Storm

As a violent, unnatural storm engulfs Nightshade, Isla decides it is the perfect cover to find Cleo’s oracles and a way to change the prophecy binding her fate to Oro and Grim. Disobeying Grim’s order to stay inside, she rides Wraith into the tempest, struggling to stay mounted as trees and hail batter them. In the higher, purple‑green clouds, Isla senses raw power and suffers searing heart pain before lightning blinds Wraith and knocks Isla off; Wraith barely catches her above the ground.

Refusing to abandon the mission, Isla and Wraith fly over the raging sea until she spots Cleo’s vast white‑sailed armada. She ports onto the largest ship, staggers below to search, and finds only stores—no oracles. Porting into the lavish captain’s cabin, she is ambushed as Cleo slams her with seawater and binds her in ice.

Confronted at dagger’s point, Cleo coldly reveals the oracles are dead—she took their prophecies and killed them so only she knows the future. When Isla begs for answers, Cleo refuses, saying Isla’s end will come “in time,” and admits the only thing she wants is her child back, implying a catastrophic path via the otherworld. Cleo orders Isla to leave.

Isla escapes, spends hours returning with Wraith, and collapses into a bath, devastated that no oracles remain to guide her. She weighs impossible choices: killing Oro or Grim would doom thousands, and her own lifespan remains uncertain after binding Grim. At dawn, an attendant announces unexpected visitors: Isla’s guardians waiting in the throne room.