Chapter 25 Study Guide: Summary, Analysis, and Key Takeaways

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Evangeline sits in her royal suite, surrounded by the lavish gifts and flowers that have accumulated over the past few days. Even Empress Scarlett has sent a small package, though how it arrived so quickly is a mystery. Despite Apollo's generosity and attentiveness, Evangeline feels none of the expected excitement or romantic flutters. Instead, she experiences a deep sense of wrongness, similar to the unease she felt after making a deal with Jacks or when she learned that Luc had proposed to Marisol. Something is off.

She picks up that morning's gossip sheet, The Daily Rumor, written by Kristof Knightlinger. The headline announces three days until the wedding. The article features an interview with Prince Apollo, who confirms the most extravagant rumors: he serenades her nightly, declared her birthday a holiday, and is having all one hundred and twenty-two of his portraits redone to include her likeness. To prove his devotion, he unbuttons his shirt to reveal a tattoo of a pair of swords forming a heart with Evangeline's name inside. He denies that the Council of Great Houses opposes the marriage or that his brother Tiberius has disappeared, insisting that Tiberius is simply busy with royal duties.

Evangeline reads this and feels a growing dread. She believes in love at first sight and in fairytale love like her parents', but Apollo's behavior feels less like love and more like an obsession—hungry, outrageous, and unsettling. She begins to suspect that Jacks is behind it. She recalls that when Apollo proposed, she had assumed Jacks wouldn't want the marriage, but now she wonders if the blood Jacks painted on her lips infused her kiss with magic, making Apollo fall in love with her. She doesn't want to think about Jacks, but the theory would explain Apollo's extreme actions.

Yet she can't figure out why Jacks would want her to marry Apollo, which gives her a sliver of hope that her theory is wrong and that Apollo's love is genuine. She desperately wants to believe in a fairytale ending, partly because she doesn't want to return to her old life in Valenda, where the highlight of her day was a bookstore bell. She also thinks of her stepsister Marisol, who has already benefited from Apollo's influence—he made the papers stop writing negatively about her, and marriage would allow Evangeline to do even more for her. But if Apollo is under a spell, none of that matters, and none of this is real.

Evangeline rolls up the gossip sheet, knowing what she must do. She dreads seeing Jacks again, but if he has cursed Apollo, she needs to convince him to undo it. She doubts Jacks will act out of goodness, since stories say his heart doesn't even beat. However, she realizes that if Jacks wants her to marry the prince, she has leverage. She plans to use that leverage to force Jacks to fix Apollo and to reveal his true motives. She writes a letter to Jacks, requesting a meeting during her morning walk in the wood outside Wolf Hall the next day, framing it as an important matter requiring his immediate assistance.

Key Events

Evangeline receives gifts and flowers, including a package from Empress Scarlett, but feels unsettled rather than happy.
She reads a gossip sheet interview with Apollo, who confirms extravagant romantic gestures and denies rumors about the Council and his brother Tiberius.
Evangeline suspects Apollo's behavior is the result of a spell or curse, possibly linked to the blood Jacks painted on her lips.
She considers her stepsister Marisol's welfare and how marriage to Apollo could help her.
She decides to confront Jacks, writing a letter requesting a meeting during her morning walk.
She plans to use her perceived leverage—Jacks's apparent desire for the marriage—to force him to undo the curse and reveal his motives.

Character Development

This chapter deepens Evangeline's internal conflict. She is torn between her longing for a fairytale romance and her growing suspicion that her engagement is built on magic rather than genuine feeling. Her belief in love at first sight is challenged by the reality of Apollo's obsessive behavior, which she recognizes as