Crowntide

While Cronan tortures her, Isla mentally visits the silver pool and explores alternate possibilities, such as never finding her portaling starstick. The pool shows that her mistakes often prevented greater bloodshed. She examines a timeline where she let the dreks kill Grim. In this vision, the unstoppable creatures destroy all the realms, including Lightlark, and Oro’s death causes the island to fall.

The silver-haired woman tells Isla she has saved more than she has destroyed and advises her to forgive herself. Isla resolves to use the past to fix the future and decides to speak to souls she has killed. The first person she visits is Aurora.

Oro brings Grim to meet Cinder. She recognizes the Nightshade ruler as the “villain” the people of Lightlark went to war against, but he wins her over by introducing her to his dragon. Cinder joyfully climbs onto Wraith, who shoots into the sky. Panicked, Oro and Grim pursue. They find Cinder jubilantly lighting up the sky with her powers. After she lands, Grim asks if she wants to help get his wife back, and she agrees.

Isla confronts Aurora’s soul in a vision. Five hundred years ago, Aurora created the curses after Egan left her for Violet. Centuries later, she befriended Isla under the guise of Celeste and betrayed her. Aurora says her soul was split after her parents died, leaving her to teeter between good and evil. Isla wonders if she is doomed to the same fate. Deciding to focus on the future, Isla asks how to kill Cronan. Aurora explains the founders bound their power to objects, like Lark’s feather. Destroying Cronan’s object would weaken him. Isla thanks Aurora. As she leaves, Aurora tells her their friendship was not entirely pretend. Isla replies that she knows.

In his dream, Oro finds Isla on a beach. He reflects on his profound love for her and says they have gathered the components for the portal, including her storm ring. He places his crown on her head, saying everything he has is hers. Oro explains they need her Wildling abilities to complete the portal. Because subjects’ lives are bound to their rulers’, Isla will only bring one of her lovers through to protect their people. When asked if she has decided which of them she will choose, Isla says she has not.

At the tide pools, Oro tells Grim that Isla will choose only one of them to bring to Skyshade. Grim portals Cinder to the location. Oro raises the tide, and they walk into the glowing pool, dropping in the ring and the Threads of Time. They share a moment of mutual thanks, shaking hands as allies. Cinder unleashes energy into the pool. Oro and Grim also pour their power into the water, which transforms into a doorway. They wait for Isla to open the portal.

When Cronan tries to break her mind, Isla shakes off his hold, stabs his shin with an energy dagger, and deflects his attack back into his mind. She takes his crown. Putting it on, she feels her abilities awaken and sees the portal where Oro and Grim wait.

The silver-haired woman reveals Isla has two “fated matches” bound to her soul and that one of the three is fated to die. The woman offers to show Isla her potential futures, but Isla declines. She chooses one of her lovers, whom she thinks holds “just a little more of her soul” than the other (217).

Cronan lunges at Isla, and she damages his crown. As he throttles her, Grim arrives through the portal. Cronan attacks Grim, erasing his memories of Isla. She realizes their bond is gone and collapses in despair.

Grim sees a woman with an intense red aura. He feels her overwhelming love but finds it impossible that she could harbor such strong feelings for him. Cronan tells him she loves the Sunling king and will bring ruin to Nightshade. The woman insists Grim knows her, but Cronan orders Grim to kill her. When Grim attacks Isla, she unleashes an explosion breaks through the ceiling and escapes into the sky. Convinced she threatens his realm, Grim pursues her.

Oro surfaces alone in the pool and realizes Isla chose Grim. Overwhelmed with loss, he cries for the first time since his mother’s death. Because Lightlark is bound to the Sunling king through a curse called nexus, his grief causes cliffs to collapse and a tidal wave to form. Oro unleashes his powers, creating a flaming tornado. His friend Enya is trapped in the storm and begins to suffocate. Enya grounds Oro by telling him that he is not alone. He dispels the storm, realizing that he could have killed all of his friends by allowing emotion to fuel his powers. He resolves not to lose control again. Suddenly, a monster bursts through the tide pool, which is still an open portal.

Isla flees through a portal to a desert. With the storm gone, she has no powers. She reaches a village where a woman named Jessel gives her water and offers shelter. At Jessel’s home, Isla meets two children whose parents died opposing Cronan. Isla reveals she is there to destroy him. After a brief rest, Isla leaves because she’s afraid that Grim will harm anyone near her when he finds her.

