Those words didn’t make sense. “Why?”
Valac stepped closer, his head tilting. “You intrigue me.”
Julian had to crane his head back to maintain eye contact. Valac’s hand came down on his shoulder, and awareness flooded back into Julian. He suddenly remembered all the dreams he’d been having of Valac, of wrapping his own hand around his cock while thinking about him. He tried to recoil, but Valac held firm.
“Stay,” Valac said. “My touch grounds your consciousness.”
Julian’s mouth went dry. He looked away from Valac’s intense gaze, squinting at the gray fog that surrounded them. “What is this place?”
“This,” Valac followed his gaze, “is Purgatory. I recently traveled through it, which is why our surroundings manifested in this way. I can change it, if it unnerves you.”
That was tempting, but Julian had more pressing concerns. “You can’t be here.”
The demon’s dark brows dropped downward. “Why?”
“You’re a demon. It’s wrong.”
Valac’s violet gaze was piercing. “Is it? According to whom?”
Julian opened his mouth, but nothing came out. The guild insisted that it was wrong to associate with demons, but they had no power over him anymore, did they? He’d sworn that he wouldn’t reach out to the Sentinels when he left the guild, but Valac didn’t know that. The only danger here was if the guild somehow found out Valac was here, and they would only know that if Julian told them. He wasn’t dumb enough to do something like that.
Still, it felt like he was breaking his word by speaking to Valac. His word was about the only damn thing he had left.
Wait. “Have you… Have you entered my dreams before this?” Was that why he’d been dreaming about Valac?
Valac’s head tilted. “No. Have you seen me before?”
Julian flushed. “No, of course not. Why would I dream about a demon?”
Valac’s curious gaze didn’t waver.
“Y-You can’t be here,” Julian said again.
Valac still didn’t move. “You understand your guild has done you wrong, yes? You know I am not the enemy.”
“It’s not my guild anymore.” Julian lifted his chin. “I left.”
“As foretold,” Valac breathed.
Julian frowned. “What?” He shook himself. “It doesn’t matter. Look, the only reason they let me go is because I swore I wouldn’t have anything to do with the Sentinels or demons. Sloan might be a bad person, but I’m not. I made a promise, and I intend to keep my word.”
“But I wanted to see you,” Valac said. “Don’t you feel it, too?”
Feel what?Julian wanted to ask, but he bit the words back. He couldn’t go down this path with a demon. He wouldn’t. “It doesn’t matter. It’s safer for everyone if we never see each other again.”
A low growl spilled from Valac, and he suddenly stepped closer, the line of his body brushing Julian’s clothes. “They will not keep me from you.”
It was on the tip of Julian’s tongue to askwhy—why did he care, why was he interested in Julian, why did it matter—when a distant beeping caught his attention.
Valac reeled him in, crushing their bodies together urgently. “They cannot stop us from being together. You have nothing to fear here.”
“Being together?” Julian repeated dumbly. The beeping was getting louder. “What? I don’t understand.”
“I will return,” Valac growled.
“What? No, you can’t.”
“I will see you?—”
