Aftermath

With the storm passed, Isla surveys widespread devastation: villages shredded by wind and wicked creatures preying on rural Nightshade. Lacking healing elixir, many die. Convinced a greater tempest is coming, Isla fixates on finding and sealing the portal, but she has lost the ring needed to locate it. Wraith recuperates under Lynx’s watch, leaving Isla unable to retrace their flight for the stone. Grim aids shattered villages, while Isla fears he suspects her recent meeting with Oro and doubts her loyalty.

Unable to sleep, Isla returns nightly to her rooftop. Sairsha joins her and later admits the storm destroyed her childhood home; with her family gone, she mourns the last remnant of belonging. Isla offers quiet sympathy. In town, gossip swirls that Isla and Grim’s marriage is a sham, yet the impending ceremony lifts morale, so the event proceeds despite the disaster. Days without storms follow as Isla searches for the ring by day and retreats to the rooftop at night.

Resuming patrols, Isla stakes out a powerful Nightshade fugitive who murdered his wife. She ambushes him in an alley and mortally wounds his throat, but his shadow-wielding strength forces her to switch to a heart kill. As she struggles to pierce his ribs, Grim appears, braces her hand, and helps drive the blade through the man’s heart.

Confronted, Isla braces for anger, but Grim reveals he already knows she is the heartripper and is unbothered, even inviting her to kill as she sees fit—including him. Their banter dissolves into a heated, blood-smeared embrace, exposing enduring desire despite their conflicts and the prophecy haunting Isla. Before vanishing, Grim whispers that he will see her at the altar tomorrow, leaving Isla breathless and the wedding imminent.