“You should see Apollo when it’s warmer out,” the girl beside her murmured. “He always does these poses with his shirt off.”
“He does this often?”
The other girl nodded vigorously. “It was rather exciting when his younger brother, Tiberius, used to taunt him by shooting arrows, or releasing herds of kittens upon him.”
“I think I might have liked to have seen that.”
“It was fantastic. Alas, Tiberius doesn’t appear to be here.” The other girl sighed. “The princes had a temporary falling-out some months ago. Tiberius disappeared for weeks, no one knows where he went, and ever since he returned, he’s avoided most functions.”
“What—” A bolt of cold shot up the back of Evangeline’s neck, making her completely forget whatever she was going to say next and think of one name instead. Jacks.
She didn’t know how she knew that’s what the spike of cold meant, but she would have bet her life that the Prince of Hearts had just entered the party.
13
Don’t turn around.
Don’t turn around.
Don’t—
Evangeline only meant to look for a second. Just to make sure he was really there, that the phantom cold covering her skin was not from some unseen ghost or breeze.
Her eyes went toward the arch first. Jacks was just beyond it, fog from the other side still clinging to the buckles on his boots as he cut across the clearing.
The ice at the back of Evangeline’s neck traveled around her throat and across her décolletage. What was he doing there?
Since the last time she’d seen him, Jacks had changed his hair to a striking shade of dark blue. If his sharp face weren’t so unmistakable, Evangeline might not have recognized him so quickly. But even his face looked colder than before. His lips were two wicked slashes, his eyes ice, and his perfect skin more marble than she remembered, pale and smooth and impenetrable.
In his church, there’d been a hint of twisted playfulness that softened some of his merciless edges. But all of that was gone. He’d lost something since she’d last seen him as if he’d been a touch human before but now he was not. Now he was all Fate, and she needed to make sure he didn’t discover her.
“Ah, you’ve spotted Lord Jacks.”
Evangeline quickly spun back to her new friend.
“He’s a close confidant of Apollo’s,” the girl said. “But he won’t help you win the prince.”
“I—I just thought he looked familiar,” Evangeline babbled. And she tried, she really tried, not to look at him again.
The last time she’d seen Jacks, he’d walked away as she’d turned to stone. She didn’t want to know what else he might condemn her to if he spotted her. But she was like the tide drawn by the tremendous force of the moon. It was no wonder waves were always crashing; they must have hated the pull as much as she did.
When she turned, Jacks was still cutting through the party, all cold-blooded grace and disinterest. Instead of a traditional doublet, he wore a loose shirt of gray linen, raven-black pants, and rugged leather boots, the same dark color as the fur-lined half cape casually slung over one of his straight shoulders. He didn’t appear to be dressed for a party—the buttons on his shirt weren’t even all done—but he captured more than just Evangeline’s attention. People looked away from Apollo, lounging across his balcony rail, simply to watch Jacks rudely ignore everyone who attempted to engage him.
No one appeared afraid of him the way they should have been. No one flinched or paled or ran. Evangeline had never found out exactly what sort of trouble Jacks had gotten into during the Week of Terror, but since then, he must have decided to conceal his true identity. Here he was just an insolent young aristocrat with a ruthless face and the ear of the prince.
Jacks walked straight toward the phoenix tree and was immediately given permission by the guards to climb the stairs winding around it. Not once did his gaze drift from his path or venture anywhere near her. Which was good. She didn’t want Jacks to notice her.
“Lord Jacks doesn’t really speak to anyone,” said Evangeline’s new friend. “There are rumors he’s recovering from a great heartbreak.”
Evangeline stifled a humorless laugh. Jacks didn’t look heartbroken to her. If anything, he looked even more unfeeling than the last time she’d seen him.
The safest bet for her would have been to run. To escape back through the arch while Jacks was out of sight. But if she left now, she’d also disappoint the empress and abandon her best chance at meeting Prince Apollo.