The End — Chapter 46

Evangeline staggers from the library in heartbreak over Jacks, then resolves to save him through love and to confess before the stones can reset her memories. She hurries back to the arch as Wolf Hall stirs awake, finding the door and stones still present and gold-flecked blood on the carved angels.

Before she can act, Apollo steps through, calm and apparently cured. He explains a nameless healer cut some of his hair, spoke unfamiliar words, and led him via an old arch to this chamber. Evangeline remains focused on finding Jacks but pauses out of compassion to hear Apollo, who apologizes and blames Jacks for their suffering.

The conversation sours when Apollo snaps at Jacks’s name, then softens, insisting Jacks has bewitched her. Evangeline denies this and tries to leave, but Apollo seizes her, pins her against a stone angel, and hushes her protests.

Using a gentle yet invasive touch, Apollo drains Evangeline’s strength and begins pulling memories from her mind. He erases their first meeting, their marriage, their last violent encounter, her adventures with Jacks in the crypt and Hollow, her friendship with LaLa, Apollo’s curse, and pivotal revelations, including Jacks being the Archer.

As each memory vanishes, Evangeline fights to protect what remains—especially her family and childhood stories—but Apollo methodically strips away the recent past. When he finishes, she is left sobbing, blank and profoundly alone in the ancient room, with the open arch, the stones, and the suggestion of recent blood hinting at unseen conflict.