It was all more than Evangeline could have dreamed of or wished for. The last few days had been a whirlwind of wonderful. Her royal suite was covered in colorful gowns and flowers and gifts. Even Empress Scarlett had sent her something, though how the small package had been delivered so quickly, Evangeline had no clue.
Evangeline should have felt flutters. She should have felt excited and romanced and loved. Apollo was generous and attentive and terribly kind to her. And she definitely felt something whenever she thought about him, but it was sadly not butterflies. It was closer to the unsettled feeling she’d had after making a deal with Jacks, or the wrongness she’d felt when she’d learned that Luc had proposed to Marisol.
Something was not as it should have been.
Evangeline sat on the wide hearth in front of her fire, set down the little red box that Empress Scarlett had sent, and then picked up that morning’s gossip sheet.
The Daily Rumor
THREE DAYS LEFT!
By Kristof Knightlinger
Evangeline Fox and Prince Apollo Acadian have been engaged less than one week, and already people are writing songs about them and saying that theirs is the greatest love story the Magnificent North has ever seen. The rumors floating around are extravagant—especially for a prince who once said he wouldn’t choose a bride at all—and I’m thrilled to report that I was able to acquire a rare interview with the crown prince to find out which tales about him are true.
Kristof: Everyone has been talking about you and Evangeline Fox. People say you’re entirely bewitched. I’ve heard you stand in the courtyard outside her window each night to serenade her, you’ve declared her birthday a holiday, and you’re having all one hundred and twenty-two of your portraits redone so they include her likeness as well. Is there any truth to these stories?
Prince Apollo: I’ve done much more than that, Mr. Knightlinger. (With a proud smile, the prince unbuttoned half his shirt and spread it apart to reveal a vibrant tattoo of a pair of swords curved to form a heart that contained one name: Evangeline.)
Kristof: That’s quite impressive, Your Highness.
Prince Apollo: I know.
Kristof: No one who sees the two of you together could doubt that you’re in love. But I’ve heard whispers that the Council of Great Houses is unhappy you chose not only a foreign bride but one without a prominent family. People are saying they wish to have the wedding called off and that’s why you’ve set such a quick date for it.
Prince Apollo: That is a complete lie. Even if there were truth to it, nothing could keep me from the love of my life.
Kristof: What about your brother, Prince Tiberius? There are rumors that you two had another falling-out this week. They say he’s backed the Great Houses’ objection to your choice of bride because he wants to stop your marriage and keep you from becoming king.
Prince Apollo: That’s absolutely false. My brother couldn’t be happier for me.
Kristof: Then why are people saying he’s disappeared again?
Prince Apollo: Some people forget Tiberius is also a prince and has royal duties of his own.
Prince Apollo wouldn’t tell me if Prince Tiberius will be at the wedding, but our interview did confirm the rumors that the crown prince has been completely bewitched by his bride-to-be. I’ve never seen anyone as in love as Prince Apollo.
If only Evangeline could believe that Apollo was truly in love. But sadly, she feared that Kristof was right when he called her betrothed bewitched.
Evangeline believed in love at first sight, she believed in love like her parents’, love like a story. It was the love she’d come to the North hoping to find. But Apollo’s actions and feelings were so extreme, they didn’t feel like love. They felt more like an obsession—hungry and outrageous, and if
she were being entirely honest, a little unsettling. Like the work of a spell or a curse—or a Fate.
Like Jacks.
When Apollo had proposed, Evangeline had been so quick to think that Jacks wouldn’t want this marriage. But now she couldn’t help but wonder: Was Jacks the reason for this engagement? What if the blood Jacks had painted on her lips had infused her kiss with magic that made Apollo fall in love with her?
She didn’t want to think it. She didn’t want to think about Jacks at all. But if Jacks had done something to Apollo, it would explain Apollo’s over- the-top behavior.
Why, though?
Evangeline couldn’t figure out any reason why Jacks would want her and Apollo to wed, which gave her hope that her theory was wrong and that Apollo really was experiencing a dramatic love at first sight.
She wanted so badly to believe that they were going to have a fairytale love story. She wanted it all to be real. She didn’t want to go back to Agnes’s house or return to Valenda, where the best part of her day was when a bell rang outside of a bookstore door.
And then there was Marisol. Her stepsister might have started here on rocky footing, but Apollo had made it so the papers wouldn’t say another bad word about her, and if Evangeline married Apollo, she’d be able to do even more for Marisol.
But if Apollo was under a spell from Jacks, none of that mattered, and none of this was real.
Evangeline slowly rolled up the gossip sheet, knowing what she had to do, but dreading it all the same.
She didn’t want to see Jacks again. But if he had done this to Apollo, then she needed to convince him to undo it.
Evangeline doubted that the Prince of Hearts would lift a curse from Apollo out of the goodness of his heart, since all the stories said Jacks’s heart didn’t even beat. But Evangeline didn’t need to rely on Jacks’s goodness. If Jacks wanted her to marry the prince, that gave her leverage,
and she planned to use it to get Jacks to fix Prince Apollo, and then to find out exactly what Jacks wanted.
Dear Jacks,
I was hoping you and I might have a chance to speak about an important matter that requires your immediate assistance. If you are not otherwise engaged, I would be very happy to run into you while I take my morning walk in the wood just outside Wolf Hall tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Evangeline Fox
