He took a slow bite of the fruit, eyes darkening as they slowly slid from her lips to her neck, following the exposed line of it down to her clavicle and then to her breasts. Her breathing felt heavy as Jacks’s gaze lingered on the intricate cords that wrapped around her chest, tracing the golden lines with his eyes in a way that made the braided ropes feel as if they were being tightened, as if his cool fingers were pulling them more tautly around her, until it was a little difficult to breathe.
“You started it with your stare,” he murmured.
This was more like the Jacks she knew, taunting and a little cruel.
“Do you have any news of Apollo?” she asked coolly.
“No,” Jacks said. “Chaos sent out vampires to search for him last night, along with a few humans who could stay out until after sunrise, but no one has seen him and the scandal sheets haven’t mentioned him. If he’s smart, he’s trying to get some distance from you, to make it easier to fight the curse. But,” Jacks added darkly, “that can only last so long.”
“What about Havelock?” Evangeline asked.
“What about him?”
“Has anyone questioned him to see if he knows who put the Archer’s curse on Apollo?”
Jacks side-eyed her. “I already told you, finding out who cast this curse won’t help us.”
“But I’d still like to know. Maybe you’re used to people trying to kill you, but I’m not.”
“That’s unfortunate, because Havelock is gone, too. We tried to find him after questioning the guards who were watching Apollo, but no one in Wolf Hall knows where he is. My guess would be wherever Apollo is.”
Jacks stopped at the ancient wooden door to Chaos’s study. He twisted the iron handle, but the door did not budge.
He knocked. But the vampire didn’t answer. It seemed he wasn’t there just yet.
“Unlock it,” Jacks ordered.
Evangeline bristled. “You could at least say please.”
“I could, but then you might think I’m being nice, and I would hate to confuse you.”
Lightning quick, Jacks pulled out his dagger, stabbed her finger, and grinned as he watched her bleed. “Better hurry before the vampires come.”
Evangeline gave him a dirty look. But she quickly unlocked the door. Although she doubted any vampires would attack her—not as long as Chaos needed her to open the Valory Arch so that he could take off his helm. Chaos might have been a vampire and Jacks a Fate, but they both needed her rather desperately, it seemed.
The thought emboldened Evangeline to do a little exploring as she and Jacks entered the unoccupied study. If not for the chains and fetters attached to the chairs, it might have been easy to imagine they were at Wolf Hall. The floors were ancient polished stone, the chairs were fine leather, and the marble chessboard atop Chaos’s desk was a work of art. The pieces were larger than normal, making it easier to see they weren’t ordinary kings and queens, knights and rooks and pawns. They were carved to look like the Valors, and just like the great statues in the harbor outside of Valorfell, all the heads of the pieces had been removed.
Jacks took another bite of his apple, filling the dim room with sweetness as he watched Evangeline near the desk.
“Not sure you should be snooping,” he said.
“Not sure I care,” she retorted. “The vampire needs me too much to hurt me.”
Evangeline rounded the desk with a little more sway in her step.
She wasn’t exactly certain what she was looking for, she just knew that this was her one opportunity to look without consequence. Since arriving in the North, Evangeline had always been the person in the room with the least amount of power, but that was no longer the case. She was the girl from the prophecy. She was the key—a magical thing capable of magical things! She didn’t need to linger in a doorway like a scared little kitten or sit politely in a chair and wait.
She started to open the desk drawer when she saw it on the corner of the desk—a gem sparkling underneath a glass cloche.
Evangeline lifted the cloche, and the jewel inside shone brighter, throwing glimmers of pink and gold across the room. It looked like a wish that she could wear around her neck. Or perhaps some enchantress had taken a handful of wonder and somehow placed it in this necklace, though necklace felt like far too common a word for whatever this treasure was.
Her fingers tingled as she touched the chain. “Do you think Chaos acquired this gem for me?”
“No.” The vampire appeared in a shadowy flash and snatched the necklace from her hand.