Once Upon A Broken Heart Quotes

“His teeth grazed her pulse.

'Jacks-' It was suddenly impossible to form words. His mouth was against her throat and his teeth were on her skin. HIs teeth! Evangeline finally pressed against his chest. But it was as useless as trying to battle a block of marble. Hot, sculpted marble. She wanted to tell him not to bite her, but saying the word bite didn't seem like the wisest idea just then. 'You won't want this later.'

'Not really thinking about later.' He licked her, one languorous stroke up the column of her neck.

She gasped. 'You don't even like me.'

'I like you right now. I like you a lot.' He gently sucked her skin. 'In fact, I can't think of anything I like more.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“Jacks, I think there's something wrong with you.'

'That's not anything new.' He gave her a slow, impish smile.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“I'm sorry Donatella wounded you so badly,' Evangeline said. And she meant it. She imagined Jacks was probably leaving a few things out, but she believed his hurt was genuine. 'Maybe the stories have it wrong and there's another true love waiting for you.'

Jacks laughed derisively. 'Are you saying this because you think you can be her?' He eyed Evangeline through the bars, gaze bordering on indecent. 'Do you want to kiss me, Little Fox?'

Something new and terrible knotted up inside her. 'No, that's not what I'm saying.'

'You don't sound too sure about that. You might not like me, but I bet you'd like it if I kissed you.' His eyes went to her lips, and the heat that swept across her mouth felt like the beginning of a kiss.

'Jacks, stop it,' she demanded. He didn't really want to kiss her. He was just teasing her to deflect the pain. 'I know what you're doing.'

'I doubt it.' He smiled, flashing his dimples as he ran his tongue over the tip of a very sharp and long incisor, looking suddenly thoughtful. 'Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to stay like this. I rather like these.'

'You also like daylight.' Evangeline reminded him.

'I could probably live without the sun if I could trade it for other things.' He cocked his head. 'I wonder... if I were to become a true vampire, perhaps my kiss wouldn't be fatal anymore.' His fangs lengthened. 'You could let me bite you and we could try it out.'

Another piercing lick of heat, this time right beneath her jaw, then her wrist, and a few other intimate places she'd have never thought anyone would bite.

Evangeline blushed from her neck down to her collarbone. 'We're not talking about biting,' she said hotly.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“Wait- are you saying that your kiss isn't deadly if you don't want it to be?'

'Careful, Little Fox, you sound curious. But you shouldn't be.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“The first time I met her, she threatened to throw me from a sky carriage.'

'And you liked her for that?' Evangeline asked.

'I'd just threatened to kill her.' He said it as if they'd been flirting.

'This is a terrible love story, Jacks.'

'Who said it was a love story?' His tone turned back to acid.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“You sound jealous.'

'If you think I'm jealous because someone else got to stab you, then you're right.'

'Prove it.'

She heard the slump of his dagger as it fell at her feet. It was the jeweled one he carried everywhere. So many of the gems were missing, but the knife's hilt still glittered in the torchlight, pulsing blue and purple, the colour of blood before it was spilled.

'What am I supposed to do with this?'

'You might want to use it, Little Fox.' The corner of his mouth twitched as he slowly slid his pale hands through the bars of the gate and broke the lock in half. It could have been a twig, a piece of paper, or her.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“I am a monster, but whether you remember it or not, I'm your monster, Evangeline.”
― Stephanie Garber, A Curse for True Love

“Evangeline stopped shaking his shoulder and smoothed back a lock of golden hair that had fallen across his sleeping face... it felt incredibly soft against her thawing fingers as she ran them through-

Jacks' hand covered hers, cold and firm atop her fingers. 'Bad... idea...,' he murmured.

She snatched her hand away. She hadn't meant to touch him like that. Jacks was not a thing to idly touch. He wasn't even a thing she liked. Although, as soon as she had the thought, she knew it wasn't true. Not anymore.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“Most of Jacks' books were crookedly stacked and next to volumes without any apparent reason, except for a small collection of the last book she'd have expected to find here: The Ballad of the Archer and the Fox.

Something warmed inside of her at the sight of so many copies of her favourite storybook.

Jacks owned seven volumes, ranging from old to very old. Positioned more precisely than anything else in his den, they sat side by set, on the tip-top of the shelf, the sort of place where a person stored books they didn't want anyone else touching.

What was all this about?
...
Evangeline reached for the first volume- she knew she was being distracted. But all she wanted was to look at the last page and see what sort of ending the story had. She wanted to know if it had a happy ending- if the Archer kissed his Fox girl or if he killed her. And maybe seeing all these books felt like a sign. She was starting to think that sometimes she imagined things were signs when they weren't. But that didn't mean they were not actual signs.

She opened the first book, but the pages in the back were all ripped out. And unfortunately, she did not have better luck with any of the other volumes. Every copy fought her. One book kept falling from her hands every time she tried to open it. Another book only had blank pages at the end.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“He leaned his head against the dark iron gate, and Evangeline would forever remember the way he looked just then.

He was still indescribably breathtaking, but it was all the tragic beauty of a sky where every single star was falling. His hair was a storm of broken gold. HIs eyes were a mess of silver and blue. The deadness she'd seen her first night in Valorfell was gone, but now she understood why it had been there, why he seemed so unable to give comfort or kindness. The girl who was supposed to be his one true love had literally stabbed him in the heart.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“Here.' Jacks' voice was right behind her. And then she felt her ruffled cloak. He placed it across her shoulders and quickly secured the straps to her corset. 'If you freeze to death, the trouble I've gone to keeping you alive will be wasted.' His mocking tone was back, clipped and cutting, and yet she felt the soft brush of her fingertips lingering against her neck before he pulled away.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“Jacks of the Hollow," warned the queen. "Those arch stones can only be used one time to go back. They were not created for infinite trips to the past."

