That'll work. Tall dark and handsome's an optimist, apparently.

"You don't make a promise only when you're keeping it," Melek points out. Arguing semantics suddenly seems like the funnest thing in the world, absent the opportunity for bloodshed and mayhem. "You make it and then you keep it. It's a declaration of intent. Unless you wouldn't have ripped his hand off?"

Something about Melek shifts. His eyes are sharper, perhaps. "Were you bluffing?" he wonders aloud, sounding for all the world like he's only idly curious though his demeanor is wrong for it.