Chapter Text
Evangeline sat in her usual chair at the table in the library, slippers secretly off and legs curled up beneath her. She didn’t know every rule of etiquette for being a princess but she figured bare feet in the library was frowned upon. She supposed her late night visits to the library on the whole would be frowned upon, but that wasn’t something she could find it in herself to try and remedy.
It had taken her three days to start searching for answers about her memory, the first two days being spent in an entirely overwhelming whirlpool of different faces and Apollo’s constant presence. It had been almost four weeks since then, and Evangeline had learned nothing. She was growing frustrated at her lack of progress, and complete lack of anyone trying to help her. Since her accident she’d been having difficulty sleeping, her dreams feeding her fragments of her past life without answering any of her questions - they left her tossing and turning, unable to fall back asleep.
Luckily Apollo was a heavy sleeper, and once Evangeline had realized her efforts for sleep were futile, she’d fell into a pattern of researching in the library at night, when she didn’t have guards and royals watching her every move. They knew she wanted answers, but she didn’t think they realized just how desperate she had become, the rabbit hole she had been falling through since she began her research. She knew deep inside her that there had to be an end to her tumble at some point. She would hit the ground, she had to. What she didn’t know what would happen then. Would something break her fall? Or would the impact crush her, fracture and shatter her beyond repair? Evangeline didn’t know, but she did know it was too late to stop. She couldn’t even if she wanted to, her soul wouldn’t rest until she knew what she was missing.
***
Evangeline rose to consciousness at the sound of books falling to the ground. Her spine snapped straight, her eyes opened wide at the jarring noise. She felt a tingling sensation on the back of her neck. Goosebumps erupted on her arms. Someone was watching her, whoever had made that noise. She looked around her, head darting every which way before she realized that in her sleep she had merely knocked her books off the table. That, however, didn’t explain the sensation that she was not alone, or the peculiar feeling that erupted in her stomach and rippled throughout her body.
Evangeline was starting to regret her midnight excursion, she didn’t have any guards, or any protection. She felt the rhythm of her heart start to pick up the longer she stared into the darkness that was cast from the shadows of the shelves. A tiny gasp startled out of Evangeline at a movement in her peripheral vision, she whipped around, hand flying to her left hip. She looked down, there was nothing there, her brows furrowed, mentally adding that to the list of the unexplained in her life. She lifted her gaze back up to the rows of books, whatever she thought she had seen wasn’t there anymore.
Evangeline’s body deflated as the air rushed out of her, the tension in her shoulders releasing. No one was there, nothing was there, she was safe. A tiny, minuscule part of her seemed almost disappointed, as if whatever had been watching her could have helped her remember something. Or at least offered some change into the monotony that her life had become. Her life. Which consisted of a few weeks and a handful of people, namely Apollo. Her husband, whom she couldn’t even remember marrying. Apollo, who would be waking up soon. Once again, her heart skipped a beat as she began to panic.
She looked to the grand clock ticking away on the opposite wall. Thank Fates, she had only been asleep for a few hours. She had enough time to sneak back up to bed before Apollo would wake up and find her gone. She couldn’t be sure, but she had a feeling that if he woke up to find her missing it would be an ugly affair.
Evangeline sighed and double tucked her rose gold curls behind her ears while she allowed herself a moment to close her eyes for a few seconds, breathe in and out. Once. Twice. She tugged the sleeves of her silk robe down before nodding her head once to herself and grabbing her slippers from the floor. She lifted the candle into her hand to light the path she took to leave the library.
She halted in her tracks, feeling the same tingling sensation on her back. It felt almost like ice gently dragging over her spine. She slowly turned her head this time, reaching one hand to the door. There was nothing behind her. Maybe she was imagining things, it wouldn’t be the first time someone had suggested as much to her. Perhaps she should try and take her husband’s advice, after all, who could possibly know her better than the man to whom she was married?
He had seen her. His little fox, with her lovely pink curls falling over her back and onto the desk where she lay her head. He frowned at the circles under her eyes, the divet in between her brows, wondering what could cause her to look so upset in her sleep. Especially compared to the other times he’d seen her resting. Her face had been so peaceful, then.
