“Dreamscaped?”
Knight’s mouth quirked. “It’s how I met you.”
The scent of Saint’s blush filled the air. “Oh.”
“We usually take a drug, and it sends us flying through the dreamscape from one human’s dreams to another.” He didn’t mention how he hadn’t needed the drug after he’d met Saint, how he had grown uninterested in any other human’s dreams but his. “Anyway, because this was my first community after escaping, and I desperately didn’t want to lose that, I was afraid to contemplate if I wanted anything else. If therecouldbe anything else. So, I just ... tried to be content.”
“Oh.” Saint turned away. As Knight watched, the light of the laptop screen finally dimmed completely, plunging them in darkness.
Knight’s eyes adjusted immediately. He noticed that it took a few moments for Saint’s to do the same.
“What about you?” Knight whispered. “You said you’d escaped a cage, too, but you were still afraid.”
Saint was fiddling with the sheets, not looking at him. “I’ve never talked about this before. At least, not out loud. To another person.”
“Do you not want to? You don’t have to.”
“I do want to.” He braced himself, inhaling and exhaling long and slow. “I grew up in a very ... religious community. In the,uh, human realm, we have things called religions. And in my religion, Christianity, we have churches, which are very similar to your sects in Hell. Our scriptures tell us to be good and just, or we’ll go to Hell and spend it burning for eternity.”
“What the fuck,” Knight said, horrified.
“I know, right?” Saint laughed, but the sound held no humour. He sank against the wall behind him, drawing his knees up slightly. “Anyway, I had all this shit ingrained in me since I was born. The community was very small, you know? Barely a couple hundred people, all living semi-isolated from the world at large in a village down south. Very tight knit. I even believed it all—I wasdevoutat one point, I mean, what else did I know, right?
“Then my parents sent me out of the village to further my education. Other families did it, so it wasn’t a big deal. Except, this was the first time I was being properly exposed to the outside world, and despite my devotion, I began to question things. I began to realise I might be bisexual. I began towantthings. And it felt like, after I got this wanting in me, I just couldn’t stop, even though I tried. God, I tried. After I opened my eyes to how things could be different, I couldn’t close them again. But no one ever left the church or the village.” He scoffed. “They were practically one and the same. But I knew I couldn’t stay. After what I knew? If I stayed, I would wither away. It would literally kill me.” Knight’s chest tightened with empathy and misplaced anxiety. Saint was here; he was safe; he was alive. “So, when I got the opportunity to escape, I did.” He shrugged. “It’s been over five years. I thought I was free, that I could do as I liked without the weight of their eyes or their judgement on my shoulders, but I guess I’d been lying to myself.”
He turned to look at Knight, his lips quirked slightly. “Then there was last night,” he breathed. “Last night, when I realised Ididn’twant to live in fear anymore.” He looked like he washaving an epiphany. “I’ve tasted true freedom, Knight, and I think I might be addicted.”
Knight laughed, which must’ve been Saint’s intention, because a smile, bright and beautiful, bloomed on his face.
Knight waved his hand, making two glasses appear. Saint had made him try a Chapman without the alcohol, apparently one of Nigeria’s popular cocktails, so he filled their glasses with that now.
“What are you doing?” Saint said, laughing as Knight handed him one of the drinks.
“A toast,” he said. “Another one.”
Saint sat up, his pulse speeding up. He smelled so good right now; it was agony for Knight not to lean over and just—lickthe scent from his throat.
“To many more nights of freedom,” he said gruffly.
“To many more nights of freedom,” Saint echoed, his eyes on Knight’s dark and unwavering. Knight’s lungs could barely take in enough air.
They clinked their glasses, and they drank.
After their conversation earlier, Saint couldn’t stop thinking about his parents, his mother especially. How she’d probably have a heart attack if she knew Saint had “given in” to sin. That not only had he given in to sin, but he’d done it with a literal demon. She’d just about die on the spot. It made his lips quirk, despite the awful mix of feelings he got anytime he thought about her.
By his side, Knight had a hand pressed to his chest, feathers fluttering and intent red eyes gleaming suspiciously as Rapunzeland Eugene sang to each other on the lake, lanterns floating around them.
Saint bit his lower lip. Like Knight wasn’t already attractive enough, of course the demon was also a romantic. He’d had that same intent, enraptured look during every romantic movie they’d watched since they’d finishedThe Equalizer,both animated and not. Saint’s heart had never felt so fucking tender.
When the movie finally ended, Saint decided it was time to stop. It was nearing two AM. Thank God tomorrow was Sunday.
“Ugh, do we really have to stop?” Knight asked again once Saint was done brushing his teeth and changing into his night clothes.
Saint laughed, crawling to his space on the bed, by the wall. His heart stuttered at the phrasing.
“I mean, you can watch some without me if you like? You’ve gotten a hang of using the laptop. Unlike you, I do need to sleep.”
“No. I want to watch them with you,” Knight said stubbornly.
