“What!” Aislin exclaimed, her loud voice echoing through the air. “What do you mean you’ll kill each other?”

“We’ll explain later,” he waved her off, his gaze still glued on Nicholas. “Start talking.”

Nicholas slowly shook his head and Alex raised his fist. With how much wrath was blazing in Alex’s eyes, I worried that if he started swinging he might not stop this time.

Nicholas must have sensed it too. “Alright, alright…I’ll tell you.” He paused, contemplating something that I was sure was probably going to start trouble. “But I want something in return.”

Alex was already shaking his head. “No way.”

“Then, no deal,” Nicholas said while struggling to keep his footing.

“I don’t think you’re in much of a position to be making bargains,” Alex said, raising a fist. “Or, do I need to remind you of that.”

“What do you want?” I stepped in between them, if for nothing else, so I would no longer have to witness anymore punching.

“Gemma,” Alex warned, but I held up my hand, my eyes on Nicholas. “What do you want?”

The humor erased itself from Nicholas’ face. “I want to stay here.”

My hand dropped, along with my jaw. “You want to what?”

“I want to stay here,” Blood trickled down his wrists, and he winced as the rope swayed. “After I tell you what I know, I want to be able to hang around for a while.”

Alex and I both shook our heads.

“No way,” Alex’s voice was unyielding.

“Yeah, I don’t think that such a good idea.” I pointed to the Mark of Malefiscus on Nicholas’ forearm. “Especially considering you have that.”

“That’s why I want to stay,” Nicholas said. “If Stephan can’t find me, then he can’t make me do things for him.”

I glanced at Alex. “Is that true?”

Alex shrugged. “I have no idea how the mark works.”

I eyed Nicholas suspiciously. “How do we know you’re telling the truth? I mean, I’ve seen what you were going to do to me back on the shore.”

A grin spread across his face “I bet you did. Tell me, did you just see it or actually live it?”

Why did the one person who seemed to have the answers have to be a very obnoxious faerie/Foreseer that loved to twist things around and make everything difficult?

I looked from Alex to Aislin. “What do you guys think we should do?”

“I don’t know…do you think we can trust him?” Aislin asked Alex.

He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know.”

This was giving me a headache. I rubbed the sides of my temples, trying to make all the stress disappear. That’s when I caught sight of the scar on the palm of my hand. I held my hand out if front of me and stared at the scar that marked my and Alex’s Blood Promise to be together forever.

“I think I have an idea,” I turned to Nicholas. “Would you be willing to promise that you wouldn’t do anything harmful to anyone?”

Nicholas and Alex gave me a perplexed look. Then, realization spread across their faces.

“No way,” Alex said and the same time Nicholas remarked, “clever girl.”

“Why not?” I asked Alex. “It’s not like it’s a bad thing or anything.”

“Blood Promises can go wrong, Gemma.” He frowned as he traced the scar on the palm of his hand. “The promise is unbreakable—you can’t take it back. And if you say the wrong thing, you can end up making a promise you didn’t intend to make.”

“Is that what happened with us?” I asked, offended. “Did you say the wrong thing? Or is it that you just want to take it back?”

“No.” He looked taken aback. “That’s not what I meant. I was just saying things could go wrong…you could say the wrong thing and end up getting stuck with him forever.”

Nicholas grinned as if this were a compliment.

I shook my head and let out a stressed sigh “Okay, we’ll have to be really careful then.”

Alex leaned toward me and dropped his voice. “And even with the Blood Promise, if my father shows up, Nicholas more than likely will still have to do what he asks because I’m pretty sure the Mark of Malefiscus is more powerful than a Blood Promise.”

“Then, I guess we will have to make sure your father doesn’t find us.” My voice trembled from Alex’s closeness. Focus, I told myself. “If he might have some answers on how I can save the world, then I think it’s worth the risk.”

Alex still looked unconvinced, but I didn’t care. I already made up my mind. I was going to do this. “Okay, you and I will make a Blood Promise. I’ll promise you can stay here with us, and you’ll promise that you’ll answer all of my questions…truthfully. And, you won’t harm any of us. Got it?”

He considered this. “I want one more thing.”

I rolled my eyes. “What else do you want?”

He nodded his head at Aislin. “I want Witch Girl over there to try and find a way to get this thing off my arm.”

I shot Aislin a questioning glance. “Can you do that?”

Aislin’s green eyes went wide. “I don’t know…I mean there might be a spell that could remove a mark, but I’ve never heard of it, or I might not be powerful enough to actually pull it off.”

“You know other witches, don’t you,” Nicholas said in a rude tone. “Talk to them—see if they know how.”

Aislin twisted her golden brown hair around her finger. “Maybe, I could see if someone knows a spell that would do it.”

“That’s all I’m asking,” Nicholas said.