"I know," Jacks growled. "I'm going to go back and stop your son from killing her."

The queen's face fell. For a moment, she looked as old as the years she'd spent lying in a suspended state. "That is not a small mistake to fix. If you do this, Time will take something equally valuable from you."

The Fate gave the queen a look more vicious than any curse. "There is nothing of equal value to me.”
― Stephanie Garber, The Ballad of Never After

“Not quite sure how far she'd already fallen, she imagined loving him would feel like falling in love with darkness, frightening and consuming yet utterly beautiful when the stars came out.”
― Stephanie Garber, Caraval

“Evangeline started to fall, and then Jacks was there. Her eyes were too heavy to open--but she could feel him. He held her with the type of intensity that only happens when a person wants something that isn't quite theirs.

But she was. She just needed to tell him she loved him.

"Evangeline--" His voice was hoarse. "Come back to me..."

I'm not dead, she tried to say. But there was something wrong with her throat. And it seemed Jacks couldn't hear her thoughts.

He silently held her tighter and pressed his forehead to hers. She wasn't sure if he was crying or if she was, but there was wet on her cheeks. It felt a lot like tears. And then she felt...

Nothing.”
― Stephanie Garber, The Ballad of Never After

“Jacks-' Evangeline tried not to sound as if her heart was racing.

'Don't you want to hurt me anymore, Little Fox?' His finger reached out and lightly traced her exposed collarbone, setting every inch of her skin on fire. 'You can pick up the dagger any time now.'

But Evangeline couldn't pick up the dagger. She could barely manage to keep breathing. His hand was now at the hollow of her throat, careful and caressing. Jacks had touched her before- last night he'd held her while she'd slept, but he'd acted if that had been torture. His touch hadn't been warm, or curious.

Or maybe she was the one who was curious. She knew she shouldn't be. But hadn't she wondered what it would be like to be wanted with the intensity that Jacks seemed to want things?

His mouth curved wider as his hands moved from her throat to her shoulders and slowly slid the cape away, leaving more of her skin exposed.

'You should go back on the other side of the gate.' Her voice was hoarse.

'You're the one who said I needed a distraction.' HIs fingers drifted lower, trailing down her chest to the sensitive stretch of skin right above the lacy line of her corset. 'Isn't this better than talking?' One finger dipped all the way in to the corset.

Her breathing hitched. 'I don't think this is a good idea.'

'That's what makes it interesting.' His other hand found her jaw, while the finger in her corset gently stroked just above her heart, coaxing it to beat even faster.

'You can always pick up the blade,' he taunted. 'You wouldn't like me as a vampire, Little Fox.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“Given that the bookstore was a bit of a secret, it didn't look like much from the outside. Just a door with a knob that always seemed on the verge of falling off. And yet there was a certain sort of magic once you stepped inside. It was the feel of candlelight at twilight, paper dust caught in the air, and rows and rows of unusual books on crooked shelves.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“...an army of tiny dragons covered the tops of the tombstones, snoring little sparks that tempered the air from frosty to chilled.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“i can't say that i understand love, or that I'm very good at it, because I've never loved anyone before. but I love everything about you, donatella dragna. everything.”
― Stephanie Garber, Finale

“So you're saying you'd settle for a boring romance if it ends well?'

'Yes. I would gladly take an uneventful happily ever after.'

Jacks smirked. 'No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't have been happy with Luc, and definitely not forever. The two of you aren't well suited. He's not half as strong as you- he didn't even hesitate before he tried to bite you. And he wouldn't have turned himself to stone to save you.'

'You don't know that.'

'Yes, I do. There's always a way to break a curse. As soon as you drank from Poison's goblet, it refilled. I didn't stay to explain the rules, but they would have appeared on the side of the cup. Luc could have saved you if he wanted.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“...everyone had secrets, even if it's just a secret fear of caterpillars or a tiny white lie they told to a neighbour.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“...[he] held onto her like a promise he intended to keep”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“But in every telling of the tale, they fell in love. ''Love at first sound'', her father would say. Then her mother would always kiss him on the cheek and say, '' For me, it was just love at first''. Then her parents would both be sure to tell Evangeline that not all loves happened at first; some took time to grow like seeds, or they might be like bulbs, dormant until the right season approached.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“It's not a real kiss if there isn't any tongue.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“Tall and scuffed, the bookshelves covered nearly three-quarters of the library's walls, and their owner did not care much for organisation.

For example, on the first wall of shelves, nearest to the front door, Evangeline found a number of different books about time travel, but none of them were grouped together. They were scattered haphazardly, placed next to volumes on topics like the colour blue, how to write poetry, an encyclopaedia for the letter E.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“The liquid bubbled on her tongue, and it tasted like cotton and- safety pins?”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“She grabbed a shiny bottle of luck, wondering if it might taste better. The liquid inside was a sensational shade of green, but it tasted of grass and old celery.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“Do you want to kiss me, Little Fox?”
― Stephanie Garber

“She knew some people would think this made her foolish, but it was tremendously hard to fall out of love with someone when you had no one else to love instead.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“But she'd been raised to believe in wishes and fairytales and things that seemed impossible.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“he looked like the ending of a doomed love story”
― Stephanie Garber, Finale