I'm not doubting the validity of your arguments, and I agree that we have no evidence that Graendal could have released the compulsion when Rand struck, though given the way RJ built the OP, such a revelation would be hardly surprising.

But what makes me suspect she is alive is not because I think she is very clever, or because of her stated intentions to run. Instead, I smell a rat in the whole "Nynaeve found a compelled boy who lead them all to Graendal" scenario.

First, Graendal's messenger was killed. Not by the merchant, we learn, so it makes sense that Graendal had him killed so he could not give away her location to Rand. She must have suspected that if his heavy compulsion was removed, he would maybe say something revealing. A fairly straightforward plan, no?

That might have been the case if Graendal's assassin wasn't left behind.

My question always boils down to this: why was Kerb not ordered to kill the messenger and flee? It isn't like such an order is impossible for Graendal to enforce! Worse, why was he ordered to poison the merchant woman (keep forgetting her name)?

Assuming Nynaeve never interfered, in a few days at most, Rand will be told that the merchant he imprisoned is dead. He is bound to investigate, and he would have found out she was poisoned and made the connection to Kerb just as Nynaeve did.

Killing the merchant served no purpose for Graendal, yet she had it done! Worse, it was done by someone who posed the same threat the first messenger did, so why would Graendal replace one threat by another similar one?

The whole thing is stupid, and reeks of a trap. And I refuse to believe that after more or less inviting Rand to her position, Graendal did not figure out a way to keep an eye on him.

For all we know, she sent Ramshalan, Travelled to the forest, and watched Rand while he prepared the Balefire, then released the weave right when she heard him ask Nynaeve to check.

Till I get an explanation for what Kerb was doing, I'm going to believe Graendal is alive.