The Merrywood Three

In the book that Chaos gives to Evangeline, *In the Rise and Fall of the Valors: Beloved First Royal Family of the Magnificent North, she came across a picture of three young men standing near a tree with* a bullseye board tacked onto it. One young man looked friendly, one looked highborn, and one looked exactly like Jacks. Jacks's clothes were different, an older style, but his handsome face was unmistakable. The caption just said: **The Merrywood Three**.

The word Merrywood flickered to Bitterwood, and suddenly. In another book, there is a reference to this trio. the book had described the members of the Merrywood Three as scoundrels. They were Prince Castor Valor, Lyric Merrywood son of Lord Merrywood and a nameless archer who she suspected could have been the same Archer from The Ballad of the Archer and the Fox.

The young man beside Jacks looked the friendliest with brown skin, the warmest smile she'd ever seen, and an arrow in one hand, which instantly made Evangeline think he must have been the Archer. But then she remembered that the stories here were all cursed. She wasn't sure if that curse applied to pictures, but she decided to keep an open mind.

The other young man was taller than the friendly one, about the same height as Jacks. The tilt of his chin made her think he thought himself slightly superior, and a part of Evangeline could understand why. This young man was almost painfully handsome. The handsome that made her wonder if he was entirely human.

Normally, that was how she thought of Jacks, but in this rendering, Jacks looked human, not immortal. Evangeline had never considered the idea that Jacks had been human before, but if he was part of the Merrywood Three, then clearly he'd been human once. And being human looked good on him or maybe it was just that he looked so happy.

In the picture, Jacks was tossing an ordinary red apple and laughing in a way that lit up his entire face. He never looked this happy now, and she couldn't help but wonder what had changed.

## History

Aurora, Castor's sister, was secretly in love with Jacks, and she put the Archer’s curse on him because her sister could see the future and the future was Jack would fall in love with a fox. Jack broke free of the Archer's curse, but when she kissed her she died.

Lyric was Lord Merrywood's only son, and he was too good-hearted to realize what a mistake it was to love Aurora Valor. He was so desperately in love with her, that he dismissed the dangerous fact that she was engaged to Vengeance Slaughterwood. Lyric said the engagement didn't matter because it wasn't a love match: Aurora and Vengeance had been betrothed since Aurora's birth. Vengeance's father, Bane, had been Wolfric Valor's greatest friend and ally. So, when Wolfric became king, he pledged that one of his daughters would marry Bane's eldest son.

Aurora wanted Vengeance and Lyric to get attention from Jack. Aurora acted to break off the wedding to marry Lyric Merrywood, but her father refused. Aurora told her father that she would go through with the marriage to Vengeance. But on the morning of the wedding, she ran away. That was when Vengeance learned of her affair with Lyric Merrywood. Castor tried to warn Lyric of the attack at Merrywood Manor. When Jack arrived, everyone was dead except for Castor. (Vengeance walked out alive before Jack got there.) Castor was stabbed in the back, and Jack brought him to his mother, Honora, who was the greatest healer in all the North. Castor died. Honora having great grief for her son’s death resurrected him, becoming a monster devouring human blood, he became Chaos. Chaos ended up killing the rest of the Merrywood family except for Lala.