Chapter 32

In relentless pain from mirror-curse lashes, Evangeline drifts in and out as Jacks drives a sled through the gray ruin of Merrywood Manor into an unexpectedly verdant valley called the Hollow. Once there, she notices the lashes no longer strike, suggesting the place shields her or that Apollo’s torture has paused.

Jacks carries Evangeline into a whimsical inn and up through empty, storybook-marked corridors to a sunlit tree-loft. He lays her on her stomach, cuts away her ruined dress, and carefully cleans the wounds. His gentle focus and teasing banter steady her as he wraps bandages around her bare torso, their physical closeness stirring feelings she struggles to deny.

As Jacks finishes tending her, Evangeline wrestles with guilt over Apollo while also wishing their story could end differently. She recalls Jacks sending Luc to beg Chaos to save Apollo, hoping that plan is working as her lashes have ceased within the Hollow.

While catching her breath, Evangeline notices a wall of children’s height marks carved into the wood. The names trace several years: Aurora, Lyric, Castor, Jacks—and, in the final year, the Archer. The discovery ties Jacks to this refuge and hints at a hidden shared past with the enigmatic Archer, widening the mystery surrounding Jacks’s history.