Once Upon a Broken Heart, #2
The Ballad of Never After
by Stephanie Garber
Contents
Chapter 5
Overview
Jacks identifies a mirror curse binding Evangeline and Apollo: any injury mirrors, and Apollo’s death would kill Evangeline. He denies causing it and departs, prompting Evangeline to chase him.
Trumpets announce Lucien’s early arrival and rushed ceremony excluding her. Summoned to greet him, Evangeline instead encounters a vampire—her first love—signaling a dangerous deception.
Summary
Jacks coolly explains the new magic: a mirror curse links Evangeline and Apollo so that each shares the other’s wounds, and if Apollo dies, Evangeline dies. He looks briefly wrathful, denies wanting her harmed, and vows to kill anyone who threatens her before stalking out.
As the guards recover from Jacks’s control, Evangeline lies that a failed attempt to wake Apollo caused her injury and orders them to protect the prince. She races after Jacks, but celebratory trumpets interrupt—Lucien has arrived early and, according to gossiping maids, rushed the ceremony to spare her feelings, effectively excluding her.
Two unfamiliar Acadian soldiers summon Evangeline to the receiving solarium. She is led past a festive, crowded antechamber into a dim, smoky room where a supposed heir lounges by the fire, twirling a crown. Stepping into the light, she freezes as she recognizes not Lucien, but a vampire—the first boy she ever loved.
Who Appears
- EvangelineProtagonist; learns she shares a mirror curse with Apollo, pursues Jacks, then confronts a vampire from her past.
- JacksPrince of Hearts; identifies the mirror curse, denies causing it, vows to protect Evangeline, and abruptly leaves.
- ApolloCursed husband; now mirror-linked to Evangeline’s injuries and fate, remains vulnerable and guarded.
- Unnamed vampire from Evangeline’s pastRevealed in the solarium instead of Lucien; the first boy she loved, signaling a dangerous ruse.
- HavelockGuard ally; present as Evangeline redirects protection to Apollo, concerned but overruled.
- Prince LucienNew heir; arrives early and rushes ceremony excluding Evangeline, though he does not appear in person.
- Acadian soldiersUnfamiliar guards who summon Evangeline to the receiving solarium at Lucien’s request.
- Gossiping maidsInform Evangeline that Lucien arrived early and expedited the ceremony without her.