By midday, Oro wakes in the cave and realizes Isla saved him from the sunlight after his injuries. Isla, still covered in his blood, recognizes the irony that a powerless ruler rescued Lightlark’s most powerful king, and Oro tells her he has never thought she was weak.

Oro identifies the cave as lying beneath a Skyling graveyard, where glowworms feed on bones. Because it is one of the places where darkness meets light, Oro confirms it is part of their new search plan. He says only eight such locations remain, with Star Isle eliminated by the specter’s information and Moon Isle reserved for last because Cleo monitors her territory and might seize the heart if she learns what they seek.

While trapped until sunset, Oro explains that the prophecy’s “original offense” was likely the use of Lightlark’s heart. Isla deduces that Oro invited Grim because Oro believes someone used the Nightshade power trapped in the heart to cast the curses, not because Grim himself necessarily created them. Oro’s silence confirms Isla’s deduction that Oro only learned of the heart after the last Centennial.

Isla chooses to stay with Oro and proposes a game of honest questions. Their exchange becomes unusually personal: Isla admits life in the Wildling newland feels like a cage, and Oro says he has felt trapped for five hundred years. Oro says Lightlark kings do not fall in love because love exposes their power, and he insists rulers cannot truly love one another without agenda. Isla says she did not know Grim before the Centennial, and Oro seems relieved.

Isla asks about the bondbreaker relic, and Oro firmly says no such relic exists on Lightlark or he would have used it. Oro then reveals he has been able to gild since childhood but hid it because Egan was the heir and was supposed to be strongest. Oro adds that he is revealing secrets now because he is dying.

Oro asks Isla for the secret exposed during his demonstration, but Isla refuses. Isla admits she let Oro win their duel to avoid becoming a target, then asks about Oro’s flair. Oro offers a bargain: if Isla reveals her secret, he will let her wield the heart and win the Centennial’s promised power. Oro says he does not want to become a god and only wants to save Lightlark, but Isla refuses the offer, and the two sit in silence until the sunlight fades.