“What’s going on?” Marisol chose that moment to come out of her room. “Tiberius—”
The defeated prince looked up, his anguish briefly departing, but this time, it wasn’t replaced with love. “If I ever see you again, I will kill you, too.”
It seemed the spell had finally broken, though Evangeline didn’t know if it was because of her antidote or if Jacks had been right about real love being strong enough to break love spells, and it actually was Tiberius’s love for his brother that had broken through when he had confessed the truth. He turned back to Evangeline. “For my last request, I never want to see her face again.”
“No—my love!” Marisol started to cry, and she kept the performance up even as Evangeline had soldiers lock her inside of her room until further notice. Like Tiberius, she didn’t want to see her stepsister anymore.
Evangeline couldn’t blame everything that had happened on Marisol. Marisol hadn’t been the one to poison her or Apollo. But Evangeline did wonder what would have happened if Marisol had not put a spell on Luc. Would fate have intervened in another way to turn Evangeline into the girl in the Valory Arch prophecy? Or would things have worked out differently for her and Luc and Apollo and Tiberius? Was she destined to end up here, or was it just one of many possible paths? She would never know, but she had a feeling this question would always haunt her.
* * *
It didn’t take long for Evangeline to transform from fugitive back into princess. She was moved into another untainted royal suite, with a roaring fire and lots of thick cream carpets that felt wonderful beneath her tired feet. Everyone seemed to want to fuss over her, exclaim how glad they were that she was safe, and how they all knew she couldn’t have killed Prince Apollo.
Evangeline wasn’t sure if she believed any of them, but she accepted all the fussing.
At the urging of servants, she’d bathed and changed into a much more comfortable gown of white satin with a striped black underskirt and a bodice decorated with pretty black embroidery. Northerners didn’t wear full black for mourning, but it was customary to at least wear some.
Even more guards and servants and half-awake palace officials were called into the suite after that. For hours, it was a flurry of maids bringing Evangeline warm food, and officials making requests and suggestions that sounded a lot like orders. Jacks had yet to appear, and she tried not to worry too much about it. Maybe he just hadn’t come because her name had been cleared?
Hours ago, a messenger had been sent to Kristof Knightlinger and The Daily Rumor so word could get out about Evangeline’s innocence. Given how fast gossip spread, the entire kingdom probably knew by now.
But she still would have liked to have seen Jacks and told him the news herself. Ever since she’d proved her innocence, Evangeline had been eager to see Jacks’s face when she shared that she’d confronted Marisol, discovered who had really killed Apollo, and cleared her name on her own.
Only now that it was nearing late afternoon, her eagerness had turned into tightness in her chest.
Why hadn’t Jacks shown up at Wolf Hall? He should have seen her note. Unless he was still asleep? Yesterday, she’d been amused by the idea of Jacks being slayed by slumber, but now it unnerved her. What if his fatigue hadn’t just been a side effect of the vampire venom?
“I need a coat,” she said.
One of the many maids in the room stepped closer to the blazing fire. “Would you like me to put another log on?”
“No, I need to step out,” Evangeline said. She knew no one wanted her to leave Wolf Hall. The Council of Great Houses, which now included Evangeline, was being called to assemble as soon as possible to discuss what was to be done now that one direct heir was dead and the other was in prison. Any minute and she’d be summoned to meet them, but she wasn’t sure she could sit and wait any longer. She needed to make a quick trip back to the spires to check on Jacks.
She knew she shouldn’t care so much, but she couldn’t stop fearing that something was wrong.
“Your Highness.” A soldier near the door cleared his throat. “There’s a gentleman who’s just arrived, and he’s insisting upon seeing you. He—”
“Let him in.” Evangeline didn’t allow the soldier to finish. It seemed she’d been worrying about Jacks for nothing.
“I’m afraid he’s not with me. We’ve put him in the receiving solarium.”
“I’ll take you to him, Your Highness.” It was Havelock.