Finale

Legend visits Tella in her dreams, dressed in red and gold as opposed to the all-black attire that he usually wore in his guise as Dante. He takes her on a starlit boat ride with fireworks and mermaids, but despite the allure of his beauty and the magical setting, Tella remains guarded. She reminds him of how coldly he abandoned her two nights ago and criticizes his failure to offer her an apology. Though she wants to forgive him and hopes that there is more to him than the manipulative, enigmatic persona he shows to the world, Legend insists that he is not meant to be her hero. He finally reveals the reason for his appearance: to ask if she wants the prize for winning Caraval. Tella tells him that she is done with games, but Legend just laughs.

Tella dreams of Legend again. He is now dressed in black, and the setting is a frost-covered forest. Once again, he asks if she wants to collect her prize for winning Caraval. Although curious, she resists. The fact that Legend seems to want her to say yes only makes her more determined not to answer.

Legend visits Tella’s dreams every night for two months. Each time, he asks the same question, and each time, she tells him no. Despite the changes in setting—from boats to gardens to hot-air balloons—the issue remains unresolved.

The latest dream places them in a surreal version of the saloon inside the Church of Legend, surrounded by spectral dancers and eerie portraits. Legend is again in Dante-like black. Though he smiles, he never touches Tella. His restraint confuses and frustrates her, as she’s unsure of the reason. When Tella asks if he’ll ever drop the question, he replies that she will miss him if he stops visiting. They are interrupted when the dream starts to collapse, accompanied by the scent of something sickly sweet. He warns her to leave, and she awakens just as the dreamscape begins to burn.

Tella notes that for the first time in nearly two months, she no longer sees Legend in her dreams.

Tella wakes to the sweet scents of the Sun Festival wafting through her window in the boardinghouse, but all she can taste is the ash and dread of her latest nightmare. After experiencing weeks of these shared dreams with Legend, she is haunted by his sudden absence, especially since the last dream ended in fire. Convinced that something is wrong, Tella breaks her own rules about not showing Legend how much she cares; she decides to go to the palace to check on him.

As Tella prepares to leave, Scarlett confronts her, reminding Tella that it is her turn to stay with their enchanted, sleeping mother, Paloma. Tella eventually confesses that she believes Legend might be in danger. Though skeptical, Scarlett reluctantly lets her go after Tella promises to return in time for Scarlett’s meeting with her former fiancé, Count Nicolas d’Arcy.

Tella leaves and fights her way through the Sun Festival. She spots a man who looks like Legend and follows him through the city and into the crumbling ruins of the Satine District. Just as she reaches the top of the ruins, the world shifts. Tella finds herself no longer in the city of Valenda, but in a wintry forest under a moonlit sky full of silver stars. Through the snowy branches, she spots Legend, who has transformed once again into the theatrical, Dante-like version of himself. Before she can approach him, he meets with an unknown, beautiful woman.

Tella watches Legend talk with the woman, whom she learns is named Esmeralda. Tella is immediately jealous and suspicious, especially when she notices that Esmeralda has the same rose tattoos that Legend does. Tella grows even more jealous when she sees him touch the woman, as Legend has kept his distance from Tella for months.

As Tella eavesdrops further, she learns that Esmeralda is the witch who gave Legend his magic and imprisoned the Fates in the Deck of Destiny. Legend begs for Esmeralda’s help, confessing that the freed Fates are now beginning to reclaim their power from him, thereby weakening his magic. To stop them, he needs Esmeralda’s power, along with information about the various Fates’ weaknesses. Esmeralda warns him that to truly kill the Fates, he must slay their creator, Gavriel. She explains that Gavriel has the same weakness that Legend does.

Legend convinces Esmeralda to give him her power, then drinks her blood as part of a dark magical ritual. As she withers, he becomes more vibrant. Despite her clear affection for him, he drains her with a detached demeanor. After watching this intense interaction, Tella flees into the forest as her illusions about who Legend is begin to crumble.

Scarlett prepares for her long-awaited meeting with Nicolas. Although she tries to stay composed, she is anxious, especially because Tella hasn’t returned to take her turn at watching over Paloma. Despite her better judgment, Scarlett decides to leave anyway, making arrangements with a servant to keep watch over Paloma during her absence.

