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Chapter no 53

Once Upon a Broken Heart

Evangeline spun around.

The girl was about her age. Her face was round and her long dark hair was tied back, giving a clear picture of a starburst mark the color of currant wine on her left cheek.

โ€œWho are you?โ€ Evangeline asked.

The girl was dressed as a palace servant in a little cap and a wool gown with a cream apron, although Evangeline wondered if the clothes were borrowed, for they were ill fitting and sheโ€™d never seen this girl before. Her birthmark was something Evangeline would have recognized.

โ€œWhatโ€™s going on?โ€ She reached for Jacksโ€™s dagger, tucked into the belt of her mourning dress. It had been seized from her during her arrest, but it was one of the first things sheโ€™d taken back.

The girl held up her hands in a peaceful gesture, revealing a tattoo on the underside of her wrist: a circle of skulls that reminded Evangeline of something that her overtaxed mind couldnโ€™t remember just then. โ€œHavelock and I arenโ€™t here to hurt you. We have something we need to show you.โ€

Evangeline gripped her knife tighter. โ€œForgive me for being a little dubious on that front.โ€

โ€œPrince Apollo is alive,โ€ announced Havelock.

Evangeline shook her head. She believed in a lot of things, but not people coming back from the dead. โ€œI saw him die.โ€

โ€œYou saw him poisoned, but it didnโ€™t kill him.โ€ The girl gave Evangeline a taunting smile. One part triumph, one part dare to argue back.

She was definitely not a servant, and Evangeline wanted to ask exactly who she was, but that didnโ€™t seem like the most vital question. โ€œIf Apollo is alive, then where is he?โ€

โ€œWeโ€™ve hidden him to keep him safe.โ€ Havelock stepped forward several paces and threw back a carpet to reveal a trapdoor that opened up to a flight of stairs. โ€œHeโ€™s down there.โ€

Evangeline gave him a skeptical look.

But when Havelock and the girl both took to the stairs, leaving her free to go, Evangelineโ€™s curiosity got the best of her. She decided to follow.

The flight of steps was mostly dark, and her heart beat faster with every one. If Apollo was truly alive, then she was still married. They had a chance at the future sheโ€™d just been wondering about. She tried to feel excited. But if Apollo cared about her at all, why had he hidden in the palace as sheโ€™d been running for her life?

She could understand if he were still upset from the undoing of Jacksโ€™s spell. But hours ago, his brother had almost killed her. And Evangeline would have definitely died the night of her wedding if it hadnโ€™t been for Jacks. Had Apollo not known these things, or did he think she deserved to die?

As Evangeline neared the lower steps, she still hoped Apollo was alive, but it was a complicated sort of hope. Before, when sheโ€™d believed everything was a sign and her trip to the North meant finding her happily ever after, she would have been sure that there was a second chance waiting for her just a few feet away. Now she didnโ€™t know what to expect or even what she wanted. If Apollo gave her another chance, would she take it? Did she want him, or just the happily ever after sheโ€™d thought that he could give her?

The last step creaked beneath Evangelineโ€™s slippers. The room beyond was small, with a low wooden ceiling and not nearly enough light. The air was stagnant and a little stale, and almost as soon as she entered, Evangeline wanted to leave.

This was a mistake. Just past Havelock and the girl, Apollo was lying down on his back, but he didnโ€™t look right. He didnโ€™t look alive.

Evangeline almost silently called for Jacks to tell him she was in danger.

But the girl quickly said, โ€œApollo is in a suspended state. I know he looks dead, but you can touch him.โ€

โ€œPlease,โ€ Havelock added softly. โ€œWeโ€™ve been trying to revive him, but we think thatย youย might be the only person who can bring him back.โ€

Evangeline wasnโ€™t even sure she believed Apollo was actually alive. He lay on the heavy wooden table, as unmoving as a corpse. His eyes were open, but even from the distance, they were flat as pieces of sea glass.

She still wanted to flee. But Havelock and the girl looked so expectant as they watched herโ€”they werenโ€™t trying to hurt her or trap her. If she left, Evangeline would be running away from hope, not danger.

Carefully, she approached the table.

Apollo was still dressed as heโ€™d been on their wedding night, in only a pair of pants. The oil had thankfully been wiped from his chest, leaving just his amber pendant and the tattoo with her name. Gingerly, she touched his arm.

His skin was cooler than a personโ€™s should have been. His body didnโ€™t stir. But when she moved her hand to his chest, after a minute she felt it. Just one barely there beat.

Her heart fluttered as well. He really was alive!

โ€œHow did the two of you discover this? And why does no one else know?โ€ Evangeline took another look about the room, which was bare save for the table with Apollo and another small stand containing a water bin and some cloths.

