CHAPTER 203: CHAPTER 203: ROT

The storm hadn’t hit yet, but the skyline already glowed with that pre-electric haze, neon lights flickering against the low clouds, thunder murmuring somewhere behind the glass. Victor sat at his desk, half in shadow, a tablet open in front of him, data feeds from the city scrolling in thin, luminous lines.

Across the room, Elias lay sprawled on the couch, still in his training shirt, damp hair curling at the ends from the earlier shower. He’d given up pretending to read; the book sat open beside him, ignored in favor of tracing idle circles against the soft fabric of the couch. The hum of ether stabilizers built into the walls filled the silence, a quiet, rhythmic pulse meant to calm, but lately it only reminded him of how tense everything was.

Then came the knock, two sharp raps, urgent.

Victor didn’t look up. "Come in."

The door slid open, and Aswin stepped through, rain still glittering on his jacket. He looked like he’d run from the rooftop helipad straight here, breath short, eyes sharp. "Sir," he said, voice clipped. "We have movement from Adler."

Elias sat up immediately. "What kind of movement?"

Aswin’s gaze flicked briefly to him before settling on Victor. "He’s activating ether seals around the Adler estate. Internal feeds confirm he’s locked the perimeter. His wife is under house arrest."

Victor’s pen stilled over the tablet, a grim smirk appearing on his face. "So he found out about what Anna’s child really is. Didn’t he?"

Ashwing took his coat off with slow movements. "We don’t know yet, but..." He looked at Victor, dressed in a cream blouse and navy pants with house shoes, looking perfectly at ease. "You are not going after him."

"No." Victor answered simply.

"Why? He plans to kill his wife and child." Ashwin said, thinking about the rules that applied to gods.

"He is not killing or interfering with anyone." Elias said while putting his book away. "Theobald is waiting for the fateless child to be born and kill Anna. Then nobody can stop him from devouring it."

Victor’s eyes flicked toward Elias, the faint light from the tablet painting sharp lines across his face. "You’ve been listening," he murmured, voice low but not displeased.

Elias stood, the soft fabric of his shirt clinging to his skin where it hadn’t fully dried. "You weren’t exactly subtle," he said. "Besides, I know what that kind of seal does. He’s isolating the ether flow. It means he’s preparing for extraction."

Aswin crossed his arms, still damp from the rain. "That’s why I came straight here. The ether levels are off the charts. He’s building something divine and unstable. The woman won’t last through the night if it detonates."

"He won’t do it. She is not giving birth yet." Victor said, his voice still low while watching Elias, his eyes fixated on the still flat belly of his pregnant mate. "He will wait while his followers are pouring their ether through the wards."

"What do you want to do?" Elias asked, his hands now clenched on the couch, tense from the thought of Victor being away; he barely cared that Anna was hurting. The last time he’d seen her, she’d looked at him like he was a disease, a reminder of everything their family wanted buried. Whatever she had chosen to marry into, she’d chosen it with open eyes.

He looked at Victor, who was still standing by the desk, tablet glowing faintly against the dark. "You’re not staying still because of her," Elias said quietly.

Victor’s gaze flicked up, crimson eyes glinting with amusement. "No," he admitted. "I’m staying still because of you."

Elias’s pulse kicked once. "Me?"

"You think Adler’s goal ends with his child being born?" Victor asked. He stepped closer, the soft sound of his bare feet on the marble floor the only noise in the room. "He’s barely a nation’s god, that alone means almost nothing compared with me. He wants more power."

Elias frowned. "Meaning?"

"Meaning that he would try to get to the powerful, yet vulnerable being of a barely born demigod. After he devours his son, he will try to get to you and our child."

Elias’s brow furrowed, the dim light from the window outlining the tension across his face. "You said he wants more power. I thought once someone ascended..."

Victor’s low laugh cut him off. "they’d be satisfied?" he finished for him. "No. Ascension does not eliminate hunger; rather, it magnifies it.

He leaned back in his chair, the tablet screen casting a cold gleam across his features. "Theobald Adler was a low-grade god, he barely could be called that. Barely stable, held together by the ether his followers feed him. He was supposed to be grateful for that. Instead, he decided to devour his own worship."

Elias stared. "You’re saying he plans to eat them."

Victor’s crimson eyes glinted in the dark. "Not them," he said softly. "Their children. The unborn are the purest ether reservoirs a god can touch."

Elias started to pace even if he knew that there was no way Victor would let Theobald touch him, but something didn’t add up. Something irked him about the entire situation; it was like a shiny apple, perfectly good, until you bite it and its core is already rotted.

"What about their fate?" Elias asked softly, stopping in front of Victor.

The alpha took the chance and got his mate closer to him, guiding him to sit in his lap. Ashwing sighed at that and tried to look away from it.

"Well, Adler found a way to wipe it. His child has no fate strings and Uno is curious about that."

"Uno is more curious about how to date Connor at this point."

Victor’s mouth twitched, that rare flicker of genuine amusement breaking through the cold composure that had settled over him. "You noticed that too," he murmured.

Aswin made a low sound that might’ve been a cough or a strangled laugh. "I wish I hadn’t," he muttered under his breath, focusing very intently on the rain slicking down the windows instead of the Emperor of the modern age casually holding a half-dressed omega in his lap.

Victor ignored him. "Uno’s distractions are none of my concern. What matters is what Adler learned from him."

Elias leaned back slightly, his expression sharp despite the faint flush on his cheeks. "You think Uno told him something?"

Victor’s thumb brushed absently over the inside of Elias’s wrist, a grounding gesture that belied the edge in his voice. "Uno doesn’t teach. He tempts. He would’ve whispered about what’s possible when you strip fate away from a being before it’s born. Adler, in his arrogance, decided to test it."

Elias frowned. "By turning his own child into an experiment, what a heartless jerk."

"Exactly." Victor’s eyes glinted, deep crimson catching the dim light. "He devoured the ether fate should have claimed. The child became fateless, pure potential without limit or direction. That’s why Uno’s fascinated. He calls it a miracle. I call it rot."