I have made no secret of the fact that I have a horrible memory when it comes to books. I can remember how a book made me feel, how I felt about it and what I rated it. I fail miserably at remembering anything more then the most basic details about a book unless I've read it more than once. I have started doing updates as I read over on Instagram and this really helps me: check those out here.
I did a complete chapter by chapter series recap for the Throne of Glass books so that with each new release I could just go read through it without having to reread all the other books again. It was super useful and you can check it out here. Be warned: I wrote these with myself in mind so do throw in comments here and there and some thoughts I have.
I am now going to do the same for the ACOTAR series as I wait for the next book, and will continue to do it with each new book released. I hope you find this useful, I will be summing up every single chapter and including all details that are mentioned. FYI: I also have a habit of saying man/woman rather than male/female for the fae sometimes and I apologise for any spelling mistakes or slight errors.
Crescent City recaps:
ACOTAR recaps:
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Chapter 1: Feyre is out hunting in the woods, has gone further in than she would usually go as she is quite desperate. Feyre mentions she has been sleeping with a guy named Isaac Hale. Sees a deer enter the clearing, this could feed her family for at least a week. Then she sees a wolf approaching, she notes it is enormous, around the size of a pony and unnaturally stealthy - she thinks it could possibly be a faerie. She says that fae hate iron but it is ash wood that slows down their immortal healing powers and makes them easier to kill - she has one ash wood arrow on her. She waits for the wolf to take down the deer and then she shoots and kills the wolf. She skins the wolf and then carries the pelt and the deer home.
Chapter 2: Elain and Nesta are her older sisters - Feyre is 19, Elain is 20-21 and Nesta is 22. All three are described as having gold-brown hair. Nesta is described as cruel, whilst Elain is described as sweet. Neither seems to really help Feyre, she is the one who keeps the family fed. Her fathers leg is injured, creditors once broke his knee when he lost his wealth and couldn't pay them. Nesta resents their dad, believes he could work and help them more if he wasn't so ashamed.
Nesta is described as quite mean, judgmental and unappreciative of all Feyre does for them, without Feyre they would all starve. Their mother died years before, Feyre describes her as a cold woman who did not love her children and only loved their father. On her deathbed she made Feyre promise to look after her family, Feyre was the youngest child and only about 8 at the time. She still doesn't understand why her mother made her promise and not her father.
Tomas Mandry, a woodcutter's son, wants to marry Nesta but Feyre does not approve of it.
Chapter 3: Elain, Nesta & Feyre head into the village so that Feyre can sell the wolf and deer hides. They are stopped by a member of the Children of the Blessed - those who still worship the fae.
Feyre approaches a woman mercenary who agrees to buy the pelts and overpays for them. She tells Feyre that someone once did the same for her and she believes now is the time to repay that. The mercenary warns her that she should not hunt close to the wall that separates the humans from the fae world.
The High Fae had once been the humans overlords and had kept them as slaves. But the humans had rebelled and a war had ensued. It took 6 mortal queens crafting a treaty for the slaughter to stop and the wall to be constructed - the North for the fae and the South for humans. More and more creatures seem to be coming past the wall and into the humans land.
We learn Feyre has been sleeping with Isaac on and off for two years - uses it as an escape but doesn't have feelings for him.
Chapter 4: A monster has broken into their home, the creature is as big as a horse with golden fur and a wolfish head. He demands to know who killed the wolf. Feyre thinks about lying but she has heard that fae can't tell lies and she is also worried they might be able to detect them too. Feyre notes that Elain might be able to escape because Nesta would give her time to run, Nesta would go down swinging to protect Elain.
Feyre admits that she was the one who killed the wolf, which was actually a faerie. The monster informs her the treaty demands a life for a life. He tells her it demands he claim her life but that doesn't mean he has to kill her. He tells her she can either be killed by him or she can go with him and spend the rest of her life in Prythian, the fae world. Feyre agrees to go with him and live in the fae world.
Feyre gives her father advice on how to survive now that she won't be there to hunt for them. She tells Nesta not to marry Tomas - says that his father beats his wife and none of the children do anything about it.
Before she leaves her father tells her she was far too good for them and if she ever manages to escape she should not come back to them, instead she should go off and make a name for herself.
Chapter 5: Feyre goes with him, is scared about how she will be treated. He tells her the treaty forbids the fae from keeping human slaves. High Fae rule Prythian, it is divided into 7 courts and each is ruled by a High Lord of unyielding power. The beast uses his magic to knock Feyre out and keeps her unconscious for days until they arrive at his estate.
Chapter 6: Feyre notices it is Spring where they are and not winter like it should be. The beast takes her to a dining room, with a table filled with food and drink. The beast sits down and as he does he transforms into a golden-haired, green-eyed fae male - she realises he is a High Fae. His nose, cheeks and brow are covered by an exquisite golden mask - this is Tamlin.
A red-haired male fae enters - also wearing a mask. She learns the fae she killed was called Andras. She notes the red-haired fae is missing an eye and has a carved, golden orb in its place. Also has a scar running from his brow to his jaw. His name is Lucien.
Tamlin asks his maid Alis to take Feyre to her room, where Alis tries to get her to change into a dress but she refuses. She is instead given trousers and a tunic - thinks it will be easier to fight/escape if she is wearing this and not a dress.
Chapter 7: Tamlin looks close to Feyre in age but fae are immortal and so she doesn't know how old he actually is. She asks Tamlin what he wants with her and he says nothing, tells her she can do what she wants with her life in Prythian. She begs to go back to her family, says they will die without out. He assures her that her family have been well taken care of.
Feyre asks why Andras was in the human realm, he tells her there is a sickness in Prythian that has been there for almost 50 years now. He says the blight is slowly spreading through Prythian and it makes magic act strangely. He tells her the masks they wear are a part of it - the result of a surge of magic that happened during a masquerade 49 years ago and they are now unable to remove them. The magical blight could eventually spread to the human world.
Chapter 8: Feyre is still desperate to get back to her family despite Tamlin assuring her that he taking care of them. Feyre reveals her mother died of typhus when she was 8. She steals a knife from dinner that night.
Chapter 9: Feyre wants to speak to Lucien, believes he might help her get back to the human world as he hates her being there as she killed his friend. Lucien asks Feyre to go with him on patrol. He tells her he knows why she asked to speak to him and that if it was up to him she'd already be gone but there's no way out of the treaty.
Feyre tries asking Lucien about the blight, doesn't say much but does mention an elusive 'she' that they all seem frightened of. He explains that Tamlin can shapeshift but not the other people in his court, he can however turn them in to other creatures which is why Andras was a wolf when Feyre saw him.
Lucien also mentions a creature called the Suriel which will answer any question you ask of them if you trap one. He tells her the Suriel are old and wicked. Lucien then suddenly tells her to stay still, look straight ahead and no to react at all.
Chapter 10: Feyre can feel that a creature is near her, it tells her how it will kill her and is shouting at her to look at it. She can sense that she shouldn't do as it asked so she ignores it. The creature is the Bogge, once you look at it it becomes real and can kill you. Tamlin goes to hunt it down. Whilst waiting for him to return, Feyre looks out her window and sees her father in the garden.
Chapter 11: Feyre thinks her father has come to rescue her. Tamlin catches her before she can go to him, he tells her it isn't her father but a creature that can turn into anything she desires in order to lure her in and kill her. She tells Tamlin again that she wants to go home, she tells him about the vow she made to her mother. He explains she hasn't broken her vow as her family are now very well cared for. Tells her the creature that tried to lure her outside was a puca. That night Feyre dreams of killing the wolf, it transforms back into a fae as she kills it.
Chapter 12: Feyre begins to make a map of Tamlin's estate, she can't read or write but can draw the map. Tamlin comes back, he has killed the Bogge but he is hurt. Feyre helps patch him up in the infirmary.
She then overhears Tamlin and Lucien fighting. She isn't sure what they are arguing about but Lucien accuses Tamlin of not even trying. He also says to Tamlin that "For someone with a heart of stone, yours is certainly soft these days." Tamlin says he can't stomach 'it' after what his father and brother used to do to humans.
Then Tamlin comes to talk to Feyre, he asks her if anyone has ever taken care of her and she says no. Tamlin reveals that he knows she took a knife at dinner. He then takes Feyre to his study.
Chapter 13: She tells Tamlin she can't read because her mother neglected her children's education. She is currently trying to teach herself to read, has been keeping a list of all the words she doesn't know. Tamlin offers to help her write a letter to her family if she wants.
She finds a mural in his study that shows a cauldron held by female hands that is tipped over and has words spilling out of it, forming their world. The mural depicts the war between fae and humans. It was shows the seven Courts: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Dawn, Day and Night.
Feyre goes to see Lucien to try and find out how she can trap the Suriel. He says they have a weakness for groves of young birch trees in the western woods and also a weakness for freshly slaughtered chickens. He says they wouldn't notice a double-loop snare rigged from the grove that would pin its legs. Says she would also need a bow, quiver and knife and to run like hell once she frees it. Tells her to run across a river once she has freed it. Tells her he might even be close enough to hear her scream if she needed help.
Chapter 14: She sets up the trap and captures a Suriel - describes it as a tall, thin, veiled figure in dark robes. She asks it if there is any way for her to go home, it says not unless she wants her and her family to be killed. Asks what the Suriel knows about Tamlin and it asks her to be more specific as it knows a lot about the High Lord of the Spring Court - Feyre finally realises that Tamlin is High Lord.
Feyre asks what can be done about the blight and the Suriel tells her to just stay with the High Lord.
The Suriel tells her that across the sea is the faerie world of Hybern that is ruled by a powerful King. No humans exist there anymore as they were all killed. The King has a throne made out of human bones. The King of Hybern is unhappy with the Treaty. 100 years ago he sent his most loyal commanders to Prythian to wage war against the humans. They infiltrated the High Fae courts for 50 years but then one of his commanders betrayed him - they are now known as the Deceiver.
Suriel says they aren't alone, it tells Feyre to free it and run back to the manor and stay there. Tells Feyre the naga are coming, faeries made of shadows, hate and rot. Feyre goes to free the naga when four naga appear.
Chapter 15: Feyre screams to alert Lucien that she needs his help. She frees the Suriel and then fires an arrow at one of the naga and then runs. She is eventually surrounded by the other three naga and is attacked by one that she then stabs in the neck with a knife. Tamlin arrives in time to save her and kill the naga.
Chapter 16: Alis tells Feyre about her family: her sister and her ssister's mate were murdered almost 50 years ago and left two children behind and she raised them. Lucien reveals to Feyre that faeries can in fact lie, iron does nothing to them.
Tamlin once again offers to help Feyre write to her family and tells her they are fools for not seeing how much she did for them. Tamlin reveals that some faeries used to be close to humans and actually fought on their side during the war, which was how the humans survived so long and were able to get the Treaty.
Tamlin reveals that Feyre's family have absolutely no memory of the day he came for her. He glamoured their memories and so they believe a long lost aunt called Feyre away to care for her as she was sick. Also made sure they believe they heard a rumour of a threat from Prythian so that they know to run if they need to.
Feyre asks Tamlin for some paints and tells him she enjoys paining. He tells her he has a gallery in the manor that is closed up but he will show it to her once it is cleaned.
Chapter 17: Feyre is woken up by screaming. Tamlin comes in carrying an injured faeries that has had its wings cut off. The faerie is from the Summer Court and was dumped on their border. The faerie says 'she took my wings'.
Feyre helps hold the faerie down while Tamlin tries to heal him but it is no use. The faerie bleeds out and dies. Feyre then apologises for killing Andras, tells Tamlin she regrets that there was so much hate in her heart at that time.
Chapter 18: Tamlin and Lucien take Feyre to a beautiful glen in the Spring Court. Tamlin shows her a nearby pool where the water is starlight. He tells Feyre a little more about Lucien.
Lucien is the youngest son of the High Lord of the Autumn Court and he is one of seven brothers. He says the Autumn Court is cut throat, like in every other Court the person who inherits the Court is the strongest and not the oldest. Lucien never cared to rule or fight for the title.
Lucien fell in love with a faerie woman that his father did not approve of so he had her executed and made Lucien watch. Lucien left, abandoning his title and Court and went to the Spring Court. Three of his brothers went after him to kill him but only one came back alive, Lucien killed one and Tamlin killed the other. Tamlin claimed Lucien as his own and named him emissary for the Spring Court.
Feyre decides to go swimming in the pool, a response to Tamlin teasing her. Tamlin asks Feyre about her family and how they lost their fortune. She tells him her father was known as the Prince of Merchants, a name he inherited from his father. Says it was all a lie, a good name that masked three generations of bad debts.
Her father found an opportunity to pay off his debts. 8 years ago he sank his whole wealth into 3 ships that were to sale to Bharat for invaluable spices and cloth. But all the ships sank and they were left for nothing. Creditors came and when he couldn't pay them they broke his knee while Feyre watched and screamed at them to stop.
Lucien admits to Feyre that he heard her screaming and hesitated for a few seconds before trying to come save her. He gives her a jeweled hunting knife.
Chapter 19: Tamlin takes Feyre to see the gallery, she cries. Feyre then spends weeks painting but feels guilty about it, Tamlin tells her not to. She cuts her hands on the thorn of a rose and Tamlin kisses the wound so it heals. Tamlin tells Feyre that he finds her human joy fascinating.
Feyre goes for a walk in the woods and feels like someone is following her, so she sets up a snare and captures Tamlin. Tamlin gives her some poems he has written, reads them out to her - they use all the words she wrote down that she didn't know how to read.
Feyre asks Tamlin about his parents, as he tells her they were mated rather than married. He tells her that faeries do get married but if they are lucky they meet their mate, who is their equal in every way and the bond is so deep that marriage feels insignificant.
Tamlin tells her that his father and two brothers were even worse than Lucien's. They all kept humans as slaves and they treated them terribly. But his mother loved his father and wouldn't have said a bad word against him, despite everything he did.
Tamlin joined his fathers war band when he was old enough to, his power kept growing and growing over time. He says his whole family was killed by a different High Lord and this left Tamlin to become High Lord of the Spring Court. Many courtiers weren't happy about it as he hadn't been trained to be High Lord and so they defected.
They come across bonfires that are being built. Tamlin tells her this is for Calanmai (Fire Night) which is a Spring ceremony where they create magic to help regenerate the land for the year ahead. Tells her they create the magic with a ritual.
Tamlin tells Feyre to stay hidden no matter what she hears. She watches as Tamlin and Lucien talk to someone who is invisible to her. Hears the thing say "Though you have a heart of stone, Tamlin... you certainly keep a host of fear inside it." The creature is the Attor.
Chapter 20: It is now Calanmai and Tamlin says he must partake in the Great Rite. He tells Feyre to go to her room, lock the door, set a snare and not to come out until morning. But she gets curious and heads down to the bonfires.
She is grabbed by three faeries who say they will have their fun with her. Someone grabs her shoulders and says they've been looking for her. The fae who pretends to know her seems to scare the other three away very easily. She turns to him and says he is 'the most beautiful man I'd ever seen'
Chapter 21: The High Fae who saved her has black hair and deep blue/violet eyes. He saves her and then leaves. Lucien finds her and tells her she has to go. He quickly runs her back to the manor and explains that the crops in the Spring Court rely on the magic regenerated on Calanmai. He tells her that all seven High Lords perform the Great Rite every year.
He tells her Tamlin will allow a great and terrible magic to enter his body and soul. It will turn him into the Hunter and fill him with the sole purpose of finding the Maiden and their coupling will release the magic. While he is under the spell of the magic he will only think of finding the Maiden.
Tamlin first needs to hunt down and kill the white stag and then he will go to the sacred cave where all the females will be lined up and waiting for him to choose one of them as his Maiden. Feyre mentions that there were loads of male fae there too - Lucien says that Tamlin isn't the only one who gets to perform the rite. Lucien says she is lucky he found her because if he hadn't then Tamlin would have claimed her.
Later that night Feyre leaves her room to go and get her snack. Tamlin finds her and pins her up against the wall. He says he smelled her at Calanmai and tried to find her. Says that when he wasn't able to find her the magic made him pick another fae to sleep with. Tells her he would have been gentle with her.
Tamlin bites her neck to keep her pinned to the wall and tells her to not 'disobey' him again. Feyre has the realisation that she wants Tamlin.
Chapter 22: Feyre wakes up and has a bruise on her neck from where Tamlin bit her the night before. They fight at breakfast that day. Tamlin then brings her roses and apologises. Feyre finally puts on a dress for dinner that night because she wants to impress Tamlin. Tamlin tells her she looks beautiful.
Feyre takes Tamlin to see all the paintings she has gone. She did a painting of the glen and the pool he took her to. Also has paintings of parts of her life - the cottage she grew up in, of her and Isaac, of her dad having his knee broken. He asks for the painting she did of the woods she used to hunt in.
Feyre asks Tamlin if there is anything she can do to help with the masks and whatever is happening to their magic. He says there is nothing she can do, nothing he wants her to do. He says: "I want you here, where I can look after you - where I can come home and know you're here, painting and safe."
She goes to bed that night and doesn't lock her door for the first time.
Chapter 23: Feyre and Tamlin are laying in the grass together. Tamlin tells Feyre he has a way to allow her to see the world as the fae do, says he will do it for a kiss. She agrees and he then kisses her eyelids. Sees the world as they do, it becomes richer and clearer. She tries to take off Tamlin's mask but of course she can't. Then Feyre falls asleep in the grass.
Chapter 24: Feyre wakes up and can now see way more fae in the Spring Court, ones that look less human than the fae she is used to seeing. Tamlin had glamoured them before so she couldn't see them as he thought they'd frighten her. Alis looks different to her now, has skin like tree bark.
Feyre finds the head of a High Fae on a pike on a fountain statue in the gardens. The head has been branded with the Night Court sigil. They tell Feyre the Night Court is filled with sadistic killers. Tamlin tells her this is probably the High Lord of the Night Courts idea of a joke and a way to tell them he is waiting for their wards to break more.
Chapter 25: It is now Summer Solstice, another celebration and Feyre puts on another dress for the occasion. It is a day filled with celebrating, singing, dancing and drinking. Feyre drinks faerie wine, despite Tamlin warning her not to. Tamlin finds her and takes her to see the Will-o-the-wisps. They then dance together and then kiss. They then sit and watch the sunrise together and then kiss again.
Chapter 26: Lucien receives a letter from someone in the Winter Court - it says the blight took out two dozen of their younglings, it burned through their magic and broke apart their minds. Every Court is affected by it except the Night Court.
Suddenly Tamlin has Lucien hide Feyre in the corner of the room, Lucien stands in front of her. The fae she met on Calanmai appears - Tamlin calls him Rhysand and also calls him Amarantha's whore.
Feyre realises that Rhysand is the High Lord of the Night Court and he refers to the severed head as a gift. Rhys notices Feyre's plate on the table and realises they have glamoured him. He gets rid of it and can now see Feyre, asks who she is. Lucien lies and says that Feyre is his betrothed.
Rhysand calls Feyre mortal trash and uses his powers on her to look into her mind. He tells Tamlin that Feyre thinks about him in a sexual way. He also tells Tamlin that she would have been the one for him but it is too late. He says that Amarantha will enjoy breaking her.
Tamlin begs him to not tell Amarantha about Feyre, Rhysand makes Tamlin beg on his knees. Rhysand asks Feyre for her name, she lies and tells him it is Clare Beddor - the name of a girl from her village. Rhysand then leaves.
Chapter 27: Tamlin tells Feyre that he is sending her home, tells her there are people who will want to hurt her because of what she means to him. He tells her she won't have to leave forever but she doesn't believe him. She says life will be easier with her gone because she is 'covered in thorns'. Feyre then kisses him and takes him to bed where they have sex. Tamlin tells Feyre he loves her 'thorns and all'.
Chapter 28: She gets ready the next day and she notes that Lucien seems very angry with her about it and tells her he thought she was smarter than this. Before she leaves Tamlin once again tells her he loves her but she doesn't say it back.
The carriage she is in takes her to a fancy chateau that she notes has servants. She finds Nesta and Elain there. Elain asks her about aunt Ripleigh, the long lost aunt they believe she was helping. Feyre pretends that she died and left Feyre her fortune.
Elain reveals to Feyre that a week after she left a stranger appeared and asked their father to invest him money for him. He gave them a trunk of gold just for agreeing. Her father doubled the mans investment in a month. Their fathers ships were also suddenly found too - Feyre realises that Tamlin did all of this. Now her family have their wealth back. Feyre notices that Feyre is watching her a lot and is very quiet.
Feyre feels like she made a mistake by agreeing to leave Tamlin. She remembers that the Suriel told her to stay with the High Lord.
Chapter 29: Tamlin had sent Feyre back with a trunk filled with jewels. She also finds out that Tamlin found a way to get a magic salve to her father that has helped make his injured leg better and improved his limp.
Elain says that when they got their fortune back and begun attending balls and parties again, people acted as if they'd never been gone. She tells Feyre that Nesta didn't finish the seaason, stopped attending all the balls and wouldn't talk to anyone. She also tells Feyre that Nesta went to visit Feyre and was gone for a whole week.
Feyre has a lot of money now so she takes some of it with her and sets off for the village they used to live in.
Chapter 30: Feyre goes and hands out bags of gold to the poorest families in the village. She overhears Tomas Mandray talk about a house that burned down a week before with the family trapped inside. She sees Isaac with his new wife, they smile at each other and Feyre notes that she feels nothing for him and just wishes him well.
Feyre's father plans to host a ball in her honour. Nesta comes to talk to Feyre and asks why she is bothering to stay with them. Nesta reveals that the glamour didn't work on her, it only worked on Elain and their father.
Nesta says she went after Feyre, she trekked for two days to the wall but could not find a way to get through it. Nesta had paid the mercenary from the village to take her to the wall so she could go after Feyre. She reveals she gave up on Tomas Mandray when she realised he wouldn't go with her after Feyre.
Feyre notes that Nesta shrouded the grief of losing her mother and everything else that happened in icy rage and bitterness but she had still loved and cared for Feyre. Feyre tells Nesta everything that happened while she was gone.
Nesta says that she hates their father for never doing anything to help them, for doing nothing as they almost starved to death. She also hates him for allowing their mother to die - says he could have gone to the fae for a cure but he didn't. Nesta says Feyre would have gone to the ends of the earth to save her High Lord and Feyre agrees.
Chapter 31: Feyre's father mentions that he hopes to buy the Beddor land when it goes up for sale. Feyre asks what happened and finds out that their house burned down with the family inside and they all died. Apparently every body was found except for Clares. Clare Beddor was the name that Feyre gave to Rhysand when he asked who she was. She doesn't think it is a coincidence, thinks the fae came for the family.
Feyre tells Nesta that she thinks something might be happening in Prythian, warns her to hire guards for their home and to run if they need to. Nesta tells Feyre to not come back from Prythian, tells her the family can take care of themselves.
Feyre makes it make to Tamlin's manor and sees the gate has been ripped open and the manor has been trashed and Tamlin and everyone else is gone.
Chapter 32: It seems as if a fight took place in the house. Feyre finds Alis still in the house, she tells Feyre that Tamlin and Lucien are still alive. She tells Feyre that they have been taken to Amarantha Under the Mountain.
Alis explains that Amarantha is the High Queen of Prythian. Prythian used to only be ruled by the 7 High Lords until Amarantha arrived 100 years ago as an emissary of the King of Hybern. She was the King's most lethal general and she fought on the front lines in the war against humans.
Amarantha had a younger sister called Clythia who fell in love with a mortal warrior called Jurian. Clythia didn't realise she was being used for information and that Jurian didn't actually love her. Jurian betrayed Clythia and he tortured, butchered her and crucified her with ash wood. Jurian and Clythia had a final confrontation where she killed Jurian and she has despised humans ever since.
Once the Treaty was made, Amarantha killed all her human slaves rather than free them. She slowly began to bring her forces to Prythian and planned to take it for herself, build her power and then destroy the human world.
The High Lords all hosted a ball in her honour and she slipped a potion she made using the King of Hybern's spell book into their wine. When the High Lords drank the wine it made it so Amarantha could steal their powers. It left them all with only the basest elements of their magic. She took control of Prythian and has now ruled it for 49 years.
Alis says there isn't actually a sickness or blight on the land, the blight is Amarantha. She tells Feyre she could have been the one to save them all if she hadn't been so blind to her own heart. Reveals that Tamlin was cursed by Amarantha. She reveals that Amarantha and Tamlin had known each other for a long time because his family had ties to Hybern. The Spring Court also aligned with Hybern in the war against humans and Tamlin's father was close to the Hybern King.
Amarantha wanted to be with Tamlin but he refused. Lucien was sent to her as Tamlin's emissary to try and keep the peace between them but she refused. Lucien insulted her and she took his eye as a punishment, she carved it out with her own nail.
She then hosted a masquerade ball Under the Mountain with all the Courts present. She had all of Spring Court wear animal masks to honour Tamlin and his shapeshifting ability. She then told everyone that peace could be had if Tamlin agreed to be her lover and consort. Tamlin told her he would rather be with a human than be with her.
Amarantha then said she would give Tamlin one chance to break the spell she put upon him to steal his power. Told Tamlin he had seven times seven years (why she couldn't just say 49, I'll never know!) before she claimed him and he would have to join her. If he wanted to break the curse than he had to find a human girl who hated faeries who would marry him.
The human also had to have killed one of his men who he would have to send across the wall like a lamb to slaughter. And the girl could only be brought to Prythian to be courted if she killed one of his men in an unprovoked attack.Tamlin lied to Feyre about the treaty, she could kill as many faeries as she wanted and the treaty wouldn't mean she would be punished. The spell could have been broken if Feyre had told Tamlin she loved him and meant it.
About the masquerade masks being a part of the curse she says: 'Amarantha knows humans are preoccupied with beauty and thus bound the masks to all our faces, to his face, so it would be more difficult to find a girl willing to look past it.'
