably my fault," he said quietly after a moment.

"How so?"

"Well, I broke up with Ashlyn before I left. Brett texted and said Ashlyn's been mopey ."

I clapped a hand on his shoulder again in a mock gesture before saying, "You're giving yourself too much credit. When have you ever made a girl mopey ? "

Niko shrugged off my hand and punched me in the shoulder, knocking me off balance so I had to plant both feet on the ground again. "Thanks, jerk!"

But we laughed it off.

"How about you? How are things with Arya ?" Nick sang her name.

I stared at the opposite wall, feeling the heat rise in my neck. "We may have hooked up a few days ago." I looked down at my feet, not wanting to meet what I was sure was a surprised expression on his face. "But I haven't spoken to her since Saturday, when I pretty much told her she could go and get herself killed." I blew out an exasperated breath.

"I thought she was different than the others?" Niko only sounded half-surprised. It made me want to crawl into a hole.

I chose anger instead and gripped a fistful of my hair. "She is!" I let go and smacked the wall behind me. "But I was so angry that she could be so stupid and go topside, the words just came out."

"You really care about her," he said slowly, making me cringe inwardly even though it was more true than he knew.

"Her safety is important, yes. If she'd been captured..." I let the gravity of those words hover in the air in front of us. "It would be disastrous for all of us. Every shifter would be in danger."

I would be in danger. If she died, I would die, too. But it wouldn't be a quick death. It would be a long, slow, agonizing torture. It was bad enough not having spoken to her since our fight. But if I never got to see her ever again… The terrified pain that consumed my entire body and soul at the thought was too much to bear.

I needed to change the subject .

"What are you doing here, anyway?" I asked, shoving my angry, panicked feelings toward Arya aside. "Is my father here?"

"Yes," Niko said, snapping to a more business-like demeanor that was so unlike him. "He's asked me to fetch you. He's in Ms. Tanis's office and wants to speak with you."

I paused for a few seconds before answering. "Alright. Let's get this over with."

* * *

Arthur sent Niko to the kitchen for our lunches when we arrived, proving that Niko really was Lord Dracul's errand boy. Niko probably felt it was demeaning, but I was grateful. It meant my friend was safe and not in the line of battle.

I had only been in Ms. Tanis's office a handful of times, and most of the space was not particularly interesting. A few feminine touches that were typical in any of the female faculty offices decorated it, such as a purple orchid on the edge of her desk, a knitted blanket hanging over the chair in the corner, and a framed watercolor on the wall of what looked like a harpy woman with golden eyes and a white braid talking to a partly submerged merman with jet-black hair hanging on the wall.

What was interesting about her office was the framed painting on the back wall. The one Ms. Tanis could see from her chair as she graded essays and scored tests. It was an enlarged print of the oil painting I had once seen hidden away in one of the undisturbed, dusty rooms at home.

The painting was of a fearsome dragon with iridescent, purplish-blue scales. Its wingspan filled the canvas from edge to edge, and the icy blue eyes reminded me of Tamara's, which led me to believe that it must be the portrait—the shifted portrait—of one of the Dracul line. I couldn't help but turn as I entered the room to gaze at the painting. It wasn't the original, but it still conveyed the power of the beast.

"Isn't she magnificent?" Arthur asked. He was perched on the edge of Ms. Tanis's desk.

"Who is she?" I asked without turning his way. "Do you know her?"

I heard him move toward me, stopping at my left side. "She was our relative. A famous one, at that."

I did look at him then, waiting for him to elaborate.

Arthur's smile was knowing. "Claudette Dracul," he said, then crossed his arms and turned away from the painting. "The original is at the manor, but your mother detests it and demanded it be moved somewhere she was less likely to see it every day."

"Claudette Dracul? The one who—?"

"Yes, yes." He cut me off, waving a hand in a gesture that demanded we get back on topic. "The woman who brought the curse upon the Draculs. That's probably why your mother hates it. But we don't know her story. Whatever she did to bring on that loathed curse couldn't have been as bad as the curse itself." He eyed me with a hint of a smirk. "Perhaps we should track down those witches someday and make them pay for over a century of Dracul misery, huh? "

I was at a loss for words. It was the most I'd ever heard my father talk about the curse. Most of the time, he acted like it was a myth or that it didn't exist. So I merely nodded.