โ€œWe didnโ€™t know who we could trust,โ€ Havelock said. โ€œI was there the night Apollo was poisoned. I was in the room with you after, when you wouldnโ€™t stop crying. It haunted me, made me think you might not be guilty. I knew that you had nothing to gain, unlike his brother. I didnโ€™t want to think Prince Tiberius had tried to kill Apollo. But when Tiberius became engaged almost immediately, a few other soldiers became suspicious as well. We borrowed Apolloโ€™s body from the royal morgue and reached out to Phaedra.โ€

โ€œPhaedra of the Damned at your service.โ€ The girl flashed another smile that made Evangeline think she should have recognized the name.

โ€œHave you not heard of me?โ€ Phaedra pouted.

โ€œPhaedra, get on with it,โ€ said Havelock. โ€œSomeone will notice the princess is gone soon.โ€

โ€œFine, fine,โ€ Phaedra huffed. โ€œIโ€™m rather famous in some circles for having special talents. I can steal the secrets that people take to their graves. Havelock here thought that if I paid our princeโ€™s corpse a visit, I might learn some of his secrets, including who killed him. But Apollo didnโ€™t have any secrets. And everyone has secrets, even if itโ€™s just a secret fear of caterpillars or a tiny white lie they told to a neighbor. Thatโ€™s when we realized Apollo wasnโ€™t dead. Whatever toxin was used on him didnโ€™t kill him, it put him in this suspended state.โ€

โ€œWhatโ€™s a suspended state?โ€ Evangeline asked.

โ€œIt pauses life,โ€ Phaedra said. โ€œUnless heโ€™s revived, Prince Apollo could stay like this for centuries without aging. There arenโ€™t a lot of stories about it. Itโ€™s believed Honora Valor used to use it as part of her healingโ€”for people who she couldnโ€™t help immediately. Unfortunately, no one knows how she did it or how to wake someone up from it. The practice of it was believed to have been lost with her death. But we thought you might be able to help.โ€ Phaedra looked up at Evangeline the same way people had looked at her right after sheโ€™d returned from being stone, as if she were the hero the papers all claimed.

Evangeline felt more worn-out than heroic, but for the first time, she no longer felt the need to deny all the stories about her. What sheโ€™d done that day in Valenda had been courageous. Luc really had been under a spell, and sheโ€™d stopped him from marrying the girl who had cast it. Then Evangeline had turned herself to stone to save him and the rest of his wedding party. She might have mostly done it because she felt responsible for what had happened to them, but that didnโ€™t mean that what sheโ€™d done wasnโ€™t brave. Having faith was brave.

But Evangeline wasnโ€™t sure bravery was enough to save Apollo. What did they think she could do for him?

In some of her motherโ€™s stories, kisses could cure the same way that Jacksโ€™s kiss could kill. But those kisses were almost always ones involving true love.

Of course, those stories were also cursed. So, who knew what was really true?

โ€œI could try to kiss him,โ€ she said.

Phaedra gave her a tentative smile. Havelock nodded soberly.

Evangeline moved her hand to Apolloโ€™s cheek and pressed her lips to his. He tasted like wax and hexes, and he didnโ€™t move or change.

Disappointment twisted inside her. But this was merely her first try. If she couldnโ€™t cure him with a kiss, perhaps she could find another way to heal him. Maybe she could go to Jacks. He had enchanted her kiss before; maybe he couldโ€”

Evangeline broke off. Sheโ€™d forgotten that Jacks had told her that there had never been any magic in her kiss. But what if he knew something? Maybe he could help her.

She almost tried to ask him with her thoughts. But she stopped herself again. She couldnโ€™t repeat the mistakes sheโ€™d made with Luc. She couldnโ€™t compromise to save Apollo. If Jacks helped her, he wouldnโ€™t do it for free. Perhaps they werenโ€™t enemies anymore, but she couldnโ€™t forget what he was. At one point, sheโ€™d thought Jacks had used her to kill Apollo.

But he hadnโ€™t. Jacks had nothing to gain by killing Apollo, and Tiberius had confessed.

Of course, during his confession, Tiberius had also said that the poison heโ€™d usedโ€”LaLaโ€™s tearsโ€”was only supposed to work on females. And although Jacks had nothing to gain by poisoning Apollo, he did have a great deal to gain by turning Evangeline into a fugitive and making another line of the Valory Arch prophecy come true.

She will be both peasant and princess, a fugitive wrongly accused, and only her willing blood will open the arch.

Evangeline tried again to push the thought away. She was being paranoid. Jacks hadnโ€™t done this to Apollo for the prophecy. Tiberius had confessed.

