The Incubus System Chapter 1383. Strategic S*x is Still Strategy

The Incubus System Chapter 1383. Strategic S*x is Still Strategy

She just gave me that look again.

“I need allies,” I said. “Real ones. People with influence. If I can avoid a war by being irresistible, isn’t that… worth it?”

She just gave me this look. That expression women wear when they’re halfway between exasperation and reluctant amusement. The one that says ‘you’re a disaster, but unfortunately you’re my disaster.’

After a beat, she muttered, “You’re right… but it still sounds wrong.”

“Trust me, I know,” I said, dragging both hands down my face. “I feel like I’m trying to avoid the apocalypse by sleeping around.”

“That’s exactly what you’re trying to do,” Clea said, deadpan. No hesitation.

I didn’t deny it. Couldn’t. Not when she was that damn right.

She tilted her head, arms crossed now, watching me like a scientist observing a particularly persistent fungus. “Do you even hear yourself? Seducing queens, balancing demonic raids and angel politics like you're starring in a cursed soap opera.”

“Cursed is generous,” I muttered.

She raised a brow. “You sure it’s not just your libido doing the strategic planning?”

“Strategic s*x is still strategy.”

“That is not how diplomacy works.”

“Have you seen what passes for diplomacy in the demon world?” I shot back.

She opened her mouth, stopped, and then just groaned into her palm. “I swear to—”

“What? It’s not like I’m asking you to endorse it. Just… don’t be surprised when it works.”

Clea looked at the ceiling like she was genuinely considering asking the heavens for patience. “One day, Ethan… one day someone’s going to take that tongue of yours and rip it out for karma’s sake.”

I smirked. “They’ll have to catch me first. And good luck resisting this tongue when I’m whispering ceasefire proposals into their ear with candlelight, wine, and orgasm.”

“You are insufferable.”

“You’re still letting me talk,” I pointed out.

She made a noise, somewhere between a snort and a groan, and finally collapsed into the armchair again, rubbing her temples. “And this is the guy I’m trusting to protect the human world…”

“You could do worse.”

“I have done worse,” she muttered. “But none of them tried to seduce the holy consort of the light realm.”

“Yet,” I corrected with a wink.

She shot me a glare that could curdle blood, and probably had, at least once.

We sat in silence for a beat.

Then I glanced around.

Something tugged at me. Not danger, just a soft off-rhythm thrum in the background. A small nagging note like a string pulled too tight.

“Where’s Alan?” I asked.

She stepped over to the table. “I sent him to scout. There’s a breach up north, right? Foxy and the others already moved. I just wanted confirmation from our side.”

I grinned. “Clever.”

She didn’t answer, but there was something in her slight nod that acknowledged the praise.

“Right,” I said, standing and stretching my arms until my spine popped. “I should go.”

“Home?”

“Nah,” I said, shaking my head. “Ledred. I need to cool my head a bit.”

“The night club?” she asked. “Seriously?”

I shrugged. “Where else can I drink whiskey and pretend politics don’t exist for ten minutes?”

“…Your college has started,” she reminded me, raising a brow.

Then added, more pointed this time, “You aren’t studying?”

That hit different.

Not because she said it with judgment, she didn’t. But because of what it pulled up in my chest.

My brain flashed back. To a time that already felt like a whole other life.

Books stacked across my desk. Highlighters everywhere. Pages dog-eared from nights I fell asleep while reviewing theories.

I used to spend my evenings writing assignments. Recapping lecture notes. Building schedules in color-coded grids like some overachieving student who thought the future could be tamed with good habits.

That was before.

Before I got a different kind of future.

One with bloodlines. With curses. With eyes watching me from dimensions above and below.

Now?

My grades couldn’t protect me. My coursework couldn’t stop angels from marking my blood.

I didn’t answer her right away. Just… stared.

At her bookshelf.

At the worn spine of a textbook that had dust on it.

Something about that dust made my chest tighten.

Like it was a timeline I’d left behind and hadn’t even noticed.

“I know,” I said finally. Quiet. Honest. “I will. I want to study. I want to be normal sometimes. But not tonight.”

She didn’t interrupt.

Didn’t push. Just watched. Waiting.

I swallowed hard. Voice low.

“If this keeps happening…”

Another pause.

“If the angels keep coming. If the attacks keep escalating…”

I exhaled shakily. “I might drop out. Not because I want to. But because I’ll bring danger to everyone around me.”

Her gaze softened just slightly.

“To the humans. To my friends...”

She didn’t speak. But I saw her expression shift, soften, then harden again.

Because she got it.

She understood.

College wasn’t just a place for learning.

For people like us, it was a statement.

A declaration that maybe we could still chase a normal future.

And right now?

Mine was cracking.

Badly.

I met her eyes again. “I don’t want another arena. Another battlefield. Not in a classroom. Not near people I care.”

She nodded, slow. “Then we find a way to protect them. Without making you disappear in the process.”

I smiled. “That’s the hard part, huh?”

She tilted her head. “You’re good at hard parts.”

I laughed once, genuinely. “Now that’s a sentence I usually hear in bed.”

She groaned.

I was already at the door.

But before I stepped out, I looked back one last time.

“I meant what I said, Clea. Larry’s ours. He deserves to live without being judged for the blood in his veins.”

“I know,” she said. “And if the Light comes for him again… they’ll have to go through both of us.”

I grinned. “That’s the spirit.”

Then I stepped into the night.

And yeah… maybe I didn’t have a master plan.

Maybe my seduction diplomacy was ridiculous.

Maybe I’d crumble under the pressure eventually.

But not tonight.