“What are you?” Evangeline breathed, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. She’d encountered vampires and Fates, and her stepsister was a witch, but she didn’t know what this being was.
“I’m a librarian,” he finally managed to say, but the words came out like something carried through a gust of wind, rattling and distant. “I know this makes me look rather suspicious, but I assure you, if you only knew the truth. If I could tell you…”
He faded completely before he could finish, leaving Evangeline with nothing but tendrils of lingering smoke and the unsettling feeling that perhaps the Prince of Hearts was not the only supernatural force she needed to be wary of.
3
Days later, Evangeline’s heart was still racing. She didn’t want to think about the contents of the Valory Arch. She didn’t want to wonder at its secrets. She didn’t want to remember how desperate the old librarian had sounded when he’d said, If you only knew the truth.
“We’re running out of time,” Havelock said, voice gruff, as their coach rumbled down another cobbled street frosted in white-blue snow.
Havelock had been Apollo’s personal guard, but now he acted as Evangeline’s escort while the two of them covertly searched for a remedy for Apollo’s condition. During the last week, they’d visited mystics and apothecaries, doctors of medicine and physicians of the mind. They’d opened previously locked doors and entered libraries full of fables, but none of them had offered any help. “No one has been in a suspended state since the days of Honora Valor,” was the general refrain, followed by curious stares that prompted quick departures.
No one knew Prince Apollo was still alive, and word of it could not get out. Apollo was too vulnerable in his current state. As far as the public was concerned, Prince Tiberius, Apollo’s younger brother, had murdered him. Evangeline felt a pinprick of guilt, knowing this was false. But since Tiberius had tried to kill her, she didn’t feel all that guilty.
“This might be our last chance to save him,” Havelock said.
Evangeline knew that he wasn’t entirely right. She could always agree to open the Valory Arch for Jacks—but she hadn’t mentioned that to Havelock. She still hoped there was another way to save Apollo.
“Have you seen the latest scandal sheet?” Havelock asked.
“I’ve been trying to avoid it,” Evangeline replied. Yet she took the rolled page when Havelock held it out across the chilly coach.
* * *
The Daily Rumor
ALL HAIL LUCIEN JARETH ACADIAN
By Kristof Knightlinger
The newest heir to the throne, Lucien Jareth of House Acadian, is scheduled to arrive in Valorfell tomorrow, and already there are more rumors about him than I can keep track of. I’ve heard that when he’s not building homes for the poor or finding families to take in stray dogs and kittens, he’s teaching orphans how to read.
Our royal liaison at Wolf Hall has also confirmed that preparations for the next Nocte Neverending are already underway.
* * *
Evangeline stopped reading, unable to stomach more. It had been like this for the last week. As soon as she had been cleared of murder, the papers had switched to printing stories about the new heir to the throne, a distant cousin of Apollo’s, Lucien Jareth Acadian. The tales were always treacle sweet, making this Lucien person sound more saint than man.
“I wonder how much of this is actually true,” she mused.
“Don’t know,” said Havelock. “I think the only thing we can count on is that he will arrive tomorrow.”
Tomorrow.
The word suddenly sounded so menacing. Even if this Lucien really was a paragon of virtue who loved orphans and spent his time saving puppies, he’d still be taking Apollo’s throne tomorrow. Unless Evangeline cured her prince today.
“You don’t have to worry,” Evangeline said with more confidence than she felt. “LaLa will be able to help us.”
The coach stopped as it reached the spires. To Evangeline, the twisting towers of flats and shops looked like stacks of snow-dusted fairytales.
This was where Ariel “LaLa” Lagrimas lived. Also known as the Unwed Bride, LaLa was a Fate, like Jacks—except she was Evangeline’s friend. When Evangeline had been poisoned by Tiberius, LaLa had been the one to cure her, and Evangeline desperately hoped LaLa could do the same for Apollo.
Evangeline had actually come to visit LaLa straightaway, but the sign outside of her flat had said Off Adventuring! Evangeline didn’t know where her friend had gone adventuring, but she’d sent royal soldiers to watch for her return—which, according to them, had happened that morning.