The Ballad of Never After

She held him as if he were hers and she were his, and there was nothing else between them. No curses. No lies. No past wounds or mistakes. She held him as if there was only now, as if nothing mattered but this moment. Then she let him go. S

She wasn’t sure exactly when she’d fallen out of love with Luc. In fact, she wasn’t entirely certain that she had. It felt more like she’d left behind her love for Luc with the version of herself that she’d been before.

“One for luck. One for truth. One for mirth. One for youth.”

She remembered the feel of Jacks’s heartbeat, furious against hers, as he’d dragged her out of the ocean after they had escaped Apollo. For once, Jacks hadn’t felt in control. He’d felt like a feral fairytale warrior, determined to do whatever it took to save her. She knew his reasons for wanting to keep her alive were less than noble. But sometimes reason was no match for feeling. She reasoned that it would be far better to hate him, but she could no longer muster the feeling.

“The stone affects everyone,” he said.

“It didn’t do anything to me,” chimed Jacks.

“Only because the luck stone makes people reckless, and you’re always reckless,”

“But I thought you could die?” Evangeline asked.

“Why? Planning on murdering me?” Jacks’s eyes glittered.

Chaos speared him with a glare. “Don’t tempt her.”

“Relax.” Jacks toyed with one of the shackles dangling from the arm of a chair. “I gave her the chance to stab me once, but even then she wouldn’t do it.”

“And I’ll forever regret that,”

Slowly, he uncurled his fingers from her, but not before she felt his knuckles softly brush against the underside of her breast.

Her stomach dipped. But Jacks’s face was so impassive, she imagined the touch must have been a slip.

Immediately, Evangeline felt like she’d been plunged in cold water. As soon as the lid closed over the stone, her boldness, her extreme confidence, her desire to claw out Chaos’s eyes with her fingernails vanished in a flash.

“Unlock it,” Jacks ordered.

Evangeline bristled. “You could at least say please.”

“I could, but then you might think I’m being nice, and I would hate to confuse you.”

Her breathing felt heavy as Jacks’s gaze lingered on the intricate cords that wrapped around her chest, tracing the golden lines with his eyes in a way that made the braided ropes feel as if they were being tightened, as if his cool fingers were pulling them more tautly around her, until it was a little difficult to breathe.

“You started it with your stare,” he murmured