“If I fix Apollo, there also won’t be a wedding.”
“Then I guess I’m canceling my engagement.”
“Do that, and you’ll be the one destroying him, not me.” Jacks stabbed his apple with the knife. “If you don’t marry Apollo, he’ll be more heartbroken than you can imagine. And it will never heal with time, it will only grow and fester. Unless I will it, Apollo will never get over his unrequited love for you. He will spend the rest of his life consumed by it until it eventually destroys him.”
Jacks finished with a smile that bordered on downright cheerful, as if the idea of leaving someone forever brokenhearted put him in a better mood.
He was terrible. There was no other word to describe him—except maybe heartless or depraved or rotten. The way Jacks seemed to enjoy pain was absolutely staggering. The apple in his hand probably possessed more sympathy than he did. This was not the same young man who’d practically bled heartbreak all over the knave of his church. Something inside of him was broken.
LaLa had said there was a rumor that Jacks had been heartbroken by the empress’s younger sister. Evangeline hadn’t believed it initially. Jacks hadn’t appeared sad her first night in Valorfell, just crueler and colder. But maybe that’s what heartbreak did to Fates? Maybe it didn’t leave them hurt and lonely and horribly unhappy. Maybe broken hearts just made Fates even more inhuman. Was that what had happened to Jacks?
“Are you feeling sorry for me?” Jacks laughed, harsh and mocking. “Don’t, Little Fox. It would be a mistake for you to tell yourself that I’m not a monster. I’m a Fate, and you are nothing but a tool to me.” He brought the tip of his dagger to his mouth and toyed with his lips until he drew several drops of blood.
“If you’re trying to scare me—”
“Careful with your threats.” Jacks shot across the carriage and pressed the bloody tip of the dagger to the center of her mouth.
Evangeline might have gasped if she’d not feared he’d slip the blade between her lips. His blue eyes were back to bright as he taunted her with the blade, pressing it to her closed mouth until she could taste the disturbing sweetness of his blood.
“The only reason I’m entertaining this conversation is because, as you’ve realized, I need you to marry Apollo. So, I will give you a wedding gift. I promise to restore the prince and erase all his artificial feelings for you after you marry him.”
The coach rocked to a sudden halt. But Jacks didn’t move, and neither did Evangeline. She didn’t even look out the window to see where they’d stopped. She just kept her gaze on him.
Jacks had backed her into a corner. She had to marry Apollo to save him. And if she saved him—if Jacks erased Apollo’s feelings for her after they were married—Apollo would surely hate her almost as deeply as he thought he loved her right now.
The only person who’d truly win would be Jacks.
Cautiously, she leaned back until Jacks’s knife was no longer at her lips. But she could still taste the sharp of his blade, the cold of the metal, and the sweet of his blood still staining her lips. She felt as if she’d taste it forever. “At least tell me why you want this wedding.”
“Just accept the gift. What I want isn’t going to hurt anyone.”
She eyed the jeweled dagger he’d just pressed to her lips. “I don’t think you and I have the same definition of hurt.”
“Be thankful for that, Little Fox.” Jacks gave her a smile that was all sharp edges. A drop of blood fell from the corner of his mouth, and something godforsaken washed over his expression. “Hurt is what made me.”
27
Evangeline’s mother once told her that there were five different types of castles in the North. The fortress castle, the enchanted castle, the haunted castle, the ruined castle, and the storybook castle. Evangeline had yet to see all the different types of castles. But she immediately thought the words storybook castle as she stepped out of Jacks’s carriage and took in the lovely structure before her.
Made of sparkling purple bricks, gabled blue roofs, and pink-lined windows with golden light blazing through, Evangeline imagined this was the place where fairytales were formed. Then she immediately hoped she was wrong, given that Jacks would only ruin whatever was inside.
“Did you bring me here to destroy someone’s happily ever after?” she asked.
Jacks glared at the castle, eyes like daggers, as he started down the cobbled path. “You will not find any happy endings here. The matriarch of House Fortuna lives inside these ridiculous walls. She likes to pretend she’s a loving storybook grandmother, but she’s about as sweet as poison. If you want to get through this visit alive, when you meet the matriarch, you’ll kiss her cheek or hand as quickly as possible.”