Amarantha made it so they could not tell anyone about the curse and so the fact Alis can tell Feyre now must mean it is over for Amarantha. Tamlin used to send one of his men to the human world every single day but they would end up being killed by someone who wasn't a young girl and so he stopped.
Alis says some High Lords fought back 40 years ago, three High Lords were executed along with mostof their families. Day, Summer and Winter were the three Courts that fought back and as punishment Amarantha now keeps their entire courts Under the Mountain.
Alis used to serve the Summer Court and her sister was killed when Amarantha invaded. She took her nephews and fled. Tamlin hid her nephews and allowed her to stay and work for him.
Tamlin spent decades refusing to send anyone across the wall but finally decided to have one last attempt. He started to send his remaining men over the wall, it was three days after that when Feyre killed Andras. Alis reveals that Tamlin only had three days left to break the curse when he sent Feyre away.
Feyre asks Alis if Tamlin could kill Amarantha if he got his powers back, Alis says that she isn't sure. Feyre then demands that Alis take her Under the Mountain.
Chapter 33: Feyre arms herself with a bow, arrows and two daggers. Alis warns her not to drink wine while she is there and to not make deals unless her life depends on it. Tells her to not trust anyone in there - not even Tamlin. She says her senses will be waiting to betray her. Alis says there is still one part of the curse that she can't tell her about. Feyre tells Alis that if she needs to escape Prythian then she should go and find her sister Nesta. Alis takes her to an entrance to a tunnel in the Spring Court that will lead her Under the Mountain.
Chapter 34: The Attor finds her in the tunnels and takes her to the throne room. Tamlin is seated next to Amarantha and acts unmoved by Feyre being there. She tells Amarantha that she has come to claim the one she loves, Tamlin. She notices a ring on Amarantha's finger, it appears to be a real human eye encased in crystal.
Amarantha shows Feyre the tortured body of Clare Beddor - the girl they all believed to be her. Tamlin tries to lie and say that he has never seen Feyre before. Amarantha talks to her ring, calls it Jurian - Feyre realises it is his eye that is trapped inside it.
Amarantha tells her that she can have Tamlin back if she completes 3 tasks of her choosing. Feyre says she will complete all three tasks if it means that Tamlin's curse will be broken and all of his Court can leave there and remain free forever. Amarantha agrees and says she doesn't even have to complete the three trials if she can successfully answer a riddle. If she gets the answer to the riddle correct then his curse will be instantly broken. Says she can answer the riddle at any time but if she gets it wrong then she will end up like Clare.
Amarantha says Feyre will complete one tasks every month at the full moon. Feyre agrees to it and then Amarantha has her beaten.
Chapter 35: Feyre awakes, badly beaten and in a prison cell. Lucien comes to see her and tells her she shouldn't be there. Lucien helps to fix her broken nose and heal her but doesn't heal the bruises, this way others can't tell he has healed her. Lucien tells her all the other High Lords have been summoned Under the Mountain and aren't allowed to leave until Feyre has completed her trials.
Lucien tells her about Amarantha and Jurian's final fight. He says she beat him and then spend weeks torturing him. He says Jurian is now kept alive forever through the ring.
Amarantha has Feyre brought to her and she asks for Feyre's name, she refuses to give it. Amarantha then calls for Rhysand and asks him if this is the girl he saw at Tamlin's manor and he says that he thinks it is. Amarantha asks him why he said that Clare was the person he saw and he just says that all humans look alike to him. Feyre doesn't believe his excuse, thinks he knew Clare wasn't the right girl.
Amarantha drags Lucien out and tells Rhysand to torture him for Feyre's name. Feyre caves and tells them her name.
Amarantha then gives Feyre the riddle:
There are those who seek me a lifetime but never we meet,
And those I kiss but who trample me beneath ungrateful feet.
At times I seem to favor the clever and the fair,
But I bless all those brave enough to dare.
By large, my ministrations are soft-handed and sweet,
But scorned, I become a difficult beast to defeat.
For though each of my strikes lands a powerful blow,
When I kill, I kill slow...
(Can we all agree that the answer to this riddle was ridiculously obvious? I will forever judge Feyre for not immediately knowing the answer!)
Feyre finds the worms den that is filled with the bones of its kills. She begins breaking the bones in half to get sharp bone shards and begins sticking them into the mud with the sharp end pointing up.
She overhears Rhys telling the other High Lords that she is building a trap. Feyre then covers herself in mud so that the worm can no longer smell her. She then tracks down the worm and cuts her hand open so it can smell her blood. The worm begins chasing her and she leads it back to its den where it falls for her trap. It ends up impaled on the bone shads and is killed.
Feyre then throws one of the bones at Amarantha. Amarantha notes that everyone else in her court bet that Feyre would lose except for one person. Feyre realises she has hurt her arm, a piece of bone is now embedded in it.
Rhysand says he can heal her arm in exchange for her. He asks for two weeks every month that Feyre will have to come and live with him in the Night Court. She says no but he points out that she is dying and he is her only chance. She still says no and so he grabs the none and twists it causing her immense pain. She bargains with him for one week out of the month and she agrees. She shakes his hand and falls unconscious.
Feyre wakes up and finds that she is completely healed. Her left arm is covered in a tattoo of swirls of blank ink and a large eye tattooed in the middle of her palm. He tells her it is customary for deals to be permanently inked on the body.
Chapter 39: Two female fae show up in her cell and take her to a room where they bathe her and then begin painting her entire body. They then put her in a dress that barely covers her. Rhysand comes to her and tells her he needs her to attend a party with him. He had her painted so that he will know if anyone else touches her (I think Rhys has mistaken Feyre for Anck-su-Namun - and if you don't get that reference you are missing out!) And he tells her he doesn't like his belongings being tampered with.
Chapter 41: Feyre is being escorted by Rhysands two servants when they suddenly hide her behind a tapestry so they can spy on the Attor and overhear what is being said. She hears a voice ask the Attor if the High Lords will contribute their forces, the Attor says they will do what they are told. They say the King of Hybern is unhappy with Amarantha about the situation with Feyre and the deal she agreed to.
Chapter 43: Feyre is called to the third trial, Amarantha is sitting on her throne and once again has Tamlin beside her. Amarantha asks her if she has any final words and she tells Tamlin that she loves him.
Chapter 38: Feyre is told to clean a floor but is given dirty water and is unable to do it. The Lady of the Autumn Court comes in and thanks Feyre for giving her name to save Lucien and then she uses her magic to help Feyre clean the floor.
The next day she is taken to a room and told to get spilled lentils out of the ash in the fireplace. Rhysand comes in to the room and asks why she is in his room - she explains what she has been told to do. Rhysand talks to Feyre more, reveals that all High Lords can shapeshift, he says he prefers wings and talons. Shows her how he can partly shift to give himself wings.
She asks Rhys if he knows the answer to the riddle (Feyre, I think anyone with a brain knows the answer except you!) and he tells her they have all been forbidden from telling her the answer. Rhysand orders the guards to stop giving Feyre these random tasks and to stay out of her cell or they are to take their own daggers and gut themselves.
He takes her to the party - Amarantha sees her tattooed arm and asks he what he has one. He reveals their bargain and the fact Feyre now must spend a week with every month for the rest of her life. He then gives Feyre faerie wine to drink.
She wakes in her cell and vomits, doesn't remember much of the night. Lucien comes to see her and says that Rhysand spent the night touching her just to get a rise out of Tamlin. He says Rhysand had Feyre dance for him all night and then had her sit in his lap. Every night following Rhysand has her doled up and taken to the throne room where she is made to dance half naked for entertainment while she is drunk on faerie wine.
Rhysand visits her in her cell and tells her that the second trial is the next day. Rhysand tells her that "Taunting him is my greatest pleasure" in reference to having Feyre dance and sit in his lap in front of Tamlin. Rhysand says that through saving Feyre's life he has saved Tamlin's but won't tell her what he means.
Amarantha has a High Fae from the Summer Court that was caught trying to escape from Under the Mountain through the tunnel that leads to the Spring Court. Amarantha tells Rhysand to look into his mind and find out what he was attempting to do. Rhysand says he wanted to escape through the Spring Court and in to the human world and he says that he had no other accomplices.
Amarantha then tells Rhys to shatter the fae and he kills him, Amarantha is angry because she wanted him to shatter his mind and not kill him.
Feyre notes that the other fae refer to Rhys as Amarantha's whore. Feyre also believes that Rhys lied about what the fae was doing when he escaped but she doesn't know why.
Chapter 40: It is time for the second task and Feyre is lowed into a pit. She sees Lucien chained to the floor in the pit, separated from her. She has to answer a question by pulling the correct lever - there are three of them and each one is linked to an answer. She has a time limit, giant spike encrusted gates will slowly lower onto her and Lucien as she tries to solve it.
The question and three potential answers are writing on the wall but Feyre can't read it. She thinks she will just have to guess and goes to grab the 2nd lever but her hand suddenly hurts her. She tries to pull it again and the pain returns. She realises Rhysand is doing it, he is trying to show her which one to pull. She pulls the third one and wins the trials.
She hears Rhys talking to her in her head, telling her not to cry and to stand and stare Amarantha down. She goes back to her cell and immediately breaks down. Rhysand comes to see her and begins licking the tears from her face. Rhys gets her worked up and mad before he leaves. Once he is gone she notes: "It took me a long time to realise that Rhysand, whether he knew it or not, had effectively kept me from shattering completely."
Back in her cell Feyre can hear music being played, she finds it incredibly moving and beautiful and it makes her cry.
Chapter 42: Feyre is at another party, covered in the body paint and a dress when she is left to her own devices in a corner. Tamlin finds her and signals for her to follow him. They go in to a room and immediately start kissing and try to undress each other and have sex (rather than talk and try to formulate any kind of plan).
Rhys catches them and tells Tamlin to fix his clothes and leave, which he does. Rhys calls her a fool and asks if she realises what Amarantha would have done if she had found them. Rhys suddenly looks at the door and then turns back and kisses Feyre - could hear Amarantha approaching. Amarantha opens the door to find them kissing, she has Tamlin with her. Rhys then sends Feyre back to her cell.
That night Rhys comes to visit Feyre in her cell, tells her that he needs peace and quiet away from Amarantha. Says he is made to serve her in her bedroom like a harlot. Rhys says that if Feyre wins and Tamlin gets his powers back he will be so filled with wrath that he will be able to destroy Amarantha. He says this is why he is doing all this with Feyre, so he can work Tamlin into a senseless fury (not sure why Amarantha repeatedly trying to kill Feyre wouldn't be enough for that but given how useless Tamlin has been UTM I can see why Rhys thinks he needs some motivation.)
Rhys says there is a reason that he has only ever touched Feyre on the arms and waist - so that Tamlin has reason to not fight him. Rhys worries for his territory and people, Amarantha has them all enslaved and could kill them all if she wanted.
Feyre asks why Amarantha targeted him to be her whore and he says it is because his father killed Tamlin's father and brothers and she was close to them. Amarantha was punishing Rhys for that.
Feyre realises that Rhys has been keeping her alive while Under the Mountain (duh!). Feyre says Rhys didn't have to bargain with her to heal her arm, that he could have demanded she spend every week of her life with him and she would have said yes. He smiles and says he knows that.
Three figures are brought in, two male and one female who all have sacks over their heads. They are brought in and then forced to their knees. Three servants then come in and each of them holds a pillow that has an ash wood dagger resting on it.
She is told that she must stab each of the fae in the heart and if she does that she will win. Amarantha has the hood removed from the first one, a pretty fae male who begs her not to kill him, she can even hear someone sobbing for him in the crowd. Feyre stabs and kills him.
Then the hood is taken off the fae woman, who says a prayer. Feyre stabs and kills her.
Then she moves on to the last one, the hood is taken off to reveal the third fae is actually Tamlin. Feyre looks up at the one next to Amarantha and it transforms back into the Attor.
Feyre remembers Alis telling her there was another part of the curse that would help her, she just needed to remember what she had heard. And she suddenly remembers Lucien and the Attor saying that Tamlin had a heart of stone and so she realises she can't actually kill Tamlin if his heart is made of stone. She tells Tamlin she loves him before stabbing him in the heart.
Chapter 44: Amarantha doesn't free them all, she says that Feyre wasn't specific about when she had to free them if she completed the tasks, says she only said she'd free them all immediately if she got the answer to the riddle.
Amarantha then says she is going to kill Feyre, begins to attack her. Tells Feyre to admit she doesn't actually love Tamlin and she will let her live, she doesn't. Feyre can hear Rhysand yelling her name from the crowd. Rhysand comes and even tries to stab Amarantha but she stops him. She begins hurting Rhys and Feyre begs her to stop. The bond between her and Rhys, caused by the tattoo, means that she suddenly can see through his eyes and then snaps back into her own.
Tamlin is begging Amarantha not to kill Feyre. As Feyre is being tortured to death she finally realises the answer to the riddle is love (DUH!). Says the answer just before Amarantha breaks her spine and kills Feyre.
Chapter 45: Feyre is dead but can somehow still see through Rhysand eyes because of their bond. Tamlin and the others now have their powers back. Tamlin very quickly kills Amarantha by stabbing her through her head with a sword and ripping her throat out. Then he comes over to Feyre and sobs over her dead body.
The High Lord of the Autumn Court approaches Feyre's dead body and open his hand, a glittery spark falls from it and enters her chest. He is followed by the High Lords of the Summer, Winter, Dawn and Day Courts who all do the same thing. Then Rhysand comes over and does the same thing, he says: "For what she gave... we'll bestow what our predecessors have granted to few before." And he says that this makes him and Tamlin even.
Tamlin then says he loves her and places his hand over her heart.
Chapter 46: Feyre wakes up, her body no longer broken. She realises she has become High Fae and is now immortal. Her and Tamlin immediately have sex.
She is woken up by Rhys summoning her through their bond. She asks him why he fought so hard to save her from Amarantha. He said he didn't want her to fight alone or die alone. He asks her what it feels like to be fae now and she says that while her body is fae, it feels like her heart is still human. She says she wishes it wasn't, still feels terrible for killing the two fae even if it meant she saved everyone else. He tells her: "Be glad of your human heart, Feyre. Pity those who don't feel anything at all."
Rhysand says goodbye to her but just before he leaves she notices he suddenly goes rigid, looks at her in shock and then disappears.
Amarantha's body has been burned but Jurians eye and his finger bone that Amarantha kept has somehow gone missing.
Her and Tamlin then return back to the Spring Court.
The End
I hope you have found this useful! I will also be uploading chapter by chapter recaps for ACOMAF, ACOWAR and ACOFAS and will also upload them for ACOSF at some point in the future too.
A Court of Mist and Fury
Prologue
Feyre is having repeated nightmares about the fae she killed Under the Mountain. In one nightmare she stabs one fae who turns out to be Feyre herself.
Part One: The House of Beasts
Chapter 1: Feyre wakes up from a nightmare and runs to the bathroom to vomit. It has been three months since they left Under the Mountain (UTM). Feyre it still trying to adjust to her new immortal body. She is struggling to believe it is real that she has escaped, part of her worries she will wake up to find herself back in her cell UTM. Feyre hasn't heard from Rhys once in that time, hasn't tried to come get her as part of their bargain.
Tamlin never wakes up or comes to check on her when she wakes up from her nightmares and is vomiting. She thinks sometimes that he does wake up but pretends to sleep. She notes Tamlin also has nightmares too but he also doesn't talk to her about them. Sometimes he awakes from a nightmare, shapeshifts into his beast form and will guard the room.
Chapter 2: Lucien and Tamlin go out a lot to hunt down Amarantha's creatures that are still around and on their land. Feyre wants to get out of the manor and go to visit the local fae village that is trying to rebuild. Tamlin tells her no and won't allow her to go.
Feyre and Tamlin are now engaged, he proposed two months ago and now they're currently planning their wedding. They recently celebrated Winter Solstice, although Feyre didn't enjoy it. It took place on her birthday but she didn't tell anyone. They will be getting married in two weeks.
Lucien hunted down 5 naga the day before and was injured, lied to Feyre and said he fell from his horse. Tamlin tries to justify controlling where Feyre can and can't go by saying he can't concentrate on what he needs to do if he is worrying about her. Tells her to just stay in and paint, Feyre notes that she hasn't been able to paint since she came back from UTM.
Feyre is being made to dress in bright dresses rather than the tunic and pants she prefers - he says her wearing that attire sends a message across the lands. She keeps her dagger on her at all times, Lucien gifted her a belt she can keep it in.
Ianthe is the High Priestess and a childhood friend of Tamlin. She is there to help Feyre plan the wedding and Feyre finds her a good distraction and has been helping Feyre adjust to life in the Court. Feyre notes: "I was too watched - too monitored and judged". Ianthe and her family managed to escape the horrors UTM by fleeing to Vallahan 50 years ago. Ianthe is obsessed with the message the wedding sends and says every detail is important even though Feyre doesn't care about any of it. She has to wear a hideous dress that neither Feyre or Tamlin like because Ianthe thinks it sends the best message. Ianthe has set her sights on Lucien but he is not interested in her, seems angry at her that she fled all those years ago.
Feyre and Tamlin have sex, afterwards he apologises for not letting her go to the village, says he needs her to be all right. Feyre asks what she will be called when they're married, as she assumes she will be a High Lady. Tamlin says there is no such thing as a High Lady, she will just be known as Lady of the Spring Court. Tamlin says High Lords only take wives/consorts and there has never been a High Lady.
Chapter 3: The next day Lucien takes Feyre to the nearby village. She asks why he lied about his injury from the naga and he says Tamlin ordered him not to tell her how he got hurt. Lucien says Tamlin is "giving you as much free reign as he can" and that she has no idea how hard it for Tamlin to even let her off the grounds. Feyre responds that she didn't realise she had become a prisoner (agreed!).
Lucien says Tamlin is worried people will try to use Feyre to hurt him but she says he can't expect he to stay locked in the manor forever. Lucien responds: "Isn't that what all human women wish for? A handsome faerie lord to wed and shower them with riches" And he tells her that as Tamlin's wife there are traditions and expectations she must uphold.
Lucien tells her that Tamlin is calling for the Tithe for the first time since the curse was broken. The Tithe is collected twice a year, usually near Winter and Summer Solstice and every single member of the Spring Court must pay a Tithe to Tamlin. This is used to keep his estate running and pay for sentries and servants. In exchange Tamlin protects and rules them. She will be expected to sit beside him while he collects the Tithe and punishes anyone who doesn't pay.
Lucien excuses Tamlin's controlling behaviour by saying he had to watch Feyre die and so of course he wants to protect her now. They arrive at the village and offer help but no one will accept their help. Lucien explains that Amarantha kept the fae of the Spring Court in camps underground with no light for 50 years, they have suffered a lot.
Chapter 4: Guests have started to arrive for the wedding that is going to take place in the next few days.The night before the wedding she has another nightmare, Feyre has been struggling with being inside the manor and can't enter certain rooms as they are too enclosed and it gives her panic attacks.
Feyre is getting ready for the wedding and notes how much she hates her dress. She makes her way down the aisle to Tamlin but catches sight of red petals scattered around and they make her think of blood and what she did UTM. She begins starting to panic and feels sick. She begins begging in her head over and over again for someone to help her, to save her and to get her out of there, to end this. Ianthe tells her to come and be joined to her true love and Feyre is about to refuse to marry Tamlin when Rhysand suddenly appears.
Chapter 5: Rhysand says he needs to call in his bargain with Feyre after giving her three months of freedom. Feyre begs Tamlin to not let him take her but he just lets him take her. Rhysand takes her to the Night Court, she was terrified to go there as she had been told that UTM had been inspired by the Night Court. When she gets there she notes it is the most beautiful place she has ever seen.
She is angry but Rhys says she is welcome for him coming to save her when she asked. She says she didn't but he says he could hear her begging for someone to save her and her getting ready to say no to the wedding - could hear her thanks to their bond.
Feyre tells Rhys he knows nothing about her and he asks if Tamlin does. He asks if Tamlin has asked why she vomits every night, why she can't go in certain rooms or see certain colours. He says she sends all of this down the bond to him. Rhysand says they are in his private residence, his court is beneath the mountain but it mainly rules itself. Feyre gets mad at him and throws a shoe at his head.
Her room is big and open, windows have no glass or shatters. The next day the two handmaidens who helped her UTM appear - Nuala and Cerridwen.
Rhys explains the Night Court is one of the three Solar Courts that have night, day and normal seasons. The Seasonal Courts are linked to their High Lords magic and that keeps them in their eternal winter/summer/spring/autumn.
Rhys notes that Feyre has lost weight. She asks him how their bond words and he says to think of the bargain as a bridge between them and either end has a door to their minds. Rhys talents allow him to slip into anyone's mind anyway. He tells her that sometimes she has a shield up in her mind and when she's worked up it vanishes and it can feel like she's shouting her thoughts at him.
She asks how often he rifles through her mind when her shields are down and he says only when he can't tell if her nightmares are real threats or not. Tells her he could get through when her shields are up if he wanted to but he can train her how to shield against someone like him. She asks what he wants with her now she is here and he says he is going to teach her how to read.
Chapter 6: She doesn't want him to teach her but he insists he will teach her to read and also shield her mind while she is there. Feyre accidentally folds her folk at dinner and Rhys asks if anyone has told her that she is rather strong for a High Fae, she says they haven't. He asks if she is curious if any of the High Lords powers transferred to her when she was resurrected, she says she isn't. She tells him she refuses to learn with him and he asks if it is out of spite and that he thought they moved past that UTM. Feyre gets angry and tells him not to get her started on what he did to her UTM.
A blonde female fae appears and Rhys introduces her as Morrigan/Mor, his cousin. Feyre notes they don't look much alike and he says they are cousins in the loosest sense of the term but that they were raised together and she is his only remaining family. Mor wants to be Feyre's friend.
Rhys begins teaching her to read, first thing he gives her to read is a note that says 'you look absolutely delicious today, Feyre'. Then he begins talking to her inside her mind and showing her what can happen when she leaves her mind open, he tells her to shove him out. She eventually does by visualising a big wave coming to sweep him out.
Feyre asks if she will be bound by their bargain for much longer. She says that after what happened UTM she doesn't feel like they owe each other anything. She says she thought he was different but now he is keeping her here. Rhys says they had Feyre wrapped up like a present for Tamlin on their wedding day, as if she was his reward. Her only response is"so?" which angers him.
Rhysand takes her up to the top of the tower they are in and shows her a large map of Prythian and Hybern and tells her that war is coming.
Chapter 7: Feyre begins begging him not to invade, as she thinks he is the one who wants to invade the Mortal Lands. He tells her the King of Hybern has been planning his campaign to reclaim the Mortal Lands for over 100 years. He says Amarantha was just an experiment. Rhys says he will aim to take out Prythian first and then invade and conquer the Mortal Lands.
She asks if Rhys fought in the first war and he says he did, on the side of the humans just like his father did. Rhys is warning her because Tamlin has ties to the King of Hybern and he needs to know if he will fight with Rhys and the others against the King. Rhys also says Feyre has skills that he needs, mentions that she caught the Suriel. She says it wasn't hard to do but he notes that he has tried twice and failed. He says he requires her tracking skills to help him find what he needs.
Rhys believes she has more power than a normal High Fae and that she is showing signs of being as powerful as a High Lord. He says she could hold her own as a High Lady and she tells him there aren't any. Rhys tells her there can be High Ladies. He says she might be able to wield the powers of the seven High Lords at once and that could make a big difference in the upcoming war. She says that Tamlin won't allow her to train and help Rhys. Rhys notes that Tamlin isn't her keeper and Feyre says she is his subject, Rhys responds that she is no one's subject.
Rhys says Feyre has a choice - she can be a pawn, someone's reward and spend the rest of her immortal life pretending she is less than Tamlin. Rhys says he doesn't believe she is fine being a pretty trophy for "someone who sat on his ass for nearly 50 years, then sat on his ass while you were shredded apart" He says she can do that or she can master whatever powers she was given and make it count.
Rhys leaves her alone for the rest of the week - just sends her more phrases to read and instructions to continue to practice shielding her mind. She overhears Rhys and Mor talking, she tells him about an attack that took place at a temple in Cesere, She says almost all the priestesses were slaughtered and the trove looted. They don't know who did it. Rhys asks what Azriel thinks and she says he and Cassian are angry and believe it could be a rogue Illyrian war band trying to win territory. She tells him Cassian and Azriel are waiting for him and then Mor disappears.
Feyre asks Rhys how the disappearing works - he says it is called Winnowing and allows you to go from one place to another instantly. She asks what Illyrian war bands are and he says they are a warrior race within his lands and that some supported Amarantha but he has been hunting those ones down.
She wakes up at the end of her week there and immediately asks to be taken back. Tamlin checks her over to make sure she isn't hurt. She notices that Tamlin has trashed his study and he tells her he has trashed half the house.
Feyre tries to immediately have sex with him but instead Tamlin wants to press her for information about the Night Court. He wants to know the layout, who she saw, what she heard, if they had weapons and what powers she saw. She feels like she is being interrogated but she tells them everything, including the fact Rhys thinks she might have the powers of the High Lords. Lucien says that if that is true then some High Lords may wish to kill her.
Tamlin doesn't want her to train and learn how to use her powers. He says he can protect her from anything (Of course, you did such a stellar job of it UTM!) Tamlin says there will be no training (Feyre doesn't tell him to f off, a real shame!)
Chapter 8: The Tithe is taking place, Feyre sits and watches as emissaries come to give their Tithe. A grey skinned fae woman approaches wearing no clothes, she says she comes on behalf of the water-wraiths. She says there are no fish left in the lake and she has nothing to give. Tamlin says she is still expected to pay and has three days to do so or they must pay double on the next tithe.
