[BL]Hunted by the God of Destruction-Chapter 288: The question

Chapter 288: Chapter 288: The question
Elias studied Victor, the slight tremor still lingering in his breath, the softness in his crimson eyes. For a man who commanded boardrooms and governments with a single raised brow, the vulnerability in that admission was staggering.
He lowered his forehead to Victor’s, their breaths mingling in the quiet that followed. "I didn’t mean to..."
"You did," Victor said softly, almost cutting him off. One of his hands came up to cradle Elias’s jaw, guiding his gaze back up. "You meant it. And I liked it. Don’t take that away from me."
Elias exhaled, a slow release of tension. His eyes softened. "Victor..."
Victor kissed him once, then pulled back just enough to look at him properly.
"I want more nights like this," Victor murmured. "Not because of instinct or roles. But because you wanted something and took it." He brushed a lock of damp hair from Elias’s temple. "I’ve never seen you like that."
A quiet beat passed.
"Then I’ll show you again," Elias said softly.
Victor’s eyes darkened, but not with lust this time, with something deeper, almost reverent. "You will," he said with a certainty that sent heat rolling through Elias again. "But not now."
He shifted carefully, mindful of Elias’s sensitivity. He eased Elias down onto the mattress beside him, their limbs tangled, the blankets pulled loosely over them.
For a moment, they simply breathed together for a while.
A faint knock sounded against the door.
Victor groaned softly, pressing his face into Elias’s shoulder. "If that’s Connor, I’m throwing him off the balcony."
Elias gave a tired huff of laughter. "He can fly now. The fall won’t do anything."
"Then I’ll throw Ego."
"He’ll sue you."
Victor’s sigh was theatrical and exhausted. "Let them both in, then."
But when the knock came again, it was softer. Polite.
A familiar voice followed: "Sir? She’s awake."
Adam.
Victor moved first slowly, his muscles were still shaking from the intensity of everything they’d done. He slid out of the bed, tugged on his discarded dress shirt, barely buttoning two buttons, and padded across the room barefoot.
Elias pushed himself up on his elbows, watching him.
Even unsteady, hair a mess, and shirt hanging open, Victor moved like a man born to guard something precious.
Victor eased the door open just enough to keep the hallway light from spilling fully inside. Adam stood there, holding Aria in the crook of one arm, her soft blanket draped over his shoulder. She was awake, cheeks warm with sleep, tiny mouth forming the beginnings of a pout as she tried to focus on the figure in the doorway.
Victor didn’t even try to hide the shift in his expression. It was subtle, but Elias caught it instantly, the way something in him softened and centered the moment he saw her. The dangerous edge that lived in his posture disappeared, replaced with a quiet warmth that made Elias’s chest tighten. Victor reached out without hesitation, gathering Aria against his chest with a care that felt instinctive now, as if holding her was the most natural thing he had ever learned to do.
"She woke up asking for you," Adam murmured, keeping his voice low. He nodded once, a silent blessing of sorts, before retreating down the hallway.
Victor closed the door behind him and turned, his gaze moving immediately across the room to Elias. The change in his eyes was almost startling, like the sight of Elias waiting in bed made him feel something he wasn’t fully prepared to name. He crossed the space quietly, carrying Aria with a tenderness that contrasted sharply with the raw intensity of only an hour earlier.
Elias sat up, pulling the sheet around his waist as Victor approached. His own body still hummed faintly with the remnants of everything they had shared, that dizzying exchange of power and trust, but all of it softened when he looked at their daughter. Aria blinked once at the room, then again at Elias, and her small face relaxed in a way that felt like a tiny, wordless recognition.
"Come here," Elias said, his voice gentler than the air around them.
Victor sat beside him, shifting his hold so Aria settled comfortably in Elias’s lap. She curled instinctively toward him, her cheek pressing against the warmth of his stomach as she gave a quiet, content sound. Elias stroked the back of her head with careful fingers, letting the moment settle around them.
