♡ more things that jacks did/said/thought that show how much he loves evangeline. ♡
❥ evangeline died in his arms in the previous book, and he is clearly traumatized by this. he gives her up because he knows that he will kill her if he stays with her (since he will kiss her), and prefers to leave her with another man because he thinks she would be safer. he says that, being a princess, she would always have everything she wanted.
❥ even though he chooses to leave her, he can’t stop thinking about her. he can’t stop wanting to be with her. then he goes to her and observes her in silence, distant. he says he just wants to make sure she’s safe, that she’s not sad or cold (coooOLD he is scared that she might be COLD HES SO IN LOVE
❥ he knows that he has to leave her, that she is on her own, so he tries to teach her to defend herself. (we all know he just literally couldn’t stay away from her and wanted to touch her as much as he could, but he (also) had good intentions.)
❥ he is absolutely outraged by the killer who tried to kill evangeline, and then even more outraged when he sees that she is hurt. he literally kills this guy in cold blood (in one of the HOTTEST scenes in the book)
❥ then he simply says that evangeline could never look awful, he is all nervous and shy and puts a strand of her hair behind her ear as he approaches her and is suffering from wanting to kiss her and ARGHHHHH
❥ he “kills” chaos by being close to her.
❥ he tries to convince himself that it’s better that she doesn’t remember who he is, that she doesn’t remember the feelings they shared when, in reality, he hates that she doesn’t remember. he says that he wanted her to want him again, he puts his forehead on hers and begs her to remember him.
❥ evangeline discovers that the happiest day of his life (an ageless fate) was the day he spent with her, the night they slept together and when they had breakfast. she notices that he feels pain when he abandons this memory, when he leaves this place that was happy for him.
❥ he rents a room in an inn so she can rest. he calls her his bride and carries her to the bedroom (again, we know he just wanted to touch her, that it was his make-believe moment.)
❥ he almost starts crying because the time has come and he needs to leave evangeline at that inn and never see her again.
❥ he carries the letter that evangeline wrote, a letter that is definitely not a love letter, he keeps it close to his heart and reads it and re-reads it over and over again.
❥ he trades his heart for a cuff that will keep evangeline safe because there is nothing more important to him than her.
❥ he wants to set his own heart on fire because he knows that then he will be able to let her go (i don’t know if you understand how much he was suffering. he wanted to set his own heart on fire because it seemed easier than letting her go.)
❥ he is literally psychologically destroyed and begs evangeline to let him go and he starts crying because he is suffering so much (in a beautiful scene where evangeline says: no, i will fight for you because i love you)
❥ in the end, when everything works out, he admits that he loves her and loves her so much that he knows he doesn’t even like the idea of letting her escape so he promises that he will never let her out of his sight. and he says that that, that between them, is not just for that moment, it is for always.
❥ he also gives up pretending he’s not addicted to touching her. he is physically incapable of not touching her all the time, he is always putting her hair behind her ear, touching her, hugging her from behind and giving her lots of kisses and bites. his love language is definitely physical touch.
❥ he literally doesn’t let her out of his sight. in every possible ending he is close to her, watching her read a book, take a nap or feed the little dragons. evangeline also says that she hates leaving him, and that he doesn’t even let her do that because he always catches up with her. they live in the greatest glue in all realities.
after everything he went through to get here, i’m so happy and content to see him like this. like i always said, he always cared. he was always the only person to genuinely care about evangeline. he loves her.