Feyre asks why he even needs the tithe, as he has more than enough money and most of it is things like baskets of fish and bread. He says he can't make exceptions or everyone will expect the same treatment. She insists they don't need any of the stuff but he says it is the way it is, how his father did it, how he will do it and how his son will do it.
Feyre goes after the wraith and gives her jewelry to sell in order to pay the Tithe and also buy food. The wraith thanks her and says she will not forget it and neither will her people.
At dinner that night Tamlin is angry she gave her jewelry to the wraith and says she makes him look weak, calls the wraith a gluttonous faerie. Lucien tries to side with Feyre but Tamlin gets angry at him, Feyre is annoyed as she knows that her and Lucien are in the right. Feyre accidentally enters Lucien's mind and sees through his eyes for a second, she also notices she has left burn marks on the wooden table.
Chapter 9: Tamlin gives Feyre a present to apologise, it is a travelling painting kit - despite the fact she hasn't been able to paint for months. Feyre tells him she can't live with these restrictions forever, especially now she is a fae and is faster and stronger. He says his family was too but they were still killed. She tells him he should find someone to marry who will put up with it. He asks if she wants to marry him and she says she does but she is drowning and the more he does this to her it feels as if he may as well be pushing her head under the water. Tamlin gets angry and his power blasts through the room, breaking windows, furniture and the gift he gave her.
Chapter 10: Feyre managed to put a shield around herself so that she wasn't hurt. Tamlin says he is sorry (I'm bored of this man and his apologies!) and will try to be better but he can't control her rage. They continue their trend of just having sex rather than dealing with their problems.
Feyre wakes up and hears Tamlin arguing with Rhys. Rhys spots Feyre and she notices he gets angry, he asks if she is running low on food there. Feyre notes that going back to the serene place within the mountain in the Night Court is better than being trapped in the Spring Court. Tamlin tells Rhys that he will give him anything he wants if he ends their bargain now, Rhys tells him he already has everything he wants and takes Feyre with him.
Chapter 11: Feyre puts on her Night Court clothes and realises they are now really loose on her, she must have lost quite a lot of weight. Rhys asks her to sit and eat with him and she says he must have more important things to do, he says he does but will always make time for her.
Rhys says he felt a spike of fear through the bond while she was in the Spring Court, she realises it was from when Tamlin lost control of his powers. She refuses to talk to him about what happened but he already knows and seems angry about it. Rhys says she has got better at shielding and sometimes he hears nothing from their bond and can't even feel her sometimes but he did during that moment.
Rhys asks if she considered his offer and she says she will not work with him because she thinks he only wants her to help him to piss off Tamlin. Rhys says he needs her help and says "I was a prisoner in her Court for nearly fifty years. I was tortured and beaten and fucked until only telling myself who I was, what I had to protect, kept me from trying to end it. Please - help me keep that from happening again."
Feyre still refuses, says she won't jeopardise what her and Tamlin have and says Tamlin is trying. Rhys asks her to tell him what he can do to help her. He asks if anyone else asks what is happening to her, if Tamlin even cares. She says he does but he is just giving her space to sort it out, she notes she can feel Rhys' rage.
Rhys takes her back to the Spring Court, Tamlin once again tells her he will find a way to end the bargain and continues to be ridiculously protective despite Feyre telling him it is making her worse.
Chapter 12: Feyre notices claws appearing on her hand, realises that is Tamlin's power. Lucien notices and talks to Feyre about it. Lucien tells her these powers will manifest whether she trains or not but that he will try to talk to Tamlin about it. She overhears them talking with Ianthe later, she notes some High Lords will want to kill her because she has their powers and others will want to take her to have children with, as the children will also get those powers. They are discussing assassinating Rhysand to get her out of the bargain.
Lucien begs Tamlin to let her train so that she will stand a chance if the High Lords do come after her. He says no because her training would make the other Lords aware of her powers (not if you do it away from other people!) Tamlin has yet another angry outburst and that night Feyre locks her door and doesn't eat at all.
Tamlin and Lucien are heading out the next day and Feyre asks to go with them. Tamlin says no, she begs him. She reminds him that he promised to be better, tells him she needs to get out of the manor. Tamlin says he can't risk it as her "untrained abilities render your presence more of a liability than anything"- (then maybe you should have let her train!)
Feyre tells him she is going whether he likes it or not and he says she isn't. She tries to go after him but he has put a magic shield around the manor so she can't leave. Lucien tells her he has shielded the entire house so that Feyre can't leave. Feyre begins to panic, Tamlin has locked her up and trapped her in the house. She tries to winnow, to do anything to escape.
Feyre wraps herself in a cocoon of darkness, fire and ice - it melts her engagement ring right off her finger. She feels someone picks her up, thinks it might be Amarantha for a moment but then realises it is Mor. Mor tells her Rhys was able to shatter the shield around the house with half a thought, tells Feyre she is free now. She takes her to Rhys and Mor tells him she did everything by the book.
Chapter 13: Feyre wakes up in the Night Court, Rhysand is in a chair next to her bed. She asks him what happened, says he could hear her screaming. She terrified Tamlin's sentries when she suddenly wrapped herself in darkness. Rhysand couldn't come and get her due to law and protocol, which is why Mor had to be the one to go get her and then carry her across the border where Rhys was waiting for them. If he had been the one to get her then Tamlin would be allowed to march his forces into the Night Court to reclaim her.
Rhys tells her that because her presence there is not a part of their monthly bargain, he is not required to take her back. Feyre says she has nowhere else to go and he says she can stay with him for as long as she wants. Rhys asks her again to work with him and help him. He says he has work to do and tells her to rest but she asks to go with him. He says if she goes with him there is no turning back and she won't be allowed to speak to anyone outside his court about what she sees because if she does people will die. If she goes with him she will have to lie about it forever. She asks to go and promises to keep it a secret. He tells her they will be going to Velaris, the City of Starlight. He winnows with her and she finds herself in the foyer of a town house in the middle of a city.
Part Two: The House of Wind
Chapter 14: She is in Rhys' home, says this is his home that is just for him and his family. Tells her that only he and Mor can winnow directly into the house. The houses is warded and shielded and only those he and Feyre wish to enter can. He tells her she will be safe there and anywhere in the city, tells her the walls of Velaris haven't been breached in 5,000 years.
Feyre hears people at the door, two male fae, Mor and another female fae. She goes upstairs to bed rather than meet them. She asks Nuala and Cerridwen who the guests are and they tell her they are Rhysand's Inner Circle. She asks them how the city didn't fall to Amarantha but they say that what Rhys did to keep the city hidden is his story to tell.
Feyre wonders if never returning to the Spring Court would be a fitting punishment for what Tamlin did to her.
Chapter 15: Feyre and Rhysand go for a walk through the city, she says it is beautiful and not the dark place she imagines. Rhys points to a mountain range and the middle peak. Feyre notices it has windows and he tells her that is his second home in the city, known as the House of Wind and that they will be having dinner that night.
Feyre is angry that he kept Velaris safe and nowhere else and he tells her that every other city is known to the world but Velaris has been a secret beyond their borders for millenia. Amarantha didn't know it existed and neither did the other courts. He says it is kept secret thanks to wards and spells. She asks why he didn't open it up as a refuge when Amarantha came and he says he had to make tough decisions.
He takes her around the city and some of the market palaces: Palace of Bone & Salt, Palace of Thread & Jewels, Palace of Hoof & Leaf. Velaris is known for its artists quarter, known as the Rainbow of Velaris - there are theaters, galleries, supply stores and much more.
She asks Tamlin who will be at dinner - he says Mor, Cassien, Azriel and Amren. Tells her Amren is his Second in command and Mor is his Third. He tells her Amren looks High Fae but is something else, she is older than the city itself, is vain and likes to hoard jewelry. He warns her Amren has a temper and even though he is the most powerful High Lord in Prythian history even he doesn't mess with her.
Feyre thinks about how it might be nice to be killed and Rhys tells her not to think like that. When he touches her she suddenly enters his mind and sees herself through his eyes - realises how gaunt, starved and sad she looks. Rhys doesn't know how she got through his shield. Tells her people who can slip into others minds are called daemati and she must have got that power from Rhys.
Feyre once again gets angry that if the King of Hybern does come he will not know to attack here and these people will be safe while others die (like that is a bad thing?)
Rhys tells Feyre he can't winnow in to the House of Wind so he will have to fly her in, she argues but eventually agrees. He tells her he used to sneak out of the House of Wind as a child to go flying and his mum would come with him sometimes. Rhysand notes that he spent 50 years UTM and felt he would never see this place again and that he wishes he had been the one to kill Amarantha.
Feyre says she feels like a fool to have allowed herself to not be shown more of the Spring Court and that she might have spent the rest of her immortal life as an ignorant pet. She thinks she was just a lonely, hopeless person who fell in love with the first person who showed her a hint of kindness and safety. She says it worked for who she was before but it doesn't work for who she is now.
Chapter 16: Cassian and Azriel arrive, she describes them as dark-haired and tan-skinned males. She notes Cassian has shoulder length black hair and that Azriel is the most classically beautiful of the two of them but notes he has burn scars on his hands. Both wear gauntlets on their hands with stones in them - Azriel's are cobalt and Cassian's are red. Azriel is Rhysands spy master and Cassian commands his armies.
Amren arrives - short with chin length black hair, tan skin and silver eyes. Amren tells Feyre that they are like, two people born something else and now trapped in new, strange bodies. She says there is a third like them, named Miryam but that she was granted a long life but not a new body. It is noted that Amren doesn't eat normal food.
Azriel explains the stones they were are called siphons and they concentrate and focus their power for battle. Rhys says the power of stronger Illyrian is more of a killing power so siphons filter that raw power into something more varied - like shields and weapons.
Rhys explains that Cassian and Azriel aren't lords, Mor is the only person in his Inner Circle who has a title. Tells her that even he isn't considered High Fae because he is half Illyrian - his mother was Illyrian. None of his Inner Circle were UTM as Amarantha didn't know they existed. She realises they all feel very guilty for whatever Rhys had to do to keep them safe.
She asks how they met. Cassian and Azriel are both bastards - Azriel was the bastard of a local lord and Cassian was the bastard of a war-camp laundress and a random warrior. They say that Illyrians hate bastards. Az was sent to Cassian's camp when his father realised he was a shadowsinger - they're rare and coveted by courts for their stealth and predisposition to hear and feel things that others can't.
Cassian was sent to the camp as soon as he could walk and his mother was worked to death. Rhys tells her Illyrians are backwards and brutal - especially when it comes to how they treat females. They cripple them so they keep them for breeding. They perform an incision when females come of age so they can't fly but his mother loved flying so managed to get to 18 before she was taken to be clipped. She tried to flee and was caught but just before she could be clipped, Rhys' father arrived at the camp and the mating bond clicked in place. He killed the guards holding her and took her to the Night Court where they married.
His mother tried for years to convince his father to stop the practice of clipping the wings of females but he refused. Rhys says his parents were wrong for each other, even though they were mates. His father was cold and vicious, his mother was soft and beloved and she eventually came to hate him.
When Rhys turned 8 his mother took him to an Illyrian camp to train. He was banned from using his magic at camp because he was too powerful. He was put in the sparring ring on his first day and Cassian beat him up. Cassian had nothing, bastards are made to find their own shelter and good. Even if they are picked for a war band they still remain bottom ranking forever.
When Rhys found out about Cassian and the fact he had nothing, he went to get him and brought him to his home at the camp. His mother allowed him to stay and tutored him. Rhys notes that he and Cassian hated each other until Azriel came to the camp a year later.
Cassian notes that he does't have any powers like Rhys and Azriel but all three of them are incredibly powerful. When Rhysand's father visited the camp after 20 years he found Rhys' power was starting to rival his own and that he had allied himself with the two deadliest Illyrians in history. He was worried they could one day turn against him so he separated them.
Rhys was given a legion of Illyian to command, Cassian was put in a different legion as a foot soldier and Az was kept as his personal shadowsinger. They barely saw each other over the seven year war and then Rhys was captured. Rhys then cuts the story off.
Once Rhys became High Lord he appointed Cassian, Azriel, Amren and Mor to his Inner Circle and told his fathers old court that if they had a problem they could leave and they all did. The nobility of the Night Court then fell into 3 categories - those who hated him but tolerated him and those are the ones who currently reside beneath the mountain in the Hewn City. They stay there and rule themselves in what is known as the Court of Nightmares. Velaris is known as the Court of Dreams. Mor says she was a dreamer born in the Court of Nightmares who managed to get out.
They ask for Feyre's story and she tells them. Cassian says he can teach Feyre to fight and Feyre finally realises how ridiculous Tamlin and Ianthe's arguments were about why she shouldn't learn to fight.
She tells Rhys that she will work with him and he says they will start the next day. He says the King of Hybern is about to launch a war and that he wants to resurrect Jurian to do it. Rhys says he doesn't know why yet. He says the killings at temples are connected somehow. The Kind raided a temple in Sangravah three days ago and is clearly looking for something.
He believes the Attor escaped with Jurian's eye and finger and took them to the King of Hybern. He isn't sure how they can resurrect him with just an eye and finger. Amren says he needs to go and talk to the Bone Carver. Amren says the only person he might talk to is Feyre as she is an immortal with a human soul. Rhys says the choice is hers and she agrees.
Chapter 17: Feyre tells Rhys she felt him again at dinner - asks if she got through his shield and he says no. He says the bond is a living thing, an open channel between them shaped by what she needed when the deal was made - he says she needed to not be alone.
Feyre notes he let Amarantha think he was delighting in ruling a Court of Nightmares but it is all a front. He tells her he loves his family and people and to not think he wouldn't become a monster to keep them safe. She asks what the cost was to keep them safe UTM and he says she already knows - being Amarantha's whore. When she tricked the High Lords out of their powers he was still left with more scraps than the others. He managed to alter the minds of every Night Court citizen she captured - made a web between them all and actively controlled their minds every single day - so they'd forget Velaris and his Inner Circle. If Amarantha knew who he cared for she would have tortured and killed them.
He only had enough power left to shield and hide one place, one city and he chose Velaris. Anyone who came near the city would see barren rock and find themselves suddenly changing their mind if they thought about trying to explore it. She thinks it is a shame others in Prythian don't know what he did to protect his people and why he was with Amarantha, he says it doesn't matter as long as those he cares for are safe.
Has another nightmare of Amarantha torturing her UTM - Rhysand wakes her from it. She has claws of flames coming from her fingers, has destroyed her bedding. She runs to the bathroom to be sick, Rhys helps to hold her hair back and talks to her, tells her stories while she is being sick.
Tells her he has nightmares where it is Cassian or Azriel beneath Amaranth, she's pinned their wings to the bed with spikes and makes him watch, makes him see how he failed them. Feyre says he didn't fail them but he says he did terrible things in order not to, she says she did terrible things to. She asks where the flame powers come from - he says it is the Autumn Court.
Rhys winnows them to an island in the Western Isles, they are going to the Prison to see the Bone Carver, the prison is inside a mountain. The Prison was made before even High Lords existed - home to the foulest and most dangerous criminals and creatures. Amren used to be a prisoner there. Will have to walk into the prisoner, into another mountain. Feyre can't make herself do it, Rhysand doesn't ask any questions and takes her back to Velaris.
Chapter 18: Amren comes to visit Feyre, gives her an amulet that she says got her out of the prison, she tells Feyre if she wears it in then they can never keep her.Says she doesn't give the amulet lightly and she can borrow it for the Prison and then return it, or Amren will hunt her down.
They go back to the prison, Rhys has a sword with him. Feyre asks if Cassian could beat him in hand-to-hand combat and he says yes. Cassian is the best warrior he has seen. She asks about the scars on Azriel's hands - Rhys explains his father had two legitimate sons, both as cruel as their mother. Azriel lived with them for first 11 years of his life, kept in a cell with no windows or light. He was let out for an hour each day. When he was 8 his brothers decided to see what happened when you mixed an Illyrians quick healing ability with fire and oil. Asks if the brothers were punished - he says eventually.
Asks what Mor does - says she is the person he will call in when his armies fail and Cassian & Azriel are dead.As is Third she is the court overseer, looks after the dynamics between the Court of Nightmares and the Court of Dreams, runs both Velaris and the Hewn City - says she would be considered a Queen in the human realm.
Amren as his Second is his political adviser, walking library and doer of dirty work. Asks what Amren will do in the event his armies fail and all the others are dead. Says he would find a way to end the spell on her and unleash her on the world, will ask her to end him first.
They enter the prison. He says the Prison is a law unto itself but it falls under his jurisdiction and so his blood is keyed to the gates. He can't free the prisoners, once they pass the gates they belong to the Prison and can never leave. She asks how long Amren was in here, he doesn't know - records show she was in there before the Courts were even formed. Was imprisoned for at least a few millennia.
She asks where Amren came from. He says there are stories that when the world was born there was rips in the fabric of the realms. Creatures were able to come through to their world and were trapped there when the rips closed.
She asks what the Bone Carver is, he says he doesn't know as he appears different to every person. Feyre will see him as one thing and Rhys will see him as another. Rhys opens his prison door and they go in. He appears to Feyre as a little boy with dark hair and blue eyes. Rhys gives him a bone, the calf-bone that made the final kill when Feyre killed the Middengard Wyrm in the task UTM.
Rhys told her not to lie to the Bone Carver, also instructed her that for every question the Bone Carver asks she should ask one - a question for a question. Says he will answer her question if she tells him where she went when she died. Says she heard the crack of her spine but was gone before she could feel more than the first lash of pain. Says it was dark but she saw a tether, a thread that she yanked on and then suddenly she could see. Explains she could then see through Rhys' eyes. Knew she was dead but a scrap of her spirit was left thanks to their bargain. When she was Made anew, she followed the thread back to her body.
Asks if she saw anything else, anyone else or a portal to somewhere else - she says no. She asks him if there was nothing but a bit of a bone, could that person be resurrected and given a new body. He asks if their soul was preserved and she says yes. Says there is only one way. Says long before the High Fae there was the Cauldron - all magic was contained in it and world was born in it. It fell in to the wrong hands and was used to do terrible things but was stolen back. The Cauldron could not be destroyed so it was hidden. Only the Cauldron could reforge something dead.
Rhys asks where they hid it - says it was hidden beneath a frozen lake in Lapplund but vanished a long, long time ago. Doesn't know where it was but notes the three feet of the Cauldron were cut off to try and fracture some of its power. The feet were hidden in three different temples - Cesere, Sangravah and Itica. If the feet have been taken then he says it is likely someone has the Cauldron and wants to be able to use its full power.
Rhys asks who has it - Bone Carver asks him to promise to give Rhys Feyre's bones when she dies but says he knows he wouldn't do that. Feyre suddenly tells the Bone Carver there was a choice in death. She chose to cling on a little longer but knows if she wanted to she could have faded away and maybe there was a new world waiting for her but she wasn't ready. Bone Carver confirms the King of Hybern has the Cauldron.
She realises he is waiting for another truth - Feyre says if the third faerie UTM hadn't been Tamlin she was planning to put the dagger in her own heart after she killed them all. Says she couldn't come back from what she did and only wanted to break their curse before turning the dagger on herself. Says she only chose to live after Amarantha killed her and she realised she hadn't finished whatever she was born to do.
The Carver tells them the King could do other things with the Cauldron - including shattering the wall. Also tells her the Cauldrons power can be depleted. She asks if there is a way to stop it. When it was made the last of the molten ore was used to forge a book - The Book of Breathings. In it is the spell needed to negate the Cauldron's power or control it completely. Book was split in two pieces after the war -one piece to the fae and one piece to the 6 mortal Queens. Book was seen as useless as only someone Made can speak the spells and summon its power - so Feyre could use it, but so could Jurian if he is Made.
The High Lord of Summer has one piece of the book - it is guarded and protected with spells using blood-spells keyed to the High Lord of Summer. The mortal queens half the other half and used faeries to bind the book so that if it is ever stolen it will melt into ore and be lost. Tells her if she reunites both parts of the book she can nullify the powers of the Cauldron. They go to leave - Bone Carver says he will carve Feyre's death into the bone he was given.
They leave and she asks what Rhys saw - the Bone Carver appeared to him like Jurian the last time Rhys saw him alive.
Chapter 19: Return to Velaris and Rhys tells the Inner Circle what the Bone Carver revealed. Azriel offers to ask his contacts at the Summer Court for the location of their half of the book - Rhys declines, doesn't trust anyone else with the information. Rhys thinks they will need to infiltrate Hybern to get the Cauldron or nullify it. Rhys thinks Feyre might be able to detect the book and help them find the half in the Summer Court. The boo is spelled to the individual High Lords power - but Feyre got a piece of power from all 7 of them. Rhys believes she can use that piece from the Summer Court High Lord to track the book.
Rhys says there is a way to test this theory - wants her to try and find a valuable item of his that has been missing for a very long time. Wants to take her to the Weaver - see if she can identify the object of his in the Weaver's trove. The others think he is out of his mind, say the Weaver is an ancient, wicked creature and he should find another way to test her. But Rhys lets Feyre decide if she wants to go or not and she says yes.
Rhys also asks if Feyre wants to be emissary for the Night Court to the human world, they haven't had one in 500 years. Rhys says the humans need to be prepared for war. He warns her that as she is an immortal fae now humans will want to hunt her. She will need to set up base in neutral territory - decides on her sisters manor house. They need Feyre to convince the human queens to give them the book. Feyre realises part of the reason he wanted her to learn to read was so she would be able to read the book as he had already suspected they would need it.
Rhys gives her a belt of knives, says she can't take a bow, arrows or sword but the Weaver won't notice if she brings knives. He tells her not to make a sound while in the Weaver's home. Tells her to only touch the object that belongs to Rhys. The Weaver is blind but her other senses are lethal. Rhys can't grab the item himself because the Weaver knows him but also the High Lords are not allowed to interfere with her.
Chapter 20: Winnow to a wood in neutral territory that divides the north and south. Cassian tried to convince Rhys not to take Feyre. She asks why, says he isn't sure but that Cassian is probably more interested in sleeping with her than saving her. Rhys says that if she was looking for someone to sleep with to help her move on then Cassian would be willing. It annoys her and so she tells Rhys he should tell Cassian to come to her room that night. She once again realises Rhys is attempting to wind her and make her angry to distract her from what she has to do.
They reach the Weaver's cottage and she can hear her singing inside. She goes inside and sees it is filled with items. The Weaver is sitting at a spinning wheel but isn't spinning wool, she is instead spinning a part of some creature into thread. She has a ton of woven thread in there, and also a loom. Feyre starts searching and finally feels the object. She finds a ring of twisted strands of gold and silver, flecked with pearl and set with a stone of deep blue. She grabs the ring and as she does the Weaver suddenly stops singing.
Chapter 21: She tries to leave through the door but it slams shut and there is no handle to open it. The Weaver asks who is in her house. The Weaver turns towards her and she sees her skin is gray, wrinkled and sagging. Feyre grabs a candle and throws it at the thread, which immediately begins to burn. Feyre runs for the fireplace and begins to climb up it, is struggling and realises just how weak she is now, how weak she allowed Tamlin to make her. Feyre gets stuck and begins to panic, hears a voice telling her to stop and think.
Feyre remembers she has gifts now and she uses her strength to begin breaking bricks loose - she hurls one at the Weaver's face. The fireplace is sticky with fat and it sticks to her. She escapes on to the roof, which is a hatched roof made from hair. The hair sticks to the fat on her. Feyre runs until she finds Rhys. He grabs her and winnows her back to the House of Wind. Feyre vomits when she thinks of the fact she is covered in the fat and hair of people.
Feyre tells Rhys she could have used her help but he tells her she survived and found a way to help herself. She realises he knew she panicked and almost allowed it to get her killed. She'd be no use to him while looking for the book unless she can get that under control. Realises he was testing her in more ways than one. Feyre asks Cassian to teach her to fight, he agrees.
The ring belonged to Rhys' mother and she gave it to the Weaver for safekeeping so he wouldn't waste it. Rhys tells Feyre she will train with him to learn to use her other powers. Rhys tells Feyre he hates Ianthe, says she is a perversion of what the High Priestesses once were. Feyre asks why and he says if she can use her gift to get past his mental shields then he will show her.
She attempts to get through but can't, he shows her anyway. Sees Ianthe naked on his bed in the Court of Nightmares. He tells her to get out but she wants to be with him because he is powerful. She tries to touch him anyway and he grabs her hand and tells her to never touch him or any of the men in his Court. Ianthe tells him he will regret it.
Then he lets Feyre out of his mind. Tells her to never go into someone's mind without holding a way open to get out, as a daemati could trap you inside and make you their slave.
Chapter 22: Mor tells Feyre that female are prized in the Court of Nightmares and their virginity is guarded and then they are sold off to the highest bidder. Mor was born stronger than anyone in her family. Her first bleed was at 17 and her power awoke in full force. Every ruling family saw her as a prize mare and her family were happy they could have their pick of an alliance. Says the rest of her story is long and awful and she will tell her some other time. Cassian and Rhys get her out.
Feyre, Rhys, Cassian and Azriel are heading to the mortal world - to her family's estate.
Chapter 23: She rings the doorbell while Rhys uses a glamour to hide him, Cassian and Az. Feyre takes her hood off and shows her sisters her ears and the fact she is Fae. Tells them she died but was remade. She tells them everything that happened Under the Mountain, about Amarantha, the King of Hybern, the book and the mortal queens.
She explains she needs more High Fae to come to the estate as well as the queens of the realm. Nesta tells her to find somewhere else. Says they will lose their standing in society if people find out and that it will threaten Elain's upcoming wedding. Elain is due to marry in 5 months to a Lord's son, the Lord has spent his life hunting Fae. Nesta says there will be no fae in her house, including Feyre.
