Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart)

It looked like the sort of night that one would plan on meeting a vampire. Everything was damp mist and white snow and wan light from a moon lost somewhere in the silver fog. Luckier people were probably telling stories before warm fires or tucked away in blanketed beds, not freezing as they crossed a rickety bridge and reached an isolated cemetery where dogs howled like wolves and a vampire lord hid his underground court.

Evangeline shivered, and Jacks watched her, but he offered absolutely no comfort as a gust of wind tore through the fog and posters with her likeness flapped against gnarled gates and trees.

MISSING: Princess Evangeline Help us find her!

Evangeline wanted to ask how the signs had been made and put up so quickly, but now that she and Jacks were on the outskirts of the city, where it felt safer to finally speak, she wanted to use her questions wisely.

“Tell me about the vampires.”

Jacks’s mouth twisted distastefully. “Don’t let them bite you.”

“I already know that. What else can you share? Maybe something helpful.”

“There’s nothing helpful about vampires,” Jacks grunted. “I know the stories make them sound brooding and beautiful, but they’re parasitic bloodsuckers.”

Evangeline side-eyed Jacks, wishing the night weren’t as dark or that he weren’t walking so far from her so that she could have a clearer view of his face. Earlier, she’d sensed he wasn’t overly fond of vampires, but he’d not been this annoyed, and he’d defended Chaos to LaLa.

“Are you jealous?” Evangeline asked.

“Why would I be jealous?”

“Because I’m so curious.”

Jacks answered with an acerbic laugh.

Evangeline felt her cheeks go hot, but she wasn’t sure she believed his dismissal. Jacks was used to being the most interesting wherever he went. He was the most powerful, the most unpredictable, and until now, he’d always made Evangeline the most curious. “If you’re not jealous, then what do you have against them? This was your idea, and it’s not as if you don’t have a thing for blood.”

“I also like the sun and being in control of my own life. But vampires will always be ruled by their hunger for blood. Their every desire is dominated by bloodlust. So try not to cut yourself while we’re inside. And don’t look in their eyes.”

“What will happen if I look in their eyes?”

“Just don’t do it.”

“Why not? Does the mighty Prince of Hearts know so little about vampires that all he can do is warn me not to—”

Jacks moved before she could finish. He suddenly stood so close that for a pounding heartbeat she could only see his cruel face. His brilliant eyes shone in the dark, and his predatory smile could have belonged to a vampire had his teeth been just a little sharper. “There’s a reason no one ever talks about them.” His voice became low and lethal. “I can tell you that they’re soulless monsters. I can warn you that if you look into a vampire’s eyes, they’ll take it as an invitation to rip into your throat faster than you can scream the word no. But none of this will scare you away. Their stories are cursed, but instead of warping the truth, they manipulate the way people feel. No matter what I tell you about vampires, you’re going to be intrigued instead of horrified. Your kind always wants to be bitten or changed.”

“Not me,” Evangeline argued.

“But you’re curious,” Jacks challenged.

“I’m curious about a lot of things. I’m curious about you, but I don’t want you to bite me!”

The corner of Jacks’s mouth twitched. “I’ve already done that, Little Fox.”

His cold fingers found her wrist and slipped underneath the edge of her glove to stroke the last remaining broken heart scar. “Lucky for you, no matter how many times I bite you, you’ll never turn into what I am. But sometimes all it takes from a vampire is one look, and you’re theirs.”

Jacks eyed the bare stretch of skin that went from her chest to her neck. And before she could read the look on his face, he dropped her wrist and stalked off into a dark kingdom of crypts and tombstones.

They walked in near silence until Jacks found a broad mausoleum covered in vines of demon’s bittercress and guarded by two sad stone angels. One angel mourned over a pair of broken wings while the other played a harp with broken strings.

Jacks idly plucked at one of the damaged strings. After strumming several soundless notes, the door to the mausoleum slid open.

There normally might have been a gate to separate visitors from the coffins, but instead there was another door. Old and wooden with a touch of iron scrollwork, it resembled a number of the doors she’d seen at Wolf Hall—except for the glowing keyhole. Honey-thick light poured through the little curving shape, gleaming brighter the closer they drew to the door, flickering and promising, and far more inviting than the door to Jacks’s church had been. That door didn’t want to be opened, but this one did.

Come in from out of the cold, it whispered. I’ll keep you warm.

Jacks speared her with a quicksilver glare. “Don’t be dazzled. You’re useless to me as a vampire.”

“Well, let’s hope I don’t decide I’d rather be a vampire than be useful to you.”

Jacks’s eyes turned into daggers.

Evangeline fought the urge to flash him a gloating smile, but a corner of it snuck out. She knew she couldn’t become too comfortable with taunting Jacks, but just because she liked a door didn’t mean she was going to step through and bare her throat for a vampire. She was also feeling emboldened by the knowledge that she was not as replaceable as he’d tried to make her believe. He needed her for his precious Valory Arch, which wasn’t entirely reassuring, but she’d worry about that later, after she found Apollo’s real killer and cleared her name of suspicion. “Instead of telling me what I shouldn’t do, you should make more of an effort to do things that make me want to continue working with you.”

