Once Upon a Broken Heart

Chapter 5 is one sentence which states that Evangeline suddenly “felt something that was not heartbreak or regret” (33).

Six weeks after being turned to stone, Evangeline can feel herself again. She returns to life in one of the palace’s laboratories where another of the Fates explains Jacks ran into trouble and fled the city. The Fate warns her to resist the pull toward Jacks if she wants to be happy because “Jacks will only lead to your destruction” (38).

In the great room, a crowd of people waits to welcome Evangeline back to life and celebrate her sacrifice. Luc isn’t there, which hurts Evangeline, but her stepmother and Marisol both look happy to see her. A reporter from a local gossip sheet called the Whisper Gazette interviews Evangeline and updates her on events of the last weeks. Right after she turned to stone, the Fates escaped a deck of cards where they’d been imprisoned and tried to take over the empire. Evangeline’s sacrifice inspired people to fight back, allowing the Fates to be stopped. Evangeline is now considered a hero throughout the land, but she’s sure people would feel differently if they knew what really happened.

Marisol arrives and saves Evangeline from more of the reporter’s intrusive questions. Four weeks ago, Marisol and Luc tried to get married again, but on their wedding day, a wolf appeared from nowhere and mauled Luc. Luc refuses to leave his room, and Marisol thinks he blames her for what happened.

Evangeline tries to tell Marisol about the deal she made with Jacks, but she clams up with fear. The feeling is similar to how she felt when Luc and Marisol originally announced their wedding, and Evangeline realizes there was probably never a curse. Instead, she was just afraid that Luc was unfaithful. She decides not to tell Marisol about the deal. Evangeline spent the last six weeks alone and knows she’ll be alone again “if anyone learned what she’d done” (47).

The next morning, Evangeline finds a note from Luc. She doesn’t know if it’s new or from weeks ago, but she rushes to her father’s shop to meet with him, only to find the store closed and has been sold. The reporter from the day before wrote an article in the paper that says Evangeline is taking applications for a husband. Sickened by how her life has turned out, she trudges home, where she finds her stepmother taking applications from a line of suitors. Enraged, she marches to the front of the line and theatrically proclaims that she cannot take a husband because she’s still cursed and “anyone I kiss will turn to stone” (54).

The suitors flee, and Evangeline’s stepmother turns on her in a rage. From the pile of applications, she pulls a note from Luc that details how his family has left town. Evangeline runs to his house and finds it empty. She realizes that Luc never truly loved her, and that Jacks was right about there being no curse.