Elain comes in and talks sense - says their will be no wedding if they don't help Feyre. She says they can keep it a secret, send all their servants away whenever the fae need to use the house. She says Feyre gave for years and now it is their turn to help.
Feyre asks Nesta if the Lord's son is good. She says that Elain thinks he is but the father has built a wall of stone around his estate so high that the trees don't reach it - she says it look like a prison. Says the son Graysen is kin enough.
Nesta notes that Feyre went through all that she did to save Tamlin but now they aren't together. Feyre says the Lord build a wall to keep fae out and her lord wanted to keep her caged in.
Chapter 24: Feyre thinks of Tamlin, says he had been good and given her everything she needed at first but once he got what he wanted he had stopped.
Cassian, Azriel and Rhysand come in to meet her sisters. They all sit down to eat and Nesta is as hostile as ever. Cassian tells Nesta she allowed her sister to risk her life every day hunting while she did nothing. Tells her Feyre died to save his people and is willing to do so again to protect Nesta from war. Tells her not to expect him to sit and watch her sneer at Feyre for a choice she didn't get to make - of being fae. Elain tries to excuse it, says they grew up hearing stories about the fae and also that Clare was recently taken by the fae and her whole family murdered.
They plan to send a letter to the queens the next day, so will spend the evening there. They will share rooms, Cassian & Azriel in one and Rhys & Feyre in another.
Rhys makes comments about her sister and she responds by saying his friends have just as much melodrama. Says he must have noticed how Az looks at Mor, or noticed how Mor also looks at him and defends him. Rhys says it was hard to sit at dinner with her sisters - it made him realise just how young Feyre was and how they did nothing to protect her.
Rhys reveals she gets a salary for working for him - is being put in a bank for her back in Velaris. Asks when her birthday is, she tells him it is on Winter Solstice.
Chapter 25: Rhys takes Feyre out to train the next day, he has a candle he wants her to light, douse with water and then dry the wick using powers of fire, water and air. She can't concentrate with him there, tells him to leave. She gets distracted writing magical notes back and forth to Rhys when a hand suddenly grabs her and covers her mouth - the Attor.
Chapter 26: Rhysand appears and binds the Attor to a tree with his powers. The Attor was sent to get Feyre by the King of Hybern. Tells them the King is in Hybern and his army will be coming soon. Says his army is endless as he has allies in every territory.
Azriel comes and takes the Attor away. They want to kill him, will use him to send a message to the King of Hybern. Feyre realises Rhysand used her as bait, he knew someone wanted her. They start fighting, he tells her she forgot again about the fact she has strength and power, she stopped fighting again. She keeps trying to hit him but he keeps winnowing away from her, she finally manages to winnow to him and tackle him into the snow.
Chapter 27: She tells him to never use her as bait again. He apologises and says they should go home, she tells him Velaris is not her home.
Chapter 28: They tortured the Attor for information, Rhys asks Feyre how much she wants to know and she says she wants to know everything. Shows her what they did. They asked how he found Feyre, says the King sent word of where she was, doesn't know how he knew.
The Attor tells Rhys 'Good luck trying to keep her' as it is common knowledge that he took her from Tamlin, says tamlin has shut his borders. Rhys tells Az to break the Attors legs, shred its wings and then dump it off the coast of Hybern.
Feyre asks Rhys about the Spring Court - Rhys tells her nothing is happening right now but that she should know just how far Tamlin would be willing to go in order to try and protect what he thinks is his. Feyre writes a letter to Tamlin to say she left of her own free will, she's safe and grateful for all her did for her but she is not coming back.
Feyre asks Amren at dinner about when the Tithe will take place in the Night Court. She says that the city dwellers pay taxes but they have no Tithe there. She gives Amren the amulet back that she gave her to wear to the Prison. Tells Feyre to keep it, there is no magic to it, she just knew Feyre needed something in order to believe she would make it out of the Prison.
Chapter 29: They all go for dinner that night in Velaris. The cook brings Amren blood and Feyre realises that is what she eats. Rhys and Feyre walk home together. She asks Rhys if he buys Amren jewelry because they're together. He says he did once invite her to bed but she laughed at him. Asks why he isn't married - he says he has had lovers but no one he wanted to spend his life with. Also says anyone who married him would have a target on their back and so would their children.
Rhys tells her the Night Court was once ruled from the Hewn City and it really was a Court of Nightmares. An Ancient High Lord had a different vision, staged a coup and eliminated the worst of the courtiers and predators. He then built Velaris. He says darkness eventually grew again and now there is a divide in the court. He allows the Court of Nightmares to continue as it helps to hide Velaris.
She hears music as they walk through Velaris and realises it sounds familiar. She recognises it as the music she heard in her cell UTM that made her cry. She realises that Rhys sent the music to her, says he did it to stop her breaking. She says when she heard the music she saw the Night Court, he tells her he didn't send those images to her.
They spend the next day sending flirty notes back and forth.
Chapter 30: Cassian and Feyre are training together while Az and Rhys spar next to them. She makes a note of the fact they all have the same kind of tattoos. They tell her Illyrians get them when they're initiated. Cassian asks when she is going to talk about the note she sent Tamlin telling him she is not going back. She says she will talk about it when he talks about how he teases and taunts Mor to hide what he feels for her.
Feyre realises she hasn't really thought of Tamlin at all and she notes "he's probably trashed the manor in his rage". She then begins to get angry thinking about Tamlin and all she did for him in the name of love. She thinks of how he just sat next to Amarantha UTM while she suffered, how he made no move to to help her, hadn't risked being caught until that last night when he'd tried to fuck her rather than help her. She is punching sparring pads that Cassian holds as she thinks about it all. Thinks of how Amarantha killed her while he sat and begged but nothing more. She gets really angry and she ends up burning through the sparring pads.
She begins to cry thinking of what she did, thinking of the fae she killed and says it should have been her. Rhys tells her she will always feel like that, he knows he does but she can learn to live with it like he has. He tells her he only has two types of nightmares - the ones where he or his friends are made to be Amarantha's whore or he dreams of Feyre dying over and over again.
Tells her the fire power is from the High Lord of the Autumn Court, Beron. She tries to summon darkness like Rhys but can't do it.
Chapter 31: Has spent four days training with Rhys and Cassian. The Summer Court has finally responded to Rhys' request to come visit, they said yes. Feyre, Rhys and Amren will go. Feyre notes that she finds her and Rhys' flirting a fun distraction.
Chapter 32: They head to Adriata, the castle city of the Summer Court. The High Lord of the Summer Court is Tarquin described as having "rich brown skin, white hair and eyes of crushing, turquoise blue". They meet Cresseida, Princess of Adriata and Varian, her younger brother and the Prince of Adriata.
Rhys tells them of the imminent war with the King of Hybern.Tarquin notes he is worried Tamlin might go to war himself to try and get Feyre back. Cresseida notes the law states that as Tamlin's bride if he wanted to ask Tarquin to return her to him then he would have to do so. Rhys says if anyone sends word to Tamlin their life will be forfeit.
Chapter 33: Rhys asks her to try and steal the book without being caught as he likes Tarquin and the Summer Court. Rhys tells her to do anything to get the book - she asks what he would do if she slept with Tarquin to get it, he says she can do what she likes.
Feyre tries to use her fire powers to light a candle but douses it with water instead, being near Tarquin seems to make her water powers easier to access. She asks Rhys if Tamlin would really go to war for her - he says he doesn't know. Feyre says she would go back to him if it came to that but she doesn't want to. Rhys tells her Tamlin knew how valuable Feyre was and wanted to keep her for himself. She says Tamlin did love her but sometimes love can be a poison.
Tarquin's cousin Nostrus was High Lord before him but he rebelled so he and his family were killed by Amarantha, making Tarquin the High Lord. The Summer Court managed to hide their treasures from Amarantha, she asks to see his collections and he agrees.
Tarquin asks Feyre about the mortal world and she says class lines aren't as blurred there as they are in the fae world - you are either rich or you're poor. He says some feel the lines aren't blurred in the fae world and that some believe they should get rid of the High Fae, Explains that the lowers High Fae servants have more rights than the wealthiest lesser faeries. Tarquin agrees and would like to see more equality among the fae. She tells Tarquin he would be easy to fall in love with and easier to call a friend.
Feyre spots Rhys flirting with Cresseida and she realises she is jealous. Suddenly realises she feels unhappy but at least it is an emotion, as she hadn't felt anything in so long. Rhys and Cresseida disappear off together that night.
Chapter 34: Tarquin takes Feyre to a hall of jewels where some of their treasures are kept. Makes note of a beautiful necklace of rubies and one made from black diamonds. Tarquin gifts her the one made from black diamonds as a gift for what she did UTM.
Tarquin tells her he could be an ally to the North, says she has sway over Rhys and she could also be his emissary to the Night Court. He tells her his cousin Brutius was gathering forces in their cities to storm UTM but he was caught trying to escape - he was the Summer Court fae caught by Amarantha UTM and killed by Rhys. Tarquin says he knows Rhys saw what he was really doing but lied to Amarantha about it. Says he believes Rhys was Amarantha's whore to save the rest of them from her attention.
Tarquin notes he is new and inexperienced and he is not sure how to act as a High Lord. He is only 80 and one of the youngest High Lords. Tarquin asks if it is true she left Tamlin because he locked her in his house, she says yes. He asks if it is true the Night Court saved her from her confinement and she says yes. He then says he will not tell the Spring Court she was there. She is given tours of all the Summer Court troves but doesn't find the book.
She comes back to find Rhys lounging on her bed. She tells him Tarquin is a good man and he should just ask for the book. Feyre gets mad at her for sleeping with Cresseida but he says he didn't even kiss her. She says it gets under his skin that she shut him out but lets Tarquin in. He says it gets under his skin that she smiled at Tarquin, Feyre realises he is jealous. He says he heard her tell Tarquin that he'd be easy to love and he knows she meant it. He says he is jealous of that because he is not that sort of person for anyone.
Chapter 35: Two days have passed, still no sign of the book. Feyre spots a building that is only revealed when the tide is out - believes the book could be kept there. She mentions the building at dinner and can tell by the way Cresseida and Tarquin react that she is right and the book is there but they say it is just a temple ruin. She uses her powers to get into Tarquin's mind and cool his worries about why she is asking.
Rhys and Amren come to her room that night. Rhys knows what she did with Tarquin's mind, tells her it is impressive as it takes some daemati years to master that. They plan to try and get into the temple that night.
Chapter 36: Amren and Feyre go to the temple while Rhys keeps watch. They begin digging down into the mud until they find a lead door. Feyre manages to shift into Tarquin to trick the door into believing she is him and the door unlocks to reveal a spiral staircase. They go down and find another door to unlock. They find a dais inside and a lead box atop it.
Feyre feels like she can hear the box asking her who she is, she lies like she did with the door and says she is Tarquin. But when she grabs the book it calls her a liar and the door slams shut, locking her and Amren inside.
Chapter 37: Amren uses her power to blast through the door but water comes flooding in. They try to escape but the door at the top of the staircase seals shut. They are unable to get it open and are close to drowning when the door is ripped away, she sees water wraiths. The wraiths rescue them both and say that their sisters debt is now paid - the wraith Feyre helped back in the Spring Court.
Rhys couldn't get to every guard so the alarm has now been raised, he winnows them all back to Velaris. The box talks to her as she tries to unlock it, calls her a liar and asks if she will read it, she says no. The book tells her 'like calls to like'. The book is on metal plates bound by three rings of silver, gold and bronze. Written in an alphabet she doesn't know. Amren says it is no language of their world, says it is known as the Leshon Hakodesh - The Holy Tongue. Amren is the only one who can decode it.
Rhys had suspected this about the book but didn't tell Amren as he didn't want to get her hopes up. He thinks the book might also have the spell that can break the one that was put on Amren and might also be able to send her home.
They question why the King needs Jurian and how the king knows Jurian will be loyal to him. Rhys says Jurian may want the King to resurrect Miryam, Jurian's former lover. Says Jurian would do it to get revenge on Drakon for winning her heart.
Chapter 38: The next day a wooden box arrives from the Summer Court - inside is three large rubies. Rhys says they are blood rubies and the Summer Court send them to the offender when a grave insult has been committed. He tells her it is an official declaration that their is a price on their heads.
Rhys is drinking and seems sad, it is clear he was hoping for an alliance with Tarquin and that he feels bad for what he has done. Feyre tries to cheer him up by flirting with him but he resists at first. They spar verbally back and forth. They joke about sending lacy underwear to Tarquin, she invites Rhys to come help her pick some out. Azriel arrives though so she leaves.
She has a vision of what would have happened if they'd gone to the shop together and she'd tried on the underwear for Rhys. She gets so caught up in it that she walks into a post. Realises Rhys sent the vision to her down the bond.
That night she wakes up to the house rumbling and Rhys' darkness is causing it. She finds him in bed having a nightmare. She tries to wake him but can't at first, he grabs her by the throat and flips her over. He finally wakes up and lets her go. She notes that he is naked and she can see tattoos on his knees of a mountain crowned by 3 stars. He has these nightmares a lot and it is why he doesn't stay with the others in his other house. Feyre kisses him on the cheek and leaves, but before she does she has a vision of how she would paint Rhys.
Chapter 39: Feyre sends a note to Rhys asking what his knee tattoos mean. His response: "That I will bow before no one and nothing but my crown"
Feyre goes to visit Amren and see how she is getting on with the book - she brings her blood. Varian sent Amren the necklace of rubies and diamons to soften the blow of Tarquin's declaration of the blood feud. Amren notes Varian can't decide whether he wants her or hates her.
Feyre is still training with Cassian, she is learning to wield an Illyrian blade. She is also training with Rhys to use her powers, but hasn't been able to winnow since that day with the Attor.
Rhys tells her about some more of the High Lords:
- Beron, High Lord of Autumn Court: cruel and vain
- Kallias, High Lord of Winter Court : quiet and cunning
- Helion, High Lord of Day Court, also known as Spell-Cleaver - Rhys notes the people of the Day Court excel at spell work and archive the knowledge of Prythian in their 1,000 libraries.
Rhys and Feyre continue sending notes to each other. He asks her about painting and she says there was a time when it was all she wanted to do but that she can't paint anymore, it is like that part of her is empty. Feyre asks Rhys if he always wanted to be High Lord. He says yes and no. He saw how his father ruled and he knew he didn't want to be like him.
They hear back from the mortal queens, they will be going to her family estate the next day. The Queens demand they bring no weapons and asked for the exact location and layout of the house. She realises why when the queens winnow directly inside her family home.
Chapter 40: Five of the queens have come and Feyre notes they are 'a mixture of age, colouring, height and temperament'. Rhys asks where the 6th queen is and they say she is sick. The queens have heard of Morrigan because of what she did during the war. She asks how they can winnow, they say it is their secret and gift from the fae.
The queens say they already know war is coming but the human land here is tiny in comparison to the rest of the continents and that it is not in their interests to defend it. The queens say the fae should defend the human lands from the threat as it is of their own making. The queens also say the book will never leave their sacred palace. Feyre begs them for help and they tell her she is very young and have a lot to learn about the world. Rhys tells them not to condescend to her.
Mor interrupts and says they know who she is and that her gift is truth. She says it is no coincidence that another has been killed and remade at the same time their old enemy resurfaces. She says she fought side by side with Miryam, whilst Jurian's ambition drove him mad and drove them apart. Says she marched into the Black Lands with Miryam and freed the slaves. She says she marched with Miryam and Prince Drakon's legion, she knew the queens ancestors and that they'd be ashamed of them.
Mor says the queen's laugh at the idea of peace between their people but she says there is an island in a forgotten part of the sea where Miryam and Drakon still live with their children and both their people. She says they have prospered there for 500 years.
The Queens ask for proof that Rhys is really a High Lord of peace like he claims and not the monster they've heard so many stories about. He realises the only way to prove it would be to show them Velaris. He says he will get them their proof and will summon them soon, the queens then leave.
Chapter 41: Feyre asks who Miryam and Drakon are and if they could be used as proof rather than Velaris. Rhys says that 500 years ago there was a Fae kingdom in the southern part of the continent - The Black Land. He says there was no crueler place to be born human - all humans were born into slavery and forced to build temples and palaces for High Fae. He says the Queen of the Black Lands made Amarantha seem sweet.
Miryam was half-fae with a human mother, she was a child of r*pe. She was deemed human and denied any right to her Fae heritage. Miryam was given as a wedding gift by the queen to her betrothed, a foreign Fae prince named Drakon. He was horrified by it and let Miryam escape.
Miryam fled across the sea and was found by Jurian. She became his lover and was a healer in his army. In one battle she attended to his allies, which included Prince Drakon. He'd broken off his engagement to the queen and had been looking for Miryam for three years. Miryam and Drakon fell in love and she ended things with Jurian.
When Jurian was slaughtered by Amarantha she told him what happened to Miryam - that she'd betrayed him for a Fae. Everyone believes that Miryam and Drakon died freeing her people from the Black Land at the end of the war. But they escaped with their people. Rhys says they have already fought and suffered enough and he will not bring them into the conflict.
Rhys tells them he will show the queens Velaris, but knows he can't bring them there. Tells Mor to send word to her father that he will be visiting the Court of Nightmares. There is an orb that belongs to Mor's family - known as the Veritas and is rife with truth-magic and can be used to show the queens Velaris.
Rhys, Mor, Cassian and Feyre will go and create a distraction in the Court of Nightmares while Azriel steals it from Mor's fathers chambers. The queens will have heard of the orb, as it was used during the war and so will know it shows the truth.
Rhys tells Feyre he doesn't know if he wants her to go with them to the Court of Nightmares. Says he doesn't want her to see who he has to become and how he has to act while he is there. He says she has only just started to see him as not a monster and he worries seeing him like that and being under another mountain will just take her back to where she was UTM.
Feyre asks about Mor's family. Rhys says he was in the Hewn City the day her father announced she was to be sold in marriage to Eris, the eldest son of the High Lord of the Autumn Court. Eris had a reputation for cruelty and Mor begged them not to do it. Rhys took Mor with him to the Illyrian camp and when she saw Cassan she decided to do the one thing that would ruin her value to Eris - she slept with Cassian.
Eris then refused to marry her, said she had been sullied. Her family punished her for this and when they were done with her they dumped her on the Autumn Court border with a note nailed to her body saying that she was Eris' problem. Eris left her for dead and Azriel found her days later.
Chapter 42: Feyre will also need to play a role in the Court of Nightmares. Rhys seems very worried for her and distracted. To take his mind off of it she tells him Amren and Mor told her wing span says a lot about the size of a fae's penis and that Azriel's wings are the biggest. She touches his wings while they're flying and he tells her they are sensitive. Suddenly ash arrows come flying at them, they need to try and hunt down the source. Feyre asks to help track with Azriel. They find no one but it is the second time someone has known where Feyre and Rhys would be.
Feyre puts on a different outfit for the Court of Nightmares - a dress similar to the ones she wore UTM at the parties, she also wears a crown on her head. Cassian and Azriel have dressed in battle-black armour covered in 7 siphons each. Rhys has released the damper on his powers and goes to sit on his throne.
Feyre is to act as a novelty, a distraction, she sits on Rhys' lap and plays the role of his whore. Rhys summons Mor's father and Keir and asks him for a report while Rhys sits and touches Feyre. Keir says he didn't believe the rumours but it is true that Tamlin's pet now has a new master. Keir is distracted watching Feyre & Rhys. When Azriel gives the signal he has the orb, Feyre makes her way to Cassian. As she walks past Keir he says: "You'll get what is coming to you, whore" - this angers Rhys and he uses his powers to force Keir to his knees and tells him to apologise. When he doesn't Rhys breaks his arms until he says sorry. Then tells him he is not allowed to see a healer and if he does than he will be carved to pieces.
Chapter 43: Rhys winnows him and Feyre to a mountain lake and apologises, says he shouldn't have let her go with him. He tells her he will never lock her up but he lost control when Keir called her a whore - the same thing he has been called for 50 years. She tells him he needs to be better prepared then but he says he will kill anyone who harms her. She cries and tells him that he is her friend and she doesn't want him to stop telling her things or stop inviting her to things because of the threats against her. Rhys tells her to stop comparing him to Tamlin, says he will never act like him, says Tamlin locked her up to wither and die.
Rhys then asks Feyre what she wants, she doesn't respond and he tells her she needs to figure that out. She says that she might not know what she wants but at least she doesn't hide behind a mask like he does. She says he hides even from his friends because if they saw everything they might walk away and she says who could blame them as "who would want to bother with that sort of mess" - realises that comment really hurt. He takes her back to the house.
She waits for him that night to come see her but he doesn't. She wanted to tell him that she wants him and doesn't want to write it off as a joke anymore. Plans to tell him she wants to try with him and try to be something together. Rhys doesn't come to breakfast or lunch that day and she tries to send him a note but it doesn't go to him.
Rhys is off hunting whoever fired the arrows at them, it seems someone put a track on his magic so they can find him whenever he winnows or uses his power. They will be leaving to go to an Illyrian war camp in two days time.
Starfall is the next night - every other court celebrates it as Nynsar, Day of Seeds and Flowers but it is special in the Night Court. Amren tells Feyre that Rhys was a ghost when he returned from UTM but Feyre made him come alive again. Amren says she has known many High Lords but none like him, someone who dreams of peace and freedom. Feyre notes Rhys believes he will be remembered as the villain but the villain is usually the one who locks up the maiden.
Feyre keeps trying to send him notes but none go to him. She eventually gets really angry and writes one calling him a coward that vanishes and goes to him, he doesn't send a response.
Chapter 44: Feyre is in a beautiful dress and ready to celebrate Starfall. Cassian flies her to the House of Wind. She hasn't seen Rhys in two days. No one has told her what to expect on Starfall.
Feyre asks Mor about Cassian, says she only slept with him once when she was 17 and he was a year older. When Rhys found out he and Cassian fought. He was angry about the danger Cassian had put Mor in, she says Azriel was even angrier. She says they have never slept together since.
Rhys finally shows up and says he wasn't ignoring her but he needed time. He tells her to look up and she sees star after star flying across the star, she notes they look almost like fireworks. Rhys takes her to a small private balcony to watch it. Feyre apologises for the things she said, says she doesn't mean it.
Rhys explains they aren't stars in the sky but spirits on a yearly migration. Rhys tells her Amarantha would make him service her on every Starfall, as she knew how important the day was to him. She goes to grab his hand when one of the spirits hits her in the face - covers her in a glowing, green light. Rhys is hit by one too, which makes them both smile. She realises she has never smiled or laughed at him before, despite all he has done for her.
She asks him for two thoughts he owes her from when she first came to the Night Court. He says he avoided her because he was worried she would throw him out. And his second thought is that he wishes he could take back their kiss from UTM. Feyre asks if he wants to go dance down with the others and he says yes and kisses her on the cheek.
Chapter 45: They danced that night at Starfall and then he took her home, kissed her brow and left her to go to bed. Feyre says she feels like a traitor for wanting Rhys when she has only been gone from Tamlin for two months.
Mor, Rhys, Cassian and Feyre head to the Illyrian war camp where she meets Lord Devlon, the leader of the camp. Rhys tells him the girls in the camp are supposed to be training but are off doing chores, says they should train first. He tells Devlon to clean out his mothers home there for them to stay in. Lord Devlon asks about Feyre, asks if she is like Amren. Rhys says no one is to lay a hand on her or Feyre will kill them.
Rhys and Feyre then go off to train. She asks him about training the females - he says he banned wing clipping a long time ago but some camps still do it regardless. And he says most started again when Amarantha took over. Cassian is trying to build an aerial fighting unit amongst the females. He has trained a few but males make life so miserable for them that many leave. And some camps have issued decrees that if a female trains then she is deemed unfit for marriage and Rhys is unable to fight against that.
Devlon allowed Rhys, Azriel and Cassion to take part in the Blood Rite when many others wouldn't have. This is when Illyrians are sent into the mountains unarmed, magic is banned, they have no siphons, can't use wings and get no supplies than what they have on them. A few hundred go into the mountains and not all of them come out. Cas, Az and Rhys were dropped in different places, so that they were purposefully separated. They killed their way across the mountains to find each other.
She asks when he met Tamlin and he says he will tell her if she shows something impressive with her powers. She shows him a butterfly made of water. So he tells her that Tamlin is younger than him, that he was born when the war started. They got to know each other at court functions and Rhys says he seemed decent. He says Tamlin's brothers weren't decent but Tamlin would take the title. Rhys saw what Tamlin had to go through with his family and felt for him, decided to befriend him. He even taught him Illyrian fighting techniques.
Cas, Az and Rhys' family all knew about their friendship and disapproved. Tamlin's father also didn't like it, he felt threatened by the fact Tamlin and Rhys were both stronger than him and so he wanted to try and prove to the other Courts that he was stronger.
Rhys' mother and sister were travelling to the camp he was staying at so they could visit him. He was supposed to meet them half way but he was busy training a new unit so he didn't. Tamlin knew where Rhys was supposed to be meeting them and told his father and brothers. They went there and killed his sister and mother, Rhys said it should have been him. They decapitated them and put their heads in boxes and sent them down the river to the nearest camp. He says they kept their wings as trophies and that Feyre probably saw them pinned in Tamlin's study.
Feyre asks to know more but he tells her she needs to show him something else. Uses her powers to freeze the water animals she made to ice.
When Rhys and his father found out they both went to the Spring Court to kill Tamlin's father and brothers. Rhys killed the brothers, cut them to pieces and melted their brains. When he reached the manor he found that his father had killed Talin's father and alos his mother - even though he had promised she would not be harmed. Rhys' father then went to kill Tamlin but Rhys went to stop him. Tamlin opened his door, saw them there and killed Rhys' father in one blow.
Both suddenly felt the powers shift to them as they both became High Lord. Rhys then ran. Rhys realises that Tamlin never told Feyre any of this. Feyre realises Tamlin had killed his friends family and all this time Rhys had felt she was comparing him to Tamlin. Fire suddenly explodes out her. She realises why Rhys is so harsh to Tamlin. She can now use fire, ice, water and darkness.
