Before — Chapter 26

Grim arrives in Isla’s room to begin a covert alliance. He sets an illusion to cover her absence and whisks Isla to a storm-battered Nightshade cliff, intent on visiting the sword’s creator—the blacksmith. Forced to climb slick, razorlike rocks, Isla cuts her hand despite Grim’s warning and barely reaches the top.

The forge’s hammering stops, and Grim vanishes after muttering that her blood will make the blacksmith try to kill her. Alone, Isla flees into the woods as the blacksmith hunts her, loosing arrows. She tumbles, injures her shoulder and ankle, then ambushes the blacksmith by stabbing him through the eye with her dagger.

At a bone-and-skull fence, the blacksmith—Baron—tears the gate free, but Grim appears and halts him. Grim questions Baron about the sword with the black diamond hilt and twin blades. Baron confirms Isla can help because the sword was cursed so a Nightshade ruler cannot claim it; if it senses Grim’s power, it disappears. He last sensed it stolen from a Skyling market and returned to Nightshade before it went dormant.

Baron, surprised Isla could harm him, returns her dagger. After he leaves, Isla confronts Grim for letting her be hunted; Grim coldly calls it curiosity and resets her dislocated shoulder, refusing blame for her injuries. He reveals he cannot trust his court—he was betrayed before—and orders Isla to keep the search secret.

Back in Isla’s room, Grim explains Baron forges with the blood and bones of gifted victims and that he wiped Baron's memories as a safeguard. With Grim unable to use his powers near the sword, Isla realizes why he needs her. Tempted by the freedom of the quest despite the danger, she asks who the best thieves on Nightshade are for their next lead.