Chapter Text
“Dear Miss Evangeline Fox,
We realize that it has been some time since we have heard from you in the Magnificent North, since we proposed that you attend the Nocte Neverending Ball in honor of Prince Apollo Acadian.
We would like to extend our sorrows and grief to you, since news of your husband’s death has reached the other islands. To show our sadness for you, we would like you to come back down to Valenda and attend my wedding. It is not much, I know, but I would very much appreciate your attendance. I regret that we did not become better friends in the time that we met, so let this occasion be a chance for us to make up for that.
I will be getting married on the twenty-third of this month. If you could show up a week before that we would appreciate it. I will accommodate you with whatever you require in the palace. I dearly hope that you can make it.
Sincerely, Scarlett Marie Dragna
Empress of the Meridian Empire
Evangeline has read through this singular letter over and over again, completely ignoring the substantial pile of other mail sitting in front of her. She was unsure of how exactly this letter made its way to the Hollow, where she and Jacks have been living, but she supposed that the magic of the North could have had something to do with that.
In all honesty, she wasn’t sure if attending the Empress’s wedding was the best decision, considering the rocky history between Donatella Dragna, the Empress’s younger sister, who Evangeline had rather liked when she met her the one time, and Jacks, the love of her life. She couldn’t possibly imagine going by herself, and then having to lie to them about her supposed grief over losing Apollo.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she had given a single thought to him and his well being, considering that he was now imprisoned in a magical tree, and that she was quite possibly the happiest she had ever been in her entire life.
It would surely be a disaster when they found out that she was entangled with Jacks the way she was.
At the same time though…
This could be the chance to show Donatella that Jacks was different now, that she and her sister didn’t have to worry about him coming back for her. Jacks was happy now, she could show them that.
“What are you smiling about?” she hears her love say from over her shoulder. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t even hear him come up behind her, or feel the way the heart shaped scar on the inside of her wrist was now burning.
Jacks gently grabs her chin to twist her face towards his, dropping a sweet kiss to her lips. “Good morning”, he whispers to her.
“Good morning”, she responds, smiling so hard her cheeks begin to ache.
“So, what is it that you're smiling at currently? Hopefully not a love letter from someone. If it is, you know I’d have to hunt them down and kill them.”
She giggles ridiculously. She never in a million years would have dreamt that she would be laughing at the possibility of her love murdering someone because they wrote her a love note, although, she never would have thought that she would be madly in love with The Prince of Hearts. No matter how soft and gentle he is with her, every now and then she is reminded that he is still a ruthless, murderous Fate, regardless of whether or not he is cursed anymore, and to her shock the thought always gives her a little thrill.
“It is not a love letter, but even if it was I would have forbidden you from trying to murder whoever sent it.”
He rolls his eyes at her. “Must you be so good and moral all the time? I find it excruciatingly boring, Little Fox.
She laughed again at him, because she knew he was teasing her. Jacks loved her humanity, and had told her as such many times before. Her softness, her kindness to others, her morals, he found them all truly captivating. He had once told her that he had never met anyone like her in all the centuries that he’d been alive. He said that Fates and humans were closer than people wanted to believe, because humans couldn’t help but be selfish, that it was just part of their nature, but not Evangeline.
She’d blushed then, even if she didn’t really believe him. She chose to believe that people were born good and kind, and that evil was a trait that people acquired through trauma, though she knew that Jacks had a different opinion on humanity as a whole.
“How many times have you been lied to and manipulated? How many times were you on the cusp of being murdered? I don’t see you running around seeking revenge for those things. Not everyone is born evil, but some people find it much too easy to give into.”
She knew he had a point, but she just accepted that perhaps she was different than other people. Too forgiving, too idealistic, too naive.
“I was just reading this letter I received, I think you should read it as well.”
She hands the letter to him tentatively, worrying the corner of her lip while she watches his eyes read the neat handwriting. When he is finished, his eyes flick upward from the letter, looking at her where she is seated, concern etched on his marble-like features.
“You wish to go to the Empress’s wedding?”
She nods once, biting her lower lip. “I think it would be good to let them know that I’m okay. I’m sure that they’ve heard all of the gossip about how I was wanted for murder and then was kidnapped.”
“Yes, by me, Little Fox. They’ll think I kidnapped you.”
“That’s the other thing”, she takes a breath to steel her nerves before standing up from her chair so that she can take his hands in hers. “I want you to come with me.”
Jacks’s eyes widen, shock streaking plainly across his face. “Little Fox, that may be the worst idea you’ve ever had.”
“Jacks, just listen-”
“You do realize that they hate me, right? If they see me there at all they will kill me with no hesitation.”
“I know that Jacks, and I understand that you don’t want to see Donatella and her family again, but I really think that this could be a good thing for us.”
“How so?”
“If we just explain to them that you and I are together, then maybe they’ll stop believing that you have some plan to take revenge on Donatella.”