She asks why he didn't tell her sooner and he says he didn't want her to think he was trying to turn her against Tamlin. Realises that she wants to paint again, she tells Rhys she wants to paint him and he jokes that nude would be best.
Chapter 46: Feyre and Rhys are heading deeper into the forest where they can train and not be seen, they will spend the night out there. Feyre thinks that maybe she can just keep her relationship with Rhys physical, thinks that will feel like less of a betrayal. Feyre goes a bit away from Rhys to train and suddenly finds herself surrounded by four Spring Court sentinels and Lucien.
Chapter 47: Lucien says they have been hunting for her for two months. She realises that Rhys is too far away to hear them. Lucien says someone tipped them off about where she was. Lucien says he will take her straight to Tamlin, says he hasn't been himself. Feyre says no but Lucien says he is taking her home, she tells him it stopped being her home when he locked her inside it. Lucien says it was a mistake and Tamlin is sorry and so is he. Lucien says she need to go with him.
Lucien tries to grab her and she is finally able to winnow again, she winnows away and Rhys is now beside her. Feyre tells him not to come looking for her again but he says Tamlin will never stop looking for her. Lucien tells her things got bad for he in the Spring Court but she shouldn't give up - she says he gave up on her, picked obeying Tamlin even though he saw what it was doing to her. Lucien says they needed to present a unified and obedient front. Feyre says she begged him time and time again to help her and get her out of the house and he never did.
Feyre uses her shifting ability to give herself Illyrian wings and then tells Lucien the human girl he knew died UTM. She says she has no interest in spending immortality as a High Lord's pet. She tells him to tell Tamlin that if he sends anyone else into the Night Court lands, she will hunt each and every one of them down. Lucien tells Rhys that he and his cursed court are dead, then he and the sentinels leave.
Chapter 48: They will spend the night at a local inn, but only has one room left so we get the one bed trope. They are both wet and have to change - Feyre asks how he gets clothes on with his wings. He explains he usually uses magic to do it. He explains he uses magic a lot to work off the strain and it needs a release. He says if magic is allowed to build up too long it can turn you insane.
Feyre asks Rhys what he'd have done if Lucien had taken her against her will - he says he'd have torn apart the world to get her back. Both admit that they want each other. He asks Feyre what she wants and she says she just wants to have fun - which in this context means Feyre getting fingered and them kissing.
Chapter 49: She asks why he made the deal with her UTM - he says it was to make a statement to Amarantha, to piss off Tamlin and to keep her alive in a way that didn't seem merciful.
They are flying the next day when Rhys is hit with poisoned, ash arrows and falls from the sky - throwing Feyre away from the danger. She can't feel him down the bond anymore. Feyre begins tracking him, using her powers. She finds that Rhys has been chained up inside a cave and has seven ash arrows through his wings, two High Fae are whipping him.
Feyre loses it and begins killing all the High Fae there. He can't winnow them so she has to try, she winnows him to another cave where she starts taking the arrows out. She tries to distract him from the pain, tells him about the time Elain bought her paints and she painted drawers for them all. She says she did one for each of them: she painted flowers for Elain, flames for Nesta and a night sky for herself. Rhys says the men were Hybern soldiers and the ancient chains they used nullify his powers.
Chapter 50: Rhys doesn't seem to be healing properly because of the poison. She goes and catches the Suriel again so she can find out how to save him. Tells her the poison is Bloodbane and that her blood can cure him as it is full of the healing power she would have got from the High Lord of Dawn. She just needs to give him a few drops of her blood.
The Suriel also says that if she wants to speed up her mates healing then she can find a pink-flowered weed by the river for him to chew. Feyre realises that Rhys is her mate and that Rhys already knew and hasn't told her.
Feyre returns to Rhys and is very angry. Gets him to eat the plan and gives him some of her blood. Then tells him he will answer her questions and not ask her any. She asks him how long he has known they were mates. He says he had suspected for a while but knew when Amarantha was killing her UTM. Says he felt the bond snap into place when he said goodbye that day UTM.
She asks if the others know - he says Amren and Mor know and that Cassian and Azriel suspect. Says he wanted to tell her but thought she would figure it out on her own. He also says she was in love with Tamlin and planning to marry him. Then once she left Tamlin she was dealing with everything so it didn't feel right to tell her. He also points out that the other night she told him she just wanted fun, not a mating bond or a mess like him. Feyre reminds him he promised her no secrets or games. She tells him she doesn't care for his excuses and she is angry he got to assume what was best and what she could handle. She makes him take her back to camp.
Chapter 51: She immediately finds Mor and tells her to winnow her somewhere else. Mor takes her to a mountain cabin belonging to their family. Feyre reveals she knows they're mates, that the Suriel told her. She asks Mor not to tell Rhys where she is, she just wants to be alone. Mor says she will come back in 3 days to check on her.
Part Three: The House of Mist
Chapter 52: Realises she ran away from him, she didn't let him explain or hear him out - she ran like she told him she wouldn't. She finds paint inside the cabin and then spends the whole day painting. Mor returns to find that Feyre has painted almost every surface inside the cabin. She has painted designs and decorations and little pieces of Mor, Cassian, Azriel, Rhy and Amren over the cabin.
Feyre asks her about the Court of Nightmares and that Rhys makes her visit there still despite what they did to her. She says Rhys gave her permission to kill them all and enjoys visiting them to remind them of that fact. Feyre asks Mor about Azriel, she says he won't make a move on her as he still sees himself as a bastard-born who is unworthy of anyone.
Chapter 53: She realises she likes the idea of a future with Rhys. She spends 5 more days at the cabin painting every single room inside of it.
Chapter 54: Rhys shows up at the cabin. She offers to heat him up some soup. He tells her it is important when a female offers her mate food for the first time. Says that some even have a party for it, as it means the female accepts the bond.
She asks Rhys to tell her everything. He says he was captured during the war 500 years ago by Amarantha's army. Cas and Az were in different legions and had no idea. Amarantha's captains held him and his legion for weeks, torturing and slaughtering them. They put ash bolts through his wings and used chains to keep him down - the chains are one of Hyberns' greatest assets as it is capable of nullifying High Fae powers. He wouldn't break or tell them what they wanted to know. He began planning to kill Amarantha but the day before he planned to do it Amarantha faced Jurian.
Rhys was forced to watch them fight. He watched Jurian and lose and then Amarantha spent days torturing him. His father came and rescued him but left the ash spikes in his wings as punishment for being caught. Amarantha went unpunished for her crimes during the war. When she returned centuries later he still wanted to kill her and she didn't even remember him.
He went to the party UTM where he planned to finally kill her. He couldn't get through her mentail shields, he drank the wine and then lost most of his power but managed to protect Velaris.
He says that three years ago he began to have dreams, as if he were seeing through someone else's eyes. One dream was of human hands painting flowers on a table, he sent a thought back of a beautiful night sky. Says he had a dream about a year ago of her having a nightmare of a woman slitting her throat while she was chased by the Bogge - and he then realised whoever it was was in Prythian.
He would follow her through her dreams trying to find out where she was. One time he saw the unlit bonfires for Calanmai and realised she was in the Spring Court and so he convinced Amarantha to let him go. He says he smelt her there and managed to find her and save her from the other Fae. He says that he quickly realised she had no idea who he was. He admits he gave the three Fae who tried to attack her that night to Amarantha and she killed them.
He says he didn't realise at the time that she was with Tamlin, not until that day near Summer Solstice where she found her hidden behind Lucien. That day was when he realised she loved Tamlin. He tried to scare Tamlin enough so that he would send her away. Says he just had to know her name, which is why he asked but he knew she'd lied about what it was.
He told Amarantha her name as he assumed she had made it up. Didn't realise she had used a real name until they brought back Clare to Amarantha. He altered her mind so she wouldn't be able to feel the pain as she was tortured, but had her scream at the appropriate times. When Rhys couldn't take it anymore he went into her mind and killed her. Rhys then thought it was over, Feyre was safe and Amarantha thought she was dead.
But then Feyre showed up that day UTM. Rhys decided he was going to fight, to help her win as she was the chance to free them all. When she was hurt he saw the chance to make the bargain. He knew it would send a message of hope to others who knew how to read the message, it would keep her alive without being too suspicious and was also a way to get to Tamlin and get back at him for what happened to his sister and mother.
Rhys tells her that when Amarantha began torturing her after the final task something snapped in him and he knew when he picked up the dagger to kill Amarantha that she was his mate and he would die trying to save her. Then he says Amarantha killed her. When he felt her dying he grabbed a hold of their bond and tugged, willed her to hold on. He knew all the High Lords were there which meant they could save her. He says he went in to ll their minds to convince them to do it and they all came forward to offer a spark of power.
He almost told her when he summoned her Under the Mountain. He promised himself that he would end their bargain the next time they saw each other. He then winnowed to the Night Court and told Mor everything. For three months he convinced himself she was better off without him but he could feel her pain and sadness.
On the day of the wedding he heard her begging for someone to save her. So he went to get her out using the bargain. Decided he wouldn't tell her. The day Tamlin locked her up he says he would have killed him if he had been there. He admits he broke a lot of rules to get her out but if he had got her to admit they were mates it would have saved them from trouble. He says he couldn't do it, couldn't put that pressure on her. Tells her he loves her. She gives him the food to eat, accepting the bond.
Chapter 55: She tells him that she loves him, that she is broken and healing but every piece of her heart belongs to him and she is honoured to be his mate. They kiss. Chapter 55 is the scene everyone goes on about - where he shoves her on the table filled with paint and eats her out and then they have sex, where Rhys roars so loud when he comes that an actual mountain trembles (I think this is supposed to be hot?!?)
Feyre finally feels their mating bond. She asks what happens now and he says they can go to Velaris and have the bond verified by a priestess and be officially mated. He says they can even get married and be husband and wife if she wants a human word for it. Or he says they can do none of those things, there is no rush to decide.
He tells her they leave for her sisters place the next day as the queens have finally responded. Feyre is glowing, seems to be a power she got from the Day Court. They sleep together a lot, he says it is normal and happens when they accept a mating bond. Says it is probably to try and ensure the female gets pregnant. But also says the males get super aggressive and men can shatter a room just because another man looked at their mate.
She asks him about pregnancy, says she is expected to bear his offspring. He says she will not be expected to bear anything. They both agree they don't want kids now, she says she wants to live with just him first. She wants them to have adventures and she just wants him to herself for a while, they have forever to have kids.
Chapter 56: They winnow back to the Illyrian camp. Cassian immediately gets him worked up and they have a fight, literally punching each other in the face. When they go back to Velaris Mor, Cas, Az and Amren all bow to her and say "We will serve to protect."
Chapter 57: The human queens arrive but this time only 3 of them come. They say the other three felt offended by how Nesta spoke to them last time. Mor brings the orb out to show them Velaris. Rhys tells them there is a place on his lands of peace, art and prosperity. He shows them Velaris and says they have kept it a secret for 5,000 years. The queens says they will think about it, discuss it and let them know.
Rhys explains that it is urgent and the queen reveals Rhys sent them a letter asking them to help him save Feyre's people so they can one day live in a world where there is peace between their people. One of the queens questions if it is all just a manipulation tactic. Nesta gets angry and demands they give them the book, begs for them to help and not leave them to die. Cassian comes up to Nesta and says he will fight for her and her people, wipes a tear from her eye.
The queens leave but they already know they will say no. The young golden haired queen has left a box with the book in it on her chair. She had snuck it in there to give to them. A letter from her says she believes him, believes in peace and if anyone asks he stole the book during the meeting. She tells him not to trust the other witches and that the 6th queen was not ill that first meeting.
Rhys tells Nesta and Elain that they can come and stay in Velaris or he will send guards to guard them here if they don't want to go. Nesta lets Elain choose and she says she can't go.
Chapter 58: They go back to Velaris and give Amren the second half of the book. Feyre thanks Cassian for what he said to Nesta, she says that Nesta is not like other people - she keeps her walls up to keep from feeling too much. She says Nesta will never forget that he offered to fight for Elain.
She suddenly spots black things flying in the sky, heading towards Velaris. The creatures all look like the Attor, she realises the queens sold them out and these have been sent by the King of Hybern. One of them drops the body of the young, golden-haired witch, she is impaled on a lamppost and dies. The creature says she has been sent from the mortal queen and Jurian.
Feyre runs to protect the artists quarter, she uses her powers to make wolves from water and other animals to chase down and kill the creatures. She sees the Attor trying to fly back to the King of Hybern and she goes after it.
Chapter 59: Rhys is trying to contact her, she bocks him out so she can concentrate. She winnows above the Attor and slams ash arrows into its wings. She wraps her arms around it and turns herself into a living flame. She stabs the Attor, saying it is for Rhy, Clare and for her. She winnows away just as the Attor plummets to the ground and dies.
Chapter 60: Velaris has been secured once again. Amren has cracked the code of the book and says that to nullify the cauldrons power Feyre needs to touch it and speak the words she found in the book. Feyre asks what happens if they put the two book pieces together. Amren says the blast of power it would cause would be felt in every corner on earth and would draw all types of enemies to them.
They want to winnow Feyre in to destroy the Cauldron. They have narrowed its location down to one floor in the King's castle. But they would need Rhys to stay outside while Feyre goes into the stronghold.
Rhys and Feyre decide to share a bedroom and he gifts her his mothers ring - the one she got from the Weaver. Says his mother gave it to him to remind him she was always with him. She gave it to the Weaver and told him that if he were to marry or mate then she would be smart enough or strong enough to get it back. She said if she were neither then she would not survive the marriage. He promised her that any potential bride would be given the test.
She tells him that after they nullify the cauldron she wants to do it all - marry, have the bond declared and have a big party. Rhys responds with: "And if I wanted to go one step beyond that?"
Chapter 61: They head to Hybern, infiltrate the castle and locate the cauldron.
Chapter 62: Feyre hears the cauldron speaking to her, telling her to put the pieces of the book together. She connects them and goes to say the words to nullify it but doesn't get to before Jurian appears.
Chapter 63: Rhys appears, takes the book from Feyre and hides it in his clothes. Jurian asks where Miryam is, when they tell him she is dead he says he knows they're lying. Mor says she is with Drakon and that they are mate and married. They can't seem to winnow out with the cauldron or by themselves, there is a spell on the castle and they are now trapped.
The King has his spell book back and he used to to get rid of their powers. The King comes in and Jurian fires and ash bolt through Azriel's chest, it is covered in Bloodbane. The King says they need to do as he says or he will kill Azriel. He takes them to his throne room where Tamlin and Lucien are waiting and he says: "Now that I've upheld by end of the bargain, I expect you to uphold yours."
Chapter 64: Tamlin made a bargain with the King of Hybern - if the King gave Tamlin Feyre then he would allow Hybern forces to enter through the Spring Court and use it as a base while he removes the wall. He also agreed that Feyre would work for the King. Tamlin holds out his hand and tries to summon Feyre to him, like she is a dog. She tells him she is going nowhere with him, the king says she will agree when she sees the final part of the bargain. The King then orders her to break the bond between Feyre and Tamlin.
Feyre begs Tamlin and he says that she's not well and that Feyre has used the bond to manipulate her. She says she will go with Tamlin if he lets the others go. She manages to get rid of the hold on her power and Tamlin finally realises that Rhys and Feyre are mates.
The King gets control of her powers again. Feyre tells Tamlin if he takes her away she will destroy him and everything he holds dear. But he says she doesn't know what she's talking about. The King says it is in her best interests to do as she's told - the four mortal queens enter and bring her sisters in with them, both are bound and gagged.
Chapter 65: The queens agreed to work with the King of Hybern. He promised to gift the queens eternal youth by turning them Fae using the cauldron. Ianthe told the King about Feyre's sisters and he wants to test the process on them first to make sure it works.
Cassian's wings get shredded by a blast of power from the King. The King shoves Elain into the cauldron first. When the cauldron tips over and throws her out she is now a High Fae. Nesta goes next but when she comes out Feyre can tell she is different in some way to Elain.
Lucien suddenly realises that Elain is his mate.
Chapter 66: Feyre manages to break free and use her powers. She pretends that Rhys did something to her but she silently begs down the bond for him to play along and get her sisters out. Rhys acts as if she has somehow managed to break free from some spell he put on her. Feyre tells the King to break the bond between Rhys and her, both the mating bond and the bargain.
She then begs Tamlin to let the others go and just take her home. Tamlin tells Rhys he doesn't care if they're mates, Feyre is his. The King breaks their bond.
Chapter 67: She faints and wakes to find the tattoo is gone from her arms. Mor winnows and takes her sisters away before Tamlin can, then Rhy, Cas and Az all winnow out. Tamlin takes Feyre home to the Spring Court.
Chapter 68: Rhysand's POV: When they return Amren demands to know where Feyre is. Mor tells her what happened, that Feyre pretended to free herself of the bond and from out of Rhys' control. Feyre pretended she hated them all and then the King broke the bond between Rhys and Feyre. Amren says it is impossible to break that type of bond and Rhys reveals she is right.
He reveals the King only broke the bargain between them. Amren demands he go and get Feyre back, he says no. Rhys reveals she's gone into the house to destroy him from within. She will know everything that King of Hybern does. Amren says she's his mate not his spy and he needs to go get her. Rhys says she is his mate, his spy and the High Lady of the Night Court. He says if they had removed her gloves they would have seen a matching tattoo on her right hand.
He tells them the night before they went to a priestess who swore her in as his High Lady. Feyre is now High Lady and his equal in every single way. Rhys says their High Lady has made a sacrifice for her court and they will move when the time is right. He says until then they go to war.
Chapter 69: Feyre's POV: Feyre plays along and tells Tamlin she can help him find them all and get her sisters back. She thinks Lucien might be suspicious of her. She plans to take them down from within.
The End
A Court of Wings and Ruin
Rhysand: Two Years Before the Wall
Rhys is making his way across the killing field, during the war between human and Fae. The field is field with the corpses of fallen Fae and humans. They had managed to hold the lines against Ravennia's legions for three days. His is making his way across the field and checking any Illyrian he sees to make sure it is not Cassian.
Part One: Princess of Carrion
Chapter 1: She is in the Spring Court, painting a picture of flowers and trying to pretend she is okay. She still has both of her tattoos but she is using a glamour to hide them. Ianthe is coming to explain to Feyre why she gave up her sisters to the King of Hybern. Feyre has a new bedroom at the manor, her old one was completely trashed by Tamlin. She now stays in a room just across from Lucien.
Lucien keeps asking Feyre where Rhys would take Elain, says he needs to find her- he is worried what is happening to her there. He doesn't believe Feyre when she says that Elain will be fine there.
Ianthe says she is sorry and that she acted on a desire to give Feyre what she thought she wanted but did not dare voice - to have her sisters with her forever. She says Hybern's forces are too great to stop anyway. Tamlin says part of his bargain with the King was that he guarantee the people of the Spring Court will not be harmed. But he has told a lot of his court to relocate to the East for the time being just in case. Jurian and the first delegation will arrive the next day.
Chapter 2: Jurian and two commanders are coming to survey the wall and test for the perfect spot to rend it once the Cauldron has restored its strength - turning her sisters in to Fae has drained it. Feyre needs to find out where they plan to strike and how long the Cauldron will take to get back to full capacity. Feyre has only spoke to Rhys once down the bond since she got there - can't risk using it too often. She told him she was okay and asked about her sisters. He told her he loves her and that they are safe and healing.
Jurian arrives with two commanders, male and female twins both with the same ruddy hue and inky black hair - Prince Dagdan and Princess Brannagh who are the nephew and niece of the King of Hybern. The twins say they will share a room.
Feyre and Jurian have a little back and forth, she warms him not to threaten him in her own home. She is putting on a performance, working to convince Tamlin that she loves him and loves the Spring Court. Feyre notes Dagdan seems to yield to his sisters every wish and order, she notes they seem to be able to communicate silently and believes they are daemati, like her and Rhysand.
The next day Lucien and Feyre will escort the twins and Jurian to the wall to show them where the holes are located. Lucien is asked where he got his mechanical eye from, says a fiend at the Dawn Court crafted it for him.
Feyre has been trying to locate the wings that belong to Rhys' mother and sister but hasn't found them so far. Jurian tells Feyre he fought with Rhys in the war and asks her where Miryam is, she says she is dead. He says he knows she isn't because he had tried to use the Cauldron already to resurrect her and it didn't work as she is still alive. Feyre says she doesn't know and she was told she was dead. Feyre realises Jurian is trying to distract them at dinner while the twins infiltrate their minds, she uses her powers to shield her mind and others from them.
Chapter 3: Feyre has inherited a curse-breaking ability from Helion, High Lord of the Day Court. They go to the wall and find the first hole. Lucien says he doesn't know how they were made, some just appeared over the centuries. He says there are three holes in total and then one off the coast. Can't travel easily to them all, as they can't winnow directly to them.
Feyre asks what side of the first war Lucien would have fought on if he was alive back then, he says he would have fought on the human-Fae alliance. Lucien tells her that he beat Tamlin back to the manor the day she left. He found no trace of her except for the melted ring, he got rid of it before Tamlin could see it.
Feyre makes a note of the fact the twins showed no interest in Ianthe at breakfast that morning. She seems to think they may have an incestuous relationship (I feel bad for male/female twins in real life, they're forever having to deal with twincest plots in fiction) The twins question Feyre about the Night Court and she gives them a lot of false information about it.
Feyre asks Lucien about Ianthe and if her and Tamlin slept together while she was gone. He says no, says Tamlin also refused to take part in the Rite and had Lucien do it in his place (Why didn't he do this in book one?) Ianthe insisted that Lucien take her to the cave on Calanmai - he said he did his duty.
Alis tells Feyre she was there the day Morrigan came for Feyre, she begged for Mor to take Feyre out - lied to Tamlin about it and said Mor abducted her. Alis says people say Feyre came back different/wrong but she thinks she came back right. She tells Feyre she has a cousin who works at the palace at Adriata and that she told Alis Feyre visited and was healthy and happy. Alsi says that whatever Feyre has planned to leave her boys out of it. She tells her to take whatever retribution she desires but to spare them.
Chapter 4: Summer Solstice arrives and Ianthe makes them go to an alter that morning for a ceremony. Feyre had worked with Ianthe on what prayers they should perform, so that it would mean the twins, Jurian and Tamlin would help and then her and Lucien would be left on the other side watching them.
As the sun rises, Ianthe raises her hands expecting the light to hit her but Feyre has moved the stone Ianthe uses to mark where she stands. And instead Feyre uses her light power to make herself glow to make it seem like she is the one being blessed. She grabs Lucien's hand and then he kneels before her, the others follow in his lead. She allows a little of her glow to spread to Lucien.
She speaks to Rhys down the bond to check everyone is okay, they are and he asks when she is coming home and she says soon.
Chapter 5: She wakes from a nightmare that night and goes across to Lucien's room, is in a lacy nightdress. She tells him about her nightmare, throws her arms around him and begins crying. He is comforting her when Tamlin finds them like that. Feyre had set it all up, faked the nightmare and went to Lucien's when she knew Tamlin would find them.
Chapter 6: A set of keys to the estate grounds have gone missing. Ianthe says the land around her temple is dying and that it reeks of the naga, says she believes they are planning to attack. Ianthe makes a comment about Tamlin returning Rhys' mother and sisters wings so that he might leave them alone. Tamlin says he burned them long ago.
Lucien, Feyre, Jurian and the twins head to a different hole in the wall. Feyre asks Lucien if there is any way for Tamlin to get out of the deal he made with Hybern. He says no, the King crafted the bargain too clearly and magic would strike Tamlin down if he doesn't allow them on his lands. He says it will claim Tamlin's power or his life.
Feyre asks how bad it was when she left, he says Tamlin trashed the manor and killed the sentries who were on guard that day. They find the next hole in the wall and three Children of the Blessed are on the other side.
Chapter 7: Feyre is trying to scare them off because the twins are trying to get them to come across the wall. Feyre gets in to their minds to scare them so they will leave. Jurian thanks her when the others can't hear and asks her what happens to humans who come across the wall - Feyre says she doesn't know, only knows that they never return.
Jurian says he has unfinished business because everything he did during the war was for Miryam and then she betrayed him. He wants to draw her out of hiding and regret what she did. Jurian says he knows Rhys, he fought with him. Rhys risked his legion to save Miryam and that was how Miryam captured him. Rhys knew it was a trap for Prince Drakon so Rhys defied orders and marched his whole legion to get Miryam out. Jurian says everyone insists Rhys is a soulless monster but the Fae he knew back then was the most decent of them all.
Lucien and Feyre have to share a tent and they wake the next day and can smell blood. The twins went through the wall and hunted down the three Children of the Blessed and tortured and killed them.
Chapter 8: Tamlin is having a go at Feyre, saying the twins are their allies. She argues that the twins butchered three innocent people. He says she should have left it for him to deal with rather than retaliating. Lucien and Feyre had sent the Bogge after the twins. Her and Tamlin fight and she angers him until he explodes again. This time she doesn't shield herself, allows herself to get flung across the room and hurt. Allows his guards to see her hurt by him. Lucien comes and take her away.
Rhys sends word down the bond, asking if she is hurt. She says she is okay and they talk for a while.
The next day she goes out for a ride with Tamlin's guards Bron & Hart, the two who heard her fight with Tamlin and saw her hurt.
That night 7 naga break into the estate and they're found with the estate keys that went missing. Their attack was halted thanks to a vision Ianthe supposedly had. Tamlin plans to whip the guard who fell asleep while on duty, the same guard who lost his keys. The guard insists that Ianthe stole his keys. It is all true, Ianthe set up the naga attack so she could be the one to save them.
