Evangeline felt a curious blush as she watched a pawn lock lips with a knight dressed in black leather.
“The game is really rather fun,” said LaLa, appearing by her side in a spark of shimmering gold and orange. Her strapless gown matched the dragon fire tattoos on her brown arms, and the slit of her skirt flickered around her exposed leg as if it were aflame.
“You look marvelous!” Evangeline said. “Candles all over the world must be jealous of you tonight.”
“Thank you! I’ve always wanted to make fire envious.” LaLa executed a little bow. “Now back to the game,” she continued, nodding toward the chessboard where the young woman in the paper crown was now standing on her tiptoes to kiss a tall young man in a black bishop’s cape. The girl’s hands were trembling, but her cheeks were flushed with excitement, and the boy appeared almost as nervous. He stood completely still. Evangeline couldn’t tell if he was afraid of the kiss or afraid that the girl might change her mind.
Evangeline wondered if the game might be good for her stepsister, if it might improve her confidence, but it seemed Marisol hadn’t come through the arch yet.
“Are you going to give it a go?” LaLa asked.
“I’m not sure I even understand how it works,” Evangeline said.
“There aren’t many rules to kissing chess. Each side has one player who moves their human pieces about, coupling them up with opposing pieces until a pair decides that they’d rather kiss each other than anyone else.”
“Is there a winner to the game, or is it just an excuse to make people kiss?” asked Evangeline.
“Does it matter? It’s kissing…” LaLa finished on a sigh.
“Why don’t you play?” Evangeline asked.
“I would, but I can’t help but try for a chance with Prince Apollo.” She made a show of lifting her face toward an empty inner balcony and affecting a longing stare.
Evangeline stole a moment to look about the ball, scanning for a different prince. It would have been easy to get swept up in the gala, but she needed to stay vigilant. The scars on her wrist still weren’t burning, but she found it hard to believe Jacks wasn’t there yet. Everyone else seemed to be. The castle was filling with people faster than water could pour into a sinking ship.
Maybe she just had to search harder. Her eyes darted from gentleman to gentleman, cutting across the bustling ballroom until—Jacks.
Her heart leaped over a beat.
He was near the edge of the dance floor, lounging on a winged chaise and tossing a black apple with one hand.
He looked like a bad decision some unfortunate person was about to make. His midnight-blue hair was unruly, and his sable half cape was rakishly crooked, hanging over one shoulder to reveal a partially buttoned, smoke-gray doublet.
He dropped his apple, shoved off the lounge, and approached a nearby girl in a frothy pink sugar gown. A girl that bore an unnerving resemblance to Marisol.
Evangeline blinked as if the vision before her might shift and she’d see Jacks conversing with the pink fountain of punch instead. But the girl was definitely Marisol, and she was beaming so brightly, Evangeline could see her glow from across the ballroom.
When had she even entered the party?
Evangeline assumed that the arch would have deposited her stepsister the exact same place it had brought her, but either it hadn’t, or Marisol had crossed the ball after failing to see Evangeline and then walked straight over to Jacks like an innocent bunny hopping into the path of a hunter.
Evangeline watched in horror as Marisol smiled coyly. Jacks turned his mouth into a tempting twist, and he gave her a gentlemanly bow. Last night, Jacks had ignored everyone except for Evangeline and Apollo, but now it appeared he was asking Marisol to dance.
Something uncomfortable tightened around Evangeline’s rib cage. Of all the young men that her stepsister could have met at Nocte Neverending, why did it have to be Jacks? Evangeline doubted it was purely a coincidence. She still had no idea of what sort of game Jacks was really playing, but she couldn’t let him drag poor Marisol into it as well. She’d already been through enough.
Evangeline needed to stay far away from Jacks, but she couldn’t let him hurt her stepsister.
She turned to LaLa, about to excuse herself from their conversation, when the entire castle began to rumble and quake. The stone balconies filled with trumpeters in crisp copper coats.
Every head looked up. Then every head turned as a door labeled Majesty flew open, and Crown Prince Apollo Acadian rode into the ballroom on a thundering golden horse.