I'm Loosing My Soul

Pushing me to the edge of my decline

He knew who to blame, of course, the moment that those sires had begun to blare overhead in the darkened interior of the Ark. That confirmation from Tobias that they were sinking had filled him with the same amount of dread - she had finally come for him. It had been a vague sort of relief when she hadn't been standing upon the docks waiting for him and yet...with each moment that slipped by without her presence, Aiden found himself increasingly...anxious...despite his efforts to retreat to that facade of indifference when faced with both his family and Mira. Now, however, the Were-King was free of those burdens. Now...he hardly needed to pretend that everything would be fine when he knew with such certainty that it would not be. And yet...in spite of all that he knew...Aiden still found himself inquiring with the feeble hope that it, somehow, hadn't been his Mistress that had brought about the demise of the second 'home' he had ever truly had. His emerald irises were slow to turn from the dancing of those flames and towards those striking silver eyes he knew so well.

That singular glance was fleeting, however, before Matteo's gaze shifted towards the fireplace. He was, admittedly, entire unsurprised that it had been Darcy that had brought the once-proud, floating cargo ship to her knees. Of course, it had been him - he would have been the most effective tool within Risque's arsenal to ensure Tetradore was incapable of saving the Ark. His brows furrowed as he considered the inevitability of this very moment. He had known since Risque had returned that the life he had built for himself outside of Syn was nothing if not incredibly fragile. One day, she would topple his entire empire and drag him back to the hell hole he had strived so valiantly to escape from. It had been nice...all the same...all those lives that had briefly intersected with his own. He had considered each of those meaningful connections, the frown upon his features so unknowingly intensifying with each passing moment as he contemplated his return to Syn. He was near purposeful in the way his gaze had shifted back towards the flames.

Aiden was oblivious of his father's attentiveness, at that very moment. Rather, his thoughts had turned inwardly towards each and every individual he would miss on his return to his captivity. That was, after all, what this was about, was it not? It was the softness of that French lit that drew Aiden's attention from those internal thoughts, his emerald irises glancing briefly towards the elder fae with a small shake of his head and a near flippant dismissal of that apology. There was little they could have done, truly, to stop the Ark from sinking tonight, especially if it had been at Darcy's hand. No amount of preparation, no amount of sealing it off, or proactive maintenance would have kept Darcy from ensuring the boat rested at the bottom of the ocean. It was an intransmutable fact, as far as Aiden was concerned. The finality of it should have lessened the blow of its loss....he had, after all, been preparing for something like this and yet...it still tore at his heart more than he should have let it.

That notable silence seemed to settle between the pair, though Aiden's was far too absorbed in his own efforts to detach himself from those emotions that so threatened to eclipse him. How well he remembered those awful decades he'd spent within the depths of Syn. There was so rarely any reprieve from the torment that Risque was capable of exacting. She took such a sick pleasure from every effort she took to break the Were-King till his rebelliousness diminished into far more frequent compliance if only to escape her astute attention. How he despised the very man she could mold him into...the likes of which he abhorred his pack ever seeing him as. His tongue brushed with a hint of anxiousness across his bottom lip, Aiden's emerald irises steadfast upon the fire in front of him as he softly inquired after how much time he had till she demanded his return. That near notable emotion within his father's voice, accompanied by the soft brush of Matteo's fingers against his arm, drew Aiden's gaze slowly back towards the Frenchman, that frown lingering with such potency.

The Alpha's brows furrowed with his father's assurances that Risque had little intention to drag him back to the depths of that hell hole she called Syn. After all, he could scarcely believe she simply destroyed his home with the sole intent of watching him momentarily flounder. "....then why did she...?" That question left his lips unbidden before his head shook ever so slightly. Aiden had long ago given up any attempts to understand his mistress, her reasoning often as psychotic as her mind was. It was Matteo's assurance that he was safe within that mansion that prompted a soft snort of disbelief from Aiden's nose, his head shaking ever so slightly. "But for how long?" He muttered darkly, the Were-King entirely certain that there were distinctly few places in which he was truly safe, at least, not long enough to truly stay. In fact, he had yet to find a single one in which Risque's influence could not eventually exterminate in the same effortless manner she had tonight. That gentle removal of Matteo's hand against his arm drew his gaze back towards the Frenchman, his vibrant irises briefly watching as the fae sipped his beverage before, surprisingly, offering Aiden the glass.

He reached for the beverage, taking it within his hand as he rose the tumbler to his lips. That promise that the Ark's destruction might bring within it the wake of something good, however, prompted his brow to rise as he provided Matteo with a distinctly skeptical glimpse. Aiden sipped the whiskey, all the same, the Alpha simply choosing not to respond if only because there was every likelihood that Matteo would, somehow, end up as correct as he always did. Fighting it only made the fae more insufferable when those visions came to pass. His gaze shifted back towards the file as he offered Matteo his glass back. The Were-King watched in relative silence as flames flickered with each shift of color, the heat remaining consistent all the same. He was, admittedly surprised by Matteo's desire to stay, that clear trailing of the Frenchman's voice purposefully meant to leave space for Aiden's own thoughts of it an, slowly the Alpha nodded in agreement. "That....might be nice."He answered softly, It would be, after all, the first time their family had been together for a prolonged point of time. Aiden hardly expected his father to continue, however, the fae's insistence that he knew Aiden was...upset about the Ark's sinking was....hardly surprising. Matteo, after all, was the only individual in the entirety of the world who had managed to wiggle past those otherwise impenetrable walls that the Were-King presented to the world. Perhaps he should have expected this. A soft sound of acknowledgment left the Alpha lips though, truly, he had little else to say on the sinking of his home. Everything was gone...with the exception of those cars and yet....Matteo already knew that. Instead, he was content to simply...sit there before the fireplace, stealing several further sips from Matteo's beverage any time the fae might offer them.

The King of the Damned