That night, Isla struggles to undress because her burned arm still aches. The Wildling elixir has healed the injury enough to fool the other rulers, but it cannot fully remove the pain, so Isla is careful not to reveal any weakness.

Grim appears uninvited in her room through the walls and teases her, but Isla confronts him for making a mockery of her realm-value demonstration after she warned him about the trial. Grim gently tells Isla he has no interest in winning the Centennial, forming alliances, or participating in the rulers' game.

When Isla presses Grim about why he came to Lightlark, Grim reveals a hidden history: Lightlark was not created by Horus Rey alone, but by Horus and Grim's ancestor, Cronan Malvere. After the island's power made both founders greedy, Horus and Cronan fought, Cronan lost, and the Nightshades fled to build a weaker realm of their own.

Grim explains that his father believed Nightshade had a rightful claim to Lightlark, which caused the war with the island. Grim says he urged his father to accept peace after too many Nightshades died, and as part of the treaty, Grim was sent to live on Lightlark for twenty years as a hostage and warning against future Nightshade aggression.

Isla asks whether Grim cast the curses, knowing the curses killed her people and her parents. Grim says the curses killed his family too and denies casting them. When Isla then asks whether Grim is seeking revenge, another invasion, or the preservation of the curses, Grim turns the question back on Isla and notes that she asks many questions for someone hiding many secrets of her own.