The deal has been decided

The darkness opens up around me, letting daylight spring up into my vision, sending dots of light sparking up in front of my eyes. I wobble on my feet, blinded, whilst struggling to balance in the ridiculously high heels my mother had given me for the wedding, raising my arms up against the crystal white pillars to block out the light.

The Devil catches me by the elbow, steadying me with a firm hand, to which I give him a grateful nod. Perhaps there is someone in this place who cares about me after all.

Not that we would be staying here very long, anyway.

From either side of the walkway, nobles raise their heads, watching in fearful awe at the Princess and the Devil who saunter casually in the walkway, grinning like twin Cheshire cats as if they own the place.

"Princess are you alright?" One of them calls, a tall gentleman with a rather elongated nose and a slightly off centre bow tie.

"Did he hurt you sweetie?" A woman calls, from the opposite set of seats, adjusting her overly flamboyant hat on her head, her hair- once pristine- now turned to a messy birds nest of strands. Similar cries rise up from the crowd, tentative at first, then getting louder with each second that passes by. Some of the nobles ever reach out for me across the room, beckoning me over with silk gloved hands and beautifully painted nails.

As if they fucking cared.

They just want to make sure by the end of this that their lives are spared.

After all, who knows what will happen when the demon princess takes her rule? But tiring, I find I have had enough of their yappy remarks, wanting nothing more than to leave this place as soon as the opportunity arises for me. Finally, it would seem, my string has snapped.

"Oh shut up, would you?" I groan at them, splaying my hands out in utter frustration. Much to my pleasure, the whole throne room falls silent. Barely a whisper of a breath can be heard, the nobles sinking down in tense anticipation for what comes next, terrified they might see those fires of hell raise again. Only Alastor stands grinning up on the dais, his tail twitching excitedly, a smug look on his face, as though he had been waiting a very long time to see this day come.

Make that two people who care.

"As if you fucking cared anyway," I hiss under my breath towards the nobility, and turn sharply to the devil by my side.

"Would you like to do the honours?" I ask the Devil, bowing graciously to him, partially out of mockery, but mostly out of respect. This man had promised to give me a better life, and Devil may he be, the deal he made is a binding one. I only wished he could have taken me from this shitty hell hole earlier.

The devil clucks his tongue lightly as I rise, causing me to throw him a look of slight perplexity, only to have my queries swiftly answered.

"Princess, you need not bow to me. You are my consort, and therefore my equal. I may be the king of hell, darling, but you've seen hell enough up here to play me at my own role," he says, with a slight wink in my direction. "Come now," he whispers evilly, taking my hand between his own with a wicked laugh. "Let's give these nobles something to chew on."

The devil raises my hand in the air, allowing purple flames to flicker round the junction where our hands are joined. Those flames spiral downwards around our bodies, sparkling lights flaring off from our bodies, smoke rising from the ground, creating the illusion of ascending straight from the flaming pits of hell. The grin I give matches the Devil's in total wickedness. A strange revelation comes to me then, an inkling that the next few weeks in hell are going to be an awful lot of fun.

A few shrieks rise from the crowd as the unnatural light sparkles around us causing the Devil to grin beside me, clearly enjoying performing such a spectacle.

"Now then," the devil calls out, his husky voice ringing against the crowd. It's a beautiful voice, the perfect combination of assertiveness, and the permanent honeyed growl of a bedroom voice, enough to make any girl swoon, no matter how hard they strive against it.

"Most unfortunately for you, I will be taking this spectacular Princess home with me-" shouts of protest rise from the crowds. The Devil's eyes flicker to the centre of the noise, and all at once there is silence. Not the sort of silence you would find when one is too afraid to speak, but a forced silence, lingering stagnant in the empty air. Glancing over to the nobles who each individually claw at their throats in distress, I realise its not that they don't want to speak, but they no longer can speak. In one singular look, the devil had cut out their voices straight from their throat, reducing them to a noiseless husk.

I suppose the legends about him are true after all.

Swiftly, the devil clears his throat and continues on as if nothing has happened.

"As I was saying, the Princess will be staying with me in hell. Though rather fortunately for you poor, unfortunate souls she will be allowed in the Upper Realm, so that is she so desires she might grace you with her presence. I will leave that up to her, however."

The devil and I share a look, causing a flicker of emotion to run through me, jolting down my spine. His violet eyes twinkle under the bright light of the glass chandeliers, his wings stretching out behind him, shining black and blue and purple, like that of a raven.

There is something I have realised about the Devil in the few hours I have known him, one thing that I always thought to assume, but never thought about why. For you see the Devil- ruler of the Downside may he be, is not inherently evil. At least not for the most part. Rather, much like me, he finds himself dissatisfied with the shortcoming of people, of humanity, so delights to toy with them instead. People who are fake irritate him, and people who are cruel even more so. So perhaps that is why he could not stand to listen to my mother, or those obstinate nobles, who live their lives on mountains of pretend games and lies, content to strive for their own game for the suffering of others. It would seem even the Upper Realm is not exempt from humanities' cruelty, no matter how much they preach otherwise.

So maybe, just maybe, it is this shared similarity between us that makes me feel so drawn to him. This shared notion between us that makes me believe spending my days in hell with him wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

In fact, I think I will rather like it.