Page 88 of A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart)

“We need to get some water!” Evangeline called to LaLa, turning toward the well in the center of the square.

“No!” LaLa grabbed her arm. “We need to go.” She dragged Evangeline away from the vendor and the square, just as the royal guards appeared to catch sight of the burning cart and festivalgoers began rushing over with buckets of water.

The young man was now crying. The little dragons were crying.

The fire was already out. But the cart was destroyed, reduced to just smoldering pieces of ashen wood.

“I can’t believe Jacks would do this,” Evangeline murmured as LaLa urged her farther away from the crowd. “That just seems unnecessarily cruel.”

“Jacksisunnecessarily cruel,” said LaLa. “He used to do things like this all the time. You don’t know this Jacks because he’s always been different with you.” Her voice softened and although she didn’t say it aloud, Evangeline sensed that LaLa was thinking that version of Jacks was gone now.

“Do you think that Aurora has already changed his heart or given him another one?”

LaLa bit her lip but didn’t answer, which seemed like a yes to Evangeline.

The sun beat down hard on Evangeline’s face as she and LaLa reached the edge of the village.

It was the time of day where there were no shadows. Everything was bright and light. A girl like Aurora should have been easy to spot in a crowd like this, where most people wore homespun clothes and had plain-colored hair.

“I don’t see her,” Evangeline said. A part of her worried that she was too late. That Aurora had already changed Jacks’s heart or given him another one. But Evangeline couldn’t give up on him and she knew that if he was stillher Jacks,he wouldn’t give up on her if Evangeline lost her heart.

“I think I may have found her.” LaLa pointed away fromthe village to a trail of pale pink flower petals that led into Merrywood Forest. Then she rolled her eyes. “When Aurora was younger, she wanted people to think that she left a trail of flowers wherever she went, so she would often carry baskets of petals and toss them when she walked. I bet if we follow that trail, we find Jacks’s heart.”

The trail of pink flower petals dotted stones and grass and even a few sleeping dragons, taking LaLa and Evangeline on a circuitous path that led into the shadows of Merrywood Forest. Following the petals reminded Evangeline of a story that she couldn’t quite remember, but she was fairly certain it didn’t end well.

Evangeline wanted to hope her tale would be different. She believed that every story had the possibility for infinite endings, and she tried hard to hold that belief in every breath she took and every step she made.

Until at last the trail of petals came to an end.

It stopped at the base of a tree. There was a fox there. It was reddish brown and white, with a gorgeous bushy tail. But the tail wasn’t moving and neither was the fox; it was lying at the base of the tree, a golden arrow shot straight through its heart.

“Oh no!” Evangeline dropped to her knees and checked for the fox’s heartbeat. But all she found was a note attached to the arrow.

A little fox, for my Little Fox.

I won’t warn you again.

Jacks

“I hate him a little right now,” Evangeline said.

“At least it’s not a person,” said LaLa.

“But it will be soon. That’s what this note is really saying.”

First he’d destroyed the cart. Then he’d killed this fox. Next it would be a human.

“Does this mean you want to give up?” asked LaLa.

“No. I’m going to save him.”

“There is no saving him now,” droned a voice from the tree. A second later, the wood creaked, a hidden door cracked open, and Aurora Valor stumbled through.

Her violet hair was disheveled, her face was pale, and there was a great bruise forming at her temple. “If you’re here for Jacks’s heart, you’re not going to find it. You’re already too late.”

40Evangeline

Aurora Valor’s iridescent skirts fanned out around her in a perfect circle as she slumped to the ground in an elegant mess. Strands of violet hair fell across a forehead without so much as a thin worry line. Her expression seemed almost serene. Aurora reminded Evangeline of a damsel in distress, patiently waiting for her prince to come.

---