Nightbane

Isla visits Star Isle to ask Maren who the best Starling wielders of magic are. She wants to use them to create energy shields to defend Lightlark. Maren reluctantly admits that Cinder is the most talented wielder, but she asks for her young cousin’s identity to remain hidden to protect her from harm. Isla then witnesses a demonstration of Cinder’s powers and is excited about her abilities.

That night, new memories come back to Isla. First, a vision of Grim seemingly warns her that he will kill her during the war. Then, a flashback shows them traveling to visit some of Nightshade’s best thieves. Isla and Grim sneak into the building where the thieves live to search it. Isla is attacked by some of the thieves and is able to kill them before Grim finds her. He interrogates one of the survivors about the sword, and the thief tells him that it was stolen by a man named Viktor. After he tells Grim where to find Viktor, the Nightshade ruler kills him.

Despite his fears about Isla’s safety, Oro lets her visit the Vinderland with Enya. When they get to the lands where the Vinderland live, Isla asks whether Enya is scared. Enya responds that she is not, because the oracle has told her exactly when and how she will die. They are interrupted by an attack from the Vinderland, and Isla makes herself known. They recognize her as their enemy and refuse to join her when she asks them to fight for Lightlark. However, as their leader raises his axe to attack her again, Isla’s power burns the weapon while she experiences a new flashback.

In the past, Isla decides to visit a Wildling village to get to know her people better after being raised in isolation by her tutors. However, she is caught by the villagers and tied up. Still bound by the curse, they decide to carve her heart out to eat it, but Isla is able to free herself and teleport to Grim’s castle. He takes care of her wounds, claiming that he needs her to stay alive to help him, and shares an anecdote about the cruel, painful training he received as a child. He then takes Isla back to her room and insists on keeping watch over her. They exchange some banter, which turns seductive when Grim reminds Isla of her reaction when he kissed her.

Thanks to Isla’s demonstration of her powers, the Vinderland leader identifies her as a figure of legend with the ability to wield both life and death. He tells her that the Vinderland will fight for her but that most of them are incapacitated because of a mysterious sickness. Isla promises to find them a cure and then leaves with Enya. Back in the castle, Isla enrolls Cal and Zed’s help and brings them to a field of the rare flowers used to make healing elixir. There, they meet Lynx, and Zed mentions that creatures like him may be useful in the upcoming war.

A memory shows Grim returning to Isla’s room after she was wounded. He wants to teach her how to use the starstick with more accuracy so she can keep herself safer. He takes her to his training room, where he shows Isla how to teleport more precisely. Isla fails a few times before her skills improve, and the two of them banter while they train. Grim then teaches her more sword-fighting skills then promises to return in three days to resume their mission to find the sword.

Isla goes back to Star Isle, where she learns that creatures that dwell on the island have recently killed one of the Starling children. She sets out to hunt down the creature and ventures out into the forest with Avel and Ciel. Isla walks for a long time until she finds a lake, where a gigantic serpent appears. When the giant snake attacks, Isla fights it and falls into the lake. She is able to summon her Wildling powers and pin the creature down until, to her surprise, it turns into a woman. The woman tells Isla that she used to be a Wildling who, like many others, abandoned her realm during the curse. Isla asks her to come fight against Nightshade, but the woman refuses. Before she leaves, however, Isla threateningly orders the serpent woman to stop harming children.

That meeting prompts another memory to come back to Isla. She remembers Grim taking her to the town, Creetan’s Crag, where a festival is taking place and where they hope to find Viktor. In the chaos of the festivities, Grim is able to get information about Viktor from a local woman. They find Viktor watching a show of scantily-clad dancers with a pet viper at his feet. Isla, not wanting to let Grim know that she is powerless, agrees to infiltrate the show to get close to Viktor. She performs a seductive dance in front of the man, who then invites her into a private booth, while Grim looks entranced by the dance. Once they are alone, Isla asks Viktor about the sword. Viktor tells her it was taken from him by another thief, a woman who lives in the Caves of Irida and has a powerful beast guarding her bounty. When Viktor passes out, Grim joins Isla in the booth. He denies being attracted to Isla, who taunts him but also refuses to admit her attraction to him.

At night, Isla works on Lightlark’s defenses by practicing with her Wildling powers. She creates thorned, defensive plants that she grows everywhere on the island to force the Nightshades to fight only in specific locations.

Later, the Skylings finally hold their votes and decide, against Azul’s wishes, to leave the island. However, Isla makes a speech about building a better future for Lightlark by implementing democracy in other realms. This prompts a few of the Skylings to stay and fight.