Isla weeps in an alley. She hears Oro’s voice and discovers their connection remains. She enters a vision where she sees him fighting beasts and using his sadness to increase his power. She tells Oro that Cronan erased Grim’s memories of her and apologizes for not choosing him. She asks Oro to tell her Grim’s weaknesses, and he says that he has only one, Isla herself.

Oro and his friends battle beasts emerging from the portal for hours. He uses emotions to fuel his powers. Even though she chose Grim, Oro’s love for Isla is undiminished. Distracted and angry that she remains in danger, he is wounded. He rips off his armor and lets it fall. He thinks of Grim with mixed hatred and worry and wonders how long he and his allies can hold the portal open.

After two nights, Grim tracks Isla to an oasis. He portals in front of her, but she predicts his movements, stabs him, and whispers that she knows him. They duel across various terrains by accessing portals, including a desert, a snowy mountaintop, and a ruined forest. She tells him details of his past, such as the hedge maze and his sister, that he would only have shared with someone close to him. When she manages to pin him, she heals his wound instead of killing him. He chokes her with shadows, saying he is glad he does not remember her. A blizzard sweeps them to a forest. When his shadows touch her, he is plunged into a memory and sees himself grieving her death on a battlefield. Next, they land on a craggy beach, and Isla falls unconscious. Although the memory he saw stirs up doubts and questions, Grim brings her back to Cronan.

A massive creature attacks the island. Oro, Zed, and Enya fly out to meet it. The beast emits energy ripples that repel attacks.. Zed shreds the creature’s scales while Oro and Enya attack with fire. The beast unleashes a massive explosion, extinguishing Enya’s wings. She falls and is swallowed whole by the creature. Enraged, Oro flies through the creature, finds Enya, and carries her out. She survives while the creature perishes. Oro is horrified by the beast’s power and worries about the island’s survival.

Cronan asks Grim why Isla is still alive. He lies that he believes he can turn her to their side. Cronan reveals Isla’s flair is absorption and suggests that a child between her and Grim would be the greatest heir possible. Cronan shows Grim his Astral Council and explains his goal: to access a place where all worlds meet. To do this, he needs a key and the Infinite diamond. Grim gives him the Threads of Time because he believes it’s only a matter of time until his ancestor finds them anyway. With the Threads, Cronan can use the Pool of Possibilities to correct a past “mistake” that kept him from realizing his dreams of ultimate power sooner. Grim feels unsure if he cares about stopping Cronan. His main priority is to protect the people of Nightshade.

Grim drags Isla into the galaxy room. Cronan rips the charm from her mother’s bracelet and fuses it to his crown, gaining her mother’s flair of foresight. He shows Grim an illusion where Isla kills him, then one where she kills Oro instead. Cronan tells Isla that her world will fall in three weeks. He offers her a choice. She can be with Grim by agreeing to serve Cronan for eternity, or she can perish. He warns that he will know her decision. Knights drag Isla away as Grim stands frozen, staring at the vision of his death.

Grim intends to stop Cronan’s plan to destroy his world, and he plays the part of the deferential heir to gather information. Cronan asks if Grim has seen a silver pool and then searches his mind for information. Grim’s power forces Cronan out. Cronan orders Grim to search for the pool. Grim feels sympathy for Isla, but he reminds himself of the vision that shows she is destined to kill him.

Lark describes how Cronan imprisoned her under Lightlark for millennia. Isla asks why she has not escaped from the cell. Lark reveals her horrific injuries and explains that Cronan has woven himself into the world of Skyshade, blocking powers. Isla realizes the storms are his weakness. Feeling hopeless, Isla enters the silver pool in her mind. She finds a memory of Oro teaching her to turn fear into strength. She calls out to him and hears him urging her to find her fire. The words renew her resolve to defeat Cronan.

Isla visits Oro in a vision. She informs him that Cronan plans to destroy their world in three weeks. Oro admits their island may not survive the beast attacks. His emotions rage, and he tells her he wishes he had never met her because he still loves her even though she chose Grim. He admits he feels lost. Isla takes his hand and tells him he is still noble and strong. When she asks how she can help him, Oro requests her portaling starstick. Isla recalls Lark had it last and promises to investigate.

Isla bargains with Lark, who agrees to reveal the starstick’s location in exchange for her magical feather. Lark senses Grim has the feather. Isla promises to get it. Hours later, Grim takes Isla from her cell. She resolves to make him fall in love with her again. He tells her she is nothing. Unable to explain their love, she is silent. Grim shoves her into a room where blank-eyed women bathe, style, and dress her in a revealing gown. However, she sees herself as “a warrior in her armor” (279), ready for battle.