CHAPTER 212: CHAPTER 212: MESSENGER

Connor blinked once, then twice, the grin twitching at the corners as though trying to decide if laughter or horror was the appropriate response.

"Relegated," he repeated, slowly. "That’s... one way to describe the man currently trying to outsmart the Creator."

Elias exhaled, long and resigned. "Perfect. Wonderful. I didn’t want peace anyway."

Victor didn’t comment, but the sharp edge of his silence said enough. The lights flickered once, not dramatically, just in that subtle, warning way that meant his patience was thinning.

Aswin leaned toward Robert and whispered, "We should start digging a bunker."

Robert nodded, sipping his coffee. "Or move to another dimension. Preferably one without gods or dissertations."

"Alright," Connor said, pushing off the desk. "Before this turns into a family crisis, again, let me clarify: Uno’s not going to hurt him. He’s just... studying him. Watching."

"Stalking," Elias corrected.

Connor smirked. "Poetic semantics."

"Predatory semantics," Victor muttered.

Elias dragged a hand down his face. "You know what? No. I’m done. I don’t want to know who Uno’s watching, who’s pretending to be human this week, or which divine lunatic is taking personal offense to gravity." He pointed his stylus accusingly at Connor. "You’ve brought enough chaos into my life for one morning."

Connor opened his mouth to reply, but the faint chime of the door cut through the air again, soft and utterly out of place.

Aswin froze mid-sentence. "Please tell me that’s the delivery guy."

Robert glanced at the security panel. His face went pale. "Not unless the delivery guy’s name is Samael Numen."

Victor’s head snapped toward the door, a very specific look of disbelief tightening his expression, the kind usually reserved for diplomatic disasters and uninvited divine relatives.

Elias blinked. "Oh, for the love of God. The only one missing now is Uno himself."

Connor made a low whistle, stepping back toward the counter as if distance might save him from divine crossfire. "Careful," he murmured. "Say his name too many times and he’ll take it as an invitation."

The air thickened, just a fraction, the kind of pressure shift that made the stabilizers hum in protest. Victor exhaled through his nose, the sound sharp and tired. "Of all the people in existence," he said quietly, "it had to be him."

The door slid open before anyone could react.

Samael Numen stepped in like he owned the room, and technically, through several clauses of divine inheritance and family law, he would if Victor weren’t who he was. Late forties, black hair combed with mathematical precision, eyes darker than thunderclouds. He wore a perfectly cut charcoal suit that somehow looked like it resented being part of this reality.

"Brother," Samael said smoothly, his voice warm in the way lightning is warm, briefly, before it kills you. "You’re hard to find. I was beginning to think you’d forgotten your family."

Victor’s jaw flexed. "I saw you one hour ago; quit being dramatic."

"I would, if not for you, a God, ignoring father."

"You are just pissed that I’ve left you alone with him at the board meeting."

Samael’s smile sharpened, a blade disguised as charm. "You think I’m just pissed? He asked me why your latest mortal isn’t registered in the archives. Do you know what it’s like explaining that to a man who still believes public record is a moral virtue?"

Victor’s expression didn’t flicker, but there was a faint, dangerous twitch at the corner of his mouth. "You’re still alive, so I assume you survived the interrogation."

"Barely," Samael muttered, stepping farther into the room, each movement measured. "He wants to see you. In person. Tonight."

"Tell him I’m busy," Victor said, tone clipped. "He’ll cope."

Samael let out a humorless laugh. "You think I didn’t try that? He sent me here with clearance, Victor. He never gives anyone clearance to enter your buildings. Do you know what that means?"

"It means you talked too much," Victor replied.

"It means," Samael said, ignoring him, "he knows. About the omega, the bond, and the child. And he’s very interested in meeting the man who apparently tamed his son."

Elias looked up from his tablet, deadpan. "I didn’t tame him. I just refuse to die of stress."

Connor choked on his coffee, laughing. "Same difference."

Victor sighed, low and sharp, like thunder trying to hold its patience. "You didn’t need to come here yourself."

"Oh, I did," Samael said smoothly, fixing his cuffs. "Because unlike you, I care about staying on Father’s good side. You ghosted him for six months. He’s been calling me every other day to ’check if you’ve been vaporized.’"

Elias raised a brow. "And now he wants dinner?"

"Dinner, inspection, he’s flexible with terminology," Samael said. "He insisted I bring you both. Said something about ’seeing the mortal who made you soft.’"

Connor leaned against the desk, his grin practically glowing. "Oh, I am not missing that."

Victor shot him a look cold enough to drop the temperature of the room by several degrees. "You are not coming."

"Oh, I am," Connor said sweetly. "Someone has to document this historic downfall."

Elias leaned back, rubbing at his temple. "I survived ether corruption, Uno’s curiosity, and your definition of domestic peace. But dinner with your family?" He exhaled slowly. "That might actually kill me."

Samael’s smile turned fond, in that older-brother way that was somehow both genuine and cruel. "You’ll be fine. He likes people who don’t flinch."

"I’m not flinching," Elias said flatly. "I’m reconsidering my life choices."

Victor’s sigh deepened, resignation settling like fog. "It’s tomorrow night."

Elias dropped his stylus onto the table. "Of course it is."

Connor grinned, already imagining the disaster of a dinner. "What’s the dress code for divine disappointment?" He knew Victor and, unfortunately, the head of the Numen family... He would be though, and Elias and Victor would snap.

Aswin whispered to Robert, his ash blonde hair falling softly against his forehead. "We’re not paid enough for this."

Robert, still sipping his coffee like nothing in this world would shock him anymore, replied, "There isn’t enough money in the world."

Elias turned to Victor, his expression tired and utterly done. "If your father tries to dissect me, I’m setting him on fire."

Victor didn’t even blink. "I’ll hold the lighter."