Lightlark

Oro takes Isla to the shore, where the enchanted storm that haunts Lightlark is temporarily frozen for the games. Despite Isla’s fear of heights, she crosses a treacherous bridge to a cliff and then follows Oro by jumping down into a hole in the ground. She falls into freezing water and comes out spluttering at Oro, who says it was a test of her trust. Then he reveals what he’s looking for: the heart of Lightlark, a magical energy center that blooms in a different spot every hundred years. He shows Isla that the cave harbors a magical oasis where every kind of plant from Lightlark can grow, and he asks her to tell him what kind of plants might host the heart. Before Oro flies them back to the castle, she identifies three plants that the heart might be drawn to.

Isla tells Celeste everything she’s learned from Oro, and they decide to turn this pairing to their advantage by using Oro to get into the Sun Isle library. Isla spends the next few nights with Oro, searching purse plants on Sky Isle to find the heart, but they don’t find anything. She tries to get Oro to tell her how he found out about the heart, but he refuses.

Isla struggles with sensual dreams about Grim, but she hasn’t seen the Nightshade ruler in a week. Searching for him, she overhears an ominous conversation between Oro and Azul. Later, as they search coffiner trees for the heart, Isla asks Oro if he is working with Azul, but he tells her that the Skyling ruler is no threat to her. Azul, Oro says, lost his husband and has been struggling with grief. Isla is surprised to realize that Azul’s husband was not Skyling and asks what happens to children of two realms. Oro assures her that such children are born with only one power, not two. She asks Oro what he thought of the Wildlings; he says they were his favorite realm before the curses. They end the night without the heart.

Isla jokes to Oro that she is worried Cleo will assassinate her. He tells her that all the realms of Lightlark are connected and there is no way to know what the effects of eliminating a realm will be, so the most difficult decision of the Centennial is deciding which ruler to kill. When she suggests killing Grim because of Oro’s obvious hate for the Nightshade ruler, Oro says that Grim is more important than she realizes. They continue looking for the heart until Isla is attacked by a dangerous rosebush that shoves needle-like spikes and thorns into her skin. Oro is able to stop the plant’s attack, but Isla insists on removing the spikes herself, an excruciating ordeal. Since they haven’t yet found the heart, Oro says that it may be time to approach one of the ancient creatures for information.

While waiting to hear if Oro has contacted an ancient creature, Isla sends Celeste an invitation to meet at the marketplace. When she arrives, someone in Moonling clothing warns her that she’s in danger. She races after them, only to be cornered in an isolated spot near the harbor by several Moonling nobles. They prepare to murder her, claiming that one realm has to die, before Celeste appears to rescue Isla. Isla and Celeste kill the nobles and leave a message in their blood: “Try harder.”

Isla finally encounters Grim, but when she asks him where he’s been, he answers cryptically, saying only that she shouldn’t trust him and that he is a monster. She asks him to show her Wild Isle, the abandoned Lightlark homeland of the Wildlings. He takes her to an island where nothing grows, which harbors a palace made of mirrors at its center. Isla sees a spiral door that piques her interest and returns alone to the Place of Mirrors under the cover of night, but she cannot open the door’s lock.

Back at the marketplace, Isla learns from Juniper that the Place of Mirrors is the only place on Lightlark where all powers except Wildling magic are suppressed. She then encounters Grim, who reads the disappointment and frustration in her aura. It begins to rain, and Grim takes them to the shelter of an abbey, where he confesses to Isla that on the night of the curses, he was in bed with someone. She asks him to show her his power, and he takes her back outside and then shoots a killing darkness from his palm, withering grass and trees to ash. She asks to see more, and he transports them immediately to the shore, where he claims that he could rip a hole in reality and kill everything inside the sea. They almost kiss, but Grim senses Isla’s fear and returns them to the Mainland castle instead.

Isla wonders how she’ll get Oro to allow her into the Sun Isle library when he returns. He takes her to a specter, the ghost of a woman who wants to possess Isla’s body for a few moments in exchange for information about the heart of Lightlark. Isla agrees on the condition that she be allowed to visit the Sun Isle library alone. When the ghost possesses her, it tries to kiss Oro, but Isla takes control of her body back before that can happen. The ghost tells them that the heart is not on Star Isle. Isla expects Oro to take her to the library immediately, but he claims that he never promised when he would take her. Isla blows up at him, reneging on her part of their deal.

Isla goes to the Sun Isle library to see if she can break in, but Oro has instructed the guards to allow her in whenever she wants. She looks for the protected section, finding it behind a hearth with a burning fire. The gloves allow her inside the hidden room, which is filled with relics, but she does not find a bondbreaker. Isla is filled with fear since the 50th day of the Centennial—the time when rulers are allowed to assassinate each other—is only 3 days away.

Celeste tries to comfort Isla, who is distressed at not finding the bondbreaker, but Isla is determined to find another plan, fearing her life will soon be in danger from other rulers. She goes back to Oro to renew their partnership, and he accepts.

Isla attends the Betwixt Ball—the event marking the 50th day of the Centennial—prepared for violence. After dancing with a few nobles, she finds Grim hiding in a corner. The two share a heated moment before he gives her a diamond necklace that will summon him if she ever needs his protection. Isla returns to the ball ready to fight, but before midnight strikes, a devastating earthquake kills several nobles. Isla helps Oro out of some rubble, and he uses his power to stop the earthquake. Isla is worried that even if she survives the Centennial, the isle of Lightlark will be too injured to survive.

Isla asks Oro for more information about the heart, revealing that she knows Lightlark was made by Cronan Malvere and Horus Rey. Surprised, he tells her to ask Grim for more information. Isla is captured by a hive of insect-like people in the forest who have used her as bait to get to Oro; they cut Oro’s throat, but shallowly. He fights back and gets them to reveal that the heart is somewhere “where darkness meets light” (256). Isla and Oro fly back toward the castle, but Oro is weakened by his wound, and they fall into the forest. Isla drags Oro to a stream to heal his wound and then to a cave to wait out the day.

While they wait in the cave, Oro tells Isla that the heart is probably drawn to places where Nightshade and Sunling power mingle on the island; there are eight such places to investigate. Isla proposes a truth-telling game where they take turns answering each other’s questions. They bond over their shared feelings of entrapment and inability to fall in love, and Isla asks whether there is a relic that will break bonds or curses. Oro says no and then asks Isla to reveal her secret, promising her that if she tells him, she can wield the heart of Lightlark when they find it, gaining great power. She refuses.