Serilda’s spirit separates from her body, and she watches herself die peacefully. Her spirit begins to dissolve until she sees Velos, the god of death, beckoning from across the river with a lantern. She steps forward but feels the ash branch underfoot and, remembering Madam Sauer’s warning not to let go, grips it and tethers herself to the mortal world. As a spirit, Serilda spends hours unable to interact with the living. After nightfall, the Wild Hunt arrives and finds her body. The Erlking dismounts and kneels over her corpse once before the hunt departs. At dawn, Madam Sauer revives Serilda, who discovers the Erlking left a gold-tipped arrow in her hand.

Serilda tells Madam Sauer that the Erlking believes she is dead. The witch warns her to hide until the next full moon and never return to Märchenfeld. Suddenly, Thomas rides up in a panic—his brother Hans has gone missing during the night. Serilda realizes that the Wild Hunt took him and joins Thomas to search. At the Weber farm, she finds the family distraught; Anna is also missing. Understanding that the Erlking targeted the children she loves as punishment, she rides through Märchenfeld and sees signs that Gerdrut, Fricz, and Nickel are also gone. On the road to the Aschen Wood, she discovers the bodies of Anna, Fricz, Hans, and Nickel—all with their hearts torn out. Gerdrut is nowhere to be found.

Convinced the Erlking has taken Gerdrut behind the veil alive, Serilda rides to Adalheid, consumed with guilt and rage. She confirms that no other children were taken and storms to the castle ruins. In the throne room, she reflects that her past lies—about Madam Sauer being a witch and herself being marked by Wyrdith—have come true, and wonders if her true gift is to spin stories and turn them into truth. She narrates the tale of the castle’s fall: a prince failed to save his sister from the Wild Hunt but killed the huntress, Perchta. In revenge, the Erlking massacred the castle’s inhabitants and cursed the prince with a gold-tipped arrow, tethering his spirit and erasing all memory of him and his family. Serilda realizes she has spun the story of Gild’s past. As she speaks, blood manifests in the air, forming a doorway that allows her to step through the veil.

Serilda finds herself in the pristine throne room behind the veil. The Erlking sits on his throne, flanked by the ghosts of Hans, Anna, Fricz, and Nickel. He taunts her for trying to fake her death and confirms he took the children to punish her, declaring their souls are his forever. When Serilda offers more gold in exchange for Gerdrut’s return, the Erlking mentions that the long-dead Adalheid princess was also blessed by Hulda. Serilda realizes he kidnapped the princess, believing she, not her brother, was the gold-spinner. When she could not do what he demanded, the Erlking kept the castle as revenge and hid the royal family’s ghosts to prevent the prince from recognizing them. Feigning ignorance about the prince’s whereabouts, Serilda declares she is ready to complete his task.

The Erlking leads Serilda and the children to the courtyard, where a spinning wheel sits the entire court is gathered. He announces Serilda will demonstrate her gold-spinning, threatening that Gerdrut will be his if she fails. Serilda spots Gild chained to the castle wall as punishment for stealing the bobbin of spun gold that Serilda herself took—the very gold he created to save her. Serilda sits at the wheel and attempts to spin, but the straw frays and snaps. Seeing Gild’s anguish, she remembers her bargain to give him her firstborn and realizes she has missed her monthly cycle. She tells the Erlking she can no longer spin because the magic has passed to her unborn child. Furious, he drags Serilda back to the throne room.

The Erlking summons Redmond, a ghost and former barber-surgeon, to remove Serilda’s fetus. As Redmond lays out surgical tools, Serilda argues that removing the child will not restore her magic and that killing it would squander a gift from Hulda. She claims she felt the magic leave her body and enter the child at conception. When the Erlking asks who the father is, Serilda lies and says it is a farmer from her village. After considering her argument, the Erlking relents, then loads a black-tipped arrow into his crossbow.

The Erlking fires the arrow into Redmond’s heart, destroying the ghost permanently and releasing his spirit to Verloren, eliminating the only witness who knows the Erlking is not the father of Serilda’s child. He announces he will wed Serilda on the summer solstice and claim her child as his own heir. Serilda realizes he plans to give the baby to Perchta when he captures a god on the Endless Moon and wishes for her return from Verloren. When Serilda refuses to marry him, the Erlking reminds her that he holds Gerdrut. She agrees to be his bride in exchange for Gerdrut’s freedom. The Erlking then plunges a gold-tipped arrow through her wrist, reciting the same curse from her story, and her spirit separates from her body. She is neither dead nor a ghost, but cursed like Gild, and can no longer feel her heartbeat.

The Erlking leads Serilda’s spirit to the courtyard and announces her as his future queen. As a betrothal gift, he makes the ghosts of Hans, Nickel, Fricz, and Anna her personal servants, then calls for Gerdrut, whose heart has already been torn out by the Erlking. Enraged by the betrayal, Serilda tries to retract her promise, but the Erlking silences her with a kiss and clarifies his terms: he will release all five children’s spirits to Verloren only after she gives him the child.

Serilda watches over the sleeping children and promises to free them. She finds Gild waiting with her mended cloak, and they embrace. When he asks what happened in the throne room, she carefully lies to protect the children, implying the Erlking will father her future child to gain its magic. Gild is horrified until he understands she has been cursed and trapped in the castle. She tells him her story: he is the cursed prince of the castle, his sister was the kidnapped princess, and the Erlking massacred his family and erased all memory of them. Serilda takes his hands and tells him that because he is cursed, not dead, his curse can be broken.