He looks taken aback. “Why would you say that?”
I shrug indifferently. “Well, it’d make things easier right now for you, wouldn’t it?”
He steps closer to me. “Even if we never made the promise, I’d still…” His tongue slips out of his mouth and wets his lips as he struggles for words. “I’d still f**king hate what’s going on more than I’ve ever hated anything in my entire life.” He takes another step toward me, so close the tips of our shoes brush against each other. “What I feel for you isn’t based on some stupid star or promise or anything other than my emotions.”
We’re veering toward forbidden territory, about to jump off the cliff, at least he is. Even though I desperately want him to continue, I need to stop it before he does something he can’t take it back.
“Okay, we’ll have to be really careful then when we make the blood promise.” I change the subject. “You tell me exactly what to say.”
He looks at me for a fleeting moment with hurt in his eyes before he shoves it all down and moves away from me. “Even with the Blood Promise, if my father shows up, Nicholas will more than likely still have to do what he asks since I’m pretty sure the Mark of Malefiscus is more powerful than a Blood Promise.”
“Okay, well I guess we’ll have to make sure your father doesn’t find us then,” I say. “I think it’s worth the risk to get some answers, Alex.”
Alex is unconvinced, but I already have made up my mind and turn to Nicholas. “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 while you’re here, got it?”
Nicholas considers what I said then a grin slowly creeps up on his face. “I want one more thing.”
“No way,” I say firmly. “That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.”
He nods his head at Aislin. “I want Witch Girl over there to try and find a way to get this mark off my arm.”
My head snaps in Aislin’s direction. “Can you do that?”
Aislin ravels a strand of her hair around her finger. “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. Plus, my spell book is gone so it makes finding the spell to do it even more complicated.”
“You know other witches, don’t you?” Nicholas says in a condescending tone. “Talk to them—see if they know how.”
“Maybe I could see if someone knows a spell that would work,” Aislin says. “But it’s going to take time and a lot of searching probably, in places I don’t generally go.”
“We’re talking black magic?” Nicholas asks.
“More or less,” Aislin replies and Nicholas seems twistedly pleased by this.
“Good, then we have a deal.” He smirks at all three of us.
I glance at Alex who’s shaking his head, arms folded, muscles taut, but he doesn’t utter a word. “Okay, we have a deal,” I say, wondering when I became the spokesperson of the group. I stick my hand in Alex’s direction. “Do you have a knife on you? So I can cut my hand and make the promise.”
Still frustrated, he stuffs his hand into the pocket of his jeans and retrieves a small, silver knife. “I still don’t think this is a good idea.”
I take the knife from him and flip open the blade. I try to keep a steady hand as I aim the knife at my palm. “So I just cut and then what?”
Alex sighs, finally giving up on being stubborn, then takes the knife from me, and then holds my hand in his. He draws a line across the scar on my palm with his thumb before releasing my hand. “I need your other hand to do it.”
I give him my other hand like he asks. “Can we not do the promise in the same place twice or something?”
His head is angled down so I can’t see his expression. “No, you can do that, but I don’t want to do it on the scar that was from our promise—that’s mine.”
It might be the sweetest thing he has ever said to me. I bite back a smile, though, because it’s a feeling that’s bitterly sweet.
“Man, you two are going to kill each other quickly, aren’t you?” Nicholas reminds me of what I can’t have.
Alex shoots him a glare as he touches the cold blade to my skin. “I’m going to cut your hand and his,” he tells me. “Then you’ll press your palm to his and repeat exactly what I say, alright?”
I nervously nod. “Alright.”
“And be very careful that you repeat exactly what I say,” he stresses.
“Don’t you need to untie Nicholas first?” I ask.
“I’m not going to let him go until the promise is made,” Alex states firmly. “You’ll just have to reach up to his hand.” Then very vigilantly he makes a small cut along my palm. Blood seeps out of the wound and I quickly cup my hand. Then Alex moves over to Nicholas, reaches up over his head, and with less carefulness, slices Nicholas’s hand open. Blood drips out of the wound and down his bare arm.
Stepping back, Alex closes the blade then tosses the knife onto the floor. “Okay, put your hand up to his,” he says to me.
Gathering up the courage, I step forward and get on my tiptoes to press my bleeding palm against Nicholas’s. The smell of flowers and rain is overwhelming and his nearness makes me uncomfortable as he leans over and smells my hair.
“We should have done this a long time ago.” He breathes in my scent. “God, you smell so divine.”
I slant my head away from him. “Back the hell off, faerie boy or I’ll drop kick you in the balls.”
Aislin snorts a laugh as Nicholas chuckles lowly in my ear. “Sounds kinky to me,” he says.
I roll my eyes. “Only in your dreams.”
“Repeat exactly what I say, Gemma,” Alex says, interrupting us. “EGO votum permissum.”
I speak slowly to avoid mistakes. “EGO… votum…permissum.”
“Vos subsisto hic quod Andron.”
“Vos… subsisto… hic quod… Andron.” My voice shakes.
“Mos capto aufero vestri vestigium.”
“Mos capto… aufero… vestri… vestigium.”