Ianthe says the guard is lying but Feyre says she will hear him out. Ianthe insists they don't - the other guards note how dismissive she is being and know she set the guard and the attack up. She is playing in to Feyre's hands. She knows Tamlin's need for control and not to look weak will make him ignore that and punish the guard anyway - which he does. This angers his sentries, who believe he is picking Ianthe over them despite all they have risked for him over the years - like being sent across the wall to be killed to break the curse.
Chapter 9: Feyre stays after to help the healer patch him up. Bron and Hart personally escort her back to the manor afterwards. They apologise to Feyre for not stopping any of it - everything that has been done to her in the Spring Court. Feyre's plan is working.
Alis tells Feyre that when her and the others head to find the third hole in the wall the next day, she is leaving with her nephews and heading to the Summer Court. Feyre wishes her well and Alis says she will always have one friend in the Summer Court.
The next day they go to the third hole and Feyre suggests this is the best one and the hole they should use. She gets them to reveal that Hybern has an army of 200,000 including help from Vallahan, Montesere and Rask. She asks why they need the Cauldron and they say it will wipe the world clean again. They will need to use this exact spot in the wall as a person/object of mighty power passed through it and the Cauldron will study the work they've already done and magnify it until the warn collapses.
Feyre notes they have given her everything she needs to know - numbers, specific locations, names of foreign territories. She has a pack on her with the supplies she needs to escape and get back to the Night Court. She has set the Spring Court up to fall from its own internal warring. Her plan is to go before the other comes back, she has planted it in the sentries head to say they saw her being nearly killed by the twins and how she ran for her life when when Tamlin & Ianthe refused to intervene.
As she leaves she overhears Lucien telling Ianthe to back off, hears him telling her not to touch it - she remembers what Rhys showed her about Ianthe. She sees that Ianthe has him shackled around the wrists with the same blue stone chains she once saw used on Rhys that immobilised his power.
Feyre uses her power to get into Ianthe's head. Makes her unshackle Lucien and then makes her pick up a rock, put her hand on a boulder and then smash the rock into it over and over again. Feyre tells her she will never touch another person against their will. Tells her she won't remember what happened here, she will tell others that she fell. Tells her she can see a healer to set the bones but not erase the scarring.
Lucien is in shock at what she has done. They're caught by the twins before they can leave, they tell Lucien that Feyre is daemati.
Chapter 10: The twins reveal they have been plotting too. Ask if Feyre has noticed her headaches - which she has. And how things seem muffled in certain mental bonds - something else she had noticed when trying to speak to Rhys down the bond. Her powers have also been tiring easy.
They tell her they gave Ianthe crushed faebane stone ground so fine that Feyre wouldn't notice it or taste it in her food. She ate an apple an hour ago that was grown in the King's personal garden, which was fed water laced with faebane. They say it has enough to knock her powers out for a few days.
Feyre attacks - winnowing to Dagdan and distracting him by using her fire powers on his sister, giving her time to stab him. Lucien beheads Brannagh and then when Dagdan goes to attack Lucien, Feyre stabs him in the eye and through his skull, killing him.
The apple is starting to take effect, taking away her powers. Lucien knows she is planning to go back to the Night Court. He says he is going with her as she won't make it on her own. Says he is going with her so he can get his mate back. Lucien realises his magic is gone too, they must have used the faebane on them all. They leave through one of the caves that leads to the Autumn Court.
Part Two: Cursebreaker
Chapter 11: Feyre and Lucien arrive in the Autumn Court - still don't have their magic. Lucien takes her to a cave her used to stay in before he left the Autumn Court. Lucien says he knew she was lying when she unleashed that light in Hybern - his friend in the Dawn Court has the same powers. She asks why he didn't tell Tamlin and he responds that it felt like kicking him while he was down. He also knew if he did then she would find a way to make sure Lucien never saw Elain again. Feyre gets angry, says he is only helping her to get what he thinks he is owed and not because it is the right thing to do.
Lucien asks what she had planned to do with Tamlin - she says disembowel him. She says she debated it but letting his court collapse around him seemed a better punishment. Lucien says his father will hunt her for taking his power and kill her for using it.
They hike through the Autumn Court for 5 days. Lucien reveals he wasn't liked in his court. He was the youngest of 7 so he got to study for longer. Says the bloodshed that would be required to get his fathers crown was never worth it to him. He warns her that his people would sell them out if anyone spots them because of what happened to Jesminda. Jesminda, the girl he fell in love with, was one of them and when he didn't protect her it was a betrayal of their trust. When he was fleeing his brothers none of them would help him.
They finally make it to the mountains that lead to the Winter Court. She falls asleep and wakes up to hand gripping her face - Lucien's brothers have found them.
Chapter 12: They say the rumour is that Lucien & Feyre ran off together, that they were cuckolding Tamlin. Eris is there, the man who abandoned Mor in the woods to die all those centuries ago. Feyre can feel that her powers are slowly returning. Feyre uses her fire powers to attack them, separate them from her and Lucien and then brings the cave down on his brothers so they can run.
Her powers haven't fully returned so they find another cave to rest in. Lucien asks her about Elain - tells him she loves gardening and that she is engaged to a human Lord's son.
They pass the border into the Winter Court. They are making their way across the thick ice of a lake when Eris and two other brothers catch up to them. Eris is using his fire powers to melt the ice they are on.
Chapter 13: Lucien & Feyre begin running across the the ice. As she runs she can feel Kallias's power in her, the Winter Court High Lords power, she uses it to turn the melting ice back to solid ice. Eris and the other brothers appear in front of them. An arrow is fired at Feyre, it cuts her face and slices her ear. Eris winnows in front of her and hits her across the face. Lucien is fighting with his other brothers. Eris wraps his flames around her wrists and ankles.
Cassian and Azriel show up, they're both completely healed from what happened in Hybern. Cassian tells Eris to drop his lady. Feyre breaks free from Eris so Cassian can fight him. Feyre tells Eris that he and his brothers deserve to die but she will spare their lives. She takes the glamours off to show her tattoos and reveals she is High Lady of the Night Court. Then she tells Cassian to take them home. He flies with her and Azriel takes Lucien. She finally learns Lucien's last name is Vanserra.
They get back to the Night Court and Mor is there waiting for them. Rhys is far away but racing home. Rhys picked up on the bond minutes ago and sent them because they were closer.
Chapter 14: They all return to the town house. Amren is there, Lucien seems to know who she is and bows to her. Lucien asks where they are and she tells him it is Velaris, the City of Starlight. Rhys arrives and he and Feyre are finally reunited. Rhys tells everyone else to go somewhere else for a while.
Rhys reveals that when the bond went dark he thought she might have died. By the time he got to the Spring Court she was gone and he couldn't find her. She tells him about the faebane and why she couldn't contact him. Rhys reveals whatever she did in the Spring Court worked as Tamlin's sentries have abandoned him. Over half of his people refused to appear for the Tithe. She asks about Ianthe and Jurian - Jurian has returned to the King of Hybern.
She asks after her sisters and he tells her they are at the House of Wind. She asks where Rhys was and he says he was doing some of Az's work. He was in the human world, flying above the human queens palace. Feyre has a bath to clean all the dirt and blood off.
Then we get another Feyre and Rhys sex scene filled with them saying you're mine to each other over and over again.
Chapter 15: Her sisters haven't left the House of Wind since they arrived in Velaris. Lucien is being a pissy little bitch with Rhys about Feyre. Lucien and Rhys have it out and Rhys warns him to stop looking at Feyre with disgust and disdain - threatens to rip out his throat.
Feyre, Rhys, Cassian and Lucien head to the House of Wind. Feyre tells Lucien about how Rhys saved her life on Calanmai and explains everything that's happened since. Lucien is in shock, says he hasn't realised he'd been the villain in her narrative, she says he wasn't.
They find Nesta in the library reading. Cassian teases her and Nesta is being particularly unpleasant, she is very short with Feyre. Nesta says Feyre shouldn't be worried about her but should be worried about Elain. Elain won't eat, sleep or drink and she doesn't stop crying. Cassian has offered to train Nesta but she keeps refusing. Feyre notes Cassian looks at her sister with sorrow and longing.
She goes to see Elain and find her pale, thin and lifeless. She was supposed to be getting married in a week, all she keeps saying is she wants to go home.
Chapter 16: She tells Lucien to give Elain time. Tells him he can go visit the city if he wants but can't take her sisters or enter their floor. Then Rhys, Cassian, Mor, Azriel and Feyre head to see Amren. Amren tells Rhys that he should kill Beron and his sons so that Lucien can be High Lord of the Autumn Court. Cassian goes to the House of Wind every single day to see her sisters.
The Book of Breathings has been known to speak every now and again since being put back together. They say if Hybern is really working with Vallahan, Montesereand & Rask then they have little chance against him. They tried to get help from Drakon and Miryam but went to their island of Cretea and found it completely abandoned and in ruins. Rhys says Miryam died in the last battle but Drakon knew of a sacred, hidden island where an object of great power made by the Cauldron that could resurrect her and make her immortal.
Their plan is to convince the other territories to not join Hybern. Rhys went to Hybern and says the people are hungry for change. The King has let them fester and their resentment has grown. Mor says many High Fae believe humans are property and that many in Hybern long to have their slaves back. Hybern's people are for the war and the wall coming down. They also want Prythian to be made an example of for defending the Treaty. They've been working to plan information in the other territories, playing them against each other. They hope this keeps them too preoccupied protecting their own lands to be able to come and fight with Hybern.
Mor says something might be wrong with the Cauldron if they need to use an existing hole in the wall to bring it down, as the Cauldron should be able to do it on its own. They are currently looking to find a way repair the holes in the wall. Feyre might have the power to repair the holes as she has the power of the High Lords. Amren notes her sisters might have a better chance of doing it but Feyre doesn't want to involve them. Amren says she sounds like Tamlin and so Feyre finally agrees to ask them to help but she won't force them.
Rhys says he will send a message out to every High Lord to attend a meeting in two weeks as they need to get allies on their side.
Chapter 17: Feyre speaks to Cassian about Nesta and how she felt a difference in her when Nesta came out of the Cauldron. Asks if he has seen any hint of power from Nesta and he says no. Feyre asks what is going on with him and Nesta and he says he doesn't think Nesta will ever forgive him for what happened to Elain. He had made a promise to protect her and did not keep it. She asks him why he bothers with Nesta and he says he can't stay away.
They all have dinner together, except for Elain who won't leave her room. Mor tries to make an effort with Nesta and compliment her dress and Nesta just insults her in return. Nesta asks Amren why her eyes glow and Amren says it is the one part of her the containment spell could not get right. Says it is a glimpse of what lurks beneath. Amren asks what is beneath and Amren says that her and Nesta are the same. She says Nesta did not fit the mold they shoved her into. Amren tells Nesta that when she erupts to make sure it is felt across the world.
Lucien asks if Feyre will go to the meeting with the High Lords and she says yes. Ask if she will hide her powers while she is there, says his father would join Hybern if she thought he stood a chance at getting his power back from Feyre by killing her.
Chapter 18: Rhys needs to have a meeting in the Court of Nightmares to ask Mor's father Keir to fight in the war, as he has his own aerial legion. But he can't force him to join and he can say no if he wants to. Feyre reveals she wants to learn to fly, as she can use her shapeshifting power to give herself wings. Azriel offers to teach her, as he also had to learn later than most Illyrian's.
Feyre goes to see Nesta and tells her about the wall, the holes and the fact Nesta may be able to close it. Amren offers to show her how to do it. Nesta says she wants the King and the human queens dead by the end of the war and if they promise her they'll kill them all then she will help to fix the wall. Feyre asks Nesta to go to the High Lord meeting and tell them what was done to her but she refuses. She refuses to grovel to High Fae and tell them her story. Says if they even ask Elain she will rip their throats out.
Her and Rhys go for a walk and then agree that they will put on a united front together and not undermine each other in public as High Lord and High Lady. She tells him to be careful working with Keir because if he doesn't play it right he could really hurt Mor. Rhys tells her the meeting between all the High Lords will occur with a binding spell that forces them all into a cease-fire. If someone breaks it the magic would demand a steep cost.
Chapter 19: Cassian is angry with Feyre when they train, says her and Rhys lied to them and let them go into Hybern blind. They didn't tell them that she was High Lady and if he had known it would have changed everything. He says Hybern was a disaster and as High Lady she belongs to all of them and they would never have put her in so much danger if they had known. Cassian is angry that she gave herself up for them and didn't see herself as essential. She argues she isn't essential, that the rest of the Inner Circle have a duty and are vital but she isn't. He says they were all terrified for her the whole time she was in the Night Court.
Nesta appears so Feyre leaves to train with Azriel. She gives herself Illyrian wings and Azriel instructs her on how to make them more accurate. Trying to fly proves very painful and she realises she needs to strengthen her muscles.
Chapter 20: Feyre talks to Rhys about libraries, tells her the Fae burnt some rather than let humans gain access to them. They were scared humans would find spells to use against the Fae. Feyre says that humans don't have magic but Rhys says that some do, probably because they have distant Fae ancestors. Some half-fae and half-human children existed when the wall went up and they weren't treated well on either side of the wall, some were even killed. Some stayed in Prythian, deemed lower than lesser faeries and many had to find work selling themselves.
Rhys takes her to the library in the Night Court. She meets Clotho, a priestess, who she realises can't or won't speak. The library has a gaping hole that goes down and down, has level after level of books. Feyre asks what is at the botton and Rhy says he once dared Cassian to fly down there to see and he came back up terrified and has still never told Rhys what he saw.
Clotho takes them to a table where she has laid out books they might find useful. Feyre notices her hands are bent and twisted. Rhys explains that Clotho was attacked long ago by a group of males who cut out her tongue and smashed her hands. Rhys looked into her mind to see who did it and then allowed Mor to hunt them down. He says all the priestesses in the library have stories like Clotho and that the library is a refuge for them. Then Rhys tries to come on to Feyre and sleep with her in the library. But they agree to do what they came here to do, try to find more information on the wall.
One piece of information they find is that the wall was never made to last. Feyre asks Rhys if he could win a fight against the King, says he doesn't know the extent of the King's powers. Feyre says Hybern might have the numbers but they could get monsters. She wants to get the Bone Carver on their side, says they can find out what he'd be willing to give to go back home.
Chapter 21: Goes to see Amren and Nesta during their first lesson. Amren is showing Nesta how to shield her mind as they will be going to the Night Court with Rhys when he goes. That night Feyre has a nightmare of being UTM and her sisters being tortured while Amren takes Rhys to bed.
Chapter 22: Rhys, Feyre and Cassian head to the prison. Rhys has to leave her and Cassian there. Mentions that Cassian once put someone in the prison. Feyre asks Cassian about the Carver and he tells her there was life before High Fae and they would call them the old gods. The legend is that the Carver is one of them. He tells her the Carver is dangerous and they'd have to find a way to bind him to obey them before they let him out. No one knows how he ended up in the Prison.
Feyre goes in and still sees the Carver as the little boy and she realises he is showing her the son her and Rhys could one day have. She gives the Carver one of the Attor's bones. The Carver says he can smell his sister on Feyre, the Weaver is his sister. The Carver says the rock, darkness and sea all shuddered in fear at what happened on in the island across the sea when 'she' emerged from the Cauldron, they assume he means Nesta. He says the wind moans Nesta's name. She tells him they got the Book of Breathing and that they may find a spell to send him home.
Chapter 23: The Carver says he doesn't want to go home, his cell is where he wants to be. The Carver says he allowed them to trap him there. He says the Weaver is Stryga and his brother was Kosche. A long ago Fae warrior tricked Stryga into diminishing her power and becoming confined to the Middle. Kosche was confined and bound on the continent. He says that Fae was clever but her bloodline is long gone now but a trace still runs through some human line.
The warrior couldn't kill his siblings, they were too strong. He has already made his way to the Prison to hide from his siblings. He says they are all death-gods. Both of his siblings are stronger than him, says his sister found a way to eat life itself to stay young. The Bone Carver doesn't want to leave the Prison and remind his siblings that he is alive.
The Carver knows they are going to the Hewn City to ask Keir to fight with them. He tells her his sister had a collection of mirrors in her black castle. There was one mirror, the Ouroboros, a window to the world where all could be seen and told through its surface. He says Keir possesses it, it is now an heirloom of his household. He says if she brings him the mirror than he will be hers to wield if she finds a way to free them. Nesta could be like the Carver, either she is Death or her power comes from it.
Chapter 24: Elain is struggling to deal her her new fae senses, she finds it overwhelming. She is talking in half riddles. Lucien comes in to where they are and Feyre gets into his mind so she can hear his thoughts, as she is worried for Elain. Elain asks who he is and he tells her his name. Elain says he betrayed them in Hybern, he says it was a mistake. She tells him she is supposed to be getting married in a few days. She tells him that she can hear his heart beating through the walls when he is sleeping.
Lucien tells Feyre they need to get her sister out of the house. Feyre says she will send her to the town house. Lucien asks what Nesta is, what her power is. Nesta says she made the Cauldron give something back to her.
Feyre notices how Azriel and Elain get on. She asks Feyre why Elain and Azriel aren't mates when they are better suited, what determines it. Rhys says the mating bond can be rejected. Says it is easier for the females but the males it can drive mad and some believe they are entitled to the female. Will see her as belonging to them and challenge the male she chooses, which can end in death.
Chapter 25: Amren, Nesta, Rhys, Feyre, More and Azriel go to the Court of Nightmares. Rhys puts Feyre on the throne and tells everyone to bow to her. Nesta and Amren go off to find ancient objects for Nesta to practice on. Keir says he knows they are there to ask for his Darkbringer forces to join their army. Keir says he can sympathise with Hybern's cause. Keir says he has a price for joining them, he wants Feyre. Rhys reminds him that he can kill him. Rhys says he knew he'd be hesitant to join them so asks for someone to bring 'him' in - Eris walks in.
Chapter 26: Mor looks hurt and betrayed. Eris is willing to offer Keir an alliance in exchange for his help in the war. Keir says it is not enough, wants out of the mountain. He knows about Velaris after Hybern's attack on it and now he wants access for him and his court. Rhys says there would be conditions and restrictions.
Feyre tells Keir she needs the Ouroboros mirror. He laughs and says it can be their mating present if she can take it. He says to claim the mirror you have to look into it, any who have tried have gone mad or been broken beyond repair. Feyre asks how Eris came to be a part of this, he knew Rhys would come to see if he had told his father about Feyre and her powers. Rhys couldn't get into his mind to make him forget so agreed to work with him to protect Feyre.
Mor asks what he wants, another bride to torture. He says he doesn't know who fed her those lies and she says he never showed any evidence to the contrary and left her in the woods to die. He says there were forces at work she never considered. Feyre asks about Lucien and how Eris and his brothers hunted him down and helped kill his lover. Eris says she has no idea what happened. Eris says he wasn't there when they killed Lucien's lover, he refused. He reveals he was punished by his father for that and he was the one who stopped them killing Lucien and got word to Tamlin to get to the border to get Lucien.
Eris says his price for helping them is for them to support his bid to be High Lord of the Autumn Court. He also says Rhys can kill his father now and he will join them. Eris tells Mor he wouldn't have touched her if they'd got married. But after she slept with Cassian he knew why she did and so gave her the freedom she wanted by ending their betrothal. He says he regrets it. and says one day he might tell them why and what it cost him.
Chapter 27: Mor confronts Rhys about Eris and not warning her about the fact he was working with him. She is also angry that he has agreed to allow Keir in to her home as she believes he will destroy Velaris. Rhys assures her he has taken precautions - no business will serve Keir or anyone from the Night Court.
Amren finds out they went to see the Bone Carver again. They ask Amren how she got out and she says she had to give herself up to get out. Had to become something else entirely that the Prison would not recognise - so she bound herself in her Fae body. Amren says one day a rip appeared in the sky in her world. Her brother and sisters fled but she was curious and wanted to look. That was how she got trapped here.
She says they will need to do the same for the Carver to get him out - would need to make him Fae and she does't think he will agree to it. They ask if she can be unbound and she says not by her. Amren says if she ever is unbound she won't remember any of them. Says she was originally a messenger and soldier for a wrathful god in a young world. Amren isn't even her real name, she doesn't remember it.
Elain appears, said she could hear something, says she can hear "her" crying, that everyone thinks she is dead but she's not, she is changed like Elain. She says she saw old hands withered with age, a box of black stone and a feather of fire land on snow and melt it. She says it was angry that something was taken so took something from them as punishment.
Feyre asks Nesta what happened in the Hewn City with her and Amren. Says she took her to a room full of treasure and had Nesta look for weaknesses in their defenses but she failed at every time. Lucien tells her to get a healer to see Elain, she agrees.
Rhys come to see Feyre, he regrets his choice to work with Keir and Eris, regrets hurting Mor and that he made a bad call.
Chapter 28: Start getting responses from the High Lords. Helion agrees to come. Thesan says yes but only if it is a neutral and safe location. Kallias wants to bring armed guards. Spring, Autumn and Summer haven't replied. Mor says she has spoken to Rhys about Eris and Keir.
A healer comes to see Elain but finds nothing wrong with her. She says she can't enter Elain's mind as she is Cauldron-made. The healer suggests getting Lucien to help because if anyone can sense something amiss than it is a mate. Tells him to sit with her and see what he senses and picks up.
Chapter 29: Lucien tries to do what the healer suggested. Elain tells them "Twin ravens are coming, one white and one black."
All the High Lords have agreed to the meeting except Tamlin, they just need to pick a location.
Feyre is training with Az, still learning to fly. Azriel tells her that Cas and Rhys taught him to fly, he learned late as he was locked away for most of his childhood. He tells her that Rhys once brought a story back from a visit with Miryam and Drakon that he told to Azriel as a gift.
When Miryam freed her people from the Black Land, she led all 50,000 of them across the desert to the shore of the Erythian Sea with Drakon's aerial legion providing cover. The ships they'd arranged for transport had been destroyed. Drakon's people, the Seraphim, are winged like Illyrian's but theirs are feathered. Their women lead, fight and also rule. The Seraphim are all gifted with magic of wind and air. They cleaved the sea in two and made a path through the water.
They ordered the humans to run and Miryam insisted on remaining behind until all the humans had crossed. Halfway through crossing was when the enemy army reached them. The Seraphim fought the vanguard and during the bloody melee they did not see Miryam skewered by the queen. Drakon thought she had made it out so he ordered the parted sea to come down on the enemy.
A young Seraphim cartographer named Nephelle saw Miryam go down. Nephelle's lover noticed her and Miryam were missing. Nephelle reached her in time, just before the sea came crashing down. Nephelle was a cartographer because she'd been rejected from the legions fighting ranks because her wings were too small and the right one was malformed. Drakon let her try out anyway but she failed as she could barely carry her shield. So she became a valuable cartographer instead and Miryam's dearest friend.
Nephelle found Miryam bleeding out. Miryam told her to saver herself but she would not leave her. She picked her up and flew. It defied all logic and training but Nephelle managed to fly her across the sea floor, her small wings made her able to make it through the labyrinth of jagged rocks. Nephelle's lover made Nephelle her wife that night.
Rhys, Cassian and Azriel adopted the Nephelle Philosophy - that your greatest weakness can sometimes be your biggest strength. And that the most unlikely person can alter the course of history. Every year in Cretea they would host the Nephelle run to honour her and Nephelle crowns a new victor every year.
Chapter 30: Elain says to Cassian "he snapped your wing, broke your bones" and he says it will take more than that to kill him and Elain responds "No, it will not." (Cassian dying confirmed?)
Feyre takes Nesta to the library. Nesta tells Feyre she didn't realise Feyre never learnt to read. Feyre asks why Nesta pushes everyone but Elain away but before she can answer they feel a ripply and tremor. She grabs Nesta to winnow when two High Fae appear in gray jackets, they are Hybern's men. They blow faebane dust on Feyre, stopping her magic. Feyre notices one of the fae is dark haired and the other has light hair and they say they are the King's Ravens, his far-flying eyes and talons. They say they have come to take Nesta back. They say she took something from the Cauldron and the King wants it back, it is why he can't shatter the wall.
Chapter 31: Feyre tells them they made a mistake coming there. She grabs Nesta and runs for it, heading down instead of up to whatever creature lies below. The Ravens talk to them as they hunt for them, tell them about the mortal queens. They say the youngest queen was the first to go into the Cauldron but the Cauldron knew something had been taken from it and it was angry. The Cauldron gave the queen the immortality she wanted but it took her youth. She came out of the cauldron a withered crone. Now the other queens won't go into the Cauldron.
Feyre realises that Elain has been trying to warn them, had seem this or sensed it -they were the ravens she spoke of. She gets Nesta to run for it and blocks the path she took so they can't follow Nesta out. Feyre is in the dark and begs for something to help her. She hears a voice asks if she is High Lady and when she says yes it asks what she will give it. She asks what it wants, it says the stone and wall hear all and speak all. It heard of her desire to wield the Carver, to trade with him. It says that it knew the Carver long ago. She asks again what it wants and it says for her to send it company to tell it about life, she agrees. It then asks her if it should kill the two fae and she says yes, it tells her to close her eyes. Cassian comes for her, tells her not to look as she takes her and Nesta out.
Chapter 32: Rhys turns up and is covered in blood. Feyre notices she has a new tattoo to show her bargain with the creature. Rhys asks Nesta what she took from the Cauldron, she says she doesn't know. The wards on the library prevented Feyre from contacting Rhys. They only knew she was in trouble as Clotho rang the spelled bell in the library that went out to all of them, Cassian got there first.
Rhys shows her what happened, Cassian found Nesta first who told him where Feyre was and told him Hybern soldiers were there. Amren is preparing to hunt that night, check the city for others. Elain says the queen might come, the one who was cursed. the one with the feathers of flame. Azriel realises that the Cauldron made Elain a seer.
