Evangeline closed her eyes. Her legs were still shaking from Jacks’s hands, and now her stomach was twisting with guilt as well. What happened in the hallway couldn’t happen again.
The Archer’s curse had upended everything with Apollo. It was difficult to keep hoping for a future with someone who was trying to kill her. But even if there was no Apollo, Jacks would have never been an option.
Jacks wasn’t what she wanted. Evangeline wanted to give love and be loved and feel love at just the sight of someone. She wanted butterflies and kisses. She wanted it so much that sometimes she thought her heart would burst from it. And sometimes she made mistakes, like tonight when she’d let Jacks touch her. But she would not let him touch her again.
She needed to find the youth stone soon, but didn’t want to return to the dinner. She would have preferred to dance barefoot in the snow than sit back down at the table next to Petra Youngblood.
Evangeline hoped the dinner was lively enough that no one would notice as she crept back out of the portrait door. The dining hall was certainly louder than when she had left. Booming voices mingled with slightly drunken laughs and glasses sloppily clinking together.
“Miss Fox—” Her name was followed with a tap on the shoulder by an object that felt like a feather.
Evangeline turned.
Kristof Knightlinger of The Daily Rumor stood before her, smiling. As usual, he was dressed in black leather pants and a shirt with a frothy jabot.
Her stomach instantly dropped at the sight of him.
“It’s such a delight to find you here.” He took the feathered pen he’d just rapped against her shoulder and waved it about excitedly. “You look radiant! It’s so good to see you with so much color in your cheeks. Of course, now I have to ask if anyone in particular put that flush there?”
Kristof shot a questioning look toward the portrait door she’d just stepped out of.
“Oh no,” Evangeline said. The only thing that could make this night worse was if Kristof Knightlinger wrote in the papers that she’d been off trysting with Jacks. If Apollo read that news, he might go from being forced to hunt to actually wanting to hunt her. “I was just exploring some of the secret passages. Definitely nothing newsworthy—” She hesitated, fearing that maybe she was taking it a little too far.
She didn’t know Kristof Knightlinger well, though his scandal sheets were generally favorable toward her. Even when she’d been wanted for murder, he’d seemed to doubt her guilt. She didn’t think he was malicious. But he definitely didn’t wait for all the facts before he released a story—he actually seemed to enjoy printing rumors more than facts.
Evangeline couldn’t let him print anything about her. With Apollo currently hunting her, the consequences could be deadly if Kristof wrote in the paper that she was here, even if he didn’t mention Jacks.
She would have loved to flat-out ask him not to refer to her presence at all, but she feared that would only pique his curiosity.
“I didn’t make it that far. I heard some noises that made me think I might have been interrupting others. I’m actually a little embarrassed, so if you could keep this just between us, I would be so grateful.”
“Oh, my dear! Of course, your secret explorations are safe with me.” Kristof brushed the feathered pen across his lips as if to seal them shut. But Evangeline feared that might not be enough.
* * *
Evangeline considered telling Jacks about her run-in with Kristof—and that there was a chance he might mention her in his paper. But the last thing she wanted to do was seek Jacks out.
All she wanted was to crawl into bed and sleep. It had been an impossibly long day, and she was exhausted. Climbing back up to her guest room on the fourth floor felt akin to scaling a mountain.
And yet, after cleaning up, putting on a nightgown, and climbing into bed, Evangeline couldn’t sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she flashed back to the hallway with Jacks. Her skin went hot, and then she was wide awake.
She wasn’t sure how long it went on, but eventually she gave up on sleep. She lit several candles and went to the trunk where she’d packed a few books, including The Rise and Fall of the Valors.
The last time she’d looked at the volume, the cover had been blank, but tonight it seemed to be coming to life again. She watched the lavender fabric darken until the entire book was the color of damp plums. Seconds later, a new set of metallic words shimmered across the front: The Inglorious History of House Slaughterwood.
Evangeline felt a thrill at the words, but knowing how tricksy this book could be, she tried not to get her hopes up as she returned to her bed and opened the cover.