He imagined Val coming to talk with him, wearing his usual kind smile and speaking soft words; then his naked body over him, his arms holding him down, tendrils driven under his shirt, cold and wet against his lips, and yet the paths on Val's skin burning against him, their arcane meanings taking away his mind, choking him as he drowned in his beauty, writhing, his pleasure exposed under his dark eyes. Adrien undid his belt and pulled down his pants.