Chapter 153: Chapter 153: Just stay out of their reach
The phone call had ended somewhere across the city, but in the manor the air was warm, heavy with the faint scent of imperial iris. Victor hadn’t moved far since Elias’s confession. He’d simply...stayed, arms around him as if the statement had rearranged the gravity in the room.
Elias sat sideways across his lap again, the blanket forgotten on the floor, a pen lying crooked on the desk where it had rolled. His brown eyes flicked once toward the window, but Victor’s palm at his back drew his focus back in every time, a slow, steady pressure like a heartbeat.
"Victor..." he started, but the word faded when the man’s arms tightened around him, just enough to pull him closer until his temple rested against Victor’s shoulder.
Victor had been quiet for minutes now, but not still. His thumb kept tracing small arcs over Elias’s hip, his fingers splayed at the small of his back as if to cover more of him. When he finally spoke, his voice was softer than Elias had ever heard it. "You said it," he murmured. "And now I have no reason to hold back."
Elias tilted his head enough to glance up at him. "You’re already bad at holding back."
Victor’s mouth curved faintly, but he didn’t let go. "Worse now," he admitted without shame. "You think I’m clingy now? You should have seen me the first century I learned to want something." His hand slid up to the back of Elias’s neck, fingers threading gently into his hair. "I’m not going to pretend it didn’t change me."
Elias tried for dry, but it came out more like a breath. "You’re crushing me."
Victor loosened his grip a fraction but didn’t move him off his lap. "Then push me off," he said quietly. "Say the word. Otherwise I’m keeping you here until I’ve learned how to be human about this."
"Human?" Elias echoed, one brow arched.
Victor’s eyes softened, still molten but steady. "It’s new for me, too," he said simply. "Having someone say it back."
Elias looked at him for a long moment, then let his head fall back against Victor’s shoulder, the tension in his spine easing by degrees. Victor’s scent, smoke and something older, slid through the faint trace of imperial iris until the two smells felt indistinguishable.
"You’re impossible," Elias muttered.
Victor’s thumb stroked his jaw once, tilting his face up enough to meet his gaze. "And yours," he murmured. "Say it again if you want me to stop clinging."
Elias huffed a quiet laugh. "I love you."
Victor closed his eyes briefly, a sound like a low exhale slipping from him. When he opened them again, the fire had banked but not gone out. He bent his head and brushed his lips once against Elias’s hair. "I’ve lied. I’m not letting you go... yet."
Elias groaned, the sound muffled against Victor’s shoulder. "You’re ridiculous," he muttered, shifting enough to poke a finger at the black-stone ring. "I just said it; you don’t have to turn into a barnacle."
Victor only hummed, tilting his head until his temple brushed Elias’s. "I warned you."
"You warned me about gods and rules," Elias said, dry but soft, "not about being smothered on an office chair."
Before Victor could answer, a sharp buzz cut through the warm quiet. The phone on the desk lit with Stone’s name, the glow throwing a pale square of light over the papers.
Elias breathed out a half-laugh, half-groan. "Saved by the bell."
Victor’s eyes flicked toward the phone but he didn’t immediately move. His thumb made one last slow pass over Elias’s hip before he reached across and snagged the device, still holding Elias easily against him. "Stone," he said, his voice back to velvet-dark business.
On the other end, Stone’s tone was calm, still dragging the smoke of a new cigar. "As predicted, Jonathan called. It is as we expected; Theobald and Clarkes are trying to get each other’s throats, but they need Elias."
Victor’s jaw ticked once, the only outward sign of reaction. "I see."
"I told him to send me his plans," Stone continued, "and I’ll ’help.’ Thought you should know before he tries anything stupid. I have the gut feeling that they want him only to keep you in check."
Victor’s thumb tapped once against the phone before he ended the call. The molten red in his eyes had sharpened again, but when he set the device down, his hand went right back to Elias’s waist, fingers spreading as if to anchor him there. "Stone confirms it," he murmured. "The Clarkes are already reaching for you."
Elias let out a short, disbelieving laugh and tipped his head back far enough to see his face. "Of course they are," he muttered. "It’s not enough to ruin my work, now they want to use me as a leash for you."
Victor’s crimson eyes stayed on him, steady and molten. "They’re trying," he corrected softly. "Wanting and touching are not the same thing."
His thumb moved once more at Elias’s waist, a slow, deliberate circle that felt like both a promise and a warning. "Stone will keep feeding me what they plan. Let Jonathan think he’s winning."
Elias stared at him for a moment, the faint lines at the corners of his eyes deepening. "You sound like you’ve already decided how this ends."
Victor’s mouth curved faintly, dangerous but warm under it. "I decided the moment you sat here and said the words. They’ll never get you back, Elias. Not as a pawn. Not as bait."
"But what about the rules?"
Victor laughed this time, dark and velvety, which gave Elias shivers down his spine. "I will follow them, but the moment they try to use red ether again, then their fate is erased... And they will."
Elias’s breath hitched at the sound of that laugh. It rolled out of Victor like smoke, soft but thick enough to feel against his skin, and every hair on his arms rose. "You say that like it’s inevitable," he muttered, fingers curling unconsciously into the fabric of Victor’s shirt. "Like you’ve already seen it happen."
Victor’s crimson gaze held him, steady and molten, no longer even trying to hide the truth of what he was. "Because I have," he said simply. "They always reach for it eventually. Red ether is the shortcut, the crack in Uno’s weave. The ones who play with it believe they can cheat the pattern. They all learn the same lesson."
His thumb dragged once over Elias’s jaw, the motion oddly gentle after the words. "I will follow the rules. But if they bring that stain into the world again, the weave erases them through me. That is not a threat, Elias." His voice dropped lower, softer. "It’s math."
Elias swallowed, his brown eyes flicking between Victor’s and the black-stone ring on his own palm. For a moment he couldn’t tell whether the shiver running down his spine was fear or relief. "And if they do it anyway?" he asked quietly.
Victor leaned a fraction closer, their foreheads almost touching. "Then their end is already written," he murmured. "All you have to do is stay out of their reach."