Suddenly, Evangeline knew what Chaos wanted. He wanted the same thing as Jacks. That was why the two of them were working together. “You want me to open the arch. You think that the Valory holds the key to unlocking your cursed helm?”
“I don’t think. I know it does,” Chaos said, something like pain seeping into his voice. He took a deep breath, and his chest moved against hers, turning her skin violently hot again.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jacks growled.
Evangeline turned toward his voice, sweat trickling down her cheek, as she found him standing in the doorway. A vein throbbed furiously along the line of his smooth, marble neck. His skin looked so cool, and she was so hot. All she wanted was to press her mouth to his throat and maybe lick it just once. Her blood rushed faster at the thought, and her fangs started to lengthen.
“Jacks, get out of here!” Chaos ordered. “Unless you’ve changed your mind about her becoming a vampire.”
Chaos gripped Evangeline’s wrists tighter, pressing them—along with her—more firmly to the bed. She writhed against his grip; he was crushing her again with the full weight of his body.
Something loud cracked in the doorway.
Her eyes shot back to Jacks, who was fisting the now splintered edge of the door. Had he done that with his hands?
He certainly looked livid enough. His silver-blue eyes turned midnight dark as he watched her struggling under Chaos.
Evangeline dimly knew that she should stop her thrashing. If she broke free from Chaos and managed to bite Jacks, the life she had—the life she wanted to keep—would be over. But she also wanted this. She wanted Jacks to stop her struggling. She wanted him to rip Chaos off her chest so that he could pin her to the bed instead.
Evangeline took a rasping breath, and her gaze collided with Jacks’s once more.
He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. With Evangeline’s heightened senses, she could hear it clench under his palm. Then she heard the scrape of Jacks’s boots as he sharply turned and disappeared down the hall.
11
Evangeline felt the instant dawn arrived. All her limbs, which had been too strong before, were suddenly too weak to move. She’d become a girl again, with ordinary senses and normal incisors, and a deep sense of discomfort as she lay there under Chaos, excruciatingly aware that her slip had ridden up past her thighs, all the way to her hips.
A wave of mortification washed over her at the thought she had been like this all night—and that Jacks had seen her like this as well.
She’d been so hot before that she hadn’t noticed how exposed she was, but now she could feel the cool air sliding over her skin as Chaos finally released her wrists and pushed up from the bed.
Evangeline kept her eyes tightly closed and tried to slow her breathing. It was childish to pretend she was sleeping, but she didn’t want to face him—or anyone, really. Last night she had not been herself.
She sensed Chaos standing over her, watching her for a reason she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Then she felt his hand smoothing down her slip until it fell back to her knees.
Gooseflesh covered her skin. She remained very still until finally she sensed that Chaos had left. She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn’t find the strength to do more than flutter her lashes. With the venom gone, she wasn’t just human, she was entirely drained.
She recalled that Jacks had been the same way after he’d been infected with vampire venom. She’d thought he was being dramatic as he’d curled up against tombstones and collapsed in various doorways. But now she was impressed that he’d possessed the resolve to move at all.
Evangeline did not know how long she’d slept. But as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and dared to climb out of bed on her shaking legs, she imagined it could have been an entire day.
Her stomach rumbled, and her throat felt dry. She was grateful to find someone had left a few things for her: a tray piled with food, a dress, and a copper tub for washing. The water was cool, but she was glad for the chance to scrub the blood and grime from her body and her hair.
Once she was clean, she ate as much as she could manage. There was hearty bread, rich cheese, cold slices of meat, and her favorite fig jam. But with so many thoughts swirling through her head, the meal was difficult to enjoy.
As soon as she’d been infected with the venom, all thoughts of Apollo had fled. But now she wondered if he had been healed from his injuries when she had or if he was still wounded. She hoped he was healed and somewhere safe. She still didn’t think this was truly his fault. Someone had to have been coercing him.