Once Upon a Broken Heart, #2
The Ballad of Never After
by Stephanie Garber
Contents
Chapter 3
Overview
Evangeline and Havelock’s covert search for a cure fails as pressure mounts with a new heir’s arrival. Visiting Fate LaLa, Evangeline reveals Apollo lives under Jacks’s suspended spell. LaLa, newly engaged, cannot help but shockingly advises opening the Valory Arch, hinting it holds gifts or prisoners before a story curse silences her.
Summary
Days after discovering the Valory Arch, Evangeline travels with Havelock across Valorfell seeking a cure for Apollo’s suspended state. Their efforts yield nothing, and secrecy remains vital as the public believes Tiberius killed Apollo. A scandal sheet announces that Lucien Jareth Acadian, a new heir, arrives tomorrow, intensifying Evangeline’s urgency.
They visit Ariel “LaLa” Lagrimas, a Fate and Evangeline’s friend, who has just returned and is packing to leave. LaLa reveals her engagement to Lord Robin Slaughterwood and plans a nearby, long engagement, underscoring the chapter’s contrast between celebration and looming crisis. Evangeline delays her request briefly to share LaLa’s joy.
Pressed by time, Evangeline confesses the truth: Apollo is alive but trapped by Jacks’s suspended spell to coerce her into opening the Valory Arch. She explains Jacks’s belief that she is the prophesied key and asks LaLa for a cure. LaLa admits she cannot help; suspended states are ancient magic once used by Honora Valor in wartime.
In a startling turn, LaLa urges Evangeline to open the Arch, saying, “The Valory does not hold what you think.” She suggests the Valory is either a vault of the Valors’ greatest gifts or a prison for magical beings, including a Valor-made abomination. When LaLa tries to elaborate, a story curse scrambles her words, preventing further detail.
The visit ends without a cure. With Lucien’s arrival imminent and Apollo’s throne at risk, Evangeline faces a sharpened dilemma: honor her vow to resist Jacks or open the Valory Arch based on LaLa’s alarming, half-cursed warning.
Who Appears
- EvangelineProtagonist; urgently seeks a cure for Apollo, confides in LaLa, resists opening the Valory Arch.
- Ariel “LaLa” LagrimasFate and friend; newly engaged, cannot cure Apollo, urges opening the Arch, silenced by a story curse.
- HavelockFormer guard to Apollo; escorts Evangeline during the covert search, underscores urgency.
- ApolloPrince in a suspended state from Jacks’s spell; his vulnerability drives Evangeline’s quest.
- JacksFate who suspended Apollo to coerce Evangeline into opening the Valory Arch.
- Lucien Jareth AcadianNew heir arriving tomorrow; his ascent raises stakes for curing Apollo.
- Lord Robin SlaughterwoodLaLa’s fiancé; engagement signals LaLa’s impending departure and complicates support.
- TiberiusApollo’s brother; publicly blamed for Apollo’s death, heightening the need for secrecy.