“You’re so lucky I’m here,” she grunted.
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Jacks mumbled. “I wanted you here, Little Fox. Who do you think asked Poison to save you and suggest to his empress that she send you to Nocte Neverending?”
46
Evangeline and Jacks stumbled through the door together. The room was cold, and she thought it held the scent of apples, but that might have just been Jacks.
A skylight provided just enough illumination for Evangeline to see walls of haphazard bookshelves broken up by a fireplace, a scuffed desk piled high with papers, a sofa of dark amber velvet, and a pair of mismatched armchairs. They’d stumbled into someone’s private library. She just hoped the owner didn’t return while they were hiding there.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Jacks pulled away and fell on top of the sofa, head resting against one of its velvet arms, long legs dangling off the end.
“Jacks!” She tried to shake him awake, hoping she could get him to answer at least one more question before he fully succumbed to sleep. If he’d been more alert, he would have never admitted to asking Poison to cure her or to help lure her to the North. Not that she was entirely shocked; she’d gathered from her first night there that Jacks had been expecting her.
“Tell me more.” She softened her voice. Maybe she could get him to think she was only part of a dream. “Tell me what you want inside the Valory Arch.”
Evangeline stopped shaking his shoulder and smoothed back a lock of golden hair that had fallen across his sleeping face. She wondered why he’d dyed it before. If he’d been in disguise, the blue was a terrible choice; it was far too bold and arresting. Not that the brilliant gold was easy to ignore. Even without the vampire allure, it tempted her to stare, and it felt incredibly soft against her thawing fingers as she ran them through—
Jacks’s hand covered hers, cold and firm atop her fingers. “Bad … idea…，” he murmured.
She snatched her hand away. She hadn’t meant to touch him like that. Jacks was not a thing to idly touch. He wasn’t even a thing she liked. Although, as soon as she had the thought, she knew it wasn’t true. Not anymore. Evangeline wasn’t ready to say they were friends, but after last night, she no longer felt as if they were enemies.
An enemy wouldn’t have spent the night with someone to make sure he didn’t turn into a vampire. And an enemy wouldn’t have held her quite so close or tasted her neck the way Jacks had. Evangeline knew he’d wanted to bite her, but his tongue on her neck hadn’t been just about biting.
She didn’t want to think too much about it—sort of like the jeweled dagger she’d taken from the crypt and placed in the sheath at her hip. She was glad Jacks no longer felt like her enemy, but it would be dangerous to let it go further and consider him a friend.
Evangeline allowed herself one small smile as she felt the ruffled cape he’d placed across her shoulders. Then she stepped away from him.
A paper rustled under her foot—the newsprint Jacks had been holding.
She’d thought before that he’d clutched the crumpled black-and-white sheet like a blanket because he’d been so tired. It probably repeated the news she was wanted for murder. But one glance at the headline changed her mind.
* * *
The Daily Rumor
THE CURSED BRIDE AND THE NEW CROWN PRINCE
By Kristof Knightlinger
It’s official: the new crown prince, Tiberius Peregrine Acadian, is engaged to Marisol Antoinette Tourmaline, also known as the Cursed Bride. I know many of you will find this difficult to believe, but I would not have printed these words without confirmation from Prince Tiberius himself. “It was love at first sight,” he said. “The moment I laid eyes on Marisol Tourmaline, I knew that we were meant to be together.”
I’ve heard whispers that many members of the royal court are upset that Prince Tiberius plans to wed before his brother’s body is even in the grave. Of course, there are also rumors Prince Apollo’s body has gone missing, but no one in Wolf Hall is talking about that.
The wedding will take place tomorrow morning, and one can’t help but wonder why this event is happening so soon—
（continued on page 6）
* * *
Evangeline did not have page 6. But she didn’t need to continue reading. She had been trying to give Marisol the benefit of the doubt. She didn’t want her stepsister to be a murderer or a monster. But all Evangeline could think was that Marisol had used another love potion to put Tiberius under a spell.