Jacks couldn’t figure out exactly what to think about Evangeline’s current disposition. Had she decided to ignore that he ever existed? He supposed he had been rather full of himself to think that after all he had said to her she would still try to find him. He knew something in her wanted him, and wanted to be near him. Yet maybe she had finally listened to his words. He clenched his jaw at the thought of that. She finally decides to do what he says, and it’s the one time he needed her to disobey.
But - before, before everything she had always been able to tell when he was in the room with her. It was irritating at first, taking away one of the weapons in his arsenal, but he had come to expect it, he realized. Maybe this was what the Queen had meant. Maybe the price he paid for saving her life was the alteration of their bond. That would be fine, really. A more than fair price for saving her life, but then, Jacks thought he would pay anything, any price to keep her from death’s clutches. It just didn’t seem like enough. Jacks was waiting for the anvil to drop, had run away from Evangeline for weeks so that she might avoid it when it comes. He was missing something, though. Something was wrong, and he was going to figure out what.
When he came back he had meant to simply check on her. Ensure the silence between their minds wasn’t a sign of her endangerment but rather her finally gaining wisdom and trying to block him out of her life. He had to admit he had expected more… resistance from her end. She was so hopelessly romantic and optimistic in believing in him, in what they could be. But maybe his words had hit home, finally resonated with her. That was fine, it was fine. He would do anything to ensure the horror scene that haunted his sleeping and waking hours wouldn’t come to fruition. Again. She wouldn’t die, she would be safe, and happy. Live out her happily ever after.
She had saved him. Whether she knew it or not she had saved him, and though he would never admit it, he would gladly live out the rest of his eternal years saving her in return.
***
Jacks faded back into the shadows, watching while her face relaxed for the first time since he had seen her and her delicate hands tucked her loose hair behind her ears. It seemed as though she was composing herself. He allowed a cruel smile to grace his features. At least he knew he still ruffled her.
She halted once more, turning her head delicately over one shoulder before shaking her head and rushing out of the library. That settled that, at least. She was aware of his presence, she was just ignoring him.
He followed her from a distance as her slippered feet grazed the grand marble floors and she rushed back to what he assumed was her room. Jacks found himself surprised as she blew out her candle and slipped into chambers he was unfamiliar with; he assumed they must be the royal chambers she had never had a chance to move into. He slipped in behind her, intrigued as to how she was living at the moment, and why she had blown out her candle before entering the room.
It took Jacks a beat to realize that they were not alone in this room. In fact, there was someone already in the bed. He stilled entirely when he watched Evangeline remove her robe and slip into the bed beside the figure. These were that sniveling prince's chambers, that was his bed. If seeing Evangeline softly sleeping in his cherished childhood bed had caused a chain reaction of sparks mixed with pure, possessive satisfaction in him, then watching her get into Apollo’s bed was a form of pure torture.
He had warned her, he thought. Fates were possessive, jealous beings. And Evangeline was a smart girl. Naive, trusting, unrealistic - but smart. She had to have realized that Jacks viewed her as his own, he had certainly made that clear with the scars he had kept on her wrist. And as he felt no need to stave it off, he let the jealousy wash over him in crashing waves. Self loathing made its inevitable appearance as Jacks considered the fact that it was he who delivered Evangeline to Apollo on a silver platter.
He grimaced but turned to leave before he did something he’d regret, something that was the opposite of strategic. He knew his Little Fox. He knew no matter how much they lied to each other, she was drawn to him. And she would always come back. Just as he knew he would to her. Tomorrow he’d let his presence be known.
For weeks he tried to do the right thing. To leave her behind where she was safer without him, somewhere that didn’t have to end in inevitable heartbreak. But he was not a creature meant to do the right thing. He was no hero. He was a Fate. Dangerous, envious. Obsessive. Someone who took what they wanted. He may have enough self restraint to stop himself from stealing her away in the night to somewhere he could keep her his own forever, but to live without her presence in his life? There was no point, he certainly wasn't going to restrain himself from tormenting her. Their game wasn't finished yet.