Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #1)

by Stephanie Garber

All stories are made of both truths and lies, she used to say. What matters is the way that we believe in them.

Always promise less than you can give, for Fates always take more. Do not make bargains with more than one Fate. And, above all, never fall in love with a Fate.

During her search for the missing door, she’d read that the Prince of Hearts’ church held a different aroma for everyone who visited. It was supposed to smell like a person’s greatest heartbreak. But as Evangeline entered the cool cathedral, the air did not remind her of Luc—there were no hints of suede or vetiver. The dim mouth of the church was slightly sweet and metallic: apples and blood.

According to the myths, the Prince of Hearts was not capable of love because his heart had stopped beating long ago. Only one person could make it work again: his one true love. They said his kiss was fatal to all but her—his only weakness—and as he’d sought her, he’d left a trail of corpses.

“Please, I know you understand heartbreak. Stop Luc from marrying Marisol. Save my heart from breaking again.”

Oh god

He gave her a real smile, revealing a pair of dimples that briefly made him look more angel than devil. But she imagined even angels would need to beware of him. She could picture him flashing those deceptive dimples as he tricked an angel into losing its wings just so he could play with the feathers.

“I don’t know if I can fix your broken heart, but you can take mine because it’s already yours.”

The Fates weren’t dangerous because they were evil; the Fates were dangerous because they couldn’t tell the difference between evil and good.

Regret was sour and bitter, and it tasted so close to the truth she had to fight sinking into it. She had to battle against believing that Jacks had been right—that she should have left the goblet alone, let the others stay stone, and played the role of victim.

Someone would save her. Sometimes, when she was feeling especially hopeful, Evangeline even thought that Jacks might come to her rescue. But as hopeful as Evangeline was, she knew the Prince of Hearts wasn’t a savior. He was the one people needed saving from.

And then … Evangeline felt something that was not heartbreak or regret.

what she really wanted was the life and all the love that she’d lost.

Luc was her first love, her first kiss, her heart when hers had stopped working. It was unimaginable that he didn’t love her, as impossible as traveling through time. A part of her had known there was a chance it could be true, but her soul had told her that it wasn’t. She had expected Luc to confirm it. But Luc never told her anything.

oh this... Hit diff..

If he loved you back, he wouldn’t be marrying someone else. End of story.

“I believe there are far more possibilities than happily ever after or tragedy. Every story has the potential for infinite endings.”

She knew some people would think this made her foolish, but it was tremendously hard to fully fall out of love with someone when you had no one else to love instead.

STOP CALLING ME OUT

Evangeline just kept thinking that Luc had also once been hers. And though Evangeline was more determined than ever to let go of Luc, perhaps she hadn’t completely let go of the idea of Marisol and Luc. It was one of those things she tried not to consider. She didn’t believe that Marisol had known Evangeline loved Luc—Marisol had always been so kind and timid. She didn’t seem capable of stealing a book, let alone a boy. But it was hard not to wonder.

This hits too close to home.

What if Marisol had known Evangeline loved Luc? What if she’d knowingly stolen him, and what if Evangeline found love again in the North and Marisol took it once more?

:(

“Then why aren’t you pulling away?” he taunted. “I can’t fight you—you’re a Fate.” “Liar. I’m not hurting you or kissing you.” He moved the hand at her neck to toy with her racing pulse, softly dragging his fingers up and down over the frantic beat-beat-beat, making her heart pound even faster. “I think this excites you.” “You’re delusional!” Evangeline finally pulled away. Her heart was racing, but it wasn’t from excitement, she was sure.

HELP

“I want you, Evangeline Fox. I want to write ballads for you on the walls of Wolf Hall and carve your name on my heart with swords. I want you to be my wife and my princess and my queen. Marry me, Evangeline, and let me give you everything.”

Ok why cant i be proposed like this fr

Looking at Marisol now reminded Evangeline of those months when she had worked in the bookshop and started to feel like one of the forgotten novels on the used shelves in the back, overlooked and alone.

“I’d give you the world if I could. The moon, the stars, and all the suns in the universe. Anything for you, my heart.”

wish i got told this

“Do you stare at everyone like that, or just me?” Jacks looked up. Vivid blue eyes met hers.

HEEELEPEPPP

“Hurt is what made me.”

