how fate does so love the restless

Aiden seemed to waver for several moments longer before Matteo gestured towards that place beside him on the sofa. Those very shields Aiden held in place were nothing but firm and yet- Matteo had known him far too long to truly be fooled by that near aloof exterior the young man held. Aiden was...exhausted. The veritable look of defeat that lingered upon his son's very figure so readily prompted an ache in Matteo's own chest. That feeling ner akin to an uncomfortable fist clenching at his own heart. God, how desperately he desired but any ray of hope for his son. The world itself so often seemed nothing if not set agianst the WereKing in every way. Piecing Aiden back together after each and every assault became only more and more difficult. Those fragile, worn pieces of his son's very soul would surely eventually refuse to meld back together. Matteo was near certain that, one day, he would be left with mere scraps of that man his son had been. How desperately he desired more for him. The Frenchman was assured he would give Aiden the very world if he could and yet how harshly limited he felt in those moments of quietude in which the exhausted Were collapsed onto that sofa beside him. For several moments neither man was content to talk, the both of them merely enjoying the warmth of that fire. The dim, warm, quiet space so designed to prompt those words from Aiden once that fire had melted that icy exterior- if only a little. After all, Matteo had spent years learning just when and how to speak to his younger son. Patience, when it came to Aiden, was the only true method. Even within his younger years.

That very question Aiden posed, when he spoke, was so hardly unanticipated. Indeed, Matteo was near certain the Were knew that answer for himself and yet it so hardly made his offering of those words any easier. Risque's veritable...vendetta agianst her 'pet' hardly lessened. Indeed, at times, it appeared the vampire woman became only more spiteful of the man she could not break- oblivious to Matteo's own intervention. The two of them were at war over Aiden's very soul and yet in the end- would either of them be left with anything but the hollow shell of a man? Matteo's silver gaze shifted to meet the emerald of Aidens own before they returned to the fire. Those dancing flames with their welcome heat did little to ease his own displeasure in delivering that truth. Darcy had been behind the Ark's destruction. The vampire's affinity for vehicles of any kind having been instrumental in seeing it plummet to the depths of the ocean with truly little effort. A frown of sorts had settled upon Aiden's features in the wake of his words. That very look seemed to become more intense as Matteo eyed him near curiously. Whatever thoughts persisted within his son's mind so hardly seem to offer him any repose. Aiden's eyes, in that moment, gave away far more than Matteo truly suspected he intended. The hurt within them was nothing short of clear. Matteo inclined to find a lump within his own throat then as he offered that apology, meaningless though it was in the wake of all that had happened tonight.

Aiden's head shook then. The younger man was quick to insist that nothing could have been done about that boat regardless. Darcy's affinity circumnavigated the rules of buoyancy in every regard. No matter how water tight they had made that ship, if Darcy desired it, it would sink. Perhaps Aiden was right. Perhaps warning him would have done little in the end and yet the Frenchman could hardly shake that filling of....regret within himself. Surely....had thy known earlier they might have done....something. A distinctly less comfortable silence seemed to settle upon them then, those words rising once more within Matteo's Throat as he turned toward Aiden once more. Aiden's tongue brushed across his lower lip in that rarely seen and yet no less notable display of anxiety. The young man querying softly how long he had before Risque summoned him back once more to live within the depths of Syn itself. How potent that fear must surely have been! Aiden, someow, managing to keep that torrent of emotion at bay as he continued to stare at the fire.

"Oh, Mon Fils..."

Matteo's own hand extended to rest gently upon Aiden's arm, that very gesture so designed to draw the younger man's attention away from the fire and back towards himself as his head simply shook.

"She will not call you back, Aidun. She has no intention of that at all. You do not need to say goodbye to anyone."

How readily Matteo had guessed at those thoughts. A soft simper so fndinghis lips in the wake of those accented words. Aiden, for as long as Matteo had known him, had struggled, desperately so, to keep those he cared for at arms length. The young Were so striving to protect himself from that inevitable heartache. How very...cruel it would surely have been to introduce Aiden into the family....only to have it torn from him. How certain Matteo was that Risque did not, and would not, keep Aiden within Syn as she had once done in his childhood years.

"Dorian's house may not be your home, Mon Amie, but you are safe here. The rest of our family is too. I know this without question."

Matteo paused for a moment then to allow the younger man to consider those words before his hand withdrew to himself. Matteo lifted the glass to his lips once more, taking another sip of that whiskey before offering it to Aiden then.

"I know you will not believe me, indeed I have foreseen you not believing me but....something good will come from the loss of the Ark. I promise."

Ah, but if only Aiden knew that very truth of the home that awaited him! Matteo was distinctly assured it was far better, far nicer, then the original Ark had ever been and yet Aiden alone so needed...time to come to that decision for himself. Matteo paused that final time then, his hand waving loosely at that crackling fire only to prompt the colours within to shift from red and orange to various shadows of blue, that fire so hardly losing any of its heat as the Frenchman experimented.

"I was thinking, perhaps, that I might stay here for awhile too. Dorian will not mind. There is nothing for me in France right now...."

Anything he had ever cared about, after all, so existed within that house or indeed, that city itself. There was little point in returning home, so provided Aiden did not mind his continued company. Matteo rather....content to spend that extra time with both his sons.

"I know what the Ark meant to you. I know how much it hurts. I have been able to read you since you were eleven years old, Mon Fils. We do not have to talk about it anymore if you do not want but you cannot fool me either. I always know when you are upset. Always."