Rune returns to life under the night sky and is overwhelmed by the simple wonder of being alive again. As she opens her eyes and hears Gideon speak, the cold of death falls away, and she immediately reaches for him, taking comfort in his presence and in the fact that he is still marked by the spells that protected and preserved him.

In that first reunion, Rune blurts out the message she never gave him: Alex loved Gideon and wanted him to know it before he died. The moment suggests that Rune still carries some lingering trace of what she experienced beyond death, and Gideon receives the confession with fragile relief as they hold each other close.

Rune then sees Seraphine and Antonio over Cressida’s body, using Rune’s spell book as Seraphine speaks the words to destroy the fallen witch queen completely. Cressida’s corpse burns in black fire and is reduced to ash, which Seraphine scatters into the whirlpool, ensuring that no remnant of her remains.

Because Cressida’s death has broken the spell tied to her casting signature, the protections around Elowyn and Analise also vanish. Seraphine decides they must be burned as well to prevent any future threat, and Gideon joins her and Antonio in dragging the bodies from the water and destroying them.

After all three former queens have been reduced to ash, six glowing female figures appear at the water’s edge. Seraphine walks toward them and visibly sheds the last traces of her human form, revealing herself fully as one of the ancient beings. Before leaving, she says goodbye to Rune and tells her that Kestrel would be proud, then reunites with her sisters and vanishes with them into the world beyond.