“Then I’ll find another person to do the job. Everyone is replaceable.”

My ex:

Or do I need to remind you how desperate a broken heart makes you? How it hurts so much that it compelled you to make a deal with a devil like me?

have you already forgotten the way heartbreak rips apart the soul piece by piece, how it turns you into a masochist, making you long for the thing that just eviscerated you until there’s nothing left of you to be destroyed?”

She missed it, not just being held by him but being held by anyone. Since losing both her parents, all those soothing, loving little touches had become far more precious to her.

And then they will write their vows on their hands and place them over each other’s chests, so they may sink into their hearts, where they will be kept safe forever and always.

Just love him the same way you live your life—love him without holding back, love him as if every day with him will be more magical than the last, love him as if he’s your destiny and the world will be better if you two are together, and he won’t be able to ever stop loving you.”

“I would gladly bleed for you,”

“When I lost him, I thought I’d never love anyone else the way that I loved him.

Evangeline had never understood why it had taken her so long to stop loving Luc. Even when she didn’t want to love him, the feeling had lingered. People called it falling out of love, but falling was easy. Letting go of Luc had been more like climbing the face of a rock. She’d clawed her way out, fighting to shake it off, to let it go, to find something else to hold on to.

Uh relatable

She’d wanted to just forget him, to close her eyes and have it all go away. But there were reasons powerful emotions didn’t vanish in a blink, reasons why a person had to become stronger than her feelings to let them go.

Real....

He held on to her as if she were a grudge, his body rigid and tense, as if he really didn’t want her there, and yet his arms were tight around her waist as though he had no intention of ever letting her go.

aaaAAAHAHUADHFJNDJD

In Decks of Destiny, the Unwed Bride was always pictured in a veil of tears. She represented rejection, loss, and unhappily ever afters. It seemed that, unlike Jacks, LaLa could easily find someone to love her whenever she wanted, but the love was doomed to never last.

I want to feel loved. I want it so badly that I cry poison tears, even though I know every time I find someone to love me, it never lasts—it always ends with me alone at an altar, bawling out even more damned tears.

Love felt like a distant luxury. But she couldn’t walk away from Luc and leave him here to die.

Not that the idea of this girl being Jacks’s true love should have pained her. She didn’t even like Jacks. She shouldn’t have been bothered that another girl had made Jacks’s heart beat. She should have been happy the princess hadn’t died. Maybe Evangeline was just feeling sorry for Jacks because she already knew that this story didn’t end well.

Oh (heartbroken emoji)

She fell in love with someone else, and then she stabbed me in the heart with my own knife.”

With Luc, she’d told herself that she was acting out of love. But she wasn’t, not really. She wasn’t making loving choices, she was making compromising choices because she wanted love. Luc wasn’t her weakness—love was. Not even just love but the idea of it.

She just wanted someone to want her the way Jacks had wanted this girl. And she didn’t want it to be because of a spell or a curse. Evangeline wanted a real love powerful enough to break a spell, which was exactly what Jacks wanted, too.

The girl who was supposed to be his one true love had literally stabbed him in the heart.

STOP

“I could probably live without the sun if I could trade it for other things.” He cocked his head. “I wonder … if I were to become a true vampire, perhaps my kiss wouldn’t be fatal anymore.” His fangs lengthened. “You could let me bite you and we could try it out.”

HELP???!!!!!

Evangeline blushed from her neck down to her collarbone. “We’re not talking about biting,” she said hotly. “Then what should we talk about?” Jacks’s eyes returned to her lips, and more heat slipped between them as they parted.

HeLP

“Stop stalling, Little Fox, or I might remember how much pain I’m in because all I can think about is tasting your blood.” Jacks’s eyes lowered.

bbRROOOO

It was bad enough to know that she’d done so much for love; she didn’t want to hear that Luc had never really loved her.

“You know, maybe the real reason Donatella stabbed you in the heart and chose to love someone else wasn’t just because of that almost-fatal first kiss you gave her. Maybe it was your inability to understand any emotions that are remotely human.”

“If you think I’m jealous because someone else got to stab you, then you’re right.”

LOL

His mouth curved wider as his hands moved from her throat to her shoulders and slowly slid the cape away, leaving more of her skin exposed.

HEEELEPPPPP IM SCREAMING