After Apollo collapses without a pulse, Evangeline screams for help. Guards rush into the tower suite, hear that Apollo had been yelling at Evangeline, and assume Evangeline killed him. They drag Evangeline away by her shredded costume wings, order Prince Tiberius to be found discreetly, and lock Evangeline in a cold, dusty room while she begs them to find Jacks.

Havelock, Apollo’s personal guard, and another soldier bind Evangeline to a chair and gag her. Evangeline is overwhelmed by grief and guilt, repeating to herself that Apollo is dead and that she killed him. When the shorter soldier threatens to strike Evangeline, Jacks appears and stops him, then compels both guards to obey and leave the room.

Alone with Evangeline, Jacks tries to use his power to make Evangeline calm and happy to see him, but Evangeline resists and can hear his mental command. Jacks removes the gag and denies murdering Apollo. When Evangeline accuses Jacks of tricking Evangeline into killing Apollo with a magical kiss, Jacks reveals that Evangeline’s kisses were never enchanted; Apollo and Lady Fortuna were controlled by Jacks’s will, and the kisses were used to make the magic appear to lead back to Evangeline.

Jacks explains that his emotional control failed on Evangeline because something unnatural is intensifying her feelings. Jacks suspects Evangeline has been poisoned by the tears of another Fate, whose grief-poison can kill by breaking a heart. Evangeline resists the idea, but her uncontrollable sobbing, burning tears, and memory of the salty wine make Evangeline wonder if the wine poisoned her and perhaps affected Apollo as well.

Jacks cuts Evangeline free, carries Evangeline out of Wolf Hall, and takes Evangeline by sled through the freezing night because Evangeline can barely stand. Jacks admits his magic does not work in the North as it would elsewhere, suggesting limits on Jacks’s power. Evangeline, half-frozen and despondent, begins to give up, but Jacks warns that surrendering to the poison will make it work faster.

Jacks brings Evangeline to a familiar-sounding girl and demands immediate help. The girl blames Jacks at first but agrees the poisoning is not his doing, then prepares an antidote and tells Jacks not to let go of Evangeline. The antidote begins working after Jacks applies it to Evangeline’s lips, but the girl says Evangeline will need close physical contact for a full day for the cure to take. Jacks remains tense and unwilling, yet holds Evangeline tightly instead of releasing Evangeline.