Page 47 of A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart)

Martine handed her a pair of matching slippers, which Evangeline quickly pressed her feet into. Then she started toward the door before she lost her courage. She didn’t want to think she would, but she needed to act quickly.

Jacks needed to be stopped before he murdered more innocents, and Evangeline hoped her confession might help. If Jacks was sneaking in and out of the castle, obviously there were people here who were loyal to him, like her guards from last night. Unless they were also naive like her.

With a deep breath, Evangeline finally opened the door from her rooms into the long hallway.

Her guards from late last night were not there. Instead, Joff and Hale, the same soldiers who’d found her at the well, waited on the other side, wearing shining bronze armor and friendly smiles. Like all the other guards, they had mustaches—another thing Archer had not possessed.

“Good morning, Your Highness,” they said in perfect unison.

“Good morning, Joff. Good morning, Hale. Could you please take me to see Apollo? I need to speak with the prince right away.”

“I’m afraid he’s already left for the Hunt,” said Joff.

“Then take me to the Hunt,” Evangeline said.

The day was already halfway gone and she could feel more minutes rapidly slipping away as she stood in the hall. She might have told these guards she had news on Lord Jacks—surely they would listen to that. But she wasn’t certain who in this castle she could trust. She imagined a number of the guards had to be loyal to him or he would not have been able to sneak in and out of Wolf Hall without notice.

Hale frowned. “Your Highness—”

“Don’t say you’re not allowed to take me off the castle grounds.”

“Oh no. We wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to go to the Hunt.”

Hale said the wordHuntwith a combination of both reverence and excitement, and although Evangeline felt as if she really didn’t have time to waste, she couldn’t help but ask, “Whatisthis Hunt?”

Hale’s and Joff’s square faces both brightened.

“It’s only the most thrilling event of the year!” said Joff.

“Everyone looks forward to it,” echoed Hale.

Evangeline didn’t have any brothers, but if she had, she imagined they might have been a little like Joff and Hale. Both young men were so animated, they finished each other’s sentences and echoed each other’s words as the two went back and forth to explain the wonder of the Hunt.

“It’s a tradition almost as old as the North itself,” said Hale.

“It was started forever ago by the Valors,” added Joff. “The story goes that one of their daughters—the pretty one—”

“They were all pretty,” Hale interrupted.

“Well, the prettiest one,” Joff continued, “had a pet unicorn, you see, and once a year, after the first rain of spring, they’d send this unicorn out into the Cursed Forest and everyone would hunt it.”

“And this was supposed to be fun?” asked Evangeline.

“Don’t worry, they weren’t trying tokillit,” Hale promised. “It’s terrible luck to kill a unicorn. And they’re far more useful alive.”

Joff nodded and added, “Whoever caught the unicorn was granted a half wish.”

“What’s a half wish?”

Both men shrugged.

“No one quite knows,” admitted Joff.

“There aren’t any more unicorns,” finished Hale. “But now, every year, someone volunteers to dress up like a unicorn for the Hunt. One year Joff almost did it!”

Joff nodded proudly. “I would have, but then that onionhead Quixton beat me to it.”

“May I ask,” said Evangeline in what she hoped was a polite tone, as these men clearly held a high regard for the Hunt, “why would anyone want to volunteer for this?”

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