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December 22 - December 23, 2025
She sat up and placed her legs over the side of the enormous bed, facing her betrothed like an equal rather than lying down like an offering.
She missed it, not just being held by him but being held by anyone.
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.”
Months ago, she’d turned to stone, but now she felt as if she were turning to ice
Comforting someone was an intimate thing, and according to the stories, intimacy didn’t end well with Jacks.
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.
She didn’t make being alone seem lonely as Evangeline had always feared. She made it seem like an adventure, as if every moment were the start of a story with endless possibilities.
“When we feel, it’s intense and consuming. It devours us and drives us. And the strongest of our feelings is always the urge to be that which we were made to be. 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. So I sew.”
Their stories are cursed, but instead of warping the truth, they manipulate the way people feel. No matter what I tell you about vampires, you’re going to be intrigued instead of horrified. Your kind always wants to be bitten or changed.”
He looked like the son of a warrior demigod—or someone who just had really excellent bone structure.
But Jacks’s harsh gaze worked like an antidote to the vampire’s wonder, reminding her that looking into Chaos’s eyes would not lead to wishes come true but to shackles and cages and sharp teeth tearing into her skin.
He didn’t hold her back, he just held her hand, stunning her into silence.
He should have used his Fated strength because although Evangeline’s head agreed with Jacks, her human heart made her stop, pull her hand free of Jacks’s hand, look up at the cage above, and lock eyes with her first love.
He felt like a truth that she was afraid to touch.
Love felt like a distant luxury.
She was feeling the return of her hope.
But all this meeting guaranteed was that they would have a different ending. What sort of ending still had to be determined, but it would certainly be better than this. Even if Luc wasn’t her happily ever after, she couldn’t let their story finish here, with him in this cage and her running away.
“It was terrible timing—and you have absolutely no sense when it comes to him,” Jacks all but growled, jaw clenching in between his words. “For most people, I’m the worst thing that can happen to them. But not you. It’s as if you want that boy to destroy you, and he’s only human—or
He looked part angel, part fallen star, and completely devastating.
He looked like ethereal heartbreak.
He’d willingly entered the cage, but now he regarded the lock like a thief, contemplating all the ways he could break it.
She kept thinking it was fate or Jacks that was toying with her life. But it had been her own questionable choices that had started her on this path.
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.
He was still indescribably breathtaking, but it was all the tragic beauty of a sky where every single star was falling.
“So you’re saying you’d settle for a boring romance if it ends well?” “Yes. I would gladly take an uneventful happily ever after.” Jacks smirked. “No, you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t have been happy with Luc, and definitely not forever. The two of you aren’t well suited. He’s not half as strong as you—he didn’t even hesitate before he tried to bite you. And he wouldn’t have turned himself to stone to save you.”
She knew she shouldn’t be. But hadn’t she wondered what it would be like to be wanted with the intensity that Jacks seemed to want things?
She was starting to think that sometimes she imagined things were signs when they weren’t. But that didn’t mean there were not actual signs.
Was she destined to end up here, or was it just one of many possible paths? She would never know, but she had a feeling this question would always haunt her.
What would have been was a question that no one ever knew the answer to.
Now she didn’t know what to expect or even what she wanted.
Having faith was brave.
