Finale

Gavriel apologizes for killing Esmeralda in front of Scarlett and removes the ruby cage from her head. Though shaken, Scarlett seizes the moment to steer his emotions and begins questioning him about her mother. Gavriel indulges her and recounts how the Church of the Fallen Star had hired Paradise to steal the Deck of Destiny from Empress Elantine. Paradise succeeded where others had failed, but she betrayed Gavriel’s church by handing over only one card: his. When Gavriel was freed, he sought her out, only to find that she had been betrayed by a lover who had stolen the Deck. Gavriel formed a reluctant alliance with her to get the Deck back and fell in love with her after learning that she was pregnant with Scarlett. Before he could make Paradise immortal, she discovered his true identity and used the Deck to trap him again. Now, Gavriel tells Scarlett that once she masters her powers, she can help him to overcome his one weakness.

After Tella reads Julian’s note, she wakes Legend and tells him what happened. He is furious that his brother went alone, blaming Scarlett, but Tella defends her sister and reminds Legend that Scarlett has risked everything to fix the mess they created. When Legend insists on going to find them, Tella makes it clear that she is going, too. She presents the luckless coins given to her by the Maiden Death, threatening to summon the Assassin for help if Legend refuses to include her. Legend reluctantly agrees.

Gavriel returns Scarlett to her rooms. Scarlett’s plan to escape with the Reverie Key is thwarted when he brings in Her Handmaidens (silent Fates), who begin preparing Scarlett for public presentation. Anissa warns that Her Handmaidens spy for the Undead Queen, who was a past lover of Gavriel’s and is curious about his human-born daughter. They dress Scarlett in a gold-and-red gown that makes her resemble her mother. Afterward, Poison arrives to escort her to the coronation. As they make their way to the Golden Tower, Poison hints at wanting to be Scarlett’s ally. When they reach the balcony, Gavriel publicly declares Scarlett his daughter and heir. He claims that her mother, Paradise the Lost, was his wife and Elantine’s true child. He then crowns Scarlett as a princess. Afterward, when she tries to leave, Gavriel grabs her arm to keep her with him.

Scarlett endures Gavriel’s nightmarish coronation celebration. The Fates torment the human guests while Scarlett is forced to play the role of royal heir and puppet princess. The already bad situation worsens when Scarlett spots Julian disguised as a guard. Her reaction to seeing him gives him away, prompting Gavriel to order Priestess, Priestess to use her magic to interrogate Julian. Under compulsion, Julian confesses that Scarlett is the love of his life. Scarlett is then commanded to demonstrate her powers by erasing Julian’s love and replacing it with hatred. If she fails, Julian will die. Scarlett finally taps into her full power and turns it on Julian. However, as his emotions begin to shift, his pleas snap her back to herself. She realizes that if she completes the task, she will truly become a Fate: detached and stripped of love. She reverses the changes that she made in Julian and offers a new bargain to Gavriel: release him now, or she will withhold her powers from him forever. Gavriel relents, setting Julian free, but tells Scarlett that if she fails to give him what he wants, he will destroy everyone she loves.

After the ball, Scarlett races back to her room in the Menagerie, planning to flee with the Reverie Key before Gavriel can come for her. She puts her enchanted gown back on and opens the door with the key, only to find herself inside a dungeon. Julian is there, strung up and close to death after having been tortured. He is also wearing a metal mask. Gavriel then appears, accompanied by Poison, and fire blocks the exit. Scarlett’s enchanted gown instantly changes into a suit of armor. Gavriel tries to persuade her to surrender, telling her that if she continues to love Julian, she risks becoming like the other Fates who fell for mortals. They turned into objects after death, such as her dress, which is the Fated Her Majesty’s Gown. Scarlett chooses love and presses the Reverie Key into Julian’s hand.

Gavriel grabs her, burning her through her magical armor, which suddenly transforms into gauntlets that trap his hands and extinguish his flames. Poison attempts to stop Scarlett and Julian, only for Legend to magically intervene. He reshapes the prison bars to form a cage, trapping Poison. Scarlett unlocks the door with the Reverie Key, thinking of her sister and safety, but Poison succeeds in throwing the contents of his goblet onto Julian.

Scarlett escapes with Julian. Gavriel has badly burned her, but Julian is not only alive but fully healed after being hit with the contents of Poison’s goblet. They are now back in her Menagerie suite, and Tella is there as well, accompanied by a trio of Fates: the Maiden Death, the Assassin, and the Lady Prisoner. Tella explains that the Fates helped her find Scarlett and Julian, and she says that Legend stayed behind to distract Gavriel during their escape. She is now desperate to save Legend, but Anissa warns them that prioritizing loved ones over the bigger picture could lead to failure.

Scarlett gets the idea of impersonating Paradise. She proposes traveling back in time to steal her mother’s clothing, then returning and pretending to be Paradise, pregnant with Scarlett in order to simulate the one moment when Gavriel was emotionally vulnerable. Despite the Assassin’s warning that time travel rarely goes as planned, Scarlett insists that this idea is their best shot at defeating Gavriel. The Fates also state that they’re bound by a curse that prevents them from killing Gavriel themselves if he were to become human. Tella volunteers to kill Gavriel in order to protect her sister. Jacks then appears, offering his help to get Tella close enough to deliver the final blow.

