LaLa’s smile faded. “Put that down, Jacks. Your room is in a different wing.”
“No.” He plopped into the leather chair and kicked his buckled boots up onto the desk. “I’m staying next door to Evangeline.”
“You can’t,” LaLa protested. “The Darlings are there.”
“Then move them to a different room. Every time I leave this girl alone, someone tries to kill her.” Jacks’s voice stayed friendly, but his eyes turned to two ice blades as he said, “Right now, there’s a curse on her husband, and it’s a nasty piece of work that forces him to hunt her down like a fox.”
LaLa’s face turned stricken. “Evangeline—”
“Please don’t worry, my friend. I didn’t mention it when I wrote because I didn’t want to spoil your engagement.” Evangeline gave Jacks a pointed look.
He shrugged and tossed the little dragon as if it were an apple. “It’s not as if she’s really going to marry him.”
“Jacks—” Evangeline hissed.
“I’m just speaking the truth. We all know who LaLa really is—or at least I do.” He threw the dragon higher.
Mortified was not a strong enough word for how Evangeline felt just then.
“I’m so sorry,” Evangeline said to LaLa. “Jacks must have left his manners in the carriage. You don’t need to put him next door to me. You could place him in the barn—or the dungeon if there is one.”
“No, Jacks is right,” said LaLa. “If you’re in danger, he should stay close.”
She wore her smile again, but it was starting to look rumpled, like a piece of clothing that had been taken off and put back on too many times. Not even the golden sequins of her gown could make it dazzle.
Evangeline felt partly responsible. “LaLa—I’m so sorry for bringing my tragedy here.”
“Please don’t apologize. Parties aren’t any fun without a little drama. I should really be thanking you.” LaLa gave Evangeline a smile that was perhaps a little too wide.
Evangeline pretended she believed her. She smiled back as if curses and murderous princes were things that merely lived inside stories. And for an odd moment, the only one in the room who appeared entirely honest was Jacks. He set the dragon on the desk with a thump and stalked out the door. Although he’d actually won his fight about the room, he appeared even unhappier than before.
“I’m really sorry about him,” Evangeline said.
LaLa waved a hand as if it were nothing. “I’m used to Jacks’s mercurial moods. And he’s always disliked House Slaughterwood.”
“He told me Chaos was the one who had a problem with the House,” Evangeline replied, although after Jacks’s story in the coach, it was clear he disliked the Great House as well. But now she was curious as to whether his story could be entirely trusted. She didn’t want to repeat it—the murderous tale of Vengeance Slaughterwood hardly seemed appropriate talk for LaLa’s engagement party—and yet she wondered if her friend could confirm if the tale was true. “Jacks also told me that House Slaughterwood is the reason we are all in this mess.”
LaLa sighed heavily. “House Slaughterwood has done terrible things, but we’ve all done terrible things for love.”
She grinned then, making Evangeline suspect that LaLa’s definition of terrible things was a bit like Jacks’s: they really didn’t matter as long as they got a person what they wanted.
She left seconds later, with a kiss on Evangeline’s cheek and some words about getting changed into something quickly for dinner.
After a day of riding in a carriage, Evangeline felt like soaking in a bath instead of changing, but she had no idea when Jacks would return, and she didn’t want him walking in on her as she dressed.
She started to sort through the clothes that LaLa had left.
Then she heard the whispers.
“Careful…”
“Archer’s curse … hunting … almost killed her.”
The words came from the room next door, low and hushed. Evangeline shouldn’t have been able to hear them, and she definitely shouldn’t have tiptoed closer to listen better—but it sounded like Jacks and LaLa, and they were obviously talking about her and Apollo.
Evangeline cupped her hands to the wall and clearly heard Jacks ask, “Can you undo the curse?”
Her breath caught in her throat. He couldn’t have meant that curse. The Archer’s curse was the only reason she’d agreed to open the arch.