"But that's not why I wanted to speak with you. "

I situated myself internally, if not physically. I never knew what grandiose task or chastising conversation Arthur had planned.

"Now that it's confirmed that Arya Walker is indeed the siren of the prophecy, we no longer need you to acquaint yourself with her."

I swallowed. I wasn't sure I'd heard right.

Arthur walked toward the watercolor of the harpy and mer. "We have the information we need, and now it would be best if you no longer have contact."

"Just like that?" I asked.

He turned back, his arms clasped behind him. "Just like that." His eyes suggested he was not pleased with my response. "You were not thrilled with the assignment in the first place. I thought you would be happy to be relieved of it."

"It's just... I..."

"Listen to me, Tobias," Arthur said, positioning himself in front of me so we were only a foot apart and nearly eye-to-eye. "The girl is dangerous. You almost got yourself killed when those vampires attacked, and they weren't there to attack you. Being near her puts you in danger. I will not lose my son in such a wasteful and pointless manner."

It shocked me more than warmed me to hear that my father cared whether I lived or died. It was obvious that he would—Arthur was not completely uncaring of his children. I just couldn't remember ever hearing the words spoken aloud.

"You are released from seeing the girl. You will break your ties with her immediately." His words were final. The syllables clipped to emphasize the point.

I felt my mouth turn dry. I couldn't do what he was ordering. I'd be in more danger if I did. But I couldn't tell him that. He would find some way to turn my imprint against me, make it my fault, accuse me of being weak because of it. So, I did the only thing I could do—I nodded obediently.

"And if things go according to plan, Arya will be leaving the Dome shortly."

"Leaving?" Panic blazed through my chest—a white-hot fireball just beneath my ribcage.

"With me," Arthur explained. "Leaving under my direction and protection."

Just like that.

My every nerve-ending sizzled with horror and dread. Not only for myself, but for her. Arthur was a force no one could reckon with. Even if Caesar or Celeste were against the plan, I was certain he would find a way to have them overruled. There was nothing a seventeen-year-old student of the Dome could do to stop the inevitable. He would beat her into submission, take everything good and pure about her, and make it ugly and hardened.

He would take her away from me.

I couldn't allow that to happen.

After a few more formalities, Arthur dismissed me, and we parted outside Ms. Tanis's office in under five minutes.

Without seeing where I was going, or having a destination in mind, I half-stumbled, half-jogged down the hallway. I ran on pure instinct, tugging on that invisible tether that bonded me to her.

As if I'd conjured her from a dream, the dark-haired, heart-stopping wonder of a girl manifested herself in a secluded hallway, and all the anger and fear I'd been harboring dissolved .

She glowered at me when our eyes met, then kept walking toward the dorms.

"Wait, Arya," I called. My voice sounded more normal than I expected. "Could we talk?"

She stopped but didn't turn right away. Perhaps she was debating whether to allow the conversation?

Finally, she turned. Her blue eyes lifted to mine as I slowly approached, but I stopped just outside her invisible personal bubble. Giving her space.

"I'm sorry." The words flew from my mouth.

She folded her arms. Her mouth pursed, and an eyebrow arched.

"I had no right to explode at you like that. You should be able to make your own choices."

Her eyebrow relaxed. Her lips, too.

"Even if they're stupid and reckless ones." That flew out, too.

Her glower, which was more of a scowl now, returned. "Look, Tobias, whatever—"

"Just let me get this out," I pleaded. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry." I held my hands up in surrender and took two more tentative steps toward her.

Her face softened. "You have no right to try to control my life."

"Yes," I agreed. "Like you said, you're not my property, and I never meant to treat you like you were. It just scares me how much I care about you, and that causes me to act stupid and reckless."

Her face softened more, and she unfolded her arms. "That's the most honest and real thing you've ever said to me. But I'm tired of this game, Tobias. You either want to be with me or you don't."

"Yes!" I blurted, surprising both myself and her.

"What?" she asked, a look of pure confusion on her face.

I let out a heavy breath, sagging my shoulders and taking a step closer. "I'm just as tired of this game as you are. I'm tired of trying to fight this thing between us, and I just can't do it anymore."

She stared at me with wide, unblinking eyes that sliced right to the center of me, cracking every defensive wall I'd ever put up.

And then, without a second thought, more words flew from my mouth, words I never expected to say. "I want to be with you. Will you be my girlfriend?"