Once Upon a Broken Heart

Jacks brings Evangeline to a castle made of purple brick. Evangeline’s second kiss will be to the house’s matriarch, and Jacks advises she get it over with as quickly as possible. On their way up the castle’s walkway, Jacks warns Evangeline to beware of Marisol because she’s jealous of everything Evangeline has. Evangeline doesn’t want to doubt Marisol again and ignores the warning.

The house is full of rich carpets and expensive-looking objects. Evangeline and Jacks don’t wait long before the matriarch enters, wearing a gown and makeup that make her look like the type of doll “people had nightmares about coming to life and killing them in their sleep” (180). The matriarch gives them exactly one minute to leave before she sets her dogs on Evangeline, so Evangeline wastes no time planting a kiss on the woman’s cheek. After the kiss, the matriarch is nice to Evangeline. Jacks wants to see the vaults, and after some debate, the matriarch agrees to take them there.

The matriarch leads Evangeline and Jacks to an archway in the bowels of the castle. The arch was supposed to be destroyed long ago when the former royal family of the North was overthrown and symbolizes the power of arches to take people to different places and hidden rooms throughout the North. The matriarch slices her palm and presses the blood to the arch, making a doorway appear. As they pass through, Evangeline hears the arch whisper to her “you could have unlocked me as well” (190).

Beyond the arch is a kitchen where the matriarch’s family makes the flavored water for which they are famous. They pass cauldrons and ingredients, as well as other items like mirrors and robes, before Jacks tells Evangeline to ask the matriarch about her stones. Evangeline does so just as the spell of kindness on the woman ends. The matriarch recites a prophecy that says Evangeline will marry Apollo and open the Valory Arch, something Evangeline mustn’t be allowed to do. She charges Evangeline, but Jacks knocks her over the head with a skull.

Evangeline demands answers about the Valory Arch from Jacks, threatening to walk away from Apollo. Jacks refuses and reminds her of the terms of their agreement—that he’ll only undo Apollo’s curse if she marries him. Jacks reminds her that Apollo will be struck by heartbreak forever if Evangeline doesn’t do this, asking if she’s prepared to let him suffer like she did over Luc for an eternity. Evangeline doesn’t answer.

On her way back to Apollo’s palace, Evangeline puzzles over the Valory Arch and the prophecy. When she first came to the North, she thought it was her chance to enter her own fairy tale, but after everything that’s happened, she’s starting to think it’s “actually fate manipulating her path” (199). At the palace, she goes to the library but cannot find a single book related to the arches or the royal family that created them. She finally asks a librarian, who leads her down aisle after aisle of books to a door with the wolf-head crest of the former royals. It is said that all the stories about them are behind it, but no one’s been able to open it since the family perished.

The night before the wedding, Evangeline invites Apollo to her room and asks him about the Valory Arch. The Arch is considered little more than a myth and is believed to be either a treasure chest or a prison for a magical abomination. In either case, the prophecy Evangeline heard earlier was created to lock the arch, which will unlock when all the lines of the prophecy come to pass. Jacks’s interest in the Valory Arch unsettles Evangeline. She can see him wanting to get inside for multiple reasons and fears all outcomes.

As Evangeline thinks about Jacks, the wedding, and breaking Apollo’s curse, she starts to shake uncontrollably. Even though Apollo’s love for her is manufactured, the night with him has felt genuine. She wants to feel cared for, but she knows releasing Apollo from the curse is the right thing to do. Still, since losing her parents and Luc, she’s been starved for contact and closeness. Apollo offers to stay and just hold her. She accepts the offer, knowing it could be “possibly the last nice thing between them” (215).

Chapter 31 is a Daily Rumor article detailing the death of the matriarch from a fall down the stairs. The article poses the question of whether it was an accident or if someone is “trying to steal the sunlight from our fair Evangeline Fox” (216).