The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart #2)(11)

It seemed she was not the only one who’d been invited to meet Lucien. But apparently, she was meant to be seen first. The soldiers directed her past all the others, to another pair of guards who immediately parted the arched solarium doors.

Evangeline painted on a smile, hid her bandaged hand behind her skirts, and stepped forward gamely. She did not expect to find the saint the papers had described, but she was ready to feign the required pleasure at meeting the young man who was taking Apollo’s place on the throne.

Lucien kept the solarium darker than the lively outer hall. The moon spied through the towering windows, a waning crescent that added atmosphere but no illumination. Candles burned in sconces, but they brought more smoke than light, varnishing the room in haze that might have intrigued others but made Evangeline slow her steps. All was dim, save for the area directly in front of the blazing fire, where the heir sat sprawled in a wingback chair, twirling a golden crown.

“Good evening,” she forced out cheerfully, taking another step closer to the amber firelight. But as soon as she reached it, her limbs refused to move.

This young man was not the heir—or even truly a young man anymore. He was too unnaturally handsome, his eyes were too luminous, his jaw could slice a diamond, and his golden-brown skin actually glowed.

He was a vampire.

And the first boy she had ever loved.





6


Luc gave her a crooked smile, still twirling the golden crown around his fingers as if it were a child’s toy. “Hello, Eva.”

Evangeline clenched her hands into fists.

Once, she might have run to him. Once, she might have wept for him. Now, she wanted to throw things at him. Sharp, hurtful things.

Luc had once been the boy she’d thought that she would marry, but the last time she’d seen him, he’d been locked in a cage as part of a ceremony to become a vampire. Jacks had warned her against saving him—but she had listened to her heart instead. She’d helped free Luc, and he’d thanked her by trying to rip out her throat with his teeth.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

Luc pouted. “Are you still angry about the other night?”

“You mean when you tried to eat me?”

“It wasn’t like that. Well, maybe it was a little like that.” He grinned, flashing his fangs as if they were the equivalent of a shiny new pocket watch, an accessory to match his doublet, which was black velvet with deep bloodred embroidery.

“This isn’t funny, Luc. What are you doing here?”

“Aw, come on. You’re clever, or you were. I’d have thought you’d have figured it out.” He twirled the crown again, round and round his fingers. It was just a simple circlet, but it was made of gold and it shone through the miasma, making it rather obvious what should have been apparent since the moment she’d walked in: Luc was Lucien.

“You started the ridiculous rumors about Lucien Acadian?” Evangeline had thought this Lucien was too good to be true, but she’d never actually imagined the young man who taught children to read and found homes for stray puppies could be Luc. Luc was a lot of things, but he wasn’t cunning enough to rule a kingdom, let alone steal one.

How had Luc pulled this off? She knew vampires possessed allure, an ability that allowed them to dazzle humans if a human looked them in the eye. But Luc would have needed more than that to turn himself into the heir. He wasn’t even from the Magnificent North.

If only she’d found a way to wake up Apollo, this would have never happened.

“I thought you’d be more impressed. I’m a prince now!” Luc jauntily tossed his crown into the air and caught it with the top of his head.

She cringed.

Luc scowled, the expression marring his handsome features.

“I don’t understand how or why you’re doing this, Luc, but it isn’t going to work. You can’t just make up a name and claim a throne.”

“Don’t worry so much, Eva. Only the name is a lie.” He started playing with his crown again, letting it slip from his head onto his fingers. “Chaos said altering my name would make it easier for people to accept the truth—turns out, I really am a long-lost distant relation of the dead prince.”

Evangeline winced at the words dead prince and resisted the urge to shake her head. She didn’t believe for a second that Luc was Apollo’s long-lost relation. But of course, Luc would believe it. He had always been a little entitled. It was a minor flaw she’d ignored in the past, but suddenly, it didn’t seem so harmless. As a human, Luc had thought he deserved every nice thing, and now that he was a vampire, he clearly thought himself worthy of much more.

The question was, why would Chaos give the throne to him? Evangeline had met Chaos on several occasions. The first two times they’d crossed paths, he’d pretended to be a royal guard, but it turned out he was the Vampire Lord of Spies and Assassins.

Perhaps he’d placed Luc on the throne because Chaos supposed that, as a new vampire, Luc would be easy to control. Although that was difficult for Evangeline to believe as well. Luc was too impulsive. Even if he did what Chaos desired in terms of laws and policies, Evangeline imagined Luc losing control of his vampire urges. If he’d attacked her—someone he’d supposedly cared about—she couldn’t picture him holding back with others.