“Such as saving your life?”

“You did that for yourself.”

“But I still did it. If it weren’t for me, your story would be over.” Jacks ended the conversation by hitting his knuckles against the door and saying, “We’re here to see Chaos.”

“The master is not accepting visitors tonight,” said a voice like a heavy rain, musical and enthralling.

Jacks rolled his eyes. “Tell your master that the Prince of Hearts is here, and he owes me an unforgiven debt.”

The door opened immediately.

Jacks clenched his jaw, almost as if he wished his words hadn’t worked.

It would have been easy for Evangeline to anger Jacks further by making a show of being bewitched. The vampire who opened the door was exactly what she’d expected. He looked like the son of a warrior demigod—or someone who just had really excellent bone structure. Dressed like an elegant assassin in a fitted black leather tunic and a high-collared coat that had thick cuffs that folded up to his muscled forearms and revealed skin so flawless it glowed.

She remembered not to look in the vampire’s eyes. But she could feel the heat pouring off him. His gaze hungrily raked over her form-fitting corset with a smile that was all sharp fangs.

Her heart raced.

His fangs grew longer.

Relax. Jacks’s voice in Evangeline’s head. Fear only excites them, Little Fox.

Her blood continued to rush. You still can’t control me, she thought back. And you told me you wouldn’t try.

I was only trying to warn you, Jacks silently replied.

And then, as if he weren’t a monster as well, Jacks slid an arm underneath her cape and wrapped it around Evangeline’s waist, holding her possessively tight as he drawled, “Stop flashing your fangs. I’m the only one who gets to bite her.”

Jacks nipped at Evangeline’s ear, cold and sharp. She felt the sting of it everywhere, covering her with gooseflesh, which somehow turned to blush when it reached her cheeks.

No matter how many times I bite you, you’ll never turn into what I am, he’d said. And now he was doing it, just to prove that he could.

Evangeline started to pull away.

Don’t. Jacks spread his fingers and tightened his grip on her waist. Humans don’t have power here. If he thinks I can’t control you, he’ll do it, and I guarantee you’ll enjoy that even less.

You still didn’t have to bite me, Evangeline thought. And she would have shaken him off, but she wasn’t there to fight with Jacks. She was there because Apollo was dead and she needed to find out who’d killed him.

So instead of battling Jacks, she gritted her teeth as he released her waist and took hold of her hand.

Without another word, their vampire guide led them forward.

At first the wide hallways and the dramatic stone staircases were not so different from the oldest parts of Wolf Hall. The walls were covered with works of art, ancient shields, and steel blades that took on a bronze tint beneath the heavy rings of candle-covered chandeliers.

The stairs took them deeper and deeper underground, where the air once again turned to frost, and Evangeline found herself fighting the urge to lean into Jacks. So far, there were no coffins or corpses, but she heard several rattling noises that sounded like chains. A few steps later, she might have caught the coppery scent of blood. And were those shackles hanging between a pair of portraits?

After another flight of stairs, their guide directed them into an indoor courtyard full of limestone columns and night-blooming flowers, where it was impossible to miss all the shackles. They gleamed against the walls and columns, polished and ready to use. Manacles for wrists and ankles and necks were proudly displayed above game tables set with black-and-white chessboards.

The seats were all empty, but Evangeline had horrible flashes of vampires lounging in leather chairs and playing with pawns and rooks while their bleeding human captives writhed against their restraints.

Her discomfort increased as she and Jacks were led from the indoor courtyard into a banquet room. It was also similar to the ones in Wolf Hall, with rich wine-red rugs and an enormous table. But here, there were human-size cages dangling in between the chandeliers, and instead of silver plates and cloth napkins, the tables were set with more chains and shackles that attached to the wood.

Evangeline felt sick.

Thankfully, all the constraints were unoccupied. But the emptiness of everything unsettled her as well. Where was everyone? And where exactly was their guide taking them?

“Still curious about vampires?” Jacks murmured.

“Why is this place so vacant?” Evangeline said under her breath. “Where—”

She froze as their guide disappeared. He moved quicker than an arrow being shot from a bow. One moment he was a few feet in front of them, and then he was gone. He darted through a door at the end of the room with preternatural speed, leaving them alone. “Where did he just go?”

“This is why I hate vampires.” Jacks worked his jaw as his eyes darted from the door their guide had just gone through to the cages hanging above. “I think we might need to get out of here.”

“I’m disappointed, my friend,” said a voice like smoke and velvet, gritty and slightly hypnotic. “You’re the one who taught me how useful cages can be.”

Evangeline didn’t even see this vampire enter. He was just there, slowly walking toward them. He wore no coat or cloak, just sinuous leather armor and a vicious bronze helm that concealed his face, save his eyes and the slash of his cheekbones.

“It’s you,” Evangeline breathed. “You’re the soldier from the party, and the spires.”

“Not actually a soldier, princess.” His voice was softer when he spoke to her, pure velvet without the smoke. “I’m Chaos. Welcome to my home.”