Once Upon a Broken Heart, #1
Once Upon a Broken Heart
by Stephanie Garber
Contents
Chapter 38
Overview
Before Evangeline and Jacks leave for Chaos’s vampire lair, LaLa reveals more about what it means to be a Fate, including LaLa’s own painful compulsion toward doomed weddings and Jacks’s deadly drive to find the one person immune to his kiss. LaLa and Evangeline also solidify a genuine friendship, even as LaLa dresses Evangeline as a daring lure for Chaos.
The chapter shifts suspicion toward Marisol when Evangeline recognizes Jacks’s book as one from Marisol’s room. LaLa and Jacks reveal it is not a recipe book but a forbidden spell book, suggesting Marisol may be involved in dangerous magic and may not be the innocent stepsister Evangeline believes her to be.
Summary
As Evangeline prepares to accompany Jacks to Chaos’s lair, Jacks refuses to satisfy Evangeline’s curiosity about vampires. Jacks only warns that vampires shut themselves away at dawn, so Evangeline and Jacks must reach Chaos and leave before daylight. LaLa and Evangeline delay him long enough for Evangeline to eat and change out of her ruined wedding dress.
LaLa takes Evangeline into a hidden room filled with unworn wedding gowns. LaLa explains that LaLa sews bridal dresses to manage the powerful urges that come with being a Fate: LaLa longs to be loved and married, even though LaLa’s story always ends with abandonment and poison tears. LaLa then connects this to Jacks, explaining that Jacks is driven by the possibility of finding the one girl who can survive his fatal kiss.
Evangeline assumes LaLa is warning her away because LaLa has feelings for Jacks, but LaLa is horrified by the idea. LaLa says LaLa saved Evangeline because they are friends. Evangeline accepts the friendship despite LaLa being a Fate, and LaLa enthusiastically promises that they will make strong allies.
LaLa disguises Evangeline with gold powder, a black corset, a short midnight-blue skirt, thigh-high boots, a cape, and a knife, creating the image of a fugitive princess. The transformation makes Evangeline realize she is no longer the girl she was before making bargains with Jacks. LaLa deliberately leaves Evangeline’s throat exposed to torment Chaos, confirming that the outfit is also meant to make Evangeline tempting vampire bait.
Upstairs, Jacks has also cleaned up, and Jacks reacts sharply to Evangeline’s exposed skin before hiding the reaction and tossing Evangeline a pale pink apple. Evangeline then notices Jacks reading the same pink book she saw on Marisol’s nightstand, Recipes of the Ancient North. Jacks and LaLa reveal that the harmless-looking book is actually a forbidden spell book disguised as a recipe collection. Evangeline insists Marisol must have obtained it innocently, but Jacks and LaLa warn that Marisol may not be helpless or honest, making the need to question Chaos even more urgent.
Who Appears
- Evangeline FoxAccepts LaLa’s friendship, reflects on her transformation, and worries about Marisol’s possible danger.
- LaLaReveals her Fate urges, warns about Jacks, disguises Evangeline, and identifies a spell book.
- JacksPushes urgency about Chaos, reacts to Evangeline’s disguise, and doubts Marisol’s innocence.
- MarisolAbsent stepsister whose possession of a disguised forbidden spell book raises new suspicion.
- ChaosVampire spy lord they are preparing to question before dawn traps them in his lair.