Page 55 of A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart)

“I didn’t murder anyone last night.”

“You killed someone in front of me!”

“That wasn’t murder. He was trying to kill you.”

Evangeline screwed her mouth to the side. She knew he was right. But she didn’t move the dagger. She kept it pointed at his heart. He could see in her eyes that she believed it was the right thing, to end him. And she wasn’t entirely wrong.

“I deserve this,” he said. “I probably deserve a lot worse. But this isnotthe day to kill me. I’m trying very hard to keep you alive.”

Jacks grabbed her arms again and flipped her over, trappingher beneath his body. He tried to be gentle, he tried not to hurt her. But he needed her to understand before he let her go. “Yes, I am a murderer. I enjoy hurting people. I like blood. I like pain. I am a monster, but whether you remember it or not, I’myourmonster, Evangeline.”

Her breath caught.

For a second, Jacks could have sworn it wasn’t anger or fear he saw in her eyes. Her neck turned pink and her cheeks flushed… differently from before. He couldn’t tell if she was finally remembering.

But he was selfish enough to hope that she was.

He debated keeping her trapped under him until she did. He knew it was a bad idea, but he wanted her to remember him. He wanted her to look at him, just once, and know him the way she had before.

It was cruel of him to want her to want him again. If she remembered, it would only hurt her more.

He was still haunted by the last time he’d seen her with her memories. It had been right outside the Valory. Hours before, he’d felt her die in his arms.

Evangeline had no idea what had happened, no clue that Jacks had already used the stones to turn back time for her.

She was trying to talk him out of using them to go back to Donatella. She’d asked him to come with her instead.

After everything, she’d still wanted him.

Jacks had so badly wanted to tell her that he couldn’t even remember what Donatella looked like, that Evangeline’s facewas the only one he saw whenever he closed his eyes, that he would go with her anywhere… if he could.

But he couldn’t see her die again. His first fox had believed in him, and she had died, just like Evangeline would. There was only one way their story ended, and it wasn’t happy. Her hope might have been powerful, but it wasn’t magic. It wasn’t enough.

It was better to hurt her, better to break her heart, to do whatever he needed to do, to keep her alive and to keep her away from him.

That hadn’t changed.

But today, Jacks was failing at letting her go. He wanted to keep her pressed to the floor beneath him. He would have set the world on fire and then let it all burn just to keep holding her like this.

He glanced to the side. Castor was motionless. His chest was still, his eyes were frozen open. He really did look dead. But it wouldn’t be much longer until he returned to life.

Jacks had to get Evangeline out of here.

She was still flushed beneath him, her face red, her breathing heavy. He could see that she hadn’t decided whether to trust him, but he couldn’t waste any more time.

He jumped up from the ground. Then he grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet before he reached for the rope in his belt.

“What are you doing?” she started, but Jacks didn’t give her the chance to break away. He pulled her back to him and quickly tied her wrist to his.

27Evangeline

Evangeline didn’t even see where Jacks had taken the rope from. Suddenly it was just there in his expert hands, as if he always carried it around, in the event he needed to take a girl and tie her up. “How could I have ever been in love with you?”

It was an unkind question, but Evangeline was feeling overwrought. One second, she was on the floor with Jacks on top of her and now they were tied together, skin touching skin, which felt different than when there’d been a layer of clothing between them.

She imagined he could feel her pulse, racing against his.

Evangeline tugged on the ropes binding them, but instead of the ropes coming loose, little flowers started to grow on them,tiny white and pink buds on jewel-green vines that twirled around their arms, binding them even closer together.

---