Chapter 2

Evangeline steps into the sealed library expecting books that might cure Prince Apollo, but finds only a marble arch carved with battling angels. Hoping it’s a portal to the answers she needs, she pricks her finger and presses blood to a stone sword.

The arch ignites with golden veins, revealing a prophecy: the key is a girl conceived in the North, born in the South, crowned in rose gold, both peasant and princess, a wrongly accused fugitive—only her willing blood opens the arch. Realizing it is the Valory Arch and that she is the prophesied key, Evangeline panics, remembering warnings about her role.

She tries to undo the act, but the glow persists. A luminous old librarian appears, points out four small missing stones atop the arch—needed to truly unlock it—and urges her to find them: one for luck, one for truth, one for mirth, one for youth, warning the stones are powerful and deceptive.

Evangeline refuses, rejecting the destiny he insists upon. As he tries to explain more, his words turn to smoke, his beard and body dissipating. He identifies himself only as a librarian and hints at hidden truths before vanishing completely.

Left alone with the shining prophecy and empty sockets for the stones, Evangeline feels both relief that her blood alone cannot open the arch and dread that forces beyond Jacks are maneuvering her, resolving not to aid in opening the Valory Arch.