An unexpected swim

"How are you holding in there, Princess?" he asks with a laugh, words choppy with the sounds of his beating wings and the dizzying rush of water below us. I can tell from the smug look on his face that he is very much enjoying this, revelling in the sound of my pounding heart, the red flush of humiliation and overwhelm that dusts my cheeks. Yes, everything from the blazon, languid manner of his speech, right down to the casual way he reclines mid air, assessing my shaky form suggests that he is very much enjoying every single second of it.

I, however, am not.

Furiously, I dig my nails into his skin, but the devil seems to barely notice.

"What the hell was that for, Valerian? Let me down," I demand, before stopping short, at once realising the suggestion that lies between my words. Valerian grins, his eyes smouldering.

"As you wish, chérie," he says simply, and lets go of my wrists.

I barely have time to scream, let alone think, before I am plunging into the frothing purple depths below me, my breath cut short in panic. A shock of cold hits me at the first impact, alighting my nervous system with an icy chill before that very same cold begins to streak across my body, numbing me to any feeling at all. I sink down for a bit, lost in a flurry of bubbles before I begin paddling frantically through the water, disorientated and panicking, but most importantly, rather irritated.

As much as I like the Devil, he has some nerve to do what he just did.

Ancient beast or not, it takes some courage to drop a girl you just met, not to mention one you promised to look after in an unknown pool of luminescent purification water. Granted I wasn't exactly being the most co-operative, but I think faced with such a situation, any one would be hesitant to follow the advice of someone who is notorious for tricks, word play, and all round fraudulence and messing of the Upper World.

After a few moments of blindly searching for the surface, a second crash hits my ears, the water breaking as another body dives down next to me, blurred by the flurry of bubbles and my lack of underwater vision. Stiffening, I feel a pair of arms wrap around me, dragging me up towards the surface where the eerie crystal lights cast shadows of monstrous creatures onto the walls around us.

Struggling to hold my breath much longer, at last I break free, gasping for air, wet hair clinging to my face like a basket of wreathing snakes, my lungs tight and spiked with a wintry cold. I gulp down oxygen, relief flooding through me as I feel my lungs fill once again with the air I so desperately need.

For a little while I forget I am caught in the compassionate embrace of the one who dropped me in in the first place, content to simply be alive an not drowning- that is always a good start.

Not being taught much about swimming, and having not practised for a good several years, my skills are rusty at best, especially considering I was never particularly good to begin with. Perhaps it is this notion that compelled the Devil to dive down and save me, or maybe he remembered I was actually too useful to him to drop in a pool of demonic water and let sink to the bottom, or that his ancient heart does actually hold compassion- as he since has proven. Or maybe, maybe, he just thought I really needed to go for a bath.

I am not sure which is worse

"I could have drowned!" I gasp, choking, clutching a hand over my chest as the devil hoists me up next to him, swimming over to the shallower sections of the pool where he can stand without effort. His lion's tail flickers past my calf momentarily, sending a tremble of unease running through me, and wonder briefly whether that tail is in his command, or whether it has a mind of its own.

For a moment, Valerian remains silent as he lifts us both out of the water with a flap of his mighty wings, spraying a vast array of water droplets out across the room. My skin prickles as it meets open air, an unusual tingling sensation taking hold of me, like nerves sparking over my skin in darts of electric pulses. Not doubt part of that fucking water purification ritual.

I guess he wasn't lying after all.

"I wasn't going to let you die," Valerian assures, setting me down on the side of the pool to stand shaking, my arms wrapped tightly around myself, body trembling, wedding dress slipping off from my shoulders from the influence of the water. Who knew it would be so easy to ruin?

"You are much too precious to me- to everyone- to let die at all, though I did have to get you in the lake sometime- and your mind tells me you would not have done it by yourself. Besides, I did promise to take care of you after all," he reminds me, ambling smoothly over to a wrack of towels and clothes as he throws me back a pointed look.

"Yeah well, give me a warning next time you want to throw me in for an unexpected swim," I mutter, to which Valerian chuckles lightly to himself, throwing me a twinkling look. A few moments pass in silence between, enough time for my heart to lower to a steady thrum, and the residual humiliation from the event to subside from my veins.

As much as it took me off guard, there is something unexplainably charming about Valerian's mannerisms, his light flirtations, nicknames, the softness of his laugh. While he is annoying, yes, there is a compassion about him, a kindness, that I haven't seen for a long, long time.

It makes me wonder exactly what he did to end up here in the Downside.

At last Valerian seems to find what he is looking for, making a small grunt of exclamation before drawing away from the wrack of clothes, a two piece set of red silk clothes in one hand, a black fluffy towel in the other. In spite of myself, I gulp. That fluffy towel is looking more and more inviting by the minute- and this wedding dress is much too heavy to traipse around in, especially now its wet. It occurs to me then that I will not be traipsing out this room in the same clothes I went in. At some point, I am going to have to get changed.

Languorously, the devil approaches me just as the tingling sensation is beginning to die out across my skin, replaced by a numbing cold and a chilly updraft from the cracks and ridges of this curious cave room. Holding out a towel to me, he shakes it once.

"I promise, I won't look. If you would like, I can go out of the room" he whispers in assurance, to which I give him a doubtful expression that is rather unfortunately ruined by my periodic shivers. "Please," he says, shaking the towel out once again. "You will catch a cold."

Silently, I give him a long cold stare, processing my options.

"Alright," I say at last, pressing my mouth into a hard line as I sink my fingers into the fluffy towel, savouring its warmth upon my skin. "But tomorrow you are telling me about all this prophecy business, what I am supposed to do, what the fuck is going on, and how you ended up down here, because I am curious- you seem too... nice. No offense. None of this 'oh you are precious to me' shit either, because that means nothing to me. I want real answers. Okay?"

Valerian grins broadly.

"Your manners truly are quite something. But yes, chérie, I will tell you if that is what you wish."