CHAPTER 238: CHAPTER 238: ELIAS’S GAME

Victor’s tone left no room for argument, smooth and final as he took Elias’s hand and led him away from the harbor. The drive back to the hotel was quiet, the silence filled with unspoken thoughts and too much awareness of what had just transpired.

Their suite sat on the top floor of a glass tower overlooking the sea, the kind of place where even the air smelled expensive. Elias kicked off his shoes the moment they stepped inside. "You know," he muttered, "if your definition of a honeymoon includes crisis management and potential divine lawsuits, I can’t wait to see what you’ll plan for the anniversary."

Victor was already unbuttoning his shirt, utterly unbothered. "I was thinking something quiet," he said. "A dinner. Maybe somewhere that doesn’t require Poseidon’s permission slip."

Elias rolled his eyes but followed him toward the marble-tiled bathroom. Steam soon filled the air, the sound of water masking the outside world. For a brief, impossible moment, it felt normal, two people shedding the weight of a war disguised as diplomacy.

By the time they emerged, both dressed in new clothes, Victor in dark charcoal and Elias in soft ivory and navy, they almost looked like a regular couple heading out for the evening. Almost.

The restaurant downstairs was one of those places that pretended not to know who its clientele was but charged enough to prove otherwise. Soft music hummed in the background, the lighting low and amber. Victor poured wine. Elias was halfway through his first sip of nonalcoholic wine when the air shifted.

A faint ripple moved through the glasses, the tablecloth lifting ever so slightly as if touched by a deep current. Elias didn’t need to look up to know. "Please tell me that’s not..."

"It is," Victor said flatly.

When Elias finally turned his head, Poseidon was already there, standing at the edge of their table as if he had materialized out of the air itself. He looked exactly as before: tall, ageless, silver-haired, with the faintest glimmer of the ocean caught in his gaze. His suit was immaculate, his expression unreadable.

"Really?" Elias said, setting his wine down. "You couldn’t have called?"

Poseidon ignored him, his gaze on Victor.

Victor’s crimson eyes sharpened, the faintest hum of restrained power brushing the air between them. "Is it what I think it is?"

Poseidon inclined his head once. "Yes. Seems like you have to work on holiday."

"Let me guess..." Elias said, raising a hand. "He is so embedded into the oceanic ether that killing him now would destabilize it."

"Indeed." Poseidon said, his jaw clenched in fury.

"Well... That was easy."

Victor turned his head toward him, suspicion already darkening his tone. "What exactly about that sounds easy to you?"

Elias leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other, his expression calm in that way that usually meant he was about to suggest something terrible. "If Jonathan can’t be separated from the ocean’s ether," he said, "then we give him something else to attach to."

Poseidon’s eyes narrowed, pale and dangerous. "You’re suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?"

Elias met his gaze calmly. "A controlled transfer. He’s not dead, just dispersed. If I can lure him to focus on me, to make him think he can do the same thing to me like he did to Anna, then Victor can isolate his ether signature long enough for Poseidon to sever it from the sea without collapsing the field."

Victor’s hand tightened around the stem of his glass until the faintest crack sounded. "No."

Elias didn’t flinch. "It’s the fastest way," he said, tone even. "Jonathan’s fixation was always me. He used my research and my readings, and Adler’s experiment on me. He’ll come if he thinks I’m vulnerable and he’ll try to take what’s his."

Victor’s voice came out low and dangerous, threaded with a heat that didn’t belong in a civilized room. "You are not bait."

"Technically," Elias countered, "I already am. He’s marked my ether since the first experiment; if he’s clinging to the oceanic field, then my resonance is the only viable bridge out of it. He’ll sense me the moment I let my guard down."

Poseidon leaned forward slightly, his expression unreadable, though the faint pulse of the air around them betrayed interest. "You think you can control that contact?"

Elias nodded once. "I can modulate it. Contain him long enough for you to force a separation. Victor does the isolation, you do the extraction, and I..."

"You die," Victor interrupted sharply, his tone cold enough to still the air. His eyes, red and sharp as cut garnet, locked on him. "That’s what happens. You’re not made for ether-level combat, Elias."

Elias’s lips twitched. "I’m not made for divine politics either, but here we are."

Victor’s chair scraped faintly against the marble as he pushed back from the table, jaw clenched, the quiet fury under his skin almost visible. "You think this is a joke?"

"No," Elias said simply. "I think it’s nothing more than playing with him. Jonathan is greedy; he will try to come after me if he thinks Poseidon and you are distracted. So... do your jealousy game and he will come for sure."

Victor froze, his expression changing from disbelief to something darker, dangerous, and tinged with incredulous anger. "You want me to what?"

Elias’s tone didn’t waver. "Distract him. Make him think I’m unguarded. He always hated you... your power, your control, the fact that you have what he couldn’t touch. He’ll come for me the moment he believes your attention’s elsewhere."

Poseidon’s mouth twitched like he was trying not to laugh. "You mean to use divine rivalry as bait. That’s either genius or suicidal."

"Both," Elias said evenly. "But it’ll work."

Victor’s jaw tightened, his power coiling in the air, enough to make the candles on their table flicker out. "You think I’ll stand there while another man, another entity, touches you?"

Elias leaned back, unbothered. "No. I think you’ll make sure he regrets it. But first, you’ll let him believe he can."

Poseidon chuckled low under his breath, a sound like surf against stone. "I can play my part," he said. "A little divine tension, a hint of betrayal, it’s practically tradition in my family."

Victor shot him a look sharp enough to peel paint. "You so much as look at him the wrong way..."

"Relax, Executioner," Poseidon said smoothly. "It’s theater. Mortals fall for emotion; ether-bound parasites fall for chaos. The boy’s right. If Jonathan still clings to instinct, jealousy and greed will pull him out faster than any summoning circle."

Elias glanced at Victor, his tone softening, almost teasing. "You always did say you liked a good performance."

Victor turned toward him slowly, his restraint wearing thin. "Elias, this is not a game."