Don’t worry, Little Fox. You might even enjoy this.
Before she could think too much about how Jacks’s lazy voice had made it into her head again, the door to the study swung open.
“I’ll give you one minute to get out of here before I let Jupiter and Hadez attack.” The older woman, who must have been the Fortuna matriarch, stormed into the room, flanked by a pair of steel-gray dogs that came up to her waist. “It’s not their dinner yet, but they’re always hungry for the meat of my enemies.”
“Tabitha,” Jacks sighed, dramatic as his pose. “There’s no need for over-the-top threats.”
“I assure you, my threats are genuine.” One wrinkled hand brushed over the dog to her left, and it bared a set of gleaming teeth. “You now have forty-two seconds. I meant it when I told you that I’d kill this little upstart if I ever crossed her path.”
The matriarch’s gaze swung over to Evangeline. With two circles of rouge painted on her cheeks and her dusky-lavender dress belted with a hanging gold chain, the older woman looked like a very expensive doll. The type that people had nightmares about coming to life and killing them in their sleep.
“Clearly, the papers have exaggerated your looks,” she said. “I can’t believe Apollo chose you over my Thessaly. Although after you’re out of the picture, I’ll make sure he fixes that.”
Evangeline wanted to hope the woman was joking. She had to be joking. People who lived in sparkly purple castles didn’t threaten to feed guests to their dogs.
Evangeline shot an uneasy look toward Jacks. He glared at the standing clock in the corner, tick-tick-ticking away.
Not joking, then.
“You have eight seconds,” said the matriarch.
The dogs both snarled, gray lips pulled back over canine teeth, as their owner toyed with the short fur on their heads.
Evangeline’s breathing turned shallow.
She told herself they were only dogs, and it wasn’t as if she needed to kiss their muzzles. She just needed to kiss the woman who was petting them.
“What pretty animals you have,” chattered Evangeline, heart racing with every word. She moved as if to pet the beasts, but she grabbed the woman’s shoulders instead and pressed a kiss to her papery cheek.
The Fortuna matriarch stiffened and squawked, “How dare—”
Her words were cut off by the yip and the bark of the dogs as they both jumped. Strong paws hit Evangeline’s torso. She tried to step back, but the hounds—
—were licking her?
One wet tongue smacked a sloppy dog kiss to Evangeline’s cheek, while the other lapped her neck affectionately.
Across from her, the Fortuna matriarch now wore a soft smile on her gently lined face, suddenly looking as sweet as her pretty purple castle.
“Jupiter! Hadez!” she commanded. “Stand down, my loves. Leave our precious guest alone.”
The dogs obeyed immediately, returning to all four legs.
Then the matriarch was giving Evangeline a hug as warm as fresh-baked cookies and knitted blankets. And for the first time, Evangeline was actually thankful for Jacks’s magic, because this was clearly his doing. The kiss had turned the matriarch from Killer Doll into Doting Grandmother.
“Forgive Jupiter and Hadez. They only act naughty like that when they’re exceptionally excited to see someone. You’ll have to pardon my deplorable behavior as well. I wish I would have known you were visiting today. I’d have had Cook make you some hobgoblin fudge.”
Jacks laughed and covered it up with a cough that sounded a lot like hobgoblin fudge.
“The fudge is my Thessaly’s favorite,” the matriarch prattled on. “Have you met her yet? We thought Prince Apollo might actually propose to her, and even though she was rather upset he didn’t, I think the two of you would be dear friends. I could send a carriage to have her brought here right now.”
“That won’t be necessary, Tabitha.” Jacks shoved off from the fireplace and sauntered to Evangeline’s side with insouciant grace. “I believe what Miss Fox would really love is to see the Fortuna vault.”
“No.” The older woman’s silver head shook, wooden but insistent, as if she didn’t want to say no, but something stronger than Jacks’s magic compelled her. “I don’t let anyone in the vaults. I’m—I’m sorry.” Her shoulders sagged, and the lines in her face stood out more starkly as she turned back to Evangeline.
The expression was uncomfortably reminiscent of Apollo. Whenever he thought Evangeline unhappy, it was as if his heart forgot how to beat and the rest of him began to fail along with it.