A curious light flickered in his eyes. It wasn’t lust, it wasn’t anticipation. I didn’t know what it was. “We will spend our time as I see fit,” he said, then leered, completely wiping out the deeper emotion I’d seen in him. “Any way I want,” he added, licking his ruddy lips.

“No sex,” I said, heart pounding. “I’m not sleeping with you. Forget it.” It was now or never. “And I want that mark of yours removed,” I blurted. “Gratis. Call it a signing bonus.”

His lips parted and he laughed until he realized I was serious. “That would leave you with only Newt’s mark,” he said, amused. “Her claim on you would be stronger than mine. Not a healthy place to be, when one is in the ever-after and…vulnerable.”

Okay. Good point. Backtrack a little. “Then buy Newt’s mark for me,” I said, shaking inside, “and take it off. You want me as an apprentice, I want some insurance.”

Face clouding, he thought about it, and I got really scared when his expression shifted to a devilish delight. “Only if you give me my name back…Madam Algaliarept. Do that, and we have a deal.”

I shuddered upon hearing the terms come from his lips, and I didn’t care that he saw it. His grin deepened. But considering that I wouldn’t have to deal with Newt ever again or risk being summoned into Al’s circle, it wasn’t a bad arrangement. For either of us. “You don’t get your name until Newt’s mark is gone,” I countered.

He looked at me, then turned to the bright horizon, his smoked glasses going even blacker. “The sun is about to rise,” he murmured distantly, and I held my breath, not knowing if he agreed or not.

“So are we doing this?” I asked. There was a jogger at the far end of the park, and his dog was barking furiously at us.

“One more question,” he said, bringing his gaze back to me. “Tell me what it was like, being trapped in someone’s bubble like a demon.”

My face screwed up at the memory. “I hated it,” I said, and a small noise slipped from him, rising up from someplace deep inside him where only he knew his thoughts. “It was degrading—infuriating that a worm like Tom had control of me. I wanted to…scare him so bad he wouldn’t ever do it again.”

Al’s expression shifted when what I had said hit me and I put a hand to my chest. Damn it back to the Turn, I understood him. He hadn’t asked because he hadn’t known how I felt. He asked so I would see we were the same. God, help me. Please.

“Don’t do that to me again,” he said. “Ever.”