The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #2)

by Stephanie Garber

Not at all, my precious girl. I think there’s a happy ending for everyone. But I don’t think these endings always follow the last page of a book, or that everyone is guaranteed to find their happily ever after. Happy endings can be caught, but they are difficult to hold on to. They are dreams that want to escape the night. They are treasure with wings. They are wild, feral, reckless things that need to be constantly chased, or they will certainly run away.

Jacks’s chest was heaving, his clothes were soaked, his hair was a mess across his face—yet in that moment, Evangeline knew he would carry her through more than just freezing waters. He would pull her through fire if he had to, haul her from the clutches of war, from falling cities and breaking worlds.

“So, this is what you do when I’m not around?” Evangeline felt the sudden urge to hide inside her wardrobe, but she tamped it down as she turned and met his gaze with a smile of her own. “You think about what I do when you’re not around?” “Careful, Little Fox.” He took a step forward. “You sound rather excited by the idea.” “I’m not, I assure you,” she said, wishing she didn’t sound so breathless. “I merely like the thought that I torment you as much as you torment me.” Jacks flashed one of his dimples, making him look deceptively charming. “So you’re the one who thinks about what I do when you’re not around?” “Only because I know you’re up to no good.”

“Don’t look at me like that. I saw the way you looked when you arrived here with your arm around her shoulders.” “How did I look?” “Like you would kill for her.”

All she could feel were Chaos’s teeth, cutting deeper to take even more— “Castor, no!” Jacks shouted. The vampire was wrenched away. Evangeline started to fall, and then Jacks was there. Her eyes were too heavy to open—but she could feel him. He held her with the type of intensity that only happens when a person wants something that isn’t quite theirs. But she was. She just needed to tell him she loved him. “Evangeline—” His voice was hoarse. “Come back to me.…” I’m not dead, she tried to say. But there was something wrong with her throat. And it seemed Jacks couldn’t hear her thoughts. He silently held her tighter and pressed his forehead to hers. She wasn’t sure if he was crying or if she was, but there was wet on her cheeks. It felt a lot like tears. And then she felt … Nothing.

A tormented scream pierced the night like a blade. The sky bled, and darkness fell instead of stars, erasing lights across the Magnificent North.

The girl was dead. If her lifeless body had not confirmed it, then it would have been made clear by the horrible scream of the Fate who held her in his arms. The story curse was familiar with pain, but this was agony, the sort of raw grief that was only seen once in a century. The Fate was every tear that anyone had ever shed for lost love. He was pain given form.

The Fate didn’t move. He didn’t let the girl go. He looked as if he never would. He continued holding her as if he could return her to life with the force of his will. His eyes were wet with blood. Red tears fell down his cheeks and onto hers. But the girl didn’t stir.

“Bring her back,” he said softly.

The Fate finally looked up. “Bring her back,” he repeated. For he also possessed an indomitable will. “I know you can do it.”

“That is not a small mistake to fix. If you do this, Time will take something equally valuable from you.” The Fate gave the queen a look more vicious than any curse. “There is nothing of equal value to me.”

Jumping off the cliff with Jacks— “No!” she screamed. … gone.