The first time Apollo met Aurora Valor, he had thought she was an angel. She was beautiful and he felt more like a ghost than a prince.
Earlier that night, he’d been caged on top of a bed in a vampire’s underground lair. Evangeline had locked him in after he’d kissed her and then lost control, nearly killing her.
Once she’d left him trapped in the cage, Apollo had thought the vampires were going to kill him, and he’d almost wanted to die. He was cursed, truly cursed—not the way people said they were cursed when they merely had bad luck.
One curse, and Apollo might actually have been glad of it. A prince who’d been cursed once could go on to become a legend, but Apollo had been cursed three times, and nearly killed just as many times—once by his own brother.
He was ready to let the vampires drain him of blood as long as it was quick. But then a woman had entered the room. He hadn’t known her name, not then anyway. He’d just closed his eyes and waited for her to bite. But this woman hadn’t been a vampire. This woman had been Honora Valor, and somehow she cured him from the Archer’s curse and the mirror curse. But it was one of those situations in which the remedy initially felt nearly as bad as the afflictions.
The cures left Apollo suddenly untethered. His connection to Evangeline had been severed and he wanted it back. He didn’t want to be cursed, but he wanted her; the wanting didn’t end just because the curses had.
If anything, he wanted her even more. Now that he didn’t feel compelled to hurt her, to hunt her, he could finally make her his.
But he knew it wasn’t that simple. It wasn’t simple at all.
For most of his life, Apollo had always been given what he wanted. As a prince, he was not used to wishing for anything. He was used to taking and getting. But for the first time, Apollo feared he might not get what he wanted.
He’d tried to kill Evangeline. He’d shot and strangled her. The bruises were probably still on her neck from where his hands had squeezed.
He hoped she’d forgive him. He’d been cursed. Unable to help it. Surely she’d understand. But what if Evangeline never forgot what he had done?
What if, whenever he tried to kiss her, it made her flash back to when he’d also tried to kill her?
Then there was Lord Jacks. Apollo’s former friend.
Apollo had never been in competition with another man. Who could compete with a prince who would be king? But when Apollo had tried to kill Evangeline, he had seen the way that she had looked at Jacks after he’d stormed into the room to rescue her. As if Jacks was her savior, her hero.
Something had changed between them.
And Apollo didn’t know what to do about it.
Before Honora had left him, she’d lifted the bars of the cage. He’d been free to go. But Apollo hadn’t been able to move. He had been too nervous and afraid to leave the room.
Then Aurora had appeared in the doorway like an angel.
She wasn’t just beautiful, she was ethereal, with a sweet voice that said all the words he wanted to hear. “Someone as handsome as you shouldn’t ever look so sad,” she’d told him. And she’d known things, and not just that he was a prince—which everyone was aware of. She knew about the Archer’s curse that had forced him to hunt down his wife.
“I could help you fix it all,” she said. Then she had offered him an elixir. “Drink this, and for a short while you will have the power to erase it all from her memories. You can start afresh. You can remove whatever memories from her that you wish and rewrite a new story.”
Apollo should have asked more questions.
But he hadn’t wanted to know the answers. He’d drunk the elixir and regretted it right away.
How could he even consider erasing Evangeline’s memories? He wouldn’t do it. He’d let the power wear off. Even in his fractured state, Apollo knew it would have been an unforgivable violation.
But then he’d left the cell and found Evangeline, and she’d looked at him as if she was letting him go. She’d said that she wished Jacks didn’t have such a hold on her, and then she told Apollo she was sorry.
She was choosing Jacks. She was choosing wrong.
She was deceived just like Apollo had been when he’d thought Jacks was his friend.
Apollo had to stop her. He had to save her.
He didn’t want to hurt Evangeline. He tried to make it painless for her. He’d held her as she cried and promised, silently, that together they would make new memories. Beautiful, extraordinary memories. And he would never do anything like this to her again.
He also didn’t think he’d see the angel again, or that she’d turn out to be Aurora Valor.
Like everyone else in the North, Apollo had thought the Valors were dead. When Honora Valor had first healed him, he hadn’t known who she was.
It wasn’t until later, until after Apollo had taken Evangeline’s memories and then fled into the Valory, that he’d seen the entire Valor family and began to understand the full scope of what had happened.
The Valors had not been beheaded, as the stories had always claimed. The family was alive and had been in a state of suspended sleep for hundreds of years. They were the true treasure hidden behind the Valory Arch.
Wolfric and Honora had assured Apollo they weren’t there to steal his kingdom or his crown. But all Apollo could really hear was the blood rushing to his ears as he saw their daughter Aurora.
She’d winked as if it was all a great game and Apollo had just stood there, like a child.
“All we want now is a place to live quietly,” said Wolfric. “No one need know we’ve returned.”
If Apollo had possessed more of his senses, he might immediately have said something like, “I couldn’t agree more,” and then sent them off to the far, far edges of the North where no one would ever see them again.
But these were the Valors, he was stunned to see them alive, and their daughter knew his most terrible secret.
Her beautiful eyes had been on him as she’d said, “What if you just made us a Great House instead? We could go by another name, like Vale.”
Apollo had waited for Wolfric to object. Great Houses were not quiet.
But it seemed Wolfric did not truly want to live a quiet life, after all.
“I think that could work. What say you, my love?” he asked with a look to his wife, who agreed.
“Just as long as we keep our true identities a secret,” Honora said. “I don’t feel like repeating the past.”
Next to her, Aurora smiled as if it was all done. Then the rest of the Valors’ impressive children were nodding and smiling.
How could Apollo refuse?
