A Curse For True Love

Evangeline spun to the side and slapped him hard across the face.

The dying fire smoldered in the hearth. He considered setting the room ablaze just so that he’d have a reason to pick her up and carry her out, to save her one last time, before he left her for good.

He would carry her through more than just freezing waters. He would pull her through fire if he had to, haul her from the clutches of war, from falling cities and breaking worlds . . .

I like pain. I am a monster, but whether you remember it or not, I’m your monster, Evangeline.”

“At least she’ll be alive to hate me.”

“What is the point of having friends if they’re not there to support your bad decisions?”

“So, this is your best day?”

he did have business to take care of.
As soon as he left the tent, Apollo pulled the note from Aurora Valor out of his sleeve.
Meet me at the border of the Merrywood and the road that leads to the Cursed Forest.
Be there at sunset.
Come alone, and I suggest you tell no one.
Instead of her name, she’d drawn a wolf wearing a flower crown.
He burned the note as he passed the closest fire.

“I truly am sorry for your loss,” he whispered, “but soon you won’t feel any pain at all.”

Then Apollo took his knife and stabbed the boy in the heart.

“I will not let you die.”