Evangeline turns to find an unfamiliar young woman dressed as a servant, marked by a currant-colored starburst on her cheek and a skull-circle tattoo on her wrist. The girl and Havelock insist they do not mean harm, then Havelock reveals that Prince Apollo is alive and hidden beneath a trapdoor.

Evangeline follows them into a dark, stale underground room, torn between hope and distrust. If Apollo is alive, Evangeline is still married and might have a future with him, but she cannot ignore that Apollo remained hidden while she was nearly killed and accused. In the room, Apollo lies motionless on a table, still dressed as he was on their wedding night, looking dead until Evangeline feels one faint heartbeat.

Havelock explains that Apollo’s apparent death troubled him because Evangeline’s grief made her seem innocent, while Tiberius had motive and quickly became engaged. Havelock and other suspicious soldiers removed Apollo from the royal morgue and contacted Phaedra of the Damned, who can steal secrets from corpses. Phaedra discovered Apollo had no secrets, which proved he was not dead but trapped in a suspended state that pauses life, possibly related to lost healing practices of Honora Valor.

Because others have failed to revive Apollo, Havelock and Phaedra hope Evangeline can help. Evangeline considers stories in which kisses heal and tries kissing Apollo, but nothing changes. She briefly thinks of asking Jacks for help, then stops herself because any aid from Jacks would come at a price.

As Evangeline thinks through the poisoning, she begins doubting the version of events she had accepted. Tiberius claimed LaLa’s tears should only affect women, and Apollo did not react as Evangeline did after drinking the tainted wine. Evangeline remembers that Jacks’s blood tasted bitter before she kissed Apollo, and she starts to suspect that Jacks may have caused Apollo’s suspended state while allowing Tiberius and Marisol to serve as convenient scapegoats.

Evangeline concludes that Apollo may have been left alive because Jacks needs him as leverage. Since Apollo’s condition resembles her own time as stone, Jacks would know Evangeline could not abandon him, and Evangeline believes Jacks plans to trade Apollo’s cure for her willing blood to open the Valory Arch. Hurt by the realization that Jacks may still see her only as a tool, Evangeline resolves to cure Apollo without him and stop Jacks from hurting anyone else.