Once Upon a Broken Heart, #2
The Ballad of Never After
by Stephanie Garber
Contents
Chapter 39
Overview
Evangeline wakes entwined with Jacks, elated yet troubled by LaLa’s warning about the mirth stone. After confirming Jacks isn’t carrying a stone, she questions whether her contentment is magic-made. Leaving the bed, she recognizes the pull of enchantment and discovers the mirth stone hidden as a jeweled pendulum in the tavern clock.
Summary
Evangeline wakes with her lips on Jacks’s throat, remembering his return, wound, recovery, and his plea to “pretend” she is his. Wrapped together in sunlight, she revels in their closeness and wishes to forget the quest and curses.
LaLa’s dream warning intrudes: Jacks and the mirth stone. Evangeline reassures herself he does not have it, then checks his pocket to be certain—finding it empty. Relief clashes with guilt as she realizes she has felt unnaturally content, even untroubled by Petra’s death, and questions whether magic or her feelings for Jacks are clouding her judgment.
Fearing her instincts, Evangeline forces herself to leave Jacks and the bed despite a powerful pull to return. In the hall, the tavern clock strikes Toast and Tea while the tiny dragon paws at its jeweled pendulums.
Reaching to stop the dragon, Evangeline is compelled toward a pendulum’s jewel and recognizes the intoxicating lure of magic. She senses the sweet, sirenlike power within it and realizes the truth: the mirth stone is hidden in the clock’s jeweled pendulum.
Who Appears
- Evangeline FoxProtagonist; questions her feelings, tests Jacks for the stone, resists enchantment, and identifies the mirth stone in the tavern clock.
- JacksFate who held Evangeline through the night; does not carry the mirth stone; his intimacy intensifies her emotional conflict.
- Tiny dragonPlayfully paws at the tavern clock’s jeweled pendulums, prompting Evangeline to notice and identify the mirth stone.