Unleashed

At the Winter palace, Isla and Grim walk the snowy grounds. A teasing snowball fight turns into a duel where Isla reveals refined control: she forges an ice sword, portals through the mountains, deploys a Starling shield, and blasts Grim off a peak. The playful contest affirms Isla’s growing mastery and the couple’s intimacy.

When Grim leaves to fly Wraith, Isla studies the cursed book. A fleeting line reveals that bones hold more power than blood and that the most powerful skyres must be formed with them. Determined to pursue this lead, she enters the power-nullifying maze, relying on the book as her only tool.

Inside, blind, storm-born beasts track Isla by scent and maul her ankle. Cornered, she opens the cursed book, releasing a faceless, winged demon that shreds the beasts. Using the chaos, Isla climbs atop the iced hedges, races toward Cronan’s shademade coffin, and smears her blood on it to break its seal—only to find it empty. She infers Cronan’s portaling flair made his bones the portal itself.

Fleeing as the demon turns on her, Isla loses blood and the book, barely leaping to the maze’s edge before blacking out. Grim arrives at her roar of distress, catches her fall, and carries her back to the palace.

By the fire, Grim dresses Isla’s wounds and reveals he killed the demon and recovered the book. When pressed, Isla admits she sought the portal and concludes the coffin is it, hidden by the maze’s dampening power. As she rests, shredded sleeves expose the swirling mark on her arm. Grim, hurt and confused, finally asks about the revealed mark, setting up a reckoning.