Freya releases the kingdom. The ice recedes, and the first green shoots of spring pierce the snow. Elias and Liora return to their village, while the Queen remains in her mountain—no longer a tyrant, but a guardian of the seasons, learning that to love is to accept the risk of the thaw.
: Along the way, Elias saves a fox trapped in a snare of magical ice. In gratitude, the fox—actually a minor spirit of the hearth—bestows upon him a "Warmth-Stone," a small ember that wards off the Queen’s lethal "Heart-Freeze" spell. The Confrontation at the Sapphire Palace
Instead of breaking the ice with force, Elias places the not on his sister, but at the feet of the Queen. He tells her, "Fear is the coldest ice of all. You didn't freeze the world to rule it; you froze it so nothing could ever leave you again."