He’d heard himself say, “Excellent. There are lands I can give you. A manor, a village, a forest—they need to be rebuilt, but once I make you a Great House, people will come together to help you. I just need a little time.”
“Don’t take too long,” Aurora chimed sweetly.
And when she winked again, Apollo knew he’d made a deal with a devil, not an angel.
Now Apollo’s heart pounded as he felt the note that Aurora had slipped him. He’d tucked it up his sleeve quickly, but just knowing it was there made him sick.
Aurora’s most recent request had been an introduction to Evangeline. “Don’t look so worried, Your Highness,” she’d said sweetly. “I just wish to be friends. I’ve been locked away for a long time, and all of mine are dead.” Apollo hadn’t quite believed her about just wanting to be friends, but he knew he couldn’t object. Just as he knew he wouldn’t be able to object to whatever she asked for today. But perhaps he could ignore her message for a
while.
He needed some time alone with his wife.
Apollo watched her carefully as they stepped into the tent. Embroidered gold and burgundy carpets had been laid across the ground, beeswax candles
had been lit beside the cushions and furs they’d be using for the bed. Next to that was a low table piled with fruit and cheese and goblets of wine.
And yet Evangeline stood just past the threshold. She didn’t take any food from the table, she didn’t throw herself on the cushions, and she didn’t even attempt to remove her sodden cloak.
“Where will you be staying?” she asked.
“We’ll be sharing,” Apollo said softly as he moved behind her. “This way I can protect you.” He wrapped his arms around Evangeline’s waist.
She stiffened under his hands.
It was only for a second. Evangeline tensed, and then she seemed to melt in his arms.
He brushed her hair to the side and kissed her neck. Once again, she tensed. This time she didn’t relax.
He needed to let her go. She was scared again. He’d sensed something
similar at the inn where he’d found her, but he hadn’t been sure until now. His mouth lingered on her neck, close enough to feel her pulse, rushing under his lips. Then he heard her suck in a sharp breath.
Again, he knew he should release her, but he couldn’t let her go. The pounding of her pulse triggered something inside him, an urge to keep her in his grasp. To hold her until she no longer wanted to escape.
“I thought we were over this nonsense about your not acting like my wife.” His arms tightened around her and—
It hurt! The pain was sudden and intense and so strong he couldn’t hold on to her. He doubled over. His vision went black and spotty.
It felt as if a burning knife had been plunged into his ribs, then twisted.
But just as quickly as he felt the sharp stab of pain, it was gone.
When he could see again, Evangeline was watching him with a new kind of horror.
“Apollo, are you all right? What happened?” she asked, clutching both hands to her chest.
It was then that he noticed the cuff on her wrist. It was made of glass. That must have been how he had overlooked it before. He might not even have noticed it were it not faintly glowing, lit up with words in a language he could not read, although he feared that he knew what the words meant. What the cuff really was.
He wanted to ask where she found it, how it had become hers, why she wore it, if she knew what it did. But he assumed Evangeline had no idea
what it was, and he didn’t want to draw attention to it. He also hoped that he was wrong.
Because if Apollo was right—if this was Vengeance Slaughterwood’s
missing cuff of protection—then that meant Apollo had been about to hurt her.
He had to get control of himself.
“I’m fine,” he said, slowly backing away. “I just remembered something important I need to take care of.”
“What is it?” asked Evangeline.
“Boring, princely business. Don’t worry, I’ll be back shortly.” He might have tried to give her a goodbye kiss, but he didn’t trust himself. And he did have business to take care of.
As soon as he left the tent, Apollo pulled the note from Aurora Valor out of his sleeve.
 |
Instead of her name, she’d drawn a wolf wearing a flower crown. He burned the note as he passed the closest fire.
Apollo arrived at the crossroads early. He wanted to get this business with Aurora done as quickly as possible.
He’d ridden here on horseback, surprised at how much Merrywood Forest had already changed. Moss covered the rocks. New leaves grew on trees. Apollo could even hear sounds of life—deer and birds and crickets.
The Merrywood Forest had been reborn since the Valors had returned. It no longer felt like the haunted place he’d feared as a boy—and yet Apollo had never seen his horse so agitated. After he tied it to a tree that bordered the Merrywood Forest and the wet road to the Cursed Forest, the animal
stomped and whinnied. When Apollo tried to feed it an apple, the horse knocked it from his hand.
He wondered if the beast was upset by how close they were to the
enchanted road to the Cursed Forest, or if it was perhaps because of the arrival of Aurora Valor.
Aurora, of course, still looked like an angel as she rode toward Apollo on a horse that appeared to glow silver underneath the moonlight.
“Don’t look so sullen. It’s unattractive,” she scolded before hopping off her horse. “And believe it or not, Prince, I’m here to help you.”
“Like that last time you helped me?”
“Evangeline is yours, isn’t she?”
“For now,” Apollo grumbled. “I’m starting to fear that some of her memories might be creeping back.”
Aurora finished tying her horse to a tree. Unlike Apollo’s, her animal seemed perfectly content. “Why do you say that?”
“She’s acting strange. Do you have any more of that memory elixir?” he asked. And he hated himself for asking.
Aurora scoffed as she strode closer, her long silver skirts sweeping the
forest floor. “You think that was an easy potion to come by?” “You’re a Valor.”
“Yes. But our magic is not limitless. Do you imagine I just carry around bottles of magic with me?”
“You did that day.”
Aurora briefly pursed her lips shut. “Do you want to keep asking silly questions, Prince? Or would you like to become the sort of man your wife will never dare to think about leaving?”
