Oak is officially named heir to the throne of Elfhame at a royal ceremony.

Oak tricks a guard named Straun, steals the key to his cell, and escapes the dungeon.

Guard Valen restrains Oak, tortures him with an iron blade, and beats him unconscious.

Hyacinthe escorts Oak to dinner and warns him that Wren's unmaking magic is dangerously draining her.

Oak persuades Hyacinthe to remove the golden bridle in exchange for a promise to avenge Liriope's death.

Oak crashes the peace negotiations and publicly announces his engagement to Wren, sliding a ring onto her finger.

Wren agrees to travel to Elfhame to formalize the engagement on the condition that the army withdraws.

The ship carrying Oak and Wren's party is attacked by merrows and a sea monster named Sablecoil.

Wren uses her unmaking power to destroy Sablecoil but collapses from the terrible strain of the effort.

The party arrives in Elfhame, where Cardan and Jude greet Wren with pointed, cold remarks.

At the feast, Wren destroys the golden bridle with her magic and removes a hidden curse from Jude.

Randalin reveals himself as a traitor by stabbing Cardan, and Oak kills Randalin in a battle trance.

Oak finds Wren on Insmoor and learns Bogdana forced her into the conspiracy by holding her sister Bex hostage.

Bogdana strikes Oak with lightning, but Wren intercepts the bolt and absorbs the entire storm into herself.

Oak travels to Wren's obsidian castle in the north, confesses his love, and asks her to marry him.

Oak begins the story as a prisoner in the Ice Needle Citadel, wearing a magical bridle that strips him of his agency. After enduring torture and political pressure, he engineers his own freedom and makes a bold gambit by announcing his engagement to Wren to prevent an all-out war. Their uneasy journey to Elfhame is marked by a sea attack and fragile alliance, and the tension only deepens once they arrive at the High Court. When a hidden traitor strikes at the royal family and Wren's coercion is finally exposed, Oak must act to protect both his kingdom and the woman he loves. Wren absorbs a devastating storm to save Oak's life, nearly dying in the process, and emerges from the ordeal transformed with feathered wings. Their story concludes with Oak journeying north to Wren's new castle and asking her to marry him for real, and she accepts.

The headline events driving Oak and Wren's story from captivity to reunion.

Oak overhears Jude and Cardan argue about Lady Nore and decides to find Wren himself without telling his family.

A mechanical snake arrives in Oak's cell bearing a rescue message and a hidden vial of blusher mushroom poison.

Oak disguises himself and watches Wren confidently hold court in the Great Hall, deflecting Bogdana's demands.

Wren wakes to find Oak in her chambers and uses the power of the bridle to command him to kneel.

Oak is led past the Great Hall and sees Valen's body displayed on the ice wall with his throat cut.

Upon arriving in Elfhame, Bogdana demands that the wedding between Oak and Wren take place within three days.

Rather than staying in the palace, Wren conjures a private cottage from the magical walnut given to her by Mother Marrow.

Madoc visits Oak in his chambers and warns him that Court factions will try to use Wren for political influence.

Oak tells Wren he loves her in the woods before the feast, but she urges him to end their engagement.

Oak visits Mother Marrow at Mandrake Market to learn about the destructive and self-harming nature of Wren's powers.

Bogdana demands the wedding take place the next day, and Jude negotiates a compromise involving a hunt and a question.

Jack of the Lakes warns Oak he saw Bogdana meeting secretly with the golden man, who carried a suspicious trunk.

Cardan uses his magic to encase the Ghost's body inside a tree, hoping to preserve the dying spy.

Oak, Hyacinthe, and Jack plunge into the stormy sea on the kelpie's back to reach Wren on Insmoor.

Jude grants Oak permission to abdicate as heir, and Cardan privately advises him to lean on his family more.

Before his imprisonment, Oak quietly investigates a conspiracy threatening Elfhame's throne while keeping his family entirely in the dark. During his captivity, coded messages and warnings from guards reveal how precarious his situation truly is, while Wren establishes her cold authority over the newly formed Court of Teeth. Upon arriving in Elfhame, political pressures mount as Bogdana pushes aggressively for a hasty wedding and Court factions begin circling the supposed union for their own gain. Oak works behind the scenes, gathering intelligence from hags and kelpies while navigating the competing loyalties of Hyacinthe, Tiernan, and Jack of the Lakes. The conspiracy finally breaks into open violence, forcing Oak and his companions on a desperate crossing of the stormy sea to confront Wren and stop Bogdana before it is too late. In the aftermath, Oak's family sees him clearly for the first time, and Jude releases him from his obligations as heir.

The political maneuvering and supporting moments behind Oak and Wren's conflict.

Oak discovers the mechanical snake carries poison intended for Wren and destroys it before it can act.

In a dream, a red fox speaking with Locke's voice warns Oak he will be killed by someone he loves.

During their tense dinner, Wren admits that the rage and emptiness inside her have consumed all she once was.

Aboard the ship, Wren privately proposes dissolving their engagement once she secures control of the former Court of Teeth.

After Wren collapses from exhaustion, Bogdana conjures a massive storm that lifts the ship and carries it to Elfhame.

Wren confesses to Oak aboard the ship that she fears no one will ever truly love her.

Oak asks the Ghost who helped Prince Dain poison Liriope, and the Ghost cryptically tells him to ask Taryn.

Oak arrives late to the feast in his honor, and Lady Elaine approaches him attempting to revive the conspiracy.

Oak realizes the Ghost was the one who poisoned Liriope and that his family knew and kept it hidden from him.

Wren meets Oak in the palace gardens at midnight, apologizes for imprisoning him, and the two have sex.

Lady Elaine interrupts Oak and Wren in the gardens, and Oak chooses to release her from the conspiracy rather than exploit her.

The Ghost unknowingly shares poisoned wine with Oak during the hunt and is found dead in a forest clearing.

Lady Elaine is found dead from poison, Wren escapes custody, and Jude suspects Oak of involvement in both.

Oak searches Mother Marrow's cottage, finds Bex trapped inside a magical trunk, and persuades her he is there to help.

Wren's weakened body cracks open like a chrysalis and she emerges whole and transformed with a pair of feathered wings.

From the moment Oak destroys a poisoned snake to protect Wren to the moment he pleads with her to wake up, his story is shaped by choices made under pressure and truths that cannot be unsaid. Dreams and a painful dinner conversation force both Oak and Wren to confront their deepest fears about love, identity, and the people they might become. A string of revelations aboard the ship and on the night of the feast reframe everything Oak believed about loyalty, family, and his trusted mentor the Ghost. The conspiracy then explodes into betrayal and consequences, culminating in Oak choosing empathy over vengeance and Wren choosing self-sacrifice over survival. Through these turning points, both characters are forced to shed the false selves they have constructed and discover who they are willing to be for one another. Wren's emergence with wings is the final, physical proof of how profoundly both of them have changed.

The key discoveries, emotional confessions, and turning points that reshape Oak and Wren.

Holly Black

Novel

Fiction

Guide