CHAPTER 69: CHAPTER 69: SCENT

Victor rose from his chair with the kind of unhurried ease that made time feel optional. He didn’t stretch or sigh, just moved as though the room had always been his to command. His hand brushed the edge of the table as he passed, fingers trailing lightly across the grain before he stopped beside Elias’s seat.

"Your scent..." Victor said evenly. "Your scent smells like burning temple incense, but sweeter."

Elias’s eyes flicked up, surprise tightening the line of his mouth. "You just noticed?"

Victor tilted his head, gaze dipping to Elias’s throat for a second too long before meeting his eyes again.

"No," he murmured. "I noticed the moment you stepped into the Numen Office Building. I’m only now letting myself speak of it."

Elias shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with how easily those words settled under his skin. "It’s just scent," he said, trying for dry and dismissive, though the rasp in his voice gave him away.

Victor’s expression didn’t change. "To you, maybe."

His hand hovered for a second near Elias’s shoulder, not quite touching, but close enough to feel the heat. Then he stepped back with a breath that felt like restraint more than distance.

"Come," he said. "I’ll walk you to your room before I leave."

There was no mockery in his voice now, no amusement. Just quiet intent. Elias stood without replying, his eyes flicking once to Victor’s hand and then forward as he followed him out. The corridor felt longer than it had earlier, or maybe it was just the space between them that changed, wider in some places, narrower in others, like a fault line that hadn’t quite settled.

At the door, Victor paused again.

"I will be missing for the next two days," he said, tone even, like it had already been decided and he didn’t want to give it the weight it deserved. "Robert and Adam will remain at the mansion. Call them for anything."

Elias’s brows pulled together, slow and subtle. "Missing," he echoed, not quite a question but not understanding, either. "You make it sound like you’re going off-grid."

Victor’s lips curved faintly, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. "Only from your side of the map."

"Cryptic," Elias muttered.

"Intentionally," Victor corrected softly. "There are things I need to handle, and you’ll be safer not knowing the details."

That landed harder than Victor likely meant it to. Elias didn’t answer right away, just watched him in the half-light of the hallway. The morning was filtering through the tall windows now, painting the stone floor in cool streaks of blue and silver, like someone had spilled moonlight too early.

"Two days," Elias said eventually. "Are your ether channels going to be alright?"

Victor’s eyes softened with the expression that resulted from the man’s feelings being certain in front of him.

Without a word, he stepped forward and pulled Elias into his arms.

Victor leaned in, lips brushing Elias’s forehead with the kind of gentleness that felt far more dangerous than anything else he could have done.

"I will take my kiss when I get back," he murmured against his skin, voice low and rough at the edges, "but your worries are making me question if I want to leave or not."

Elias’s hands hovered awkwardly at Victor’s waist for a breath before settling, light, uncertain, on the alpha’s chest, like he wasn’t sure if he was holding Victor back or letting him go.

"You’re being dramatic," Elias muttered, though his voice lacked conviction.

Victor chuckled softly. "I’ve earned it."

He stepped back, slowly, but didn’t break eye contact. The weight of his gaze lingered even as the distance grew again, like some part of him refused to loosen the thread.

"I’ll be fine," he said, this time more firmly. "And if I’m not, I’ll come back anyway."

Elias blinked at him. "That’s not how..."

"I’ll come back anyway," Victor repeated, with that maddening, impossible certainty.

Then, before Elias could argue, he turned and walked away, without another word, without looking back. Just the quiet hush of his steps down the corridor and the fading trace of crimson ether in the air.

—

The corridor door clicked shut behind Victor, and the hallway fell into stillness like nothing had been said at all.

Elias stood there for a moment longer, just inside the threshold, staring at the closed door like it might open again if he waited long enough. It didn’t.

With a breath that felt heavier than it should’ve, he turned and moved into the suite.

The bed was made with military precision, and the windows opened just enough to let the late october air drift in. A teacup sat on the desk where he’d left it the night before, next to a stack of files he hadn’t opened and a sleek black laptop that felt more like a challenge than a tool.

Elias sat down, dragging the computer toward him. The screen flickered to life, illuminating his face in cool blue as he opened the first draft of the slides for the upcoming symposium, the one Victor said he’d be attending with him, which, if Victor had his way, likely meant seating Elias in the front row while the rest of the room watched like he was a prize on display.

He started with the outline. Clean. Efficient. A few lines of bullet points hovered on the screen, waiting to be reshaped into something intelligent.

He stared at them for five minutes before moving a single word.

His fingers hovered over the keyboard again, then slowly began to type. The title header adjusted. Then a line beneath it. His jaw worked as he fought to push thoughts of Victor aside, of kisses promised, ether fraying at the edge of skin, and the way his chest felt slightly too warm when he thought about temple incense and how Victor had said it.

Until Victor, nobody knew how his pheromones smelled, not even Ruo, who saw him in his most vulnerable state.

He was halfway through a draft when a soft knock echoed against the suite door.

Elias didn’t look up at first. "I’m not hungry."

A pause.

"I didn’t bring food, sir," came the calm, unmistakable voice of Adam from the hallway. "Only myself."

Elias sighed and set his hands in his lap. "Door’s open."

The butler entered with his usual quiet dignity, every movement precise. Elias didn’t look at him right away, letting the silence stretch just enough to draw the question out.

Adam stood by the edge of the desk, a respectful distance, hands folded behind his back. "I hoped you might have a moment to speak."

Elias turned, brows faintly raised. "I don’t bite."

"Of that," Adam said with the faintest trace of humor, "I am not entirely convinced."

Elias blinked, then huffed a quiet breath, almost a laugh. He leaned back in the chair, arms crossing over his chest. "Alright. Talk."

Adam studied him for a moment. Not intrusively. Just... carefully. As if weighing the best place to start.

"I’ve served Lord Numen since before he could sit in a chair without falling asleep halfway through meetings," Adam said mildly. "I’ve also served him through four confirmed soul fractures, two disappearances, and one incident involving a burning basilica and a diplomatic envoy from the coast."

Elias blinked. "Is that your way of telling me he’s always been a handful?"

"It’s my way of telling you that what you see isn’t always what you’re meant to see," Adam said gently. "And that, despite how he behaves... he cares about you."