Page 67 of A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart)

Outside, the rain was still falling in unrelenting sheets. She couldn’t see more than a few feet down the path, but she thought she could hear someone coming.

A familiar bird cawed, and Evangeline immediately froze.

A second later, a figure moved toward her through the rain. A figure who was definitely not Jacks.

Garrick of the Guild of Heroes was mostly obscured by his cloak and hood. But she recognized him from the awful bird perched on his shoulder.

She started to back away, toward the inn. But the path was slick. Her foot slipped.

“It’s all right, Princess. I’m not here to hurt you.” Garrick grabbed her arm, as if to steady her. “I’m here to rescue you.”

“I don’t need to be rescued.” Evangeline tried to shake free of him. But Garrick held her fiercely, like he didn’t care if he hurt her, fingers bruising in their grip. “Sir, let me go.”

“You’re soaking wet,” he grunted. “You need to get back inside.”

Evangeline took one step, but then she remembered she wasn’t just Evangeline Fox, she was Princess Evangeline Fox. “You need to let me go now,” she demanded. “I order you to release me.”

The hero cursed under his breath and added something thatsounded likeuseless royalty. “Sorry,Princess,but you’re coming with me and my men.”

He snapped his fingers twice and more figures strode forward through the steady fall of rain. There were at least half a dozen men, all concealed by cloaks like Garrick’s, yet Evangeline could easily tell that all of them were larger than her.

She could not fight her way out of this. But maybe she could reason with them to let her go.

“You don’t understand.” She dug her heels into the muddy ground. “It’s not safe inside that inn. Go and see for yourself. But please don’t take me with you. I can’t go back in there.”

“Don’t worry,” Garrick said, “there’s no safer place than with us.”

“Then why do I feel like your captive?” she protested.

Garrick sighed behind his hood. “Fine, you’re a captive. But that doesn’t mean I won’t keep you safe.”

Evangeline continued to argue, but Garrick easily ushered her inside, followed by his gang ofheroes.

The air smell fetid, metallic with blood and thick with death.

The barkeeper lay frozen on the ground in the same awful position Evangeline had found her.

Garrick’s fingers dug into Evangeline’s arm a little harder. It was the only indication that he might have been affected by the bodies.

He lowered his hood. It was the first time she’d seen him without a mask. He had a ruggedly handsome face entirely devoid of emotion.

But then he was barking out commands. “Leif, Raven, Thomas—you three go up and check the rooms. See how many others are dead.”

The men quickly marched up the stairs, making the wood shake as Garrick turned back to Evangeline. “Did you see who did this, Highness?”

“If you want me to answer your questions, unhand me.”

“We don’t need her. It must have been Lord Jacks,” said one of Garrick’s remaining men.

“No,” Evangeline said immediately, shooting the man a glare. “This wasn’t Jacks.”

“My wife is clearly stunned,” said a voice that immediately made Evangeline’s skin crawl.

Apollo was there. She could hear him, striding up beside her. Then she felt the brush of his hand on the small of her back.

Evangeline spun to the side and slapped him hard across the face. The sound of her hand hitting his cheek echoed through the inn, loud, cracking, and satisfying.

You loathsome, conceited, cowardly worm of a prince,she thought as she watched his skin turn an inflamed shade of red.

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