The Prisoner's Throne

Oak, Hyacinthe, and Jack finally surface from the turbulent sea, alive but barely. Despite the storm continuing to rage around Insear, the sky above Insmoor is clear. Oak sets out alone to scout the area. He finds Wren sitting on a boulder alone, anguished and resigned. Oak learns she followed the plan because Bogdana is holding Bex, Wren’s mortal sister, hostage. She offers him Tiernan, trapped inside her walnut cottage. She also warns him that while she isn’t an enemy now, she might be forced to become one if he can’t save her sister.

Oak leaves her and goes back to Hyacinthe and Jack. Together, they head to Mandrake Market, suspecting that Bex is hidden at Mother Marrow’s cottage. The hag refuses to cooperate with them at first, so Oak searches the house. He finds the trunk Jack mentioned, which is empty. Eventually, Oak forces Mother Marrow’s hand by threatening to destroy all her enchanted nuts until he finds the right one. The hag then traps him inside the nut as well, where he finds Bex. He tries to tell her he’s there to help, but she reacts with distrust, having been warned about him by Bogdana. The prison breaks, destroyed from the outside by Jack, and they return to the cottage. Oak talks to Bex, and convinces her that he’s there to help her and her sister.

Before they can leave, however, a furious Bogdana arrives. Oak gets Jack and Hyacinthe to escape with Bex, and stays behind to face the hag. They fight, and Oak is nearly overwhelmed by her power. He then offers to surrender in exchange for being taken directly to Wren. Bogdana, intrigued by his offer, accepts.

Bogdana drags Oak back to Insear, where Wren and Jude are in a standoff. Despite Oak’s efforts to defuse the conflict by saying he rescued Bex and his attempts to reason with Jude, Bogdana goads the two queens into further hostility. The hag proposes a twisted duel: Jude must kill Oak in exchange for a chance to save her people and flee. Jude agrees, not because she intends to kill her brother, but as a strategic move to get close to Bogdana. 

As Jude and Oak engage in a mock duel, they secretly coordinate. Jude reveals that Cardan is getting everyone off the island with Nicasia’s help through the Undersea. Oak, in turn, reveals that Wren was blackmailed and her guards will stand down if she does. When Jude asks if he trusts Wren, he replies that he does.

Together, Jude and Oak turn on Bogdana, pressing their swords to her throat. Wren hesitates but ultimately commands the falcons to stand down. Just then, Bex appears, drawing Wren’s attention. Bogdana seizes the moment to launch a final lightning attack at Oak, but Wren intercepts it, absorbing the bolt into herself. She then channels the entire storm into her body, ending its fury and restoring calm to Elfhame. However, Bogdana’s final attack leaves Wren gravely injured. Her glowing, radiant form reveals the fragile magic keeping her together.

Wren collapses after absorbing the storm’s power. As Oak and Bex attempt to revive her, Oak recalls old legends about hag power and, using his charm, pleads with Wren to come back. When words fail, he tells her how deeply he loves and understands her. Wren gasps awake, much to the astonishment of everyone. 

Though Wren revives, she remains weakened and unusually cold. Oak carries her to the palace, where healers and herbalists try to help, but no one can explain what’s happening to her. She deteriorates further, and her skin turns dry and papery. Bex stays by her side, grieving and blaming herself for not doing more to help her sister in the past. Suddenly, Wren’s body cracks open. She emerges from her former husk, whole again, but with large feathered wings. Bex asks Oak to leave so she can have a moment alone with her sister.

Oak then goes to Tiernan, who is in bed with Hyacinthe, and releases him from his service, acknowledging the toll his recklessness has taken on those who’ve protected him. Oak also receives a letter from Wren, who chose to leave Elfhame with Bex to visit her mortal family and rebuild her life in the north. Heartbroken, Oak realizes she never heard his heartfelt speech when she was unconscious.

Bogdana is imprisoned in the Tower of Forgetting, and later, Jude and Cardan formally grant Oak permission to abdicate his position as heir but ask him to remain in the role temporarily while they take part in a diplomatic mission to the Undersea. When Jude leaves, Cardan talks to Oak alone. He admits he caught onto what Oak was doing long before Jude did, and says that he should let his family in more.

Oak ventures into the icy north to visit Wren in her new domain. She changed the once-menacing Stone Forest into a lush landscape with her new power. She also replaced the Citadel with an obsidian castle. Oak enters and soon finds Wren alone in the library. She is surprised that he decided to come for her. Oak, undeterred, confesses his love again. He tells her he doesn’t want a safe or ordinary love, but one where they can see each other, including their flaws. When Wren asks what he would do if she sent him away, he promises to leave if she wishes, though he would love her from afar. Wren then smiles and asks him to stay. 

As they embrace, she asks what question or riddle he would have asked her on the night of their interrupted wedding. Oak says it would be to ask if she would actually marry him, and she teasingly accepts.