Chapter 33: Elain says the sixth queen is alive, the one they lied and said was ill. She says they sold her to some darkness, some sorcerer lord - she says she can't see what he is. Says he possesses an onyx box. He keeps other girls like the queen, by day she is one form and at night she is human again - a firebird by day and a human by night. Elain says the queen is near a lake, deep in the continent, hidden among the mountains and forests. He keeps all the girls at the lake. But the other women are different, they have white feathers. The sixth queen is young, mid twenties and is known as Vassa. She must pose a threat to the other queens if they turned on her. If they can find her she may be vital in convincing the human forces to fight. Lucien offers to go and find the sixth queen, says his eye can see things that others can't.
Chapter 34: Amren spent the night hunting in Velaris but didn't find any other Hybern assassin's or spies. Lucien leaves that day to try and find the sixth queen. Amren rushes in and says Hybern has attacked the Summer Court and is laying siege to is as she speaks.
Chapter 35: Prince Varian sent Amren a warning to prepare their defenses. Rhys says they can't leave Tarquin to face them alone. They are going to take their Illyrian legions to the Summer Court.
They arrive and realise no other courts have come to help. Mor and Feyre head to the palace to fight.
Chapter 36: They begin killing Hybern soldiers, saving lesser fae in the castle. They completely clear out the castle of Hyberns soldiers. She tries to get into Rhys's mind and see what he is doing, he is hunting whatever is causing a dampener on his powers. He locates the ship it is coming from, the King of Hybern is there.
Chapter 37: Rhys knew it was a trap to see which High Lord would come first. Feyre is in Rhys's mind, telling him to kill the King and be done with it. Rhys says it isn't that simple. The King is angry about what Feyre did to Brannagh and Dagdan. The King says it will take everything Rhys has to try and stop him and it won't be enough. He says he will take Feyre as she mourns over Rhys's corpse.
The King tells Rhys that there was room for everyone at the table - humans, High Fae, lesser fae, half-breeds in Rhys's world but only if they thought like him. But the King says Rhys looked down his nose at the loyalists. Says he has no interest spending another 500 years bowing before humans.
Rhys tries to attack the King but he is just an illusion, didn't actually come. The King says this is just a taste of what is to come. The King disappears and as he does so does the dampener on his magic.
Chapter 38: Feyre is out of Rhys' mind and is now vomiting. They head to the palace. She goes to see Tarquin, he thought they had come to help Hybern finish them off. He says he has heard what she did to Tamlin and the Spring Court, destroyed his territory and left the door wide open for Hybern, who docke in his harbour. He orders them to leave.
Chapter 39: Feyre falls asleep, wakes in a tent in their camp in Adriata where their wounded soldiers are being healed. Rhys says the King knows about them and their histories, that he picked the library because of what it meant to Rhys. Feyre tells Rhys he needs to stop playing his role with the High Lords and tell them the truth, especially as Velaris won't stay a secret for long now the King knows about it. They decide to keep Feyre's powers a secret, except for the ones she got from Rhys. Then in a war tent, while Feyre talks about the cries of soldiers outside laying dying or injured, she decides that's a great time to give Rhys head.
They head back to Velaris, Nesta asks about Cassian and seems worried about him.
Chapter 40: Feyre has Rhys take her back to the prison, tells the Carver to pick a different object. He says he wants nothing else. Rhys finally learns that the boy she sees is their future child, she shows him what he looks like.
Chapter 41: Meeting to take place in the Dawn Court, every High Lord has responded except for Tamlin. Amren says Nesta is close to figuring out how to seal the holes in the wall. Feyre is dressed for the meeting, has a crown she got the night before when Rhys took her to a room filled with the Night Court's treasures inside. Nesta tells them she has changed her mind and wants to come to the meeting.
Chapter 42: Nesta says she will come and giver her story to the Lords, doesn't want to be a coward. Rhys offers Nesta a job as his emissary to the human world, she says she will consider it. Nesta and Cassian have a moment.
They arrived at the Dawn Court for the meeting with the High Lords:
- Helion - High Lord of Day Court
- Kallias - High Lord of Winter Court
- Thesan - High Lord of Dawn
- Beron - High Lord of Autumn
- Tarquin - High Lord of Summer
Still not sure if Tamlin will come or not.
Chapter 43: Thesan has an aerial legion of Peregryns, they also have wings but they are feathered. They are distantly related to Drakon's Seraphim. One of the male Peregryn's is Thesan's lover. Feyre meets Kallias's wife Viviane, who Mor is good friends with. Viviane was childhood friends with Kallias, he had loved her his whole life. He managed to save her from being Under the Mountain. He got her to protect his people while he was gone. The day he returned from Under the Mountain he proposed, they were married and the mating bond snapped into place. Tarquin, Cressedia and Varian also come. Beron arrives and brings four of his sons and his wife. Tamlin winnows directly into the meeting room.
Chapter 44: Tamlin tries to blame Rhys for him making a deal with Hybern. He says if he hasn't stolen Feyre he wouldn't have had to go to desperate measures to get her back. He says he planned to find a way out of the deal once he had Feyre back. He then tries to humiliate Feyre by asking Rhys if he has noticed the noise she makes before she climaxes. Tamlin finally realises that Feyre is High Lady.
Tamlin asks the High Lords how they can think of working with Rhys after he stood by Amarantha's side for all those years. Tamlin says he is there to help against Hybern, has info on his movements and plans. Says that is why he let him into his lands. Gives them info on Hybern's armies, ammunition, stores of faebane and more.
Tamlin once again tries to insult Feyre and calls her spoiled goods and a whore. Rhys uses his powers to take away Tamlin's ability to speak.
Chapter 45: Tarquin rescinds his blood rubies, says there is no debts between them. Eris says Mor dresses like a slut - Azriel blasts through his shields and tackles him to the ground, strangling him. Feyre manages to get him to stop. Azriel whispers something in Eris's ear and then goes to sit next to Feyre.
Helion looks at the info Tamlin has brought and says they should destroy the King's supply of faebane first. Thesan brings in Nuan, his most skilled craftspeople - she was the one who made Lucien's mechanical eye. Nuan has found a solution to the faebane, has created an antidote, a powder that grants immunity.
Tamlin blames Feyre for turning his armies against him and leaving his land defenseless. He says the village she wanted to help rebuild is now just cinders. Tarquin offers to take Tamlin's people into his court so they can evacuate.
Feyre gets into a fight with Beron, who talks about Rhys being with Amarantha while him and the other High Lords were fighting to protect their families. Feyre loses her temper and fire shoots out of her and straight at Beron.
Chapter 46: Feyre sends more fire at Beron, and then water to. She is trying to kill him but Rhys finally gets her to stop. Beron tries to leave the meeting but Nesta speaks up and asks why he refuses to help against Hybern. Nesta says she went into the Cauldron and she saw the King's heart. She says he will bring down the wall and butcher those on either side of the wall. Beron says he will consider helping them and then he leaves. Viviane and Cresseida say they will fight with them - Tarquin, Kallias, Helion, Thesan and Tamlin all agree to join them too.
Chapter 47: Helion comes to visit them that night - is playful and flirty. Had put on an act at the meeting. Rhys explains that Helion likes males and females, he keeps trying to convince Mor, Cassian and Azriel to go to bed with him.
Helion believes Beron will choose to join them, says his people and wife remember the games he played in the first war that cost him dearly. His wife's sisters were butchered during the first war. When Hybern forces attacked their estate her sisters bought her time to run. She ran and was caught and trapped at a ravine. Helion saved her from them.
Feyre asks why Helion saved her. He says she was too young when she married, that it was an arranged marriage. Mor says she heard rumours that she delayed her wedding to Beron as she was waiting for a Fae she met at an equinox ball. But her family wanted internal ties to power and sold her to Beron. Feyre realises that Helion had an affair with Beron's wife, on and off for decades. She realises that Helion is Lucien's father and not Beron - she realises Helion doesn't know. Feyre thinks Beron and his sons may know, which would explain why they detest Lucien so much. Also explains why Eris doesn't want him dead, as he isn't actually a threat to his claim to the throne.
Nesta comes to get Feyre, she says they need to leave, that something feels wrong. Rhys and Az winnow away to check and find no sign of trouble and so they stay.
Mor seems to be flirting with Helion and takes him to her room that night. Feyre asks Rhys why she does it and he says: "They have had plenty of opportunities to confess what they feel."
Feyre remembers to tell Rhys that Tamlin burned his sister and mother's wings years ago.
Chapter 48: Feyre heard Mor and Helion having sex all night. The next day they go to another meeting, Nesta suddenly starts vomiting. Nesta says something is wrong, not with her but with the Cauldron. They feel a sudden shudder through the land. Rhys reveals the King had used the Cauldron to shatter the wall.
Chapter 49: Elain says they could evacuate their estate in the human lands and take them to Graysen's estate. His father has been planning for something like this for years. It has high walls, supplies and ash weapons. She asks Rhys to glamour her to appear human so she can go to Graysen and ask.
Cassian gives Nesta a dagger and advice on what to do if anyone tries to attack her. Feyre goes to see Amren to ask about the creature under the library. Amren tells her it is Bryaxis. She tells Amren she wants to make another bargain with it, needs her to examine the wards holding it.
Chapter 50: She takes Amren with her to talk to Bryaxis. Amren confirms she can beak the wards trapping him here. She asks if he will fight in the war for her if she frees him. He says the library is his home, he doesn't want to be free but just wants a window so her can see the sky. They agree to the deal.
Part Three: High Lady
Chapter 51: They all head to the Illyrian mountain camp site where Lord Devlon is. Devlon thinks Nesta is a witch, witches amass power beyond their natural reserve and use spells and archaic tools to harness more power to them and use it as they desire. Mor glamours Elain and they then head to the human lands. She tells the guards at Graysen's estate to tell him that Elain Archeron begs for sanctuary.
Chapter 52: They are taken to the guardhouse to wait for Graysen. It is a small space, which gets to Feyre and Nesta notices - she explains she has problems with small spaces now. Nesta reveals she hasn't been able to get in a bathtub since the Cauldron, she uses buckets instead.
Lord Graysen arrives with guards and his father Lord Nolan. Lord Nolan notices Nesta is Fae, tells him how she was kidnapped and turned against her will. They tell them about the Cauldron and the wall coming down. Elain begs them to open their homes to humans. Graysen said he'd believe her if she wasn't lying to him, he has already heard she is Fae too and that a High Lord's son is her mate. Jurian comes in, he is the one who told Graysen about Elain.
Chapter 53: Jurian has been pretending to be mad, pretending to be working with Hybern. Tells Rhys to look into his mind and see he is telling the trut - Rhys has conveniently not thought of doing that once this whole time. He says he wants to find Miryam and Drakon so he can apologise, also so they can ask them for help. Jurian reveals Tamlin rank back to Hybern after their meeting and Hybern now plans to attack the Summer Court the next day.
Chapter 54: Jurian reveals they didn't kill Vassa, they found a death lord with a penchant for enslaving young women who cursed her and stole her away. Elain tells Graysen her heart belongs to him but he says he doesn't want it, he demands his engagement ring back and says he will never marry her. Nesta slaps him round the face and says he never deserved Elain.
They do agree to allow humans to shelter on their estate. Jurian says he plans to go to the continent to sow seeds of discord amongst the queen's courts. He also tells them to hammer the left flank the next day as Hybern has put his untrained nobles there. Jurian congratulates Feyre on killing Brannagh and Dagdan. She says she did it for the Children of the Blessed that she killed and he says he knows, that's why he chose to trust her.
Chapter 55: They head back to the war camp to prepare for the attack the next day.
Chapter 56: They fly the Illyrian army to meet Hybern's forces on the border between Spring and Summer. Rhys cloaked all their and Keir's forces so they could surprise Hybern. They end up making Hybern's forces retreat, right to where Tarquin's forces are waiting. They surrender and Tarquin uses his powers to drown them all
They move the Illyrian camp to the border of the Winter Court. Cassian comes back with an injured wrist, which Nesta wraps for him.
They are digging a trench around the camp, have been there for 5 days. Hybern's forces have skirted them completely, heading for the Winter Court border. Varian wants them to march north but have Rhys glamour the camp to make it seem like they are still there. Feyre helps him with it.
They go to meet Hybern's forces but they're better prepared this time and they start to lose. Feyre realises she needs to find the Suriel to find the location of Hybern's true army.
Chapter 57: Feyre goes to Elain to ask her to find the Suriel for her, she says the Suriel is in the Middle, near the Weaver's cottage. She winnows there and finds the Suriel.
Chapter 58: She asks the Suriel where Hybern's army is, says it doesn't know and that the King is using the magic pf the Cauldron to cloak it. Suriel says she can use Nesta to track the Cauldron down as 'like calls to like'. Tells her that she can scry with bones to find it.
Feyre asks why the Cauldron did not react when she joined the Book and then spoke the spell. It says Feyre did not hold on long enough. Feyre says it was killing her and the Suriel says there is a cost to use it, so it would have drained the life from Feyre.
Feyre asks if there is another way, is told she would still need to get to the Cauldron to do it. She asks if nullifying the Cauldron would be enough to win, Suriel says it will be if they survive long enough to
battle afterward. Feyre asks if the Bone Carver will make a difference but the Suriel says she can't see him because he is not of this earth.
Feyre tells the Suriel that the Carver wants the Ouroboros and she asks if looking into it will drive her mad and break her, the Suriel says only she can decide what breaks her. Suriel tells her to tell Amren the answer lies on the second and penultimate pages of the Book and that together they hold the key.
Suriel is about to tell her what she needs to do to stop Hybern when an ash arrow suddenly bursts through her throat. Ianthe is there with two Hybern soldiers.
Chapter 59: Ianthe says she can't use most of her hand thanks to Feyre. Ianthe heard from Tamlin how Feyre caught the Suriel so she tried her methods but the Suriel would not tell her anything. So she gifted it a robe with a tracking spell on it that would be triggered if Feyre came to see it.
The Suriel lays dying and tells Feyre to run. Feyre runs, getting them to chase her and she leads them
to the Weaver's cottage.
Chapter 60: The Weaver knows she has seen her brother, can smell him on her. She asks Feyre who Feyre has brought to her, she says dinner. Feyre leaves, trapping Ianthe and the guards in with the Weaver. She runs back to the Suriel and it asks Feyre to stay with it while it dies. The Suriel came even though it knew about the tracking because it says Feyre is kind and fought her fear. Suriel says she told her to stay with the High Lord, she meant Rhys. She tells her to stay with him and she will see everything righted. The Suriel tells her to leave the world a better place than she found it. The Suriel dies and Helion finds Feyre there. She uses his cloak to cover the Suriel's body and then Helion takes her back to the camp.
Chapter 61: Cassian has been hurt, has a wound from his navel to his sternum and it will take him a while to fully heal. Rhys is angry as he gave Cassian an order to wait and he ignored it. Mor is angry at Feyre for leaving to go see the Suriel and not telling anyone. They start fighting about it and Mor has a go at her for lying and Feyre hits back, saying that Mor lies every day. She asks why Mor has never made a move on Az or why she took Helion to bed even though she didn't enjoy it.
Chapter 62: Amren arrives with the book and also bones and stones for Nesta to scry. Amren tells Nesta to pick them up and then think about the Cauldron. Nesta grips tighter on to the bones and they can't seem to get through to her. Feyre looks into her mind and sees Hybern's forces, huge and endless. She sees the King standing over a war map. The King has amassed his army at the edge of the human territory, close to their family estate. Varian shows up in the tent and kisses Amren.
Chapter 63: Feyre dreams of the Cauldron. She wakes and feels like something is wrong. She thinks her and Nesta opened a door and that the cauldron is watching them through it. The Cauldron knows where they are, they an hear it. Amren, Nesta and Feyre can all hear it as they were Made. They realise the Cauldron lured Elain away from the camp by showing her Graysen calling to her, promising he loves her. The Cauldron has taken Elain to the Hybern war camp.
Chapter 64: Azriel says he will get her back. Feyre says she will go with him. Feyre shifts to look like Ianthe and says she will walk right into the camp. Rhys can't go with her. Az and Feyre winnow near the camp, Az hides himself using his shadows and Feyre walks right in.
Chapter 65: In the camp they find a Children of the Blessed girl hung up on a rack, they've been torturing her. Jurian finds her and realises she isn't Ianthe but is Feyre. He tells her that Elain is safe and untouched for now. He says she is chained in the King's tent with steel and a spell from the book. Jurian says he will make a distraction so they can get her out. Feyre asks him to also get the Children of the Blessed girl for her. They grab Elain and run.
They run for the cliff Jurian told them to escape to and they find the Children of the Blessed girl there. They are close to the edge when Feyre is hit by an ash arrow. Two of the King's hounds are about to attack her when Tamlin comes to help her escape. Azriel tells her she will need to fly. He takes off with Elain and the other girl but one of the beasts jumps and injures his wings. Feyre manages to fly with a help from a breeze Tamlin creates for her. She looks back and sees Tamlin leap off the cliff and winnow away.
They all make it back to the Illyrian camp, both her and Az are injured. The girl they rescued is called Briar. Nesta appears, throws her arms around Feyre sobbing and thanks her. She is healed and then her, Elain and Nesta lay together like they did back in the cottage.
Chapter 66: Kallias's army has joined them at the camp. Azriel has been healed but he won't be able to fly for a while. Mor and Feyre talks, she tells Feyre that she was right, she doesn't love Azriel. She says she loves him like family but does not love him the way he loves her. She says she can't love him as she prefers females. Says she finds pleasure in both but prefers females and connects with them on a soul-deep level.
She never told her family as LGBTQ+ people are reviled by people in the Hewn City who only care about breeding. Says she slept with Cassian as she knew it would mean little to him, didn't pick Az as she knew how he felt about her. She says when Az found her that day with the note nailed to her womb he tried to confess how he felt and she panicked and just walked out.
Mor says she sleeps with men as she enjoys it but also as it stops people looking too closely. She says the bar Rita's is owned by someone like her. Mor says she has continued to hide that part of her because she is terrified her family will find out and shame/hurt her about the one thing that has remained wholly hers.
She says she took her first female lover during the first war, a female queen named Andromache. She was beautiful and she loved her. The queen had to continue the royal line so Mor left. When she realised her mistake and went to go back the wall had already been built. She tried to cross it for three years, by the time she did the queen had married a man and had a daughter. She ended up having five children and died an old woman. Says she has taken male and female lovers since but none has felt the same as Andromache.
She says Azriel is marvelous but if she ever slept with him he would think it was the start of their happy ending. She says she loves him enough to want him to find someone who can truly love him. Feyre promises to keep her secret until she is ready to tell. She asks why she slept with Helion, she says she did it to remind Az that she's not interested. Says she knows she should tell him (Yes, it has only been 500 fucking years! She could literally just tell him she loves him as a friend but nothing more)
Hybern's army is on the move, marching east. The King is planning to march on the human lands to spite Feyre and her sisters for what they've done. They plan to winnow to the human lands and winnow out as many humans as they can to Adriata. Amren comes in and says they need to face Hybern in battle and distract him so that Amren, Feyre, Nesta and Elain can get to the Cauldron. Elain has found a way to stop his whole army.
Chapter 67: They need to get to the Cauldron and touch it together. They can then use it to bind the King and his army and wipe them off the earth. They go to winnow the humans out and Feyre and Rhys go to her old village. Feyre knows she needs to get the Carver, so she winnows to the Court of Nightmares to face the mirror.
Chapter 68: She climbs a winding staircase of a thousand stairs that leads to the mirror. She looks into it and sees just herself until she notices a massive beast behind her, slowly inching towards her. Describes it as a beast of claws, scales and fur. It jumps at her and then disappears. When she looks back in the mirror she sees it and realises it is her, a reflection of what lies beneath her skin. She faces it in the mirror.
She brings the mirror to the Carver. He says he will uphold their deal and fight for them. He says he didn't need the mirror but she did. He wanted to see if she was worth helping and says it is rare to find a person who can face who they truly are and not be broken by it.
Chapter 69: Hybern has marched through the human lands, destroying as they go. They find Feyre's family estate destroyed. Azriel gives Elain his blade, Truth Teller. Az's wings are injured and Rhys has ordered him not to fight. Rhys says it is the first time he has seen Az let someone touch his knife. Rhys then gives a moving speech to everyone (but I'm dead inside and feel nothing!)
They go to face Hybern but are very outnumbered. Feyre reveals she got a tattoo as a mating gift to Rhys, it is down her spine and shows 4 phases of the moon.
As Hybern's shield around his forces comes down, Feyre lets her glamour go - it was hiding the Bone Carver and Bryaxis. The ink on her spine is the bargain. Suddenly the Weaver shows up, Rhys sent Helion to bargain with her. They will break her containment spell if she fights with them. All three creatures begin attacking Hybern's forces.
Chapter 70: The fighting starts and it is bloody. A horn sounds and three armies appear - Beron's, Tamlin's and Graysen's human army led by Jurian. Tamlin made Beron came, dragged him out by his neck. Eris's brothers work to destroy Hybern's stores of faebane.
Amren, Feyre, Nesta and Elain need to make their way through the battlefield to find the Cauldron. Nesta realises Hybern is rousing the Cauldron, Nesta begins screaming for Cassian. The King uses the Cauldron to completely destroy the Illyrian armies in the sky, turns them to ash. Nesta called for Cassian knowing he would come, saving his life. The King uses the Cauldron again, this time hitting and destroying the Carver.
Chapter 71: Feyre realises she and Amren will have to go to the Cauldron alone, without her sisters. Another horn blasts and an armada of ships appear on the horizon, more of Hybern's army. But then another horn blasts and they see thousands of winged soldiers heading towards them. And another armada is coming, with way more ships than Hybern's. They realise it is Drakon's legion and the ships are filled with Miryam's people.
Drakon appears and says they heard rumours of the war and jokes that Rhys could have asked for their help. When Rhys says he couldn't find them, Drakon explains they put a glamour on the island 300 years ago, anyone approaching would just see a ruin and be inclined to turn around. They had been on Cretea the entire time. Drakon reveals most of the armada isn't his, they met up with it on the way. He says it is led by a queen named Vassa, that Lucien is with her.
Feyre realises it was their father that found Vassa. Apparently he discovered the queens were traitors months ago and has been fathering an independent human army to face Hybern. He found Vassa and rallied an army. He told Drakon he had three daughter that he had failed for years and he would not fail them again. He named his three ships after Nesta, Elain and Feyre (Thanks SJM for the character redemption no one asked for/cares about!)
Chapter 72: Vassa is flying as a firebird. Nesta tells Feyre she can use her as bait to draw the King out. She says that it works both ways and the King doesn't know how much she took from the Cauldron and if she makes it look like she is about to use its power the he will come running to kill her. Cassian says he will guard her, Rhys is convinced they will both die.
Chapter 73: The Weaver is still alive, hidden near Hybern's forces and was waiting for Amren and Feyre to arrive. She creates a diversion for them by killing the King's guards. The King walks up to the Weaver and snaps her neck and throws her to two naga hounds. The King can sense Nesta's power and heads towards her.
Feyre and Amren reach the Cauldron and Feyre puts her hand on it. She realises that Amren has lied to her about whatever is about to happen.
Chapter 74: Amren says she is sorry for lying. Feyre can't let go, can see the Cauldron as it searches for Nesta. She sees Rhys fully shift into the beast he can become, says it is a thing of nightmares. Helion runs towards Rhys and shifts too. She sees through the Cauldron as it locates Nesta. The King winnows to them but Nesta doesn't unleash her power because the King is holding their father and has a knife to his throat. Her father tells her he loved her from the minute he held her as a baby and he is sorry for everything. She begs the King not to kill him, he asks what she will give and she says she will give back what she took. The King kills their father, snaps his neck.
Cassian begins fighting with the King but he is losing. Nesta tells the King she is going to kill him. The King brings his foot down on Cassian's wing, snapping bone. Nesta's power explodes out of her and at the King but he winnows away. Nesta grabs Cassian's sword and turns to the King but he quickly disarms her and strikes her across the face. She sends another bolt of power at the King, sending him flying back (I wish this man had a name!)
Nesta tries to get Cassian up, is sobbing at him to get up before the King comes back but he can't. Cassian tells her to go but she says she can't. Cassian says he has no regrets other than that they did not have more time together. He kisses her and tells her he will find her in the next life. Nesta covers Cassian's body with her own as the King returns. As the King goes to kill them he suddenly stops, Nesta looks up to see a blade is through his throat. Elain has stabbed him with Truth Teller.
Chapter 75: Nesta gets up and goes to the King, grabs the blade and twists it into his beck - eventually she beheads him. Nesta then lifts his head up and stares at it. Feyre realises that even with the King dead, his armies will still overwhelm them. Amren is telling Feyre to fight against the Cauldron.
Amren reveals the Suriel gave her the message for Amren but it was for the spell that would unbind them. Once she is in her real form she can wipe out Hybern's armies. Varian appears and tells Amren not to do it. Feyre reminds her that she will be gone if she does it, she won't remember them once she is freed. Amren says there were humans in her world to and she used to watch them. She things being sent here was a gift, her time with them was a gift. She tells Varian she thinks she learned to love with him. Amren gets into the Cauldron and tells Feyre the spell she needs.
The Cauldron shatters into three pieces and then they see Amren, describes her with great, burning wings and a crown of light floating above her flaming hair. She begins destroying Hybern's forces. She wipes them all out but she fades away, her power spent.
