Ever After High: Once Upon A Time

They say karma strikes when you least expect it. And for me, it did. That small boy I once harassed, ignored, and bullied is now a fully grown Urekai Alpha. With powers that crushes empires and a name associated with so many fearsome reputations, even the most ruthless villains whisper it with caution. And because he once swore vengeance, I have been running all my life. But he has caught me. The hatred he has for me, is one I have never known before. Coated with venom. Burning with spite. Only in those cold, satanic gray eyes have I seen hatred in its rawest, purest form. I thought I had prepared for this day. That I was ready for the revenge and retribution he promised. However, the punishment he delivers is one I never saw coming. But how do you break what is already broken? How do you drown one who lives with their head buried underwater? How do you kill something that stopped breathing a long time ago? And more terrifying still, how the hell does love grow from the most venomous, hate-filled, black heart to ever exist? . . WARNING: This book contains really dark themes that cross the line from dark into pitch-black territory. It has disturbing contents that may be very unsettling or triggering to some readers. Please proceed with caution. Please take this warning seriously. • NOTE: This book is a complete standalone. Though set in the Urekai universe, this story introduces entirely new characters with their own depths, nuances, and experiences. You need not read "That Prince Is A Girl" to enjoy or understand this tale, for it is a completely independent story of its own.

I was a year old when I tried to get some food from my sister's plate. My parents were so angry that they slapped me, rendering me deaf in my right ear. They also hated me until the day I died. They called me a monster that only knew how to take her sister's things. The day I learn I have a terminal illness, I call Mom and tentatively say, "I'm sick, Mom. The doctor said it's a brain tumor. Can you come to the hospital?" She sneers. "You're better off dead. I hope it happens quickly and that you're not at home when it does. I don't want to touch your body." I know they've always looked forward to my death. But when their wish finally comes true and their birth daughter dies, they lose their minds.

Three years after Vivian and I married into the Domingo family, our husbands' childhood crush Niama Guido came back to the town. Vivian and I had a whole escape plan. But the night before we bailed, Vivian threw herself off a high-rise. I called her husband, Pedro Domingo. He laughed, his tone nasty and cold. "Reena, my brother asked, since she jumped today, are you going to drown yourself tomorrow?"

Rejected? Check. Cursed at birth? Double check. Mated to the brooding, bossy Alpha King who had abs to die for? Oh, absolutely. They thought she was nothing—just a weak, wolfless girl tossed aside by fate. But fate has a wicked sense of humor. Turns out, she’s the Chosen One. The girl in the scrolls. The spark that’ll either burn the kingdom down or build it anew. With ancient magic awakening in her blood and a crown practically begging to sit on her head, she’s no longer the broken girl they left behind. Now she’s back. Stronger. Deadlier. And absolutely done playing nice. The Alpha King wants her. The realm needs her. And the ones who cursed her? Better start running. Because the Queen has arrived—and she brought attitude.

My husband promises to go to my hometown with me for the New Year holidays this year after I go to his. But before the trip to my hometown is due, he suddenly tells me he doesn't want to go anymore. I argue with him about this, and he pummels me with a bat. Meanwhile, his family eggs him on, telling him to kill me. Intense pain shoots through me as the blows land. I try my best to fight back, but I can't win against the majority. As the sky darkens, everyone heads home for dinner after giving me a good beating. When I regain consciousness in a corner of the garden, I see sense.

When my husband Joshua dragged his student Linda Moore into our apartment, I didn't even blink—I gave up the bed. Last time, it'd been pouring when he showed up with her in the middle of the night. Told me to crash on the floor with my daughter Mia and gave Linda the bed like it was nothing. I lost it. Fought with him, snapped at her. She bolted, slipped into a ditch, and supposedly drowned. Joshua said nothing. Then, one night, with the storm going wild outside, he pried open a manhole and dumped me and Mia in like trash. "Linda's my mentor's daughter. She's dead—how am I supposed to face him? You two can apologize yourselves." We didn't even get to scream before that freezing, disgusting water swallowed us whole. Turns out, Linda faked the whole thing. Just a twisted joke to punish me. Joshua moved her in right after, like nothing happened. Now, thunder cracked again as the door opened—and there he was, Linda right behind him.

After being missing for 18 years, Mom and Dad finally found me. Jillian Swain, the fake heiress, crumples to the floor and starts sobbing. "Goodbye, Mom and Dad. Thanks for taking care of me all these years. But now that Wanda is home, I'm sure you don't have any use for me anymore." Mom and Dad hug her, completely heartbroken. "Sweetheart, don't talk like that! You're our only real daughter, now and always!" Even Harvey Schumer, the guy I was promised to as a kid, declares his love for her. "Forget who you really are. You're the only one I love." They're all tripping over each other to fuss over Jillian. They even throw a birthday celebration for her dog while I'm barely hanging on after a car crash. So I pack up my things, accept the space agency's offer, and slip away into a five-year confidential satellite research project. But the whole family freaks out the second I'm gone, turning the country upside down, searching for me.

I wasn’t even pregnant, yet I ended up popping abortion pills like they were candy. It was all because in my past life, the moment my widowed sister-in-law got pregnant, every single side effect of her pregnancy became mine. She strutted around happily with her big belly, consuming spicy tamales, while I was rushed to the hospital for violent nausea and stomach pain; she showed off her flawless skin in crop tops every day, while my stomach broke out in hideous stretch marks. When I told my husband what was happening, he just shoved me away impatiently. “Enough with the jealousy! My brother’s dead, and she’s carrying his only child. Of course, I should look out for her. Do you really have to put on such an act?” After that, my sister-in-law went even further. She kept testing her limits during pregnancy and even ate a mango she was allergic to. And me? I went into anaphylactic shock, landed in the hospital, and nearly died. Doctors couldn’t explain it. They just brushed it off, saying I was overly jealous and it was all psychological. Later, my sister-in-law tried to brand herself as a “hot single mom”. She went live, belly and all, to show off her weight-loss workouts. She jumped around for three straight hours. And me? My uterus literally gave out, and I hemorrhaged to death. When I opened my eyes again, it was the exact day she first announced her pregnancy.

After breaking up with his girlfriend, Eric Johnson married a beautiful female CEO to cover his father's $15,000 surgical bill.

"How did you capture his majesty's heart?" This is the question that everyone wishes to ask the newly hired eunuch to serve the emperor. Xu Zhengming, also known as Eunuch Xu, the great Casanova in town. His looks aren't inferior to Pan An's, and he knows it. This beautiful man knows all types of women and mastered the ways to get them. He experienced being chased many times but successfully gets away every single time. On that one fateful night, while running away from a group of women he bumped on his majesty the emperor. And with that, the ruler of an empire took him to his palace. Now that he's back to the imperial palace, previous relationships won't remain in the past. First friend, first love, first heartache. Connections that got severed by the sharp blade of fate. Will the once parted and now finally reunited be separated for the second time?