Tiberius collapses after the truth serum forces his confession. Rather than recanting or attacking Evangeline, Tiberius admits that Apollo’s death was accidental: Tiberius meant to poison Evangeline with Fate’s tears, believing the poison would affect only females, but the story about the poison was false. Tiberius breaks down in genuine grief over killing his brother.

Evangeline, newly untied by the guard, cries with Tiberius. Evangeline grieves Apollo again, feels relief at surviving, and pities the part of Tiberius that destroyed his own family by mistake. After dawn, guards take Tiberius to a holding cell without resistance.

Marisol emerges and calls to Tiberius, but Tiberius’s enchantment appears broken. Tiberius tells Marisol that if he ever sees Marisol again, he will kill her too, then asks never to see Marisol’s face again. Evangeline orders soldiers to lock Marisol in Marisol’s room and reflects that although Marisol did not poison Apollo, Marisol’s earlier spells helped set the tragedy in motion.

Evangeline is quickly restored from fugitive to princess and moved into a clean royal suite. Servants, guards, and officials surround Evangeline, fussing over Evangeline and preparing for the Council of Great Houses to meet because Apollo is dead and Tiberius is imprisoned. A messenger is sent to Kristof Knightlinger and The Daily Rumor so the kingdom can learn Evangeline is innocent, but Evangeline grows anxious because Jacks has not appeared.

Worried that Jacks’s strange exhaustion may be more than vampire venom, Evangeline decides to leave and check on Jacks. A soldier reports that a gentleman is insisting on seeing Evangeline in the receiving solarium, and Evangeline assumes it is Jacks. Havelock offers to escort Evangeline, and despite protests about the council and Evangeline’s exhaustion, Evangeline follows Havelock.

As Evangeline walks through Wolf Hall, Jacks speaks into Evangeline’s mind, asks where Evangeline is, and urges Evangeline not to come to him. Evangeline continues anyway, but the route becomes unfamiliar and unsettling. When Evangeline questions Havelock and then decides to turn back, a lilting voice behind Evangeline says that turning around would be a mistake.