Chapter Text
✩ eva
Her eyelids flutter open, gaze drifting to the blond man laying beside her.
He’s still asleep, it’s almost as if his body is making up for the years it didn’t require any rest at all. She smiles because he’s beautiful and perfect and hers .
This is real .
It isn’t a dream or a fantasy that her imagination had conjured up to satisfy her loneliness, this was reality.
She rubs the fatigue from her eyes after what seemed like hours of watching Jacks and climbs out of bed. She yawns, her gaze drifting from her lover towards the golden rays of sunlight peeking through the curtains.
She reaches as quietly as possible for the doorknob of their shared bathroom before —
“Where are you going, Little Fox?” she hears a soft grunt and turns to find Jacks burrowing his nose into his pillow. “It’s so early…”
His eyes aren’t even open, and yet he somehow knew she wasn’t laying beside him.
“It’s almost noon, Jacks.” she yawns, fighting the urge to crawl back into bed and cuddle up with her lover. “I’m gonna take a quick bath.”
She murmurs finally, turning towards the restroom.
Her bare foot brushes against the cool tile and she shivers, again fighting the urge to turn around and join him back in bed, held in his arms.
“Without me?” suddenly he’s right behind her, his nose brushing her neck and lips pressing soft kisses against her collarbone that send tingles down her spine.
She feels her cheeks heat and she gives him a glare with no real force behind it.
He gives her a dazzling smirk that makes her lips twitch upwards instinctively. Her gaze drifts towards his mussed golden hair, his eyes bright and blearly and so blatantly blue .
And gazing right back at her.
It’s colder in the Hollow, she doesn’t know how much time exactly has passed since they’d come but she supposes it’s around wintertime. It’s normally cold in the Magnificent North, or at least colder than her home in the south, but yet it seemed to be getting colder by the day.
Her mind drifts back to memories of her family during the Great Holiday, sipping liquid chocolate and whispering stories by the fireplace. Her lips twitch up into a sad smile, for memories like these, so happy and cheerful, made her feel a certain longing for the past.
It’s not as if she regretted her choices, she’s fairly certain she’ll never regret meeting Jacks, but she realizes her mourning for her father was cut short by Luc and Marisol’s wedding attempt.
She misses them, her parents, and the comfort and celebrations of the holidays.
“What’s wrong, Little Fox, you’ve been staring out that window for a while now.” Jacks grins at her, a small trace of concern sprouting in his eyes as he analyzes her.
He hands her a steaming cup of liquid chocolate, white cream dripping from the top.
She takes a sip, closing her eyes as she relishes the too-sweetness of the thick cream, barely registering the burning sensation of the drink as it hits her tongue.
“I just feel a bit… nostalgic, I guess.” she mumbles, sighing. “It’s not as if I don’t love it here, I do.”
She reaches out and cups his cheek in her hand.
“But… I miss the south, I miss… my parents.” she mumbles finally, half-expecting Jacks to tease her for her longing of the past, her parents who were long-gone.
dead.
They both pause and neither of them speak before --
He wraps his arms around her, locking her into his cool embrace. She buries her face in his chest, her body melting into his. A rush of comfort runs through her veins as they stay like that, silent, for a long while, simply drinking in each other's presence.
The wind rushes and a window bursts open, making them both jump in surprise.
A letter is sitting on the floor in front of the window, now blowing in cold, snowy air into the house.
She reaches down curiously and picks up the letter, reading the envelope’s address.
to: ms. evangeline fox
wherever you are
sincerely : donatella & scarlett dragna
She can feel Jacks tense over her shoulder, his eyes boring into the letter as if he could set it on fire from the sheer force of his gaze.
She tears open the envelope, curiosity bubbling up from her stomach.
Dear Evangeline,
This Great Holiday, my sister and I are hosting a holiday party at the palace.
We would like to request your presence for the upcoming banquet and will provide rooming for you, as well as whichever guest of your choosing. (as we expect it must be hard to part with your fiance for such a holiday)
You may come for up to a week in advance, we hope to see you this Holiday in the Meradian Empire, we miss you terribly!
Your presence would be greatly anticipated!
Sincerely, Queen Scarlett and Princess Donatella Dragna
There’s a beat of awkward silence between her and Jacks as they consider the invitation held in her hands.
“You should go.” He says finally, offering a half smile. “You’ve been missing the South anyways, it’ll be nice to get out for a little bit.”
She grins at him with pure adoration and he huffs in annoyance, “I’ll miss you when you're gone, though.”
He mumbles, barely audible despite the quiet atmosphere of the Hollow.
“Who says you aren’t coming with me?”
“Are you sure you want me coming? The sisters don’t exactly like me.” Jacks murmurs into her ear as their carriage heads towards the Southern palace. “We can still turn back, y’know, spend the Great Holiday cuddled up by the fireplace?”
Jacks looks at her hopefully, expression half-joking, half-serious. he seemed almost… nervous?
“If they are unwilling to forgive then you tell me and we’ll go straight back to the Hollow.” Evangeline says to him sternly and he smirks at her attempt at firmness. "I don't want to stay if they won't give you a chance!"
The smile slowly drops off of his face, however, as the palace drifts into view.
“I don’t mind what they say about me.” He says softly, honestly.
He runs his slender fingers through her rose-gold hair, shining beautifully bright in the soft glow of the sun through the window of the carriage.
She shivers at his touch, her eyes locking with his as he fights to keep his anxiety from his face.
“It’s what they’ll say about you that’ll bother me.”
Evangeline really wanted to believe the best of the sisters, wanted to believe they were capable of forgiving Jacks despite the horrible pain he’d inflicted on them.
She wouldn’t blame them if they couldn’t forgive him, after all he had done awful, horrid things to them.
But he changed, he turned back time for her, after all.
Just the thought of his devastatingly romantic action sends blood rushing towards her cheeks.
So Evangeline does what she does best, she hopes.
She hopes that Scarlett at least would give him, them , a chance.
And she hopes - no, prays - that Donatella will follow suit.
And when they reach the entrance to the castle, she nervously fidgets with her skirts, her hand eventually finding its way into the cool comfort of Jacks’ fingers. Her nerves are smothered and soothed by just his proximity and yet… she still feels a sense of unease. Evangeline takes a deep breath, steeling herself and her anxiety before catching the attention of one of the guards.