Evangeline rushed to his side. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” He put a protective arm around her shoulder as he straightened up once again. “I’ll kill them later.”
“Good luck with that,” said the broader Valor, the one who’d punched Jacks last. He took off his dark gray shirt to mop up his nose.
“That’s Dane,” Jacks grunted.
It took Evangeline a second to place the name. Dane. LaLa had said it a couple of times. Dane was her dragon shifter. Evangeline had never actually tried to picture him before, but she wasn’t sure she would have imagined this brute who’d just gotten the final punch in.
His brother, who was very tan and golden and even glowed a touch, seemed a little nicer. “It was nothing personal, Jacks. We were just doing what our father asked.”
Jacks tightened his arm around Evangeline as he shot a glare at Wolfric, who had just rejoined the group. “Couldn’t you have found an easier way to get rid of the prince?” Jacks asked. “Like maybe just shoving a sword through his stomach or chopping off his head?”
All three Valors flinched at the mention of chopping off heads.
Jacks grinned.
The Valors’ heads had not actually been chopped off, of course, but they must have been familiar with the story by now, and they’d possibly seen their headless statues in the Valorfell Harbor.
“I’m sorry about putting you in that position,” Wolfric said to Evangeline. He looked contrite, but there was something about his words, about the way he’d added putting you in that position, that made her think he wasn’t really sorry.
Evangeline had the impression that Wolfric believed he’d done the right thing and that his action was more important than whatever hurt or terror it had caused her. He then explained the history of the awful tree, how he’d planted it not knowing what it was and how Apollo had found out about it and asked him how to use it. Wolfric told Evangeline and Jacks he’d warned the prince two times. Evangeline believed this, but she didn’t believe that Wolfric Valor was regretful in the least that the prince hadn’t listened to his warnings.
“Do you plan on taking back the kingdom now?” asked Jacks.
Wolfric laughed. “There’s no taking back—the North has always been mine.” He started whistling as he walked toward the mouth of the cavern. “Let’s go, sons,” he called over his shoulder. “We need to find your sister.”
The brothers shot looks at each other that made Evangeline think they were reluctant to follow their father on another quest. Not that she could blame them, as she wouldn’t have been eager to find Aurora, either.
“What do you think they’ll do to her?” Evangeline asked once they were gone.
“I don’t think they’ll ever find her,” Jacks said. “Those boys don’t want to hunt their sister. They’ll give up after two days. And Wolfric’s too proud to let anyone outside of the family know that his daughter is a monster.”
Just like Castor, Evangeline thought. But she didn’t want to say it aloud; she actually liked Castor quite a bit. And she didn’t want to talk about the Valors anymore, even though she was sure this wouldn’t be the last of them. With Apollo now gone, Evangeline imagined her title of princess didn’t mean much anymore. But if Wolfric Valor wanted the kingdom, he could have it. Just as long as she could have Jacks.
Jacks laughed softly beside her, and Evangeline had the impression he’d heard what she was thinking.
She turned to him. A purple-and-blue bruise was growing beneath his left eye, a split cut through his lip. His clothes were torn. The buttons on his shirt were gone; his left sleeve was ripped at the shoulder and hanging at an angle.
And he still looked as beautiful as ever.
He actually reminded her of the first time they’d met in his church, when he’d been sitting in the back, tearing at his clothes. Only he was smiling now. She watched his lips curve into a cocky grin as they started to walk out of the cavern.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
A dimple appeared just below a cut on his cheek. “We can go wherever you want, Little Fox.”
Epilogue
The Magnificent North’s infamous story curse watched the star-crossed lovers, who were star-crossed no more, walk out of the ancient cavern.
The curse was relieved they were finally leaving. It had always disliked this cavern—it made for such a dreary setting—and it absolutely loathed the wretched tree that lived here. The curse set fire to any stories that mentioned the accursed tree in an attempt to warn away mortals, but humans could be such foolish creatures.
The curse was glad to see this human girl and her not-quite-human boy were smart enough to walk away from the tree.
The curse supposed the pair would now be on their way to some sort of happily ever after. Usually, the curse would have stopped watching at this point.
Happily ever afters were notoriously boring. They did not make for very good stories, which gave the story curse little to do unless it felt like upending the blissful endings. It didn’t want to do that now. But it did want to find out the answer to one particular question that still remained.
And so the story curse watched as the wounded not-quite-human-boy kept his arm around the shoulder of the girl he had once brought back from the dead.
The curse really did hope the two of them would find happily ever after. It wasn’t entirely sure if the not-quite-human-boy deserved it, but the girl with the rose-gold hair definitely did.
She looked up at her not-quite-human-boy adoringly, despite the bruises, cuts, and blood spattered on his person.
“I still have one question,” she said.
If the story curse had been capable of breathing, it might have held its breath just then.
It watched as the not-quite-human-boy raised an offended brow. “You only have one?”
“No—I actually have far more.” She worried her lip between her white teeth.
Something shifted in the not-quite-human’s eyes; he looked as if he wanted to take her lip between his teeth as well. “You can ask me whatever you want, Little Fox.”
“Splendid!” Her mouth turned up into a sweet smile. “Tell me about the apples.”
“Next question.”
“You said I could ask whatever I wanted.”
The not-quite-human-boy’s eyes turned teasing, sparking with little flecks of silver. “I didn’t say that I would answer.”
The girl’s mouth fell into a pout.
The not-quite-human reached out with one finger and traced her lower lip. “It doesn’t matter,” he said softly. “I don’t need them anymore.”
The girl’s lashes fluttered with surprise.
The not-quite-human-boy leaned in closer . . .
And the story curse decided to stop watching. It was time to leave these two alone and let them have their ever after.
Other stories were brewing in the Magnificent North.
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