Victor watched the two of them with a kind of thoughtful calm that Elias rarely saw outside these private moments. There was something almost reverent in the way he observed them, he felt entirely part of it, woven into the small, domestic scene by more than blood or instinct. His connection to both of them was deeper, anchored by something Elias could feel rather than articulate.
"Elias... do you want other children?"
Elias stilled.
It was subtle, almost imperceptible, but Victor felt the change immediately because he was watching him too closely not to. Elias’s hand paused on Aria’s back, fingers curled lightly in her blanket, the gentle rise and fall of her breathing warm against his stomach. Victor’s question floated in the quiet between them, soft but heavy, carrying more weight than most vows ever had.
Elias lifted his eyes slowly, scanning Victor’s face for context, for intent, for the reason behind a question so sudden and so carefully spoken.
"You’re asking seriously," Elias whispered.
"Yes." Victor’s voice barely carried across the space between them. "I wouldn’t have asked otherwise."
Elias shifted Aria a little closer, his hand cupping the back of her head instinctively. He swallowed once, throat tightening with something he didn’t immediately name. "Why now?"
Victor drew in a steady breath, one hand sliding along the sheets as if anchoring himself to the moment. "Because if you become... my soulmate..." He hesitated, a rare thing for him. "Two gods can’t create life together, Elias."
Elias blinked. "But a god and a human can."
"Exactly." Victor leaned forward a little, elbows on his knees, his posture protective without being tense. "And you’re not human in the ordinary sense anymore. But you’re still grounded enough that the possibility is there. For now." His eyes softened, shadows passing beneath them. "If you want another child in the future, I can wait. I will wait. As long as it takes."
Elias looked down at Aria. She was already dozing again, her tiny hand curled against his skin, trusting and warm and impossibly small. His heart tightened. He brushed her cheek gently with his thumb, letting the truth of parenthood settle deeper in his chest.
Then he looked back at Victor.
"You think I haven’t considered it?" he asked quietly.
Victor went very still.
"No," he said, almost breathless. "I think you consider everything
Elias let out a slow breath, something fragile in the release. "I thought about it even before Aria was born. About how strange and improbable it is that we have her at all. About how lucky we are. And about how... unlikely it would ever be again."
Victor’s hands flexed, unsure whether he was allowed to reach for him.
Elias spared him the question.
He shifted closer, letting their shoulders touch, the soft weight of Aria resting securely between them.
"I didn’t think I wanted children," Elias admitted, voice soft and steady. "I certainly didn’t think I wanted them with someone who could accidentally set an entire city on fire when irritated."
Victor’s breath hitched, a startled, quiet laugh breaking through his tension. "That was one time."
"Uno said it was three," Elias corrected gently.
Victor looked away with exaggerated dignity. "The third doesn’t count."
Elias smiled, eyes warming. "I didn’t want children before. But then I met you. And we became... this. And Aria exists." He looked down at their daughter again, stroking her cheek with the back of a knuckle. "And now I can’t imagine a life without her."
Victor’s voice dropped to something reverent. "Elias..."
Elias sighed and kissed the top of Arias’s dark curls. "Yes. I do want more."
Victor didn’t breathe.
For a heartbeat, he simply stared at Elias as if the world had narrowed to that single admission. Aria’s soft, even breaths filled the space between them, the only sound in a room suddenly too small for the enormity of what had just been spoken.
When Victor finally exhaled, it was slow and shaky, the kind of breath a man released only when something he’d wanted so fiercely he was afraid to name it had finally been handed to him without conditions.
"You do," he repeated quietly, almost to himself.
Elias nodded once, gentle, almost apologetic in how nakedly honest the gesture felt. "I do. Not right away, not before we’ve even caught up to what we already have, but yes." He brushed a hand through Aria’s dark curls, letting her tiny fingers curl reflexively around his thumb. "Someday."
Victor’s expression softened in a way Elias rarely saw, a kind of quiet wonder threading through the crimson. He reached out, slower than usual, as if asking permission without words, and let his hand rest over Elias’s where it held their daughter.
"You’re sure?" Victor asked.
Elias didn’t look away. "Yes."