Bogdana drags Oak through the air to Insear, where Wren and her falcons are squared off against Jude, the Roach, two archers, and a courtier. Wren melts Jude's blade and shatters arrows with her unmaking magic, while Bogdana demands the High King. Oak announces he has rescued Bex, but Bogdana insists he means to use the girl to control Wren as she did. Cardan is conspicuously absent, hidden in a tent.

Jude stalls, probing Bogdana's motives, then proposes a duel: Oak's head in exchange for letting Jude flee with Cardan. Bogdana agrees, demanding Jude kill her own brother. Oak reluctantly accepts. As they fight, Oak recognizes that Jude is wielding Nightfell, not Heartsworn—a feint. Quietly, Jude reveals Cardan is alive, evacuating courtiers through the Undersea via his ex-girlfriend, the queen there. Oak assures Jude that Wren can be trusted and that she was being blackmailed.

The siblings execute their dance: they pivot together and press their blades to Bogdana's throat. Wren orders the falcons to stand down. Bex emerges from a tent, and Wren is overcome to see her sister safe. Bogdana hurls lightning at Oak, but Wren leaps in front and absorbs the bolt, collapsing.

Wren tells Bex that Oak will take her home and that she can trust him. Defying Bogdana, Wren reveals she was never meant to survive her own power. She opens her arms and draws the entire storm into herself, dispelling clouds, wind, and waves. Bogdana strikes her with one final bolt. Wren rises into the air, glowing—her stick-bones, stone eyes, and shell teeth visible—her black heart dense with raw power. Oak feels its pull, and then feels it stop.