A new memory shows Isla worrying when Grim does not return to take her to the Caves of Irida. After waiting for a while, she sets out to find the sword herself and goes back to the Night market to buy a map of Nightshade. She ventures into a building, but a group of Nightshades notice and attack her, pointing out that she should not have been able to cross the enchanted threshold. Isla is able to conjure up a portal to Grim’s palace, but the Nightshades stop her from crossing it. Instead, Grim steps through it and rescues her, killing all of her attackers. He then takes her back to his room and tends to her wounds while exchanging tense banter with Isla, as they are both unaware of their growing feelings for each other.

Zed takes Isla to the Forgotten Mines, where he and Calver have been looking for special ore to forge weapons against the dreks. Thanks to her Wildling powers, Isla is able to extract the ore quickly and efficiently. While she works, she and Zed have a conversation about Soren. Despite the Moonlings’ apparent dislike of the other realms, Isla intends to ask him to help heal the Vinderland, which he later reluctantly agrees to.

Isla also asks Lynx to fight with her in the war, and the creature accepts. She begins training with him and slowly learns how to ride him in battle.

In a flashback, Isla remembers that the monster guarding the sword thief’s cave turned out to be a dragon. When she and Grim arrive at the Caves of Irida, the creature is asleep, and they can spot the sword near the entrance, just behind him. They try sneaking past the dragon, but the cave is riddled with defensive enchantments. When they enter, a flock of arrows shoots toward them, and Grim throws himself in front of Isla. Only her leg is injured, while Grim is hit by a dozen arrows. They retreat back to his palace, where Isla takes care of Grim’s wounds. Grim confesses that pain is the strongest emotion and can therefore enable him to access more power than any other.

Although Isla was initially horrified to learn how Grim used pain to become more powerful, she now uses the same strategy. She cuts her own hand, which allows her to grow more and more defensive plants on the island. Oro finally stops her, horrified at what she is doing to herself, and makes her promise not to do it again.

Later, Isla visits Aurora’s old room on Star Isle. She reminisces about the moments she spent there with Aurora, whom she knew as Celeste then, and her friend’s betrayal. Enraged, Isla destroys a collection of precious orbs in Aurora’s room. She unexpectedly finds a strange quill in one of the orbs and pockets it.

While practicing her Nightshade powers with Remlar, Isla learns that there are many ancient, dark creatures on Lightlark. Remlar tells her that Isla’s duel Wildling and Nightshade powers make her special to such creatures, and they would follow her should she ask them to fight with her.

After trying to dismantle the cave’s defensive enchantments one by one, with Grim taking the brunt of the attacks, Isla and Grim return to his palace once again to heal their wounds. Grim runs a medicinal bath and asks Isla to join him, turning away from her to give her privacy.

Wren tells Isla that Lynx has had armor made for him back when he was her mother’s bonded. Isla has Lynx try it on, and the creature then takes her to a clearing where he shows the young woman a vision of her mother and father. They share an intimate moment as they grieve for Isla’s mother together.

In a memory, Grim tells Isla that he will be unavailable that night due to a ball at his palace. Isla, who is bored and frustrated, decides to attend the ball secretly. She portals to the castle, where a night of revelry and debauchery is going on. Grim spots her, but since he does not want to break her cover, he lets her dance with a few men. One man then offers Isla a drink and invites her to have sex with him. Isla is intrigued and wants to test whether she is genuinely attracted to Grim or simply wants intimacy. She does not feel anything for the man, and Grim soon appears and runs a sword through him. Indeed, the man gave Isla a paralyzing poison, but Grim gives her the antidote.

Isla has a conversation with Enya, who tells her that although she likes her, she disapproves of her relationship with Oro. Enya believes that love is distracting him from his duty as a king and making him weaker. Despite Isla’s protests, she secretly wonders if Enya may be right.

Later, Isla notices that she is being followed and guesses that it must be rebels again. She pretends to let them capture her but quickly incapacitates them with her powers. One of the rebels takes her mask off, and Isla is shocked to recognize Maren, who begs her to listen. The rebels have discovered that an ancient king put a curse called “nexus” on the people of Lightlark, binding their lives and abilities to that of their rulers. Nexus was meant to keep the people of Lightlark subservient, but Maren argues that it is unfair and oppressive. The only way to free the people of Lightlark is for the king to die, so Isla, despite agreeing that nexus is harmful, categorically refuses to help the rebels put an end to it.

That night, a new memory shows Grim suddenly appearing in Isla’s room badly injured. Isla tends to his wounds while he tells her about the trouble on Nightshade. An ancient Nightshade ruler once created dreks, creatures meant to fight in his army, along with the sword to control them. After fading from existence, the dreks are now rising again and attacking the people of Nightshade. The sword, now cursed so it cannot be used by a Nightshade ruler, is the only way for Grim to defeat them. Isla wonders how he could do so if he is unable to use the weapon himself. She also learns that Grim has been trying to have an heir to ensure the survival of his realm should he die.