arm. Orion stared down at him, taken aback, and Tobias quickly released his grip.
“Orion…”
“Apologies, brother,” Orion said. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
“No, no, it’s my fault.” Tobias sat upright, letting out a heavy breath. “Thought you were someone else, that’s all.”
Orion took a seat on his bed while Tobias kneaded his temples. It was morning; the sun shined through the windows, making the space bright and cheerful, though neither such feelings resonated with him.
“Just thought you should know, there’s been some rescheduling,” Orion said. “Thanks to Garrick’s…sacrifice, our challenge for the day was canceled. Drake will have his alone time with Cosima, and the rest of us shirts will share our reward tomorrow. Other than that, we’re all free as birds—or as free as we can be locked away in this fortress. So you’re able to do as you please today. To go back to sleep, even. If you’d like.”
“You woke me just to tell me I’m free to go back to sleep?” Tobias mumbled.
“Actually, I woke you because you were moaning in your sleep, and not the good kind. Figured you’d want to be released from whatever torture your mind had created.”
Tobias sighed. His head throbbed, racked with vile visions he couldn’t shake.
“Are you all right, brother?” Orion asked.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re sure—”
“I’m fine,” Tobias spat. A wave of heat flooded his face. “Apologies, I’m…”
“Fine?” Orion said.
Tobias said nothing, still kneading his forehead.
Orion folded his legs beneath him. “Talk.”
“Oh, that’s all right.”
“I insist.”
“I don’t feel like it.”
“Of course you do,” Orion scoffed. “You’re just afraid you’ll burden me. But I haven’t anything else to do, what with the challenge being canceled. Have to keep myself occupied somehow.”
Tobias glanced at him sidelong. “Well, maybe I have a question.”
“Fancy that.”
“Perhaps I could get your opinion.”
“Is it for a friend?” Orion chuckled. “I’m kidding.”
Tobias stared at the ceiling, trying to wrangle his words. “Say… Say…”
“Say say. A good story thus far.”
“Say there are two paths to walk,” Tobias said. “And you have to pick one.”
“Go on.”
“One path is clearly the right choice. Everyone knows it. All the signs are there, there’s no denying it.”
“And the other path?”
Tobias hesitated. “It’s not right.”
Orion raised his eyebrows. “But?”
“But it feels more right than the right path. I mean, the signs all say it’s wrong, but you’re utterly convinced the signs themselves are backwards. That everyone’s been tricked, and you’re somehow the only one who’s seeing things as they are. Because the right path is wrong, and the wrong path is right, and that’s just the way it is, plain as day.” He froze, then dropped his head into his hands. “God, I just heard myself. None of that made sense. Fucking hell…”
“It made sense.”
Tobias looked up at Orion. “Well then…what would you do? If you had to choose.”
A smile sprang to Orion’s lips. “Have I told you about my wife?”
Selene. Tobias shook his head.
“I never thought I’d marry. Didn’t think myself the type. And then I met Selene…” His smile widened. “She was beautiful of course, but it wasn’t like how you hear in tales—love at first sight or any of that tripe. Anyhow, first she was just a woman I knew, then she was a friend, and then before I knew it I couldn’t see myself without her. I felt like an ass, really. It all happened while my eyes were closed, I didn’t see it coming. Am I boring you yet?”
“No, keep going,” Tobias said.
“All right. Well then, once I began seeing things clearly, naturally I started courting her. She was hesitant at first—just being coy, but I was young, and it made me nervous. Eventually she was warm and inviting, and soon we were inseparable, and that was it. I had found my match. No one compared to her, not even close. She was everything in an instant, and my life had suddenly changed for the better.”
Tobias smiled, relaxing into the familiarity of Orion’s story.
“Of course, there were complications,” Orion said. “You see, I lived on the border of Ethyua. Her family are Ethyuan nobles of the highest birth, just shy of royalty. And my family are Thessian trappers, and not the most tolerant kind. We announced our plans to be wed, and our families—both of them—were livid.
“I was disowned on the spot. Her parents were a bit more tenacious—tried to find her a suitable replacement, even threatened to ship her off to a pious sect for celibate women, though that ship had long since sailed.” He let out a laugh. “Anyhow, soon she