✦ Chapter 37 ✦
---
Crimson clouds drifted lazily overhead, heavy with an unspoken threat, their color bleeding faintly into the river's surface. The wind stirred around him, tugging at his ink-black hair and pressing cool fingers against his skin, yet Esper remained unmoving, his posture rigid and distant.
The familiar warmth of his peach-scented pheromones, which slipped into the night air and softened it despite the tension coiled between them. Worry sat heavily on Philip's shoulders, weighing him down until even the way he breathed seemed burdened.
"So that's why you adore Elian this much?" Esper asked at last, his voice calm, almost idle, as though they were discussing something trivial rather than a life fraying at its edges.