“You’re wrong, if we tell them that we are together, they’ll just believe that I made you love me the way I did to Donatella.”
She chewed on her lip, contemplating all the things he was saying. He was right, she knew, but she still wanted to believe that they would understand their love for each other, that they wouldn’t try to kill Jacks and they wouldn’t resent her for being in love with him.
“Please, Jacks” she pleaded with him. “Even if you don’t come with me, I’m going to have to explain to them why I’m so unbothered by Apollo’s death. They’re going to have questions, questions that I can’t answer without telling them about us. Please, Jacks,” she gently cups his jaw in her palm, stroking his cheek with her thumb, “come with me so that we can show them that you’re different now.”
He stiffens under her touch, a grimace slowly forming on his perfect lips. “I’m not different, Little Fox. I’m still a murderer and a Fate.”
Evangeline smiles gently, almost indulgently. “Maybe, but you are still different from the Jacks that tried to make Donatella fall in love with him.”
“How so?”
She pulls his face down to her so that she can kiss him softly, slowly. She tells him all the things she wants him to hear from her with her lips on his. She releases him for only a second to speak against his mouth. “Now, you’re in love with me.”
He smiles and brings his mouth back to hers, kissing her with more intensity than she did. He wraps his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Suddenly, and without any warning, Jacks picks Evangeline up and drops her squarely on the edge of the table, making her squeak in surprise.
They both laugh at each other, foreheads pressed together. Jacks pushes loose strands of her hair behind her, his fingers lingering at the shell of her ear for a moment. Evangeline brings a hand up to cup the back of his neck, spearing her fingers in his thick golden hair. “So, will you come with me?”
Jacks inhales deeply, and purses his lips once. Worry streaks through Evangeline in the continued silence. He’ll say no, she knows he will. He has to, he’s being rational when he tells her that they’ll kill him on sight. Her eyes cast downward, waiting for him to say-
“Yes.”
She looks up at him, shock written on her face. He smiles at her expression. “Don’t be so surprised, Little Fox. You know I can’t say no to you.”
She kisses him again, capturing his lips in her so swiftly it catches him by surprise. “Oh, thank you, thank you.” She hops off of the table, and pushes past him to grab a piece of paper and a pen, writing her response to the Empress’s wedding invitation.
Dear Empress Scarlett Dragna,
Thank you for your missive, I very much appreciate the invitation to your wedding. I will be in attendance at your wedding. I hope it is okay if I bring a friend with me. I look forward to seeing you and your family again!
Sincerely, Evangeline Fox
Jacks reads over her shoulder as she writes her reply. “I can’t believe I’m being demoted to a friend”, he said in disbelief and annoyance. She turns and pats his cheek as she folds up the letter and places it in an envelope. “You aren’t, I just think it would be better to let them know I’m bringing you without letting them know that it’s you just yet.” She turns her attention back to the letter, where she is now pouring melted sealing wax over the letter flap and stamping it with the seal.
She doesn’t bother taking it to a post office, she simply leaves it sitting on the table. The Hollow’s magic would take care of the rest.
Evangeline turns around and wraps her arms around Jacks’s neck, hugging him tightly to her.
“Thank you for coming with me. I promise to make sure it will be worth it.”
“Little Fox, getting to go anywhere with you is always worth it.”
She giggles giddily, soaking up his words to her. She truly could not imagine a scenario in which she could be happier than she was right now.
“Evangeline, when is the Empress getting married again?”
“The twenty-third of this month? Why?”
“Well, it takes two weeks to travel to the Meridian Empire alone, and she wanted us to show up a week early…”
“Yes?”
“It’s already the second, Little Fox.”
Evangeline gasps, eyes flying wide open as she realizes that they would have to leave right now if they ever wanted a chance at showing up on time. And that wasn’t to mention all the packing she would have to do. She would have to pack two weeks worth of clothes for the trip there, and then she would have to pack a weeks worth of clothes for the time they spent at the wedding, and then there was the trip home, which would subsequently take another two weeks, though she supposed that she could have her clothes washed while she was there.
“Evangeline”, Jacks says, snapping her out of her planning.
“Oh, yes?”
“You better pack quickly, there is a boat leaving for the Meridian Empire at noon today, if we miss that then we-”
Evangeline doesn’t even allow him to finish his sentence before she is bolting up the stairs of the Hollow, running straight for her closet and grabbing every single dress she owns and throwing it on their bed. She wrestles two of her largest trunks out from one of the closets in the hallway, yelling at Jacks, who has not made a single move to start packing.
“Jacks, what are you doing? Stop standing around and start grabbing your clothes. We don’t have time for you to sit there and look pretty, let’s go!”
Jacks chuckles to himself as he walks up the steps to their room. “My God, I’ve created a monster.”
“Jacks! Hurry up!”
He laughs louder this time. “Coming, love.”