“Alright, then.” Aislin let go of her hair. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Nicholas’ gaze landed on me. “So are you ready to do this?”

“Do you have a knife?” I asked Alex, holding my hand out.

“Why?” he asked, his arms crossed as he looked at me with irritation.

“So I can cut my hand and make the promise,” I tapped my foot impatiently, waiting for him to hand over the knife I was almost certain he had.

He shook his head, frustrated. Then he reached into the pocket of his jeans and retrieved a silver pocket knife.“I still don’t think this is a good idea.” He reluctantly handed me the knife.

I flipped open the blade and winced at the sharp tip as it flashed in the florescent lighting of the garage. I tried to keep a steady hand as I held the knife up to the palm of my hand. “So, I just cut?”

Alex sighed and took the knife from me. “Give me your hand,” he said and I did. He traced the scar on my palm with his finger, and then let my hand go. “Give me you other hand.”

Confused, I gave him my other hand. “What? Can I not do the promise in the same place?”

He shook his head, his eyes locked on the palm of my hand. “No, you can. But that scar was from our promise.”

It felt like a thousand butterflies were fluttering around in my stomach.

“Man, you two are going to kill each other quick, aren’t you?” Nicholas remarked with a smirk.

Alex shot him a glare and then held the knife to my palm. “Okay, I’m going cut your hand and his. Then you’ll press your palms to his and repeat what I say, alright?”

I swallowed hard and nodded. “Alright.”

“And be very careful that you repeat exactly what I say.”

“Don’t you need to untie him first?” I pointed over at Nicholas.

“I’m not going to let him go until the promise is made,” Alex told me firmly. “You’ll just have to reach up to his hand.”

Well, it’s a good thing I’m tall because it was going to be a really high reach to get Nicholas’ hand—they were practically touching the ceiling.

Alex pressed the tip of the knife gently against the palm of my hand and then, very carefully, he made a small cut. Blood seeped out and my skin felt like it was on fire. Alex quickly went over to Nicholas, reached up to where his hands were bound, and with less carefulness, sliced the palm of Nicholas’ hand. Blood oozed out of his skin and dripped down his arm.

Alex flipped the blade shut and tossed it on the cement floor. “Gemma put your hand up to his.”

I took a deep breath and, ignoring the flowery smell that always flowed off Nicholas, stood on my tiptoes, and pressed my bleeding palm against Nicholas’. His closeness made me uncomfortable, along with the deviousness playing at his lips.

“We should have done this a long time ago.” His breath was hot on my cheeks.

Glaring, I leaned my face away from him.

“Repeat exactly what I say,” Alex said, holding my gaze. “EGO votum permissum.”

I spoke slowly so I wouldn’t mess anything up.“EGO… votum…permissum.”

Alex swallowed hard. “Vos subsisto hic quod Andron.”

“Vos…subsisto…hic quod…Andron.”My voice shook.

“Mos capto aufero vestri vestigium.”

“Mos capto…aufero…vestri…vestigium.”

Alex and I both let out a breath of relief, and then Alex pointed a finger sharply at Nicholas. “You better repeat exactly what I say. No changing or adding anything, understand?”

Nicholas nodded, but there was a mischievous look in his eye that made me uneasy. “I understand.”

Alex told him what to say, speaking his words vigilantly.Nicholas repeated what Alex said, and as far as I could tell he said each word correctly. But I had no idea what was being said, since I don’t speak Latin, so I was putting a lot of trust in Alex. Strangely, I think I might have reached the point where I could do this.

After the Blood Promise was made, Alex cut the rope and freed Nicholas. Nicholas rubbed his bleeding wrist and wiped the blood from his lip with the bottom of his green t-shirt.

“Okay, tell us everything you know,” Alex said, swiping the pocket knife off the floor.

“Can we at least sit down?” Nicholas asked with pain in his voice.

Alex shook his head and wiped the blade of the knife on his jeans, cleaning off the blood. “Tell us now.”

Again, I kind of felt sorry for faerie boy. I mean, he looked like crap, and it wasn’t going to do any harm to go sit down.

“We can go into the living room and sit,” I told Nicholas. “If you want to?”

Alex shot me a dirty look.

I shrugged. “He’s hurt.”

Still glowering at me, Alex leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Feeling sorry for him is only going to get you into trouble…you’ve seen what he’s capable of.”

I tried not to shudder from the electric tickle of his breath. “Okay, but I still think we should go sit down.”

Alex didn’t look happy, but we still ended up in the living room. The seating arrangement proved to be a difficult task, since Alex didn’t want me sitting next to Nicholas, but I thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to sit by Alex, considering what the consequences could be. I was realizing very quickly that, if it turned out to be true—if Alex and I being close to one another for too long could end up killing us—then there might be a huge problem because we seemed to magnetize toward each other.