Jacks tells the assembled group that Gavriel has captured Legend and locked him in a magical cage that will trap him for eternity. With no one else able to sneak into the throne room, Jacks offers the only viable solution: he will take Tella in himself under the guise that she is still under his emotional control. However, for the deception to be convincing, he demands permanent control over Tella’s emotions; she would adore him forever. Despite Julian and Scarlett’s protests, Tella agrees to Jacks’s plan. He begins his spell, and her feelings twist until he becomes the center of her world, and she tells him that she wants to spend her life with him.

Scarlett travels back in time with the Assassin to observe her mother. Rather than stealing a gown to impersonate Paradise, Scarlett is instead enthralled by the Paradise of the past, who is wildly different from the distant mother Scarlett remembers.

Scarlett follows the young Paradise to a dress shop and listens in as Paradise speaks of her plans to propose to Gavriel, unaware of his true identity as the Fallen Star. Scarlett tails her mother through the snowy streets, but Paradise catches her and holds her at knifepoint, then notices their resemblance. Scarlett confesses that she is from the future, and she reveals that Paradise is pregnant with her. She also explains that Gavriel is a monstrous Fate bent on empire-wide domination. Despite being warned not to alter the past, Scarlett realizes that she may be destined to interfere to ensure that Paradise makes the choices that protect her daughters. Paradise gives Scarlett the extravagant dress meant for her engagement and disappears, leaving only a knife behind.

The Assassin then reappears to take Scarlett back to the present. Clutching the knife and dressed as her mother, she prepares to face Gavriel.

Scarlett is “delivered” by the Assassin as a gift to Gavriel, and she mimics Paradise’s boldness and dramatic flair. The room full of Fates clears when Gavriel demands privacy, his throne erupting in flames as his emotions spiral out of control. As Scarlett watches him, she realizes that he is filled not with anger but with deep regret. Tella, under Jacks’s control, briefly recognizes Scarlett as Paradise and tries to get to her, forcing Jacks to drag her away. Scarlett seizes the moment to steer Gavriel’s attention back to her, faking tenderness, but it’s not enough. Her plan to make him vulnerable through love is failing.

Tella watches Scarlett’s plan begin to unravel. Though Scarlett has succeeded in convincing Gavriel that she is Paradise, he is growing dangerously protective of her rather than falling back in love with her. From the sidelines, Tella starts to panic. Jacks urges Tella to leave with him, warning that there’s no saving Scarlett. Though his emotional control over her carries some weight in her thoughts, she still refuses to abandon her sister. She breaks away from Jacks and throws herself between Scarlett and Gavriel, igniting Gavriel’s fury. Fire once again erupts in the throne room.

When Gavriel lashes out at Tella, Scarlett throws herself between them, taking the brunt of his fire. Instead of continuing his assault, Gavriel catches Scarlett and says he hadn’t meant to hurt her. Scarlett finally stops pretending and appeals to his humanity, calling out his fear of love and the destruction it has caused. Her words chip away at his defenses until Gavriel, for the first time, admits that he genuinely did love Paradise. His tears are gold at first but quickly turn clear and human. Just as his humanity breaks through, Tella stabs him in the heart with Paradise’s knife. As Gavriel dies, he uses the last of his strength to melt the dagger into a magical flame-shaped blade. He entrusts it to Scarlett, asking her to use it to free those he had once imprisoned. Scarlett is left holding it and grieving what he might have become if he’d chosen love instead of fear.

After killing Gavriel, Tella is left shaken. Jacks appears to offer her comfort, and she clings to him, even as a small voice in her head warns her that something is wrong. Jacks presses her to leave with him, and she agrees until Legend appears. He pleads with Tella to resist the influence Jacks has over her. The palace transforms into an illusion of the Temple of the Stars, and Legend finally confesses that he loves her. His words finally break through Jacks’s enchantment. Tella and Legend kiss, but Tella quickly shoves him away, realizing that if Legend remains with her, he will become mortal. She begs him to leave before it’s too late, but he refuses. He wants her more than immortality, and he chooses her.

Scarlett prepares for her coronation, wearing a gown adorned with red roses and a matching cape gifted by Poison. Tella teases her sister about her admirers and Scarlett’s impending rise to Empress. While most Fates have vanished, Scarlett remains determined to track down the more dangerous ones—such as Jester Mad, the Murdered King, and Jacks—to ensure that they never threaten her or her sister again.

Tella leaves to write a letter to Legend just as Julian arrives. He is now healed after being freed from the iron mask. He gives Scarlett a pair of gloves that he made from the remains of her Fated dress. While the gesture itself is sweet, Scarlett also notes that gloves are traditionally a proposal gift. When he does start to propose, she says yes, and they kiss.

Legend sits, reading a letter from Tella. She writes that as Scarlett prepares to officially become Empress, she, Tella, must deal with her new role as a princess. She wants to escape the constraints of palace life and begs Legend to kidnap her, saying that it would be a fun game. Legend laughs.