Once Upon a Broken Heart

Evangeline Fox, a romantic young woman shaped by her parents’ belief in magic, discovers the hidden church of the Prince of Hearts after Luc Navarro, the boy she loves, abruptly becomes engaged to her stepsister Marisol Tourmaline. Convinced Luc has been cursed and desperate to stop the wedding, Evangeline prays to the Fate known as Jacks. Jacks agrees to prevent the marriage in exchange for three future kisses from Evangeline to people of his choosing, marking her wrist with three broken-heart scars.

Jacks fulfills the bargain cruelly by turning the wedding party, including Luc, Marisol, and Agnes Tourmaline, to stone. Horrified, Evangeline learns the spell can be reversed only if someone else takes the victims’ place. She drinks poison from the cursed goblet and becomes stone herself, choosing sacrifice over letting others suffer for her mistake. Six weeks later, Poison, another Fate and palace potion master, revives her. By then, the Fates have returned openly during the Week of Terror, and Evangeline is celebrated as a heroine, though she privately feels guilty. She also learns Luc and Marisol tried to marry again, but Luc was attacked by a wolf and disappeared.

Evangeline’s old life collapses further when she finds her father Maximilian’s curiosity shop sold and learns Agnes has tried to use Evangeline’s fame to attract suitors. Still clinging to hope inspired by her late mother Liana and Northern stories, Evangeline receives an invitation from Empress Scarlett Dragna and Princess Donatella to represent the Meridian Empire at Nocte Neverending in the Magnificent North, where Crown Prince Apollo Acadian must choose a bride. Evangeline accepts and brings Marisol, hoping the journey will free them both from Valenda’s gossip.

In the North, Evangeline is enchanted by the magical city of Valorfell but unsettled by reminders of Jacks. At Apollo’s private gathering, she meets LaLa, an excluded young woman, and discovers Jacks is present under the identity Lord Jacks, a confidant of Apollo. Jacks uses public scandal to make Evangeline more interesting to the prince, then paints her lips with his blood and orders her to kiss Apollo before the party ends or die. Evangeline does so, and Apollo becomes intensely affected. The next night at Nocte Neverending, Apollo first appears to reject Evangeline by dancing with Princess Serendipity, then publicly proposes to Evangeline. She accepts, though she suspects Jacks’s magic caused Apollo’s sudden devotion.

As the wedding approaches, Apollo’s love grows obsessive. Evangeline confronts Jacks, who admits he manipulated Apollo’s feelings and traps her: if she abandons Apollo, Apollo will be consumed by enchanted heartbreak, but Jacks promises to restore him after the marriage. Jacks then uses Evangeline’s second owed kiss to enchant Tabitha Fortuna, the matriarch of House Fortuna, so they can enter a hidden vault. There Evangeline learns about the ancient Valors, their magical arches, and a prophecy concerning a rose-gold-haired girl who is both peasant and princess and can open the Valory Arch. Evangeline realizes Jacks has engineered her marriage to Apollo so she will fit the prophecy.

Evangeline investigates the Valors in Wolf Hall’s library and learns the stories are locked behind a sealed door. Apollo tells her two legends about the Valory Arch: it may contain either a terrible imprisoned abomination or the Valors’ greatest treasures. Despite the danger, Evangeline marries Apollo because it seems the only way to free him. Jacks gives her blood magic to break Apollo’s false love with a kiss before sunrise. In their wedding suite, Evangeline kisses Apollo; his enchantment breaks, but he collapses without a pulse. Guards accuse Evangeline of murder.

Jacks rescues Evangeline and reveals her kisses were never magical; he controlled Apollo and Tabitha directly, using the kisses as cover. He also identifies Evangeline’s overwhelming grief as poisoning by the tears of another Fate. Jacks takes her to LaLa, who is revealed as the Unwed Bride, the Fate whose tears were used, though LaLa denies involvement. Evangeline and Jacks agree to work together to find Apollo’s killer and visit Chaos, the vampiric Lord of Spies and Assassins.

In Chaos’s underground court, Evangeline learns someone female and likely witch-linked acquired malefic oil, a poison that can be tailored to a victim. She also discovers Luc among caged changelings. Luc reveals Marisol cursed him into loving her, confirming Evangeline’s original suspicions, but when Evangeline frees him, he becomes a vampire and attacks. Jacks protects Evangeline, is bitten, and becomes infected with vampire venom. Evangeline locks him in a mausoleum until dawn, where they discuss Jacks’s heartbreak over Donatella and Evangeline’s lingering illusions about Luc. Jacks survives the venom but collapses into deep sleep, revealing before losing consciousness that he arranged for Poison and the empress to send Evangeline north.

While hiding in Jacks’s private library, Evangeline reads that Tiberius Peregrine Acadian, Apollo’s brother and new heir, is engaged to Marisol. Suspecting Marisol used another love spell and may have killed Apollo to gain a crown, Evangeline finds a disguised spell book and makes a truth serum. She sneaks into Wolf Hall, plants the serum for Tiberius, and confronts Marisol. Marisol admits she enchanted Luc out of jealousy and insecurity but denies killing Apollo or enchanting Tiberius. Evangeline forgives her and confesses she asked Jacks to stop Marisol’s wedding, but Marisol reacts with fury and calls the guards.

Tiberius takes Evangeline into custody. Under the truth serum, he reveals he belongs to the Protectorate, a secret society guarding the Valory Arch, and believes Evangeline must die because she is the prophesied key. Forced to speak truthfully before soldiers, Tiberius confesses he killed Apollo by accident: he meant to poison Evangeline with Fate’s tears, believing they would not affect men. Evangeline is cleared, Tiberius is imprisoned, and Marisol is confined after Tiberius rejects her.

Just as Evangeline is restored as princess, Havelock and Phaedra of the Damned reveal Apollo is not truly dead. His body was taken from the morgue and hidden beneath Wolf Hall; he is trapped in a suspended state, with only a faint heartbeat. Evangeline cannot wake him with a kiss. Reconsidering the evidence, she begins to suspect Jacks may have placed Apollo in that condition to keep leverage over her and force her willing blood to open the Valory Arch. The story ends with Evangeline resolving to cure Apollo without Jacks and to stop Jacks from using her for the prophecy.