Page 30 of A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart)

“Nothing important.” Apollo dropped the smoldering page on the floor. Like all stories in the North, it was infected with the story curse. This particular story set fire to itself every time it was opened.

The page would burn until it was just a pile of ash. Then it would re-form—much like what Apollo was doing with his life and Evangeline’s.

“What news do you have about the attack on Princess Evangeline?” Apollo asked.

The guard bowed and took a beleaguered breath. “The princess’s tutor continues to maintain that she’s innocent. Madame Voss swears she never sent the princess a letter to lure her out to the well. She claims the guards are lying.”

Apollo ran a hand through his hair. “What are Victor and Hansel saying?”

“They stand by their story. They say there was a letter from the tutor and they lost Evangeline in the fog when she tried to meet her. They swear that they aren’t part of any plot.”

Apollo grimaced. “Do you think they’re telling the truth?”

“They seemed sincere, Your Highness. But it’s difficult to tell. The tutor seemed sincere as well.”

Apollo sighed and looked down at the floor where the page was almost done burning.

“Victor, Hansel, and the tutor are probably all working together,” Apollo said.

He wanted to take the words back as soon as he’d spoken them.

But it was too late now. It had been too late ever since he’d told Victor and Hansel to give Evangeline the falsified note from the tutor, to pretend to lose her in the gardens, and then to push her in the well. But Evangeline had given him no choice.She’d refused to believe that she was in danger. He had to show her that she was wrong.

He hadn’t meant for the lesson to be quite so traumatic. He’d expected the guards on garden patrol to find her sooner. That had been a mistake, but he hadn’t wanted to involve more people than necessary in his plan.

“Continue to torture the tutor—I feel as if there’s a chance she could crack. Especially if you tell her that you’ve killed Victor and Hansel.”

Havelock paled.

Apollo clapped him on the shoulder, and once again, he was tempted to change course. To tell Havelock just to leave Victor and Hansel in prison. He hated to lose these particular soldiers. They’d proven themselves quite admirably. But he couldn’t be sure how long their loyalty would last. And the last thing he needed was whispers getting out that he had been the one to orchestrate the latest attempt on Evangeline’s life. “I know Victor and Hansel were your friends, but they betrayed Evangeline. We need to do this as an example.”

Havelock nodded bleakly. “I’ll make sure it’s done tonight.”

Apollo felt a pang of something like guilt. He hated to do it, and he hated that things had come to this, that Evangeline’s lack of trust in him had forced him to take such drastic action. But he was doing the right thing.

He was protecting his wife from everyone, including herself.

14Evangeline

Archer was not an angel or a savior. He was unhinged, possibly unsafe, and yet, he felt like Evangeline’s greatest hope for getting her memories back.

Once more Evangeline looked at the dagger Archer had given her. What she remembered of it didn’t give her much to go on, so perhaps it was more like a bread crumb than a proper piece of a memory, but every lover of fairytales knew that bread-crumb trails were always worth following.

And Evangeline planned to follow this one wherever it led.

One memory could be shaken off as a coincidence.

But she’d seen Archer twice, and twice he’d brought back vivid memories, and along with them her hope.

After waking before dawn and spending the darkest hours struggling in the rain against Archer, Evangeline should have crawled back in bed, exhausted.

Instead, she was exhilarated. It felt as if she’d found a bit of her old self. And it was one of her favorite pieces. It was the part of herself that loved to hope. She’d forgotten how hope could make colors brighter and feelings warmer, how it could shift thoughts from whatwasn’tto whatwaspossible.

Her memories were not gone forever, they were merely lost, and Evangeline now had every hope that she would find them.

Since Archer had already prompted two memories, it made sense to hope that when she saw him again, he’d bring about more. And if he didn’t, she was at least going to get him to tell her how they knew each other.

But this time she wasn’t going to wait for him to find her.

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