Nightbane

The next morning, Lynx sends a vision to Isla, asking her to come to Wild Isle urgently. All the Wildlings have disappeared, along with the healing elixirs they were making, and Isla finds a note in the Wildling castle. Grim warns her that he has taken her people to Nightshade and is waiting for her.

In her next memory, Isla worries that Grim may get hurt fighting against the dreks and decides to wait for him in his room. When he comes back unharmed, Isla watches him get undressed. They give in to the tension between them and share an intimate sexual moment.

When she is alone, Isla uses her enchanted necklace to summon Grim, who answers her call immediately. He is happy to see her but quickly realizes that she has not remembered everything about their relationship yet. Isla blames him for the dreks’ attack, but Grim denies controlling them. He also claims that the Wildlings followed him willingly because he had Terra and Poppy on his side. After he leaves, Isla tells her friends her new plan. She wants to use the love bond between her and Grim to cut off the Nightshade ruler’s access to his own power and kill him. She then begins training with Remlar to learn how to do it.

A memory shows Isla asking Grim to attend a Skyling festival with her. Despite his initial protests, Grim takes her there. After he learns that Isla has always wanted to ride a hot air balloon, Grim commandeers one for the two of them, and they enjoy a peaceful moment together.

Another flashback depicts Isla and Grim returning to the cave. Their plan is for Grim to distract the dragon while Isla steals the sword. She dodges the traps and successfully reaches the weapon, but she is unable to evade the final wall of fire. Grim saves her just in time, causing the sword to vanish due to its defensive enchantment. Isla is shocked that Grim would save her rather than the sword, and he confesses his feelings for her. In return, Isla is about to admit that she is powerless, but Grim tells her that he already knows. They then have sex for the first time. A few days later, Isla finds a young dragon and begs Grim to adopt it as a pet. Grim is initially reluctant, but he gives in to Isla’s demand.

When Isla opens up to Oro about her self-doubts and her fear that she is not good enough for him, Oro comforts her. Later, however, Isla breaks her promise to him and uses pain to access her power. With it, she opens the vault in the Place of Mirrors, and the door finally gives in.

Inside, Isla finds Terra, her former mentor who betrayed her. Isla attacks her, and the two of them fight, but Terra eventually overpowers Isla. Terra then thanks Isla for opening the vault, which is, in fact, a portal.

A flashback shows Isla back in her Wildling palace room, where she feels something calling to her from the forest. She follows the call to the sword and brings it to Grim. However, Grim is unexpectedly unhappy about it. He confesses that he intended to use the sword to help the people of Lightlark return to their original lands before the island was created. However, opening the portal to the old lands would mean destroying Lightlark. In addition, he could only do so by letting Isla use the sword, which would kill her. Grim is unwilling to pay that price anymore, so he has abandoned his plan. Feeling betrayed that he originally intended for her to die, Isla pushes Grim away. During their conversation, she also learns that her father was one of Grim’s Nightshade generals, and he stole the sword and fled so Grim could not use it. As he leaves, Grim takes Isla’s starstick so she cannot portal to his realm anymore.

Isla tells her friends that she summoned Grim and unknowingly opened the portal. They are shocked but decide to stick to their original plan and defend Lightlark against the Nightshade forces.

Isla returns to the oracle, who predicted that she would hear her final prophecy. The oracle reveals that there are two possible futures and that Isla must choose between the two. To do so, she must kill either Oro or Grim. Isla is torn and now refuses to kill either of them. She returns to the palace, where Lightlark’s forces are getting ready for Grim’s oncoming attack. Oro and Isla exchange a tender moment, with Oro professing his enduring love and promising her a better future.

Soon after, Grim’s soldiers appear on the battlefield, and the fighting begins. Isla watches Oro, Enya, Calder, and Zed all fighting alongside the soldiers while she fights on Lynx’s back. She kills many Nightshades, then calls on her army of Vinderland warriors and ancient magical creatures. Cleo then arrives on a giant wave and confronts Isla. She hopes that traveling back to the old lands will enable her to access magic powerful enough to bring her son back from the dead, but Isla refuses to help her. Isla and Enya fight Cleo together, and Isla is able to pin her down with enchanted vines. Suddenly, the dreks appear, falling from the sky. The serpent woman then unexpectedly joins the fight and starts killing the dreks. Isla then goes to the bridge, where Grim appears soon after.

Oro arrives at the bridge, too, and he and Grim start fighting. They have a climactic confrontation that seems evenly matched while Isla, still torn between the two, gathers her powers to incapacitate Grim.

In a flashback, Isla is heartbroken about Grim saying goodbye for the final time. Due to the love bond between them, she uncovers the ability to transport herself to Grim’s realm in the middle of a battle between the Nightshade soldiers and the dreks. When Grim spots her, he is momentarily distracted as he realizes that Isla loves him. He is injured by a drek, and Isla summons her dormant powers through their love bond to save his life. She kills everyone on the battlefield, draining her own life force at the same time.

While Grim’s powers are suppressed, Oro gets ready to kill him. Before he can, however, Grim warns him that killing him would also kill Isla, as their lives are magically bound to each other.

Indeed, in the past, Grim saved Isla’s life by binding their lives together. They now share one life after Isla died on the battlefield.

Grim bound Isla to him as a temporary measure, and he now wants to return to the old world to access magic that could restore her life. Isla suddenly realizes that the visions of horror she thought were Grim’s future actions were, in fact, a memory of her own. She was seeing the aftermath of her powers on the day she killed everyone, including innocent people, to save Grim.

A memory reveals that Isla and Grim were married. In lieu of the wedding ring, Grim showed Isla the necklace, which is enchanted to only be released by Isla’s death. He then erased her memories of their relationship before the Centennial began.

After taking in those latest revelations, Isla tells Grim that she will go with him if he calls his army back. Before they leave together, she tells Oro that she loves both him and Grim.