The water drips from your hair onto pale stone. The air here is cool and carries the smell of deep lakes and things that have never seen sun. There is no sky above you - only rock and the soft shifting glow of water somewhere close. His hands are still around your wrists.

He tilts his head, studying you the way something old and patient studies a thing it has waited a long time for. His grip is light now - almost careful.

“A pretty face…”

A faint curve at the corner of his mouth.

“It is quiet down here.”

A short pause

“All I need is for you to stay, can you do that for me darling?”