Evangeline didn’t remember the forest being this dense. The trees were as close as matchsticks in a box. She turned around, but she must have gone in the wrong direction again, for she found herself at a cliff’s edge, overlooking the foaming ocean.
Hugging her arms to her chest, she turned back the way she’d come. The air was growing chillier, and she tried to warm herself by quickening her steps. They were louder than she liked. So noisy that it took her a minute to notice there was another sound in the forest.
Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.
The plodding noise was more animal than human. It sounded like a horse lost among the graves.
Evangeline froze, remembering the last time she’d heard hoofbeats.
Carefully, she took a step back into the shadow of the trees.
Then she took another step. She swore she didn’t make a sound, but just a second later, the horse came into view, along with its rider. His shoulders were broad, his back was straight, and although she couldn’t clearly see his face, she knew this was Apollo.
He appeared to be completely healed, too. He looked strong and healthy, and she felt a strange and impossible pull toward him, one she had to fight, as she watched him from the shadows.
The way his horse was moving, slowly plodding, made it clear he wasn’t passing through. He was searching for something.
For her.
She knew it in her soul. But how had he known she was there?
“Evangeline.” He called her name like a plea, one that tempted her to answer, but she forced herself to stay in place. “If you’re out there, you need to run,” he said, more ragged than before. “If you go this minute, I won’t chase you—I have control of myself right now. But I don’t know how long it will last.” Apollo took a shuddering breath. “I don’t want to injure you, but something has come over me. Finding you—” he choked out. “Hunting you is all I can think about.”
Clouds parted from the moon, and Evangeline caught another glimpse of Apollo’s face through the trees. His entire expression was etched with something like heartache, something so raw she felt it like an actual wound. She wanted to be optimistic and tell herself it would all be fine—if he’d woken from Jacks’s spell, then Apollo could fight whatever was overtaking him now, but she didn’t know what was happening. And the two of them were starting to feel doomed.
She tried to hold her breath, but she could see it sneaking out in thin puffs of white that she hoped didn’t give her away.
“I don’t know for certain if you’re out there. If that’s the pull I’m feeling right now. But if you’re listening, help me, Evangeline.” His voice softened at her name, before it sounded torn again. “Find a way to break this spell that compels me to hunt you, and I promise, I’ll do nothing but protect you.”
He reached toward the quiver at his back and pulled out a golden arrow. It glowed under the moonlight, flickering as the prince’s hand shook. Evangeline tried to hold very still. Apollo was clearly fighting whatever was trying to control him.
Or whoever it was.
Earlier, she’d been quick to shove aside the idea that Jacks had done this. But Evangeline hadn’t completely dismissed it, and now, as she shuddered in the darkened forest, she wondered again if Jacks orchestrated this to make sure she had no one to depend on but—
A hand clamped over her mouth, and a powerful arm wrapped around her arms and chest.
Don’t make a sound, Little Fox.
12
Jacks tugged her back into the forest, lifting her feet off the ground as he pulled her farther from Apollo.
Let me go! she thought angrily. Just because she was in danger from Apollo didn’t mean she was safe with Jacks. Her slippers fell to the dirt as she squirmed in his grip.
Not interested in biting me anymore? Jacks taunted in her head.
Evangeline’s cheeks went suddenly hot, but she didn’t let that distract her from slamming the back of her skull into Jacks’s face.
His hold briefly slipped, but then it tightened again, securing her more firmly against his chest.
Stop fighting me, or he’s going to kill you, Jacks projected into her thoughts. He used the hand on her mouth to turn her head as Apollo rode through a patch of distant moonlight. He looked like a fairytale come to life, a dashing silhouette—until she glimpsed the light from his eyes, now glowing red. The same awful color they’d turned the last time he’d attacked.
Evangeline ceased her struggle. She knew she wasn’t safe in Jacks’s arms, but in that moment, he seemed to be the lesser of two terrifying evils. What did you do to him?