Before she can leave, however, Scarlett is informed that a gentleman is waiting for her downstairs. When she goes to see who it is, she finds Julian in the parlor; he has finally returned after a mysterious five-week absence. She struggles between her joy at seeing him and her bitterness at being left without an explanation.

To Scarlett’s frustration, Julian tells her that he wants to accompany her to meet Nicolas, posing as a chaperone. He admits that he never stopped thinking about her and that he made a mistake in giving her space. He wants another chance to be near her, even if that means watching her with another man. Scarlett allows him to come along but warns him not to interfere.

Accompanied by Julian, Scarlett finally meets Nicolas at his estate. Though nervous and self-conscious, she is also hopeful that Nicolas might offer her a secure future. However, Julian’s suggestive comments about his own history with Scarlett force her to clarify things to Nicolas even as she struggles to rein in her frustration. Despite Julian’s antics, Nicolas remains composed, and the two men banter over Scarlett’s affection. In an attempt to reclaim control of the situation, Scarlett proposes an old-fashioned courtship competition for them, decreeing that each suitor must complete the challenges she sets. As her first challenge, she tells them to bring her a unique gift within three days. The winner of each round will receive a kiss, and at the end of the competition, she will marry the victor.

While in a carriage on the way back from the meeting with Nicolas, Scarlett notices something strange: a family frozen mid-celebration in a garden, as if turned into living statues. Her ability to see emotions as colors reveals the family’s fear, and upon closer inspection, she and Julian find a note pinned to the table by butter knives. The note, in rhyme, threatens the life of the family unless someone nearby confesses a lie. It is signed “Poison.” Scarlett suspects that this is the work of the Poisoner, one of the Fates. To break the curse, she and Julian both confess their recent lies; he really left her because he was angry that she wanted to meet Nicolas, and she really set up the suitor competition to get back at him. After they speak, the curse on the family breaks. Although the family is safe, their memories of the person who cursed them have vanished. Before Scarlett and Julian leave, one of the girls gives Scarlett a rusty key that she believes is magical. When Scarlett examines it in the carriage, she finds that the key has changed from rusty to crystalline.

Tella returns to the boardinghouse, shaken after what happened between Legend and Esmeralda. She knows that she is late to relieve Scarlett of her watch over their sleeping mother, but when she arrives, she finds that Paloma is awake, though weak. An overjoyed Tella embraces her mother, then races to get food for her. However, when she returns, Paloma is gone. In her place is a note in which Paloma writes that her presence endangers her daughters. She urges them to flee Valenda and not to search for her. She also warns that the Fates are awakening and that fear feeds their power. Tella is devastated and furious, feeling abandoned yet again, but she decides to find her mother anyway.

Tella follows a faint trail of magic through the city streets and ends up at another set of ruins. As she climbs through them, she senses a dark presence. She then stumbles upon seven of Legend’s royal guards, unconscious but alive. Realizing too late that she may have been following a Fate instead of Paloma, Tella presses forward into a nightmarish underground labyrinth that ends in a cavern filled with tightropes, wheels of death, and pits of fire bisected by a red river. On the other side, she sees her mother, who is no longer weak.

When Tella finds Paloma in the cavern, Paloma is armed and dressed for battle. Tella is desperate to stop her from disappearing again and begs her to return to her daughters. Paloma says that she has come here to kill someone, and she must do this in order to protect her daughters. Tella clings to her, refusing to let go, but Paloma paralyzes her with poison-tipped gloves. She then hides her immobile daughter behind one of the wheels and kisses her goodbye.

Paralyzed, Tella can only watch as one of the Fates, Gavriel, enters the chamber. He accuses Paloma of betraying him by imprisoning him in the Deck of Destiny. Paloma lies and says that she did it because she was afraid. When they kiss, Paloma stabs Gavriel in the heart. He then stabs Paloma in return. Tella watches her mother collapse, and her paralysis lifts enough to allow her to crawl a few inches forward. She tries to scream at the weakening Gavriel, but Jacks suddenly arrives and covers her mouth. He tells her that her survival is the only thing that matters, and he insists that she can do nothing to help her mother. Eventually, Gavriel succumbs to his wound as well.