Chapter 32

Evie and The Villain are tied up aboard a boat after being captured by costumed men in Heart Village. Evie complains about the rough handling until Theodore gags her. When Theodore shoves the gag deeper into Evie’s mouth, The Villain attacks with brute force, kicking Theodore in the nose, but several men pin The Villain down again.

Unable to speak, Evie listens as the boat creaks through an unknown canal. Fritz, the group’s silver-haired leader, taunts Evie and suggests he recognizes her. When Fritz removes Evie’s gag, Evie insults him instead of yielding, and Fritz unexpectedly treats the insult as useful material for a theatrical performance, ordering Douglas to write it down.

Evie tries to negotiate by offering more gold than the king’s ransom, but Fritz reveals that Evie is also wanted. He shows her a flyer naming her “The Wicked Woman,” accusing her of treason and collusion with The Villain, and offering three hundred gold pieces. Evie is startled but delighted to have a wanted poster, while The Villain looks worried for her.

Fritz then explains that he is not taking them to the king. Instead, he is bringing them to his boss because Fritz is training for a theatrical role as a kidnapper and wants to be “method.” The revelation changes Evie’s assumptions: their captors are not ordinary bounty hunters but theater people acting under someone else’s orders.

The boat stops, and the captors drag Evie and The Villain into a damp playhouse building through a hidden route. They are taken belowground into a clean but enclosed water-cellar cell, set beneath the river line. Fritz says they will remain there until morning, leaving Evie and The Villain alarmed and trapped while he salutes them as “lovebirds.”