Page 89 of A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart)

But when Evangeline looked more closely, Aurora’s countenance seemed more of a veneer than an actual reflection of how she was feeling.

Her pretty eyes hardened and her musical voice struck a bitter chord as she looked up at Evangeline and asked, “What did you do? Why did Jacks fall foryou?”

“Well, she’s not a raging bitch like you,” said LaLa.

Aurora flinched. Another piece of her veneer cracked as her mouth pinched into an ugly frown.

“Where is Jacks?” Evangeline demanded. “And what have you done to his heart?”

Aurora laughed. “You think I’m the reason he did this?” She picked up the dead fox’s tail and swatted it carelessly back and forth while the poor fox lay there, its eyes vacant. “As much as I appreciate the symbolism, I had nothing to do with it.”

“I don’t believe you. I know you cursed him,” Evangeline said. “I found your old spell book. You’re the reason he killed the first girl he loved, the one who turned into a fox.”

“Yes, but I’m not the reason forthis.” Aurora dropped the dead fox’s tail. “Jacks did this on his own, for you.” Her voice turned sour with something like jealousy, as if she wished for Jacks’s torment the same way she’d wished for his love.

“You’re the one who took his heart,” said Evangeline.

“I didn’t take it! He gave it to me willingly. But I don’t have it anymore.”

“How do you not have it?” asked LaLa skeptically.

Aurora threw her head back against the tree in another dramatic pose. “Jacks came to see me earlier. He demanded the heart. When I wouldn’t give it to him, he knocked me out.” She pointed to the growing bruise on her temple. “Once I woke up, Jacks was gone. So was the heart.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Evangeline said. “If Jacks took his heart back earlier, then why would he do all this?” She motioned her hand toward the dead fox.

Aurora laughed. “You think Jacks took his heart because he wanted it back?” She laughed again, happier and harder.

“I think we should get out of here,” murmured LaLa.

“You should,” said Aurora, still laughing. “Once Jacks finishes destroying his heart, he’ll be back and he’ll kill more than just a wild fox.”

Aurora started playing with the fox’s tail again. She swished it back and forth, back and forth as the blood rushed hotter and faster between Evangeline’s ears.

LaLa might have said something, but Evangeline couldn’t quite hear it over the words repeating in her head:Once Jacks finishes destroying his heart.

She wanted to believe Aurora was just being awful. That she was trying to torment her. She wanted to say that Jacks wouldn’t destroy his heart, but she’d also never thought that Jacks would trade his heart, either. One of the things Evangeline loved about Jacks was his determination, his drive, his intractable pursuit of the things that he wanted most. But she didn’t want to believe that what he wanted now was to feel nothing. That he could disdain his heart so much. That he could give up on love, on everything, entirely.

Evangeline wanted to scream and curse. And a part of her also just wanted to drop down to her knees and cry.

Jacks was the Prince of Hearts—he’d been searching almost all his entire life for love. And now here she was—and he was giving up?

“Where has he gone?” she asked Aurora. “And how do I stop him?”

“You don’t.” Aurora sighed and wearily tilted her head to the side, as if she was the one who’d been the most inconvenienced by all of this. “I told you, you’re too late.”

“Then just tell me where he’s gone!”

Aurora rolled her eyes. “He didn’t exactly tell me his plans before he clocked me on the head.”

“I know where he’s gone,” murmured LaLa. “There’s only one way to destroy a person’s second heart.”

“How?” Evangeline asked.

LaLa swallowed thickly and looked at her guiltily. “I’m sorry, Evangeline.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“Because if it wasn’t for me, there would be nowhere for Jacks to go. The heart that a person uses to feel is a powerful thing and it can only be destroyed by fire. But not just any ordinary fire.”

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