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.
“I’m going to give you one more chance.” Jacks reached out and took Aurora by the throat. “Where is Evangeline?”
Aurora pursed her lips.
“Do you want to die?” Jacks squeezed lightly. “Is that what you want, Aurora? Because I’m this close.”
“You won’t kill me,” she said. “From what I hear, strangulation isn’t really your style. You’d have to kiss me, and I don’t think your precious Evangeline would like that very much.”
“I could always make an exception.” Jacks put a little more pressure on her throat. “Just tell me where she is.”
Aurora sniffed. There were tears in her eyes now, though Jacks imagined they were about as real as her cough.
“Tell me why you picked her,” she said. “I’ve been trying to figure it out, but for the life of me I don’t understand the fascination. Is she prettier than me? Is that it?”
“Are you really this petty?”
“Yes.”
“And you wonder why I don’t love you.”
Aurora flinched at this, and when a tear fell, this time it looked real. “You’re never going to save her, Jacks of the Hollow. Apollo has taken her to the Tree of Souls.”
Chapter 46
Evangeline
Evangeline fought with everything she had against the metal that Apollo had bound her with. She tried to rub her skin until it bled. If she could just manage one drop of blood, she could get the bonds to open. She could get back to Jacks.
Although Evangeline was fearful that Jacks was not the only one she needed to worry about.
Apollo had used an arch to transport her somewhere she’d never been before. An enormous cavern lit with lines of red-orange fire on the ground that made her think of a vampire lair, full of blood and cruel, punishing magic.
Apollo had carried her in his arms for a few minutes, but when she had continued struggling he had tossed her over his shoulder again, carrying her like a sack of food and making it difficult to get the best view.
Evangeline could see there was some sort of tree. The largest tree she’d ever seen, an enormous, horrid-looking thing with feral branches and distorted faces carved into the trunk, and—was that a heartbeat she could feel?
Thump. Thump. Thump.
It was definitely a heartbeat. Evangeline felt it pulsing through the ground as Apollo laid her down like a sacrifice in front of the dreadful tree.
“Apollo, please don’t do this!” She fought wildly against the cuffs binding her wrists. “Please, let me go!” she begged. “I—”
She tried to say she was sorry. She knew it would have been the smart thing to say just then. But she couldn’t bring herself to apologize for kissing Jacks.
Instead she gritted her teeth and glared at Apollo. “Is your pride really so wounded that you would kill me over a kiss?”
“That’s not what I’m doing.” He worked his jaw as sweat dripped down his forehead. “I wanted us to be together forever, I wanted my legacy to be yours as well. I was going to make you a queen.”
“And now you’re not, so you’re going to kill me?”
“It’s not like that—I don’t want to kill you. If there was another way, I wouldn’t do this, but there’s not. I can’t keep you safe as a mere human, but I can’t have you and be more.” He dropped to his knees and stroked her cheek with his fingers. “This is the hardest choice I’ve ever had to make. You’re the love of my life, Evangeline, and I will miss you desperately.”
He leaned in closer and he kissed her lips.
Chapter 47
Jacks
Jacks thought he could not witness anything worse than Evangeline dying in his arms. But this was close. She was on the ground, bound up in front of a tree, and the bastard who stole her memories was leaning in to kiss her. “Get your hands off her, you son of a bitch!”
Jacks ran across the cavern and punched Apollo in the face. Then he punched him again and again. He punched until he stopped feeling his fist, breaking Apollo’s bones. When blood spewed from the prince’s nose, Jacks felt it spray his cheek.
It would have been easier just to stab the bastard in the throat. But Jacks needed to hurt him first.
“I will kill you for this!” Jacks rained down more punches on Apollo’s face.
“Stop him!” someone screamed. Footfalls rushed across the cavern.
Then Jacks was being grabbed. He felt large gloved hands on his arms. He tried to shake them off, tried to use his powers to make them stop. But either he was entirely drained or these guards were somehow more than human.
“Let me go!” Jacks thrashed as the guards firmly took hold of his arms and began to drag him away.
Only these weren’t guards. He knew these men. They looked liked Dane and Lysander Valor, Castor’s older brothers. “Let me go! This isn’t your fight.”
Dane, the most hard-headed of Castor’s brothers, might have muttered something, but Jacks couldn’t hear it over the rushing blood in his ears or the cries of Evangeline, who was still tied up on the ground.
“Why aren’t you helping her instead of restraining me?” Jacks yelled.
And that’s when he saw Wolfric.
It was the first time Jacks had seen him since that night in the Valory. Tonight he looked dressed for battle, knives strapped to his arms, swords strapped to his sides, another weapon across his back.
He was talking to Apollo. Jacks waited for Wolfric to run the blackguard through with one of his knives and then pick up Evangeline. But everyone in this cavern seemed to have lost his mind. Instead of stabbing him, Wolfric clapped the prince on his shoulder and handed him a handkerchief. Then he marched toward Jacks and his sons without so much as a glance at Evangeline.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jacks bellowed.
Wolfric looked at him grimly and ran a hand over his beard. “I’m sorry, son. But I can’t let you go to her.”
“You can’t stop me,” Jacks roared. He tried to throw Dane and Lysander off his arms, but all the Valors were so much stronger than they should have been.
“She’s his wife,” Wolfric said, as if that somehow made this all right.
“He’s going to sacrifice her to a tree!” Jacks screamed.
Apollo looked half dead. His face was bloody and almost unrecognizable from the beating Jacks had given him. But he was still standing, and now he was holding out his sword.
And Wolfric was still doing nothing. Jacks hadn’t always liked Wolfric Valor, but he’d respected him. He knew Wolfric believed in honor and justice and all the things he spouted about during toasts.