CHAPTER 55: CHAPTER 55: VICTOR’S FURY (3)

Victor’s arms remained around Elias for a long, unmeasured moment, the sound of both their breaths filling the quiet, the crimson hum of Victor’s ether folding closer, almost cocoon‑like, before it gradually softened and settled.

When he finally loosened his grip, it was only enough to look Elias in the eyes, his hands still braced at either side of Elias’s jaw.

Victor’s hands didn’t leave Elias’s face; his thumbs lingered against the curve of Elias’s cheekbones as if memorizing the warmth beneath his skin.

He leaned in slowly, with a quieter air, rather than the piercing urgency he had been carrying moments earlier.

Victor’s breath ghosted against Elias’s hair as he lowered his head, and then the soft press of his lips met Elias’s forehead. A grounding, a wordless promise poured into a single touch.

Elias felt his chest tighten, not with fear this time, but with a heat that rose unexpectedly behind his ribs, a knot of relief loosening in its wake.

Victor lingered there for a heartbeat, the faint hum of his ether combined with pheromones brushing warm against Elias’s skin like a shield drawn closer.

When he pulled back, crimson eyes met Elias’s again, still burning with anger, but now tempered by something deeper, something Elias couldn’t name.

"Go with Robert to my wing," Victor murmured, his voice low, carrying that vow Elias could feel even if it remained unspoken. "I’ll finish this."

Elias swallowed, the faint echo of that kiss still tingling on his skin, and gave a small, wordless nod before turning toward Robert waiting at the door.

Robert stepped forward the moment Elias moved, his presence calm and steady, the gold shimmer of his ether still faintly coiled around him like a warning to anyone who might dare follow.

Robert was there instantly, as if he’d been waiting just beyond the threshold, his presence steady, his expression sharp and assessing as his gaze swept the room and then settled on Elias.

"Escort him," Victor ordered. "Use the interior passages. No one gets close. No one."

"Yes, my lord." Robert’s reply was crisp, his posture already shifting as he turned toward Elias. "Come with me," he said, quieter now, the edge of command softened into something that sounded like concern.

Elias smoothed his palms over the front of his shirt as if brushing away invisible dust. The shake in his hands was gone now; only that cold clarity remained, though it felt heavier in his chest. He took one last glance at Victor, the words he wanted to say lingering unsaid between them, and then followed Robert out.

The corridor outside was lined with shadow and lantern light, the distant hum of ether still lingering in the air from the earlier fight. Two more of Victor’s alphas fell in silently behind them, their footsteps ghosting over marble, their powers steady and watchful—a golden hum and a violet pulse, framing Robert’s iron‑strong presence.

Elias didn’t look back as they guided him deeper into the manor, toward the safer, guarded heart of Victor’s wing. But he felt the shift in the air behind him, that faint surge of crimson power like a storm coiling tight. Victor had not followed.

—

Victor remained in the room alone for a moment, standing in the center where Elias had sat minutes ago, where that stranger’s ether had dared to linger. He drew in a slow breath, crimson light threading faintly beneath his skin as his control tightened again.

The door creaked.

"Sir," a low voice rumbled from the threshold.

Victor turned his head slightly. Ashwin stepped inside, the lantern light catching the pale streaks in his dark hair, his posture straight but his eyes flicking toward the terrace as if reading the air.

"The intruder is secured in the sublevel," Ashwin said. "Robert confirmed he’s one of Samael’s, ether‑trained."

"How the fuck did he bypass our security?" Victor asked, his tone calm but charged, as he had never sworn before.

Ashwin didn’t flinch at the question, but there was a shadow in his eyes, something taut in the way his jaw set before he answered.

"We don’t know yet," Ashwin said quietly. "The outer wards were intact. He slipped past the secondary motion weave without tripping it. That’s not luck, he knew exactly where to step, which sigils to avoid." His gaze flicked once more to the terrace doors, his shoulders squaring. "Someone fed him the layout, or he’s seen it before."

Victor’s fingers uncurled slowly at his sides, his knuckles flexing as that low, pulsing glow crawled faintly up the veins of his hands. The crimson ether rolled through the air like a gathering storm, brushing against the glass until the windows of the terrace shivered in their frames.

Ashwin’s tone dropped lower, deliberate. "We’ll find out who opened that path. I have men pulling the schematics, cross-checking for any of Samael’s inside contacts. The intruder’s resisting now, but not for long."

Victor tilted his head slightly, the faintest edge of a smile cutting through the fury beneath. "Then let’s see if he can resist me."

Ashwin’s boots echoed lightly in the corridor as he moved ahead, keeping pace just a step in front of Victor. The manor’s west wing gave way to narrower halls carved of older stone, the lantern light dimmer here, more golden and wavering. The air cooled noticeably, carrying the faint tang of iron and ether wards etched deep into the walls.

Victor followed without breaking stride, his long coat brushing against the stone as his presence seemed to fill the space. The crimson hum of his ether had quieted, clinging around him like a shadow, a latent pressure that made the sconces tremble when he passed.

"Sublevel entrance secured," Ashwin reported as they approached a heavy iron door guarded by two alphas. Both straightened immediately at the sight of Victor, heads bowing low, ether flaring in instinctive acknowledgment.

"My lord," one began, but Victor’s gaze alone was enough to silence him. His eyes burned faintly in the low light, fixed on the locking mechanism as the wards unwound with a muted hiss.

Ashwin keyed them through with a brief pulse of his own power, and the door swung inward, revealing the descent beyond, stone steps spiraling down into the manor’s detaining wing, carved deep into bedrock, where sound didn’t carry and ether dampeners lined every surface.

The hum of containment wards grew louder as they descended, a low thrumming that vibrated faintly in the air. Torchlight pooled at intervals, throwing long, sharp shadows against the walls. Victor’s hand brushed the railing once, then let go, his gaze fixed ahead.

Ashwin kept his voice low, a measured calm threading his words. "He’s in Cell Three. Two of ours are holding him under suppression. He tried to rupture his own channels on entry." A beat. "Didn’t get far."

Victor’s smile was a faint curve, cold and unhurried. "Good. He’ll need them intact."