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

by Stephanie Garber

The bell hanging outside the curiosity shop knew the human was trouble from the way he moved through the door.

The dim mouth of the church was slightly sweet and metallic: apples and blood.

Several rows behind her, in a shadowed corner, a young man appeared to be in mourning or performing some act of penance. Wild locks of golden hair hung across his face as his head bowed and his fingers tore at the sleeves of his burgundy topcoat.

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.

“We’ve been seeing each other in secret. I was supposed to be in mourning for my father. Then, a little over two weeks ago, on the day that Luc and I were going to tell our families we were in love, my stepsister, Marisol, announced that she and Luc were getting married.”

KICK HIM

His hair was golden and messy, his too-bright blue eyes were bloodshot, and his mouth twitched at the corner as if he didn’t enjoy much, but he found pleasure in the brief bit of pain he’d just inflicted upon her. He looked bored and rich and cruel.

In one elegant move, the young man reached into the inner pocket of his ripped burgundy coat, pulled out a pure white apple, and took one bite. Dark red juice dripped from the fruit to his long, pale fingers and then onto the pristine marble steps.

He gave her a real smile, revealing a pair of dimples that briefly made him look more angel than devil.

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. “It’s you,” she whispered. “You’re the Prince of Hearts.”

“People who don’t like me call me Jacks.”

Her father, who’d liked to make Evangeline feel as if her whole life were a fairytale, had always teased that he’d found her packed up in a crate along with other oddities that had been delivered to his shop— that’s why her hair was pixie pink, he’d always said. And her mother had always nodded with a wink.

“But even if you do really love this boy, you’re better off without him. If he loved you back, he wouldn’t be marrying someone else. End of story.”

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

ewwwww

“I don’t think what you want will help you. But I do appreciate a good lost cause. I’ll stop the wedding in exchange for three kisses.”

I want you to kiss three others. Who I choose. When I choose.”

It wasn’t that Evangeline disliked Marisol. Truthfully, she barely knew her stepsister. About a year after her mother had died, Evangeline’s father had gotten it into his head that he must marry again, that he needed a wife to look after Evangeline in case anything ever happened to him. She could still remember the worry that had replaced the light in his eyes, as if he had known he didn’t have much time left.

Cinderella vibes

Evangeline’s knees went weak. There had never been statues in this garden before. But there were nine of them now, all holding goblets as if they’d just finished a toast. Each face was disturbingly lifelike and terrifyingly familiar. Evangeline watched in revulsion as a buzzing fly landed on the face of a statue that looked just like Agnes before flitting off and alighting on one of Marisol’s granite eyes. Jacks had stopped the wedding by turning everyone to stone.

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

Heroes don’t get happy endings. They give them to other people. Is that what you really want?”

Regret was sour and bitter, and it tasted so close to the truth she had to fight sinking into

But as hopeful as Evangeline was, she knew the Prince of Hearts wasn’t a savior. He was the one people needed saving from.

“I thought all of the Fates had disappeared,” Evangeline blurted. “We recently made a grand return, but that’s not what this story is about.”

I already feel as if the horror I went through is turning into a fairytale, but I’m nothing special, and this is not a fairytale.”

But on his way to the wedding, Luc was attacked by a wild wolf.”

what a pity

And Evangeline found she was more in the mood to fight than to run.

good

In the North, fairytales and history were treated as one and the same because their stories and histories were all cursed.

One of the stories Liana used to tell Evangeline was The Ballad of the Archer and the Fox, a romantic tale about a crafty peasant girl who could transform into a fox and the young archer who loved her, but was cursed with the need to hunt her down and kill her.

But since this story was cursed, every time her mother neared the end, she would suddenly forget what she’d been saying.

The bell attached to the door of the bookstore chimed. The door hadn’t even opened yet, but the bell must have sensed someone special was entering, for it rang a touch early.

“The North has different customs from ours,” the empress said softly. “The crown prince can’t fully ascend to the throne until he’s wed, and hosting a ball to choose a bride is one of their oldest traditions.”

Prince Charming vibes?????

These sisters had fought against the Fates, and Evangeline had made a deal with one.

No matter how much Evangeline tried not to think about Jacks, he was always tucked away in the back of her thoughts, a secret she feared would escape one day.

If Evangeline wasn’t quite so familiar with the North, this might have unnerved her. But she was far more uneasy about the three broken heart scars on her wrist that had suddenly started to burn.

She’d always loved living in the south. She loved the heat of the sun and the overbright colors everyone wore. But now the brilliant streets of Valenda seemed too lurid. Here, everything was mist-touched. It was all foggy grays, rainy blues, and deep purples the exact color of fresh plums.

On the docks, the adorable little beasts appeared to be as common as squirrels. Almost every vendor had one. Marisol was clearly not fond of the small winged creatures but Evangeline was delighted to spy tiny blue dragons sitting on shoulders and leathery brown ones perched on carts. The miniature beasts roasted apples and meats, blew glass baubles, and heated earthen mugs of drinking chocolate.

Stepping into the North didn’t just feel like the start of something, it felt like the start of everything.

Thankfully, Evangeline didn’t see the Prince of Hearts among them. There were no young men with apples, cruel faces, and torn clothes.

In his church, there’d been a hint of twisted playfulness that softened some of his merciless edges. But all of that was gone. He’d lost something since she’d last seen him as if he’d been a touch human before but now he was not. Now he was all Fate, and she needed to make sure he didn’t discover her.

He was a thousand cuts happening all at once. Devastation made of hair as blue as dark ocean waves, and lips sharp as cracked glass that would delightedly cut her.

“Oh no, Little Fox. We have unfinished business.” Jacks dropped his apple and took her neck, cupping her pulse with his cold palm.

LITTLE FOX

Jacks’s unfeeling eyes dropped to the mouth he’d just painted with his blood. Then he strolled back toward the rest of the party.

Evangeline heard a lot of what a pretty color of hair, it was just like that princess— of course no one could remember that princess’s name or which prince she’d been married to, but almost everyone remarked on it.