Isla reflects on Terra's old warnings that emotions would be her ruin. Isla believes her anger at Oro cost her access to the Sun Isle library, but Isla refuses to admit failure to Celeste after Celeste worked so hard to obtain the Starling gloves. With the ball only days away, Isla decides to try again rather than give up.

During the day, Sun Isle is empty, and Isla walks to the golden castle in a bright red dress that makes no attempt to hide her. A Sunling guard stops Isla at the entrance, but instead of barring her, the guard says Oro has been expecting Isla and has ordered the library closed for the week so Isla can have complete, private access.

Isla suspects a trap because Oro had refused to bring Isla himself, but Isla accepts the opportunity. Inside the vast ten-floor library, Isla puts on the Starling gloves and searches quickly, expecting guards or Oro to interrupt. Isla notices a massive hearth at the end of the hall and reasons that, just as other hidden archives matched their realms, the Sunling secret section might be concealed by fire.

Isla reaches into the flames, and the fire vanishes. Behind the hearth, the stone wall opens into a hidden chamber filled with more relics than any other realm's secret library. Isla methodically handles and examines every enchantment, even pulling some apart, searching for the bondbreaker.

The search fails. None of the relics resemble the giant needle described as the bondbreaker, and Isla realizes the old text only said the bondbreaker had been in a library centuries ago. It may have been moved, destroyed, or never existed. With all Lightlark's libraries searched and the ball three days away, Isla's plan to break the curses and escape the island collapses.