“We’ve hidden him to keep him safe.” Havelock stepped forward several paces and threw back a carpet to reveal a trapdoor that opened up to a flight of stairs. “He’s down there.”
Evangeline gave him a skeptical look.
But when Havelock and the girl both took to the stairs, leaving her free to go, Evangeline’s curiosity got the best of her. She decided to follow.
The flight of steps was mostly dark, and her heart beat faster with every one. If Apollo was truly alive, then she was still married. They had a chance at the future she’d just been wondering about. She tried to feel excited. But if Apollo cared about her at all, why had he hidden in the palace as she’d been running for her life?
She could understand if he were still upset from the undoing of Jacks’s spell. But hours ago, his brother had almost killed her. And Evangeline would have definitely died the night of her wedding if it hadn’t been for Jacks. Had Apollo not known these things, or did he think she deserved to die?
As Evangeline neared the lower steps, she still hoped Apollo was alive, but it was a complicated sort of hope. Before, when she’d believed everything was a sign and her trip to the North meant finding her happily ever after, she would have been sure that there was a second chance waiting for her just a few feet away. Now she didn’t know what to expect or even what she wanted. If Apollo gave her another chance, would she take it? Did she want him, or just the happily ever after she’d thought that he could give her?
The last step creaked beneath Evangeline’s slippers. The room beyond was small, with a low wooden ceiling and not nearly enough light. The air was stagnant and a little stale, and almost as soon as she entered, Evangeline wanted to leave.
This was a mistake. Just past Havelock and the girl, Apollo was lying down on his back, but he didn’t look right. He didn’t look alive.
Evangeline almost silently called for Jacks to tell him she was in danger.
But the girl quickly said, “Apollo is in a suspended state. I know he looks dead, but you can touch him.”
“Please,” Havelock added softly. “We’ve been trying to revive him, but we think that you might be the only person who can bring him back.”
Evangeline wasn’t even sure she believed Apollo was actually alive. He lay on the heavy wooden table, as unmoving as a corpse. His eyes were open, but even from the distance, they were flat as pieces of sea glass.
She still wanted to flee. But Havelock and the girl looked so expectant as they watched her—they weren’t trying to hurt her or trap her. If she left, Evangeline would be running away from hope, not danger.
Carefully, she approached the table.
Apollo was still dressed as he’d been on their wedding night, in only a pair of pants. The oil had thankfully been wiped from his chest, leaving just his amber pendant and the tattoo with her name. Gingerly, she touched his arm.
His skin was cooler than a person’s should have been. His body didn’t stir. But when she moved her hand to his chest, after a minute she felt it. Just one barely there beat.
Her heart fluttered as well. He really was alive!
“How did the two of you discover this? And why does no one else know?” Evangeline took another look about the room, which was bare save for the table with Apollo and another small stand containing a water bin and some cloths.
“We didn’t know who we could trust,” Havelock said. “I was there the night Apollo was poisoned. I was in the room with you after, when you wouldn’t stop crying. It haunted me, made me think you might not be guilty. I knew that you had nothing to gain, unlike his brother. I didn’t want to think Prince Tiberius had tried to kill Apollo. But when Tiberius became engaged almost immediately, a few other soldiers became suspicious as well. We borrowed Apollo’s body from the royal morgue and reached out to Phaedra.”
“Phaedra of the Damned at your service.” The girl flashed another smile that made Evangeline think she should have recognized the name.
“Have you not heard of me?” Phaedra pouted.
“Phaedra, get on with it,” said Havelock. “Someone will notice the princess is gone soon.”
“Fine, fine,” Phaedra huffed. “I’m rather famous in some circles for having special talents. I can steal the secrets that people take to their graves. Havelock here thought that if I paid our prince’s corpse a visit, I might learn some of his secrets, including who killed him. But Apollo didn’t have any secrets. And everyone has secrets, even if it’s just a secret fear of caterpillars or a tiny white lie they told to a neighbor. That’s when we realized Apollo wasn’t dead. Whatever toxin was used on him didn’t kill him, it put him in this suspended state.”