But what if Tiberiusโ€™s poison really had only affected her? After Evangeline had kissed him, Apollo hadnโ€™t sobbed the uncontrollable way she had from drinking the tainted wine. What if Tiberius had poisoned

Evangeline, but it was actually Jacks who had doneย thisย to Apollo to turn Evangeline into a fugitive wrongly accused?

Jacks had said there hadnโ€™t been magic in her kisses, but what if there had been magic in his blood? The first two times sheโ€™d tasted Jacksโ€™s blood, it had been sweet. But on the day of her wedding, right before sheโ€™d kissed Apollo, Jacksโ€™s blood had been bitter. It had scared away the ghost fox. What if it was Jacksโ€™s bitter blood that had done this to Apollo?

Again, she tried to bury the thought. The idea of it all turned her stomach, and yet Evangeline couldnโ€™t let it go. She wanted to hope that Jacks wouldnโ€™t have gone this far. But he was the Prince of Hearts. According to the stories, heโ€™d left a trail of corpses as heโ€™d searched for his one true love. He would definitely go this far if it gave him what he wanted. And he wanted to make that prophecy come true.

But this still didnโ€™t mean her suspicions were right.

Earlier, sheโ€™d been convinced Marisol was the killer. But looking back, Evangeline now wondered if Jacks might have been manipulating her about Marisol as well.

In LaLaโ€™s flat, Jacks had just happened to be reading the same spell book that Marisol owned, revealing that Marisol could be a witch. Jacks had then taken Evangeline to Chaosโ€™s underground kingdom, where Chaos made it sound as if a witch had poisoned Apollo. Then Luc had confirmed that Marisol was a witch.

Evangeline had almost been convinced of Marisolโ€™s guilt after that. But it wasnโ€™t until sheโ€™d seen the scandal sheet that Jacks had been clutchingโ€” the one with Marisolโ€™s wedding announcementโ€”that sheโ€™d been certain her stepsister was a killer.

Maybe it was a handful of coincidences, but Marisol made the perfect scapegoat. If Tiberius hadnโ€™t confessed, and instead it had been revealed that Marisol put a love spell on Tiberius, everyone would have been happy to believe that sheโ€™d also killed Apollo.

But suddenly Evangeline wasnโ€™t even sure that Marisol had been the one to put a spell on Tiberius. Jacks could have willed it to frame her.

Was anything as sheโ€™d originally thought, or was everything Jacks had done just to make the prophecy come true? But if Jacks had done all of this,

why had he left Apollo alive?

Havelock cleared his throat, and Phaedra gave Evangeline a curious look, both no doubt wondering why she was staring at Apolloโ€™s unblinking brown eyes. But Evangeline couldnโ€™t look away. She felt too close to figuring everything out.

Phaedra had said Apollo could stay this way for centuries, not aging, not moving, not quite alive but not really dead. Just like Evangeline had been when sheโ€™d been turned to stone.

Her stomach dropped.

And in that moment, she knew.

Jacks would know that Evangeline could never leave Apollo in this state. This was why Jacks had left him aliveโ€”Apollo was Jacksโ€™s bargaining chip. If Jacks had done this to Apollo, then he could undo it. And Evangeline knew exactly what Jacks would want in exchange for his help. Jacks wanted her willing blood to open the Valory Arch, and she would have bet anything this was how he planned to get it.

Heโ€™d poisoned Apollo to manipulate her.

Evangeline didnโ€™t know if she wanted to laugh or cry.

She knew what Jacks was. She hadnโ€™t been foolish enough to believe that she was different or special and that he wouldnโ€™t destroy her. But maybe sheโ€™d believed it a little. Sheโ€™d clearly believed it enough to spend a night with him inside a crypt. And just an hour ago, sheโ€™d been terrified at the thought that Jacks had been trapped in an enchanted sleep. Sheโ€™d been ready to race to his rescue because sheโ€™d also been silly enough to think that something had changed between them that night in the crypt. When heโ€™d told her the story of Donatella, sheโ€™d thought sheโ€™d understood him. Sheโ€™d thought he was opening up, that he was just a little human. But she should have listened when heโ€™d told her that he was a Fate and she was nothing but a tool to him.

Jacks no doubt knew that sheโ€™d want to save Apollo. But he was deeply mistaken if he thought sheโ€™d ever open the Valory Arch for him. Evangeline would find a way to cure Apollo on her own, then sheโ€™d make sure that Jacks never hurt anyone else ever again.

Jacks was not her friend, but heโ€™d taught her that she could open any door she wanted, and Evangeline knew exactly which door she needed to open next.

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