Viktor offers a brief, wistful glance that indicates he agrees--everything made sense, back when it was just the two of them in the lab, making breakthroughs and talking about what seemed, at the time, to be endless possibilities. Things only became more complicated from there. He knows himself well enough to realize that it wasn't necessarily Jayce's meteoric rise to fame that angered him, or made him jealous, rather, the decisions he started making once he was in a position of power.

The sting of it isn't going to go away anytime soon. What he can do is focus on the way Jayce practically comes apart in the face of a single compliment. (He knows, on some level, that it's because Viktor is the one offering the compliment--that it means so much more, coming from him. He tries not to think about the implications.)

"You're ridiculous." This time, he does roll his eyes. "Suggestible. No wonder everyone wants your ear--they think they can flatter you into giving them what they want."

He hopes that isn't too mean, given the rest of their conversation, but Viktor has always been an expert in taking Jayce down a peg, when he needs it. With the straps on his leg brace tightened, he hauls himself to his feet and gather his own notes. New braces, new crutch--already things feel a little better. "Unlike you, I am impervious to that sort of manipulation."