But a slow, deeply satisfied smile came over him, and his breath quickened. “So softly it starts,” he whispered. “Foolishly clever and with an unsurvivable trust. It just saved your miserable life, that questionable show of thought, my itchy-witch.” Al’s smile shifted, becoming lighter. “And now you will live to possibly regret it.”

I shivered, not knowing if I had just saved or damned myself. But I’d be alive, and that was what mattered right now.

“You as my protégée?” he asked, as if trying it on.

I felt dizzy. “Name only,” I breathed, putting a hand on the cold cement to ground myself. “You leave me alone. My family, too. Stay away from my mom, you SOB.”

“Priceless,” Al mocked. “No. If I am taking you, you will be here.” He touched the ground by his knee. “In the ever-after. With me.”

“Absolutely not.”

Al took a breath, then leaned forward with his brow furrowed, as if he was trying to impress me with the weight of his words. “You don’t understand, witch,” he said, hammering in the last word. “There hasn’t been the chance to teach someone worth the salt of their blood in a very long time. If we are going to play this game, then we will play it.”

He leaned back, and I remembered to breathe.

“I can’t claim you as a student if you aren’t with me,” he said, gesturing flamboyantly, his earlier mood of seriousness replaced with his usual dramatic flair. “Be reasonable. I know you can be. If you try very, very hard.”

I didn’t like his mocking tone. “I’ll visit you one night a week,” I countered.

He eyed me over his glasses, his gaze rising to the coming sun. “One night a week off, and the rest of the time, you’re with me.”

My thoughts went to Trent. I could walk away from this right now, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. “I’ll give you one twenty-four-hour period—a full day and night every week. Take it or leave it.” Damn it, Trent, you owe me big.

“Two,” he countered, and I stifled a tremor. I had him over a barrel, having shown him his freedom and the status having a teachable student would bring him. Still, he could say no, and then neither of us would have anything. And I was hoping that I might get something else out of him before we were done.

“One,” I said, sticking to my original offer. “And I want to know how to jump the lines immediately. I will not be stranded with no way home.”