But the problem with happily ever after is that it’s more of an idea than a reality. A dream that lives on after a storyteller is finished. But real stories never finish. And it seemed that Evangeline and Jacks’s story wasn’t over yet.
The green and gold leaves on the phoenix tree had started rustling again. Moving frantically, louder than when Evangeline had first stepped into the clearing, as if the entire tree was quaking. Shaking. Frightened.
Then she heard the applause.
Three loud slaps, followed by a bitter voice. “That was a rousing show!”
Evangeline pulled away from Jacks’s lips to see Apollo standing just a few feet away, his stance wide, his head tipped high.
He smiled broadly as he finished clapping. “You two know how to put on quite a performance. That was romantic and self-destructive. The only thing it’s missing is the grand finale.” Apollo’s grin widened. It was a smile that would forever make Evangeline dread princely smiles. “But I think I can help with that.”
He reached up toward the phoenix tree and plucked a golden leaf.
There was a crackle.
A spark.
“Evangeline, run!” Jacks pushed her from his lap just as the tree burst into flames. It was blinding light. White and bright. It consumed the beautiful tree in seconds. The trunk, the branches, the leaves, all of them were burning.
Evangeline ran hard and fast.
She told herself not to turn around.
But where was Jacks? Why wasn’t he following her?
The smoke was growing thicker, the flames were burning hotter. She paused just for a second. She turned to look.
“Jacks!” There was so much smoke. “Jacks!” She started to run back.
“Oh no you don’t!” Apollo’s arms wrapped around her from behind, quick and far too strong.
“No!” Evangeline cried. She tried to break free, but Apollo was so much bigger than she was. “Jacks—”
“Stop trying to fight me.” Apollo picked her up roughly and tossed her over his shoulder, pinning her legs in place with one large arm as her head and arms hung upside down. “I’m trying to save you, Evangeline!”
“No! You did this!” She beat Apollo’s back with her fists, she kicked his chest with her legs.
“Jacks!” she screamed again.
Briefly she paused her fighting to lift her head, to see if he’d come through the fire, if he’d come for her.
But all she saw was smoke and flames.
Chapter 44
Apollo
Evangeline continued to scream and hit Apollo with her fists, hard enough that she might even leave bruises. Yet he barely felt the blows.
She’d chosen Jacks, again.
She’d chosen wrong, again.
Apollo had tried to save her. He’d tried to protect her, but he hadn’t been enough. He could see that now. The spell Jacks had cast on her wasn’t going to be broken by anyone who was merely human. It was just too bad that Apollo couldn’t be human and still save her.
It didn’t take long for him to make his way back to the arch that had brought him to the clearing with the phoenix tree. He hadn’t seen Jacks coming after them through the flames, but he wasn’t feeling optimistic enough to hope that meant Jacks was dead.
But it didn’t really matter if he was alive. Apollo didn’t think Jacks would be able to use the arch on his own. He wouldn’t be able to take Evangeline away from him, not this time.
Pain sliced through Apollo at the thought.
He wished he could rip the damn protection cuff off her.
But he had expected the pain this time. And he was used to pain; he’d felt it constantly under the Archer’s curse. But this pain was much worse.
He stumbled and nearly dropped Evangeline as he went through the arch.
“Let me go!” she screamed. “Please! Please, I have to go back—” She continued to cry. “If you care for me at all, let me go!”
Apollo finally dropped her on the ground. She tried to crawl away. But he was larger and stronger. He grabbed her by the ankle and yanked hard enough that she landed on her stomach. The pain that lashed through him this time was nearly blinding. But it took only one pull to make her fall. Then he used his body to keep her immobile as he reached for the shackles he’d attached to his belt.
“No!”
“Calm down, darling.” He shackled her arms first, behind her back.
“Don’t do this!” she screamed and thrashed, kicking both legs wildly.
She got him in the shoulder once. But then he managed to grab her and bind both legs at the ankles.
He immediately stumbled away once it was done. The pain was nearly unbearable now. Apollo doubled over and retched at the side of the tunnel where he’d brought her.
He thought about leaving her there. He wasn’t sure how much more pain he could handle. And he wasn’t even certain he needed her there with him.
But he still loved her. He looked at her, bound on the ground, pink hair clinging to her cheeks as she cried. She’d betrayed him and broken his heart, but if she had only a few minutes left on this earth, he wanted them to be together.
“Don’t worry, my sweet, soon enough this will all be over,” he whispered. Then he picked her up once again and carried her in his arms.
Chapter 45
Jacks
All Jacks could see was smoke. Thick and gray, it burned his eyes and his throat. But he needed to find her.
“Jacks! Help me! Jacks!” He could hear her voice. It was tiny and terrified. He’d never heard her sound so small before.
It didn’t even sound like her after the initial few cries.
At first her voice had been like the smoke—he’d heard it everywhere. Screaming his name, calling for him. But then no matter where he went, Evangeline sounded farther away.
“Jacks!”
“I’m coming, Little Fox!”
Sweat dripped down his neck as he ran through the smoke.
“Jacks—over here—” She broke off with a hacking cough.
But she sounded closer now.
He chased the sound of her cough, farther away from the burning tree, away from the smoke.
The air was still thick with dirty soot. But he could see again through all the grimness, through the ash. He could make out a tree in the clearing that hadn’t caught fire. An ordinary oak tree with a violet-haired girl leaning against the bark, hand on one hip of her iridescent dress as she brought the other hand to her lips and feigned another cough.
Aurora.
Not Evangeline.
“I’m guessing I’m not who you expected,” Aurora said sweetly.
He hated the sound of her voice. He had never liked it before, but now he wished that he could grab hold of the voice and toss it into the flames of the burning phoenix tree behind him.
“Where is she?” Jacks snarled.
Aurora pouted. “Why do you think I would know?”
He slowly clenched and then unclenched his fists. He was trying to be nice because this was Castor’s twin sister. But how many times had he done that? Made excuses for Aurora because of who she was? Told himself she wasn’t dangerous because she had something he wanted? He knew she wasn’t the one who’d set fire to the phoenix tree, but she’d just lured him away from Evangeline. And whether she knew where Evangeline was or not, he wanted to hurt her—badly.