Chapter 76: Feyre feels the Cauldron, looks inside the ruins of it and can see a void, a growth. The fissure inside the Cauldron is growing and will destroy everything. Rhys tells her she needs to remake the Cauldron, to forge it anew. But Feyre says her power is spent. Rhys says she can use his power. She takes his hand and grabs the Cauldron. She uses the spell Amren gave her and with Rhys's power she begins to forge, weld and bind the Cauldron. She keeps needing more of Rhys's power and he gives it to her and tells her he loves her. She heals the Cauldron, but can feel his power start to sputter. She manages to finish it but when she turns around she finds Rhys sprawled dead on the ground (We all try to act shocked/devastated and like we don't already know she will bring him back)
Chapter 77: She realises he knew he was dying and it was why he told her he loved her, he was saying goodbye. Feyre shouts at the High Lord's to bring him back like they did her but they say it is not the same thing as she was human. She says she doesn't care, tells them to do it. Tarquin goes first and then the others. Thesan explains to Feyre how to do it herself, so she does. Then Tamlin comes and she begs him, she says she will give him anything. He tells her to be happy and then drops the last kernel of power into him.
She holds Rhys and tells him about how she fell in love with him. Rhys finally comes back to live, makes a joke and tells the High Lord's they'll be happy to know his power remains his own and didn't gain any of theirs. Rhys tells her there is another surprise and tells them to get Amren out of the Cauldren. She was there while the Cauldron was sealing and going wherever the dead go, so Rhys reached out a hand to her to see if she'd come back. Feyre realises what Amren has given up to come back to them, she is now just a normal High Fae.
Chapter 78: Elain. Nesta and Feyre go to their father and say a prayer then burn his body. Lucien comes, says he has a lot to tell her. Reveals her father struck a deal with Vassa's keeper so she could come temporarily. She is still cursed though so is only human at night. Feyre notes the queens are still out there, Lucien says not for long if Vassa has anything to do with it. Elain invites Lucien to come to Velaris with them. Feyre goes to her tent and finds Rhys inside with Drakon and Miryam.
Chapter 79: Drakon and Miryam fought with Jurian but Mor convinced them not to kill him. Feyre asks them if they can hide the Cauldron in Cretea and they agree. They then have a giant meeting between all the High Lord's, princes, humans and fae. Feyre finally gets to see Nephelle, the legendary warrior Azriel told her about. She meets Vassa, who tells her their father was a great man and she will owe him as long as she is alive. She asks if Feyre can break the curse on her and she says she will try. Feyre has called them all together to renegotiate the Treaty.
Chapter 80: She tells them all her story, then Miryam and Drakon and then several others. They don't agree anything yet. Jurian comes to speak to Feyre, says Vassa offered him a place in her court. They finally head back to Velaris. Nesta is now back to being quiet and not talking to any of them. Feyre gave Lucien a note for Tamlin to say thank you and to wish him happiness to, asks him to give it to him if he ever sees them.
Chapter 81: Rhysand's POV: Just him listening to all his friends talk and laugh. (Thanks Sarah, just what this 700+ page book needed was more pages of nothing)
Chapter 82: Feyre goes to find Rhys on the roof, in the red lacy underwear they once joked about her buying. He tells her he heard her in death and it made him hold on. They make a bargain that when it is time to go they go together. He tells her Bryaxis has vanished, they will have to hunt him down at some point and return him to the library. Then her and Rhys go flying over Velaris together.
The End
A Court of Frost and Starlight
Chapter 1 Feyre: They are a week away from Winter Solstice and Feyre's birthday, she spent the last one in the Spring Court. They will all be exchanging gifts. Rhys is currently at Devlon's camp with Cassian.
Chapter 2 Rhys: Still fighting with Devlon about the women training. Rhys is mainly thinking about fucking Feyre. Dissension is brewing in the Illyrian camps, unhappy at how many of their warriors died in battle. Cassian and Nesta now don't speak t all. Nesta moved into an apartment in a slum part of Prythian and refuses to see anyone but Feyre.
Chapter 3 Cassian: Cassian goes flying and goes past Ramiel, the sacred mountain that the Blood Rite takes place on, has a shiny black stone at the peak. Cassian flies to the place where his old village had been, it was completely destroyed years ago. When he'd come back to find his mother they refused to tell him where they had buried her body.
Chapter 4 Feyre: Her and Rhys host weekly open audiences at the House of Wind where people can come and ask for things they need. She goes for a walk through Velaris and sees a fae woman she remembers seeing the day Hybern attacked Velaris, Ressina. Ressina shows Feyre the studio place she works in and invites Feyre to come and use it whenever she was. She tells Feyre everyone remembers how she came and fought for them the day Hybern attacked.
Mor comes to join her, Feyre is trying to find a present for Amren. Mor says her, Rhys and Feyre are going to heading to the Hewn City that night, a tradition to visit for Solstice. Mor has heard that Eris will be there and she wants to see how close he and her father are.
Chapter 5 Feyre: Rhys comes home exhausted and Feyre brings him food. Then we get a pointless lesson on fae periods - they get one every 6 months. Feyre once again thinks about children, says she meant what she said when she told Rhys she didn't want kids anytime soon. Rhys is mad at Nesta for not helping Feyre when they were human. Feyre points out he has forgiven Elain and he says that Elain is Elain but Nesta is different (Nope, I wish people would stop making excuses for Elain like she is a child! If you hate on one sister for not helping, hate on Elain too!)
Chapter 6 Mor: She goes to the Hewn City to see Keir and Eris. She remembers the day Eris found her and left her for dead in the Autumn Court. He told all the guards with him that day to not touch her, said if they did then she became their responsibility. Then he leaned over her and asked her if she was correct, that she did not want to live in the Autumn Court and he could read in her eyes that she didn't. Eris then told the guards to leave her, that she had sullied herself and her family chose to deal with her like garbage.
Seems Eris's father wants to expand his territory into the human lands. Eris tells them to speak to Tamlin as he'd be the one giving him permission to do it as the Spring Court borders the human land.
Chapter 7 Rhys: Azriel has brought a list of clans where dissent is spreading. Jurian and Vassa both still in the human lands. Lucien is spending solstice with Tamlin in the Spring Court. Rhys needs to go visit Tamlin.
Chapter 8 Cassian: Goes to see the clothier Proteus, finds his daughter instead, Emerie. He buys all her winter clothes and tells her to give them to those in the village who need them most.
Chapter 9 Feyre: Goes to Ressina's stuidio space to paint. She is too scared to go in so instead winnow into an abandoned gallery and paints in there instead.
Chapter 10 Feyre: Painted how she looked in the mirror, the beast that she saw.
Chapter 11 Rhys: Goes to the Spring Court, the estate is completely run down and empty. Tamlin has destroyed almost every room in the estate. Rhys and Tamlin fight, Tamlin is feeling sorry for himself and Rhys tells him he deserves everything that has befallen him. Rhys tells Tamlin he hopes he spends the rest of his life alone. Then Tamlin leaves and goes to buy Amren a Solstice gift.
Chapter 12 Feyre: Feyre and Cassian get drunk together while decorating for Solstice. Nesta told Elain she won't come to Solstice, doesn't want to see them at all. Feyre goes to see Nesta that night but she doesn't open the door. Feyre finds her in a seedy bar.
Chapter 13 Feyre: Nesta goes out drinking most nights and brings home men to sleep with. Feyre tries to get her to agree to come to Solstice but she keeps refusing. Feyre goes to say it is what their father would want but Nesta gets very angry at her for bringing him up. Feyre says she will only pay for Nesta's rent if she comes to Solstice.
Chapter 14 Rhys: Tells Mor he needs her help with treaty renegotiations with the other courts.
Chapter 15 Feyre: Feyre buys a tapestry and thinks about how she'd like to teach others to paint.
Chapter 16 Rhys: They all have a drink together on Solstice Eve, Nesta doesn't come.
Chapter 17 Feyre: She wakes up and Rhys gives her some birthday presents including a sketchbook, scarf and satchel for her paint supplies. Feyre wants to draw him nude. He leaves her to go off with Cassian and Azriel for a Solstice day tradition, doesn't tell her what. Lucien shows up for Solstice.
Chapter 18 Feyre: Lucien has been spending time with Jurian and Vassa. Mor takes Feyre to see Rhys, Cassian and Azriel - the tradition is a snowball fight.
Chapter 19 Feyre: At the Solstice celebration they give Feyre a birthday cake to celebrate her 21st birthday. They then start exchanging gifts when Nesta finally shows up.
Chapter 20 Feyre: Nesta is silent the whole night, takes her rent money from Feyre at the end of the night and leaves. Cassian goes after her.
Chapter 21 Cassian: He has a gift for Nessa that it took him months to find. She says she wants nothing from him. But he remembers how she was willing to die for him in the battle. They have a fight and he ends up throwing her present into the river.
Chapter 22 Feyre: Rhys reveals the dresses that he gifted Feyre to wear were all made by his mother, she was a seamstress. Feyre tells Rhys she wants him to change the eye tattoos on her hands, wants him to make it the same as the tattoos on his knees - a mountain crowned by three stars. Then Feyre gives Rhys her gift, that she wants to get pregnant and have a baby. Then Rhys gives her another present, has bought an estate for them where she can build a house.
Chapter 23 Rhys: Goes to visit Tamlin, has asked the Summer Court to provide him with soldiers to protect his borders.
Chapter 24 Mor: Mor goes to her estate, she has owned it for 300 years and kept it a secret.
Chapter 25 Feyre: The closed gallery she has been doing her painting in belonged to a woman called Polina. They have gifted Feyre the studio.
Chapter 26 Rhys: Rhys is watching the females train at a camp.
Chapter 27 Feyre: She is now working with Ressina and have opened her studio up to teach children how to paint, it will be free.
Chapter 28 Feyre: The first class ends and then she goes flying with Rhys.
The End
A Court of Silver Flames
We get Nesta's point of view of her going into the Cauldron.
Part One: Novice
Chapter 1: Feyre and Rhys have constructed their river house on the estate Rhys bought Feyre for Solstice and have now moved in. Nesta was offered a room at their old town house but she refused, stayed in her apartment in the slums. Cassian has been sent to get Nesta and take her to see Feyre. She opens the door wearing nothing but another males shirt.
Cassian says Nesta looks terrible, last time he saw her was a month ago on an end-of-summer party on a barge. She had appeared to have a fight with Amren that night and no one had seen or spoke to Nesta since then. Nesta and Elain haven't shown any signs of their powers since the battle with Hybern.
Nesta uses sex, drinking and music to help keep her powers at bay. Nesta thinks about her father and how she hated and resented him even as he died for her. She thinks she could have saved him and that it is her fault her is dead.
Rhys has offered her numerous jobs, she has refused them all as she knows he does it out of pity and for Feyre. She gets to their new estate, notices that the walls are covered in Feyre's paintings, has ones up of all her friends and family but absolutely none of Nesta. Nesta notes she was the one doted on by their mother but her sisters were always closer to their father.
Nesta has been using Feyre and Rhys's money to pay for her drinking, had run up a very large tab the night before. Feyre says she tried to give her time but has decided she was wrong and she won't pay for the apartment and drinking anymore. She says Nesta will go to train with Cassian instead.
Chapter 2: Feyre says Nesta is to move to the House of Wind and she will train everyday with Cassian in Windhaven, the Illyrian camp. She says her afternoons will then be spent working in the library. If she refuses then her other option is to be sent back to the human lands. Feyre is having Nesta's entire apartment building condemned, knocked down and rebuilt into a shelter.
Cassian notes that Nesta has a full body shield covering her, he can't even smell her scent. She says Rhys is practicing impenetrable shields on her.
Amren had suggested having Nesta sent to the dungeon in the Hewn City for a few days if she refused. It was Feyre's idea that the punishment be to be sent to the human world as it would be a prison for someone like Nesta. Nesta gets angry, says she can't do this to her and that it is her fault Nesta is how she is (I mean, she's not wrong).
It has been nine months since the Winter Solstice, Feyre says she has given her enough time. Nesta says she won't go, Feyre says she will even if they have to tie her up and drag her there. Nesta says she won't be their prisoner, Feyre says she isn't - she can go where she likes if she can make it down the 10,000 steps to the ground (essentially confirming she is in fact a prisoner).
Chapter 3: Cassian had spent four months with the Illyrian's and smoothing things over with them, making it clear that there would be hell to pay if they rose up. Rhys says he wants to give Cassian more responsibility. He believes the human queens are scheming and he wants him to look into it. Then Nesta and Cassian go to the House of Wind.
Nesta refuses to eat and says she won't train at Windhaven, calls it a terrible place.
Chapter 4: Cassian goes to speak with Mor, she thinks they should just send Nesta to the Court of Nightmares as she'd thrive there (In the Court of Nightmares where women are treated terribly, with the kinds of people who would brutalise, s/a and beat their own daughter and leave her for dead - yes, getting drunk and sleeping with people is clearly on that level. What is SJM doing to these characters?)
Mor reveals the King and Queen of Vallahan don't want to sign the new treaty. They believe the mortal queens are stirring and there will be a new war, so don't see a point signing when they will need to do another one after an inevitable war.
Cassian wants to go and speak to Vassa about the queens, as she knows them. Lucien has become very close to Vassa and Jurian, they all live together now. Eris has somehow convinced Keir to not visit Velaris yet.
Nesta wakes in the House of Wind, thinks of her mother. She saw Nesta as cunning and felt she would be able to get a advantageous betrothal from the continent when she was older. Says her mother would hate to know she almost married Tomas, a wood-cutters son. When she broke off their engagement he got angry and laid hands on her, he tried to sexually assault her but she managed to break away from him.
Chapter 5: Nesta is refusing to eat breakfast, her and Cassian fight about it. He says she's not the only person who has gone through this and lost people. Nesta thinks about when she once let Cassian lick and nuzzle her throat (I have no memory of this).
Nesta and Cassian head to Windhaven for their first training session, Mor winnows them there and then leaves. Devlon says any weapons she touches will have to be buried - an old superstition. Nesta refuses to participate in the training, even though it humiliates Cassian in front of Devlon and the other Illyrians.
Chapter 6: Mor comes back to get them, speaks to Nesta and tells her she just wanted to dump her in the human lands. Says she knows people like Nesta and that she doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt good people like Cassian give her.
Nesta has her first shift in the library, Clotho just has her shelve books for five hours. Asks the enchanted House of Wind to give her wine but it refuses to. She decides to try and make her way down the 10,000 steps.
Chapter 7: Mor winnows Cassian to the human lands so he can go visit Vassa, Jurian and Lucien, they call themselves the Band of Exiles. Eris is also there as several of his soldiers were out on patrol nearby and went missing a few days ago. His hounds found no trace of them but detected a strange scent at the site of their abduction, seemed human but odd.
Cassian asks Vassa what human queen she thinks would be bold enough to do it and she says Briallyn, the one who was turned immortal by the Cauldron and came out old. Briallyn is currently alone in the queen's palace, the others have left. Vassa believes Briallyn is working with Koschei, the sorcerer who imprisoned her and who is also the Bone Carver and Weavers brother. Koschei is known as Deathless as he is truly immortal and can't be killed.
Eris tells Cassian that Beron has already pledged his forces to Briallyn and her war. Beron went to meet her a month ago and Eris sent some of his soldiers with him, the same ones who have now gone missing. He says that when they came back they were different, seemed strange and aloof. Cassian is annoyed because he realises he will have to ally with Eris.
Chapter 8: Nesta wants to go drinking so she makes her way down the steps but she only manages to get down 111 of them before turning around and going back up.
Cassian went to see Rhys and tell him all he had learnt from Eris, Rhys tells him to keep an eye on him. Then he goes back to the House of Wind and sees the door to the steps open and knows Nesta has attempted to leave, waits for her to come back up as he knows she won't get down all 10,000 steps. He makes fun of her when she comes back and reveals she only made it down 111 of the steps.
Nesta tells Azriel she would rather train with him than Cassian but Azriel is being sent to spy on Briallyn. Then Cassian and Nesta head back to Windhaven to train, she still refuses to take part. Instead she decides to head into the village there to visit some shops.
Chapter 9: Nesta goes to a shop to try and get fighting leathers, the same shop that Cassian went to in ACOFAS. Nesta tells Emerie, the owner, that she needs warmer fighting leathers. Nesta makes note of her damaged wings. Emeries tells her they were clipped, her father was very traditional and forced her to have it done against her will. Emerie says she can try to find out if she can make the leathers warmer, Nesta then realises she can't pay for it because she is cut off.
Nesta returns back to the Night Court and goes back to the library, continues to put books away. The house keeps bringing food to her and trying to get her to eat. An acolyte overhears her talking to the house and comes to see what she's doing. She brings Nesta some books to put away but she gets mad and says she doesn't take orders from acolytes. Acolyte introduces herself as Gwyneth Berdara, most people call her Gwyn. Nesta finally agrees to shelve the books.
Chapter 10: Cassian finds Nesta eating cake, she says the House brought it for her. He asks if she did anything to get the house to start bringing her food, she says no. Nesta has a nightmare that night and decides to once again try to go down the steps so she can go out drinking. She misses a step and goes crashing down the stairs, manages to grab hold of a step and stop herself but has already got quite hurt. Her fingers end up embedded in the stone, she had used her powers and when she takes her hand away she has left behind her hand print in the stone.
The next day at training Cassian begs her to train with him, says please but she still can't bring herself to join him.
Chapter 11: Nesta continues to talk a lot to the house, doesn't always do what she wants and she sometimes even argues with it. Nesta thinks about her father and Vassa, she feels angry that he was willing to do so much to fight and save a stranger but wasn't willing to do the same for them when they were younger.
Nesta and Cassian fight again that day in front of Azriel over the fact she isn't training. She says she will not train in that miserable village. Cassian says she has been given an order by Rhys and she says Rhys is an arrogant, preening asshole and she hates him. Cassian shoots back that Rhys hates her too, that everyone hates her and that he is done.
Feyre comes to see Cassian as Rhys had said Cassian was thinking very 'loudly'. She asks if Nesta has said why she won't train, he says it's because she hates him but Feyre disagrees. Cassian asks why her and Nesta don't get along, she says it's always been that way- their mother only ever cared for Nesta, so there was always that divide between them. Cassian seems to get an idea of a way he can help Nesta.
Chapter 12: Cassian brings Nesta to the training area located on the flat top of the mountain at the House of Wind, he realised she didn't want to train at Windhaven with all the male Illyrians watching and judging her. To try and get her to finally train Cassian says he will make a bargain with her. She agrees to a bargain, if she trains with him for an hour then he will owe her a favour of her choosing. The bargain is tattooed on their backs as an eight-pointed star.
They spend 2 hours training - spent only on her footing, teaching her how to stand and balance. Then he helps her with her breathing and a cool down. She asks him about Emerie and why they make females clip their wings in the Illyrian camps. He explains it's a way for them to control the women - technically illegal but has proved hard to enforce that.
Cassian tells her he didn't mean what he said when he told her everyone hates her. She tells him that she has never hated him.
Chapter 13: Nessian is working in the library when Gwyn finds her again, asks her if she has seen Vol. 7 of The Great War. She works for someone named Merrill who she says is very demanding. She accidentally put Vol 8 in her office and wants to try and find the right one and replace it before she notices. Gwyn reveals she hasn't left the library or her dormitory since she got here, will stay until she is ready to leave - if she ever is. Gwyn leaves and Nesta asks the house to find the book for her and it does.
She finds Merrill's office and finds her in there, tries to distract her so she can switch the volumes without her noticing. Finds Gwyn singing - notes that her hair seems to glow brighter when she sings and her skin radiates light (a hint at powers?) She asks Gwyn what Merrill is researching, she says a lot of things. Merrill is obsessed with theories about different realms/worlds. She says some believe there are 26 realms/worlds with the last one being Time itself (Important later - 26th string of the Harp is Time itself)
She says Merrill is currently writing a comprehensive history of the Valkyrie's, the war 500 years ago wiped most of them out and the rest got old and allowed themselves to die out of shame. They were a clan of female warriors, not a race of fighters like the Illyrians but Valkyrie was just the name they gave themselves.
Chapter 14: Nesta trains with Cassian again. Talks a little about herself - that she used to take dancing lessons as a child. That her sisters were her fathers princesses but she was her mother's creature, tells him her mother was a worse version of her.
She asks him what happened to the priestesses at Sangravah where Gwyn was. Tells her Hybern was looking for the Cauldron and one of the pieces was hidden in a temple there. Sent a unit of their cruelest warriors who killed most of the priestesses for sport and then raped the rest. Tells her Azriel was the one who made it out there and slaughtered the warriors, Mor brought Gwyn to the library.
Cassian and Rhys go to the Spring Court to meet Eris, he chose to meet there as it is neutral ground. Eris thinks they should go and kill the mortal queens now. Cassian says it will just cause more trouble and wars have been started for less. Eris thinks his father would like war because it could take out some Fae and leave territory open to be claimed. He thinks his father wants the Spring Court. The rumour is that Tamlin spends all of his time in his beast form now and his manor now lies in ruins.
They ask Eris why he wants to be High Lord so badly, he says for the same reason he left Morrigan untouched at the border. They say he left her there to die, he tells them to ask her if that is true, says he thinks she finally knows the answer.
Chapter 15: Nesta is on the seventh level of the library, feels like the darkness is watching her and calling her name. Gwyn finds her there, says some of the other priestesses have felt like the dark follows and watches them, that it has trailed them to their doors. Gwyn tells her they should move up higher to her cart on the fourth floor. She is holding a glowing stone, tells Nesta it is an Invoking Stone - similar to the Siphons that Illyrian's wear except the power of the Mother flows through it and they can only use it for healing and protection, can shield them.
Gwyn knows who Nesta is, that she is Feyre's sister and that she killed the King of Hybern (Not sure why Nesta is getting all the credit, as if she wasn't laying on Cassian's body about to die when ELAIN stabbed him through the throat) She tells Gwyn her and her sister Elain were both forced into the Cauldron and made Fae. Nesta asks why Gwyn doesn't wear her Invoking Stone on her head like the other priestesses do, Gwyn says she doesn't deserve to.
She continues training with Cassian. Cassian tells her more about him, how he was born to an unwed fae who was shunned for having a child out of wedlock and forced to give birth to Cassian in a tent alone. He was taken away from her when he was three and she was then worked to death. Wasn't strong enough to go back for her before she died.
The House keeps bringing Nesta more and more smutty romance books for her to read. Cassian asks her how the work in the library is going and she mentions the thing she felt in the dark on the seventh level. He then tells her about the creatures he put into the Prison. There were ancient beings from before the High Fae split into Courts. Says they referred to them as First Gods. Most were hunted down and driven into hiding or imprisonment.
Cassian says when he was 300 one of the First Gods appeared, crawling out of the roots of a mountain. His name was Lanthys and he could turn into wind and rip the air from your lungs or turn into rain and drown you on dry land. He fathered a race of faeries still around today - the Bogge. Says he had to trick him to catch him, managed to trick him in to trapping himself in a mirror made of ash wood and then put the mirror in the Prison. He says Lanthys got out of the mirror in the Prison but is still trapped in there. Also put other creatures in there - Seven-headed Lubia and Blue Annis.
He tries asking about her powers and she denies she has any, he knows she's lying. She asks why he cares and bothers with her. He asks why she stayed by his side when they went up against the King of Hybern, she says she was a stupid fool. He asks what she is afraid of and she says nothing, he calls her a liar. Says he can see when her power rises, her eyes glow like molten silver. Realises he riled her up on purpose. She then goes to him and pushes him up against the wall, he tells her he saw that look in her eyes the first time he met her while she was still human. Tells her that her power is a song he has waited a long time to hear.
Nesta can't sleep that night, so instead fingers herself while thinking about Cassian.
Chapter 16: Cassian spent the night wanking while thinking of Nesta, 3 times - do we care? Cassian and Nesta continue her training. They are doing core exercises and he complains she can't do it for long enough. Tells him to show her what he can do then - watches him do the exercises.
She asks if it is true there are no female units in the Illyrian armies. He says they tried once but failed. He says it's hard as they would have to complete the Blood Rite. When an Illyrian warrior comes into their full power, usually in their twenties, they have to go through the Blood Rite to qualify as a full warrior and adult. It is usually three or four warriors from each clan every year that take part. Taken to the Illyrian mountains and left there for a weak - the goal is to survive and try to reach Ramiel.
Ramiel is the sacred mountain and symbol of the Night Court. Takes place when three stars shine above it for one week out of the year. The stars are Arktos, Carynth and Oristes. They are dumped in the wilds without their powers and just their clothes. You have to take part, you aren't allowed to leave. If anyone breaks into the Rite to save you then law declares you are both hunted down and killed, even Rhys is exempt from that law.
Cassian says magic is rare among the Illyrians but some have it, so that is why a spell is in place that renders their wings useless and no magic can be used. Illyrians possess magic on one night of the year, the nigh before the Blood Rite - when the war-band leaders can winnow the drugged novices into the mountains to take part. Says no one knows why (I know... because it's convenient to the plot!)
He says barely any warriors even make it to the bottom of Ramiel and almost no one scales it and reaches the top. If someone touches the stone at the top of the mountain then they win and it transports you out immediately. Everyone else left standing is considered a warrior and where you are when it ends sorts you into the three echelons of warrior.
- Arktosian - ones who don't make it to the mountain but survive.
- Oristian - ones who made it to Ramiel but not the top
- Carynthian - ones who managed to scale the summit and reach the top.
He says only a dozen warriors in the past 5 centuries have reached the mountain. He, Rhys and Cassian managed to reach the summit and touch the stone together. Only 12 have reached the mountain in 500 years and out of those only 6 made it to the peak. Cassian doesn't want the females taking part in the Blood Rite because of what could be done to them in it. But no female will be considered a warrior if they don't take part in it. Says progress is slow, they used to kill females who touched weapons and now they just 'decontaminate' them.
Nesta asks if Cassian would train the priestesses if she can get them to come to training, he says yes.
Chapter 17: Nesta asks Clotho for permission to have the priestesses come train, she agrees. Nesta laves a sign up sheet but no one signs up that day. That day at training Cassian teaches her how to punch.
Elain is in the private library, came to see how Nesta is doing. Nesta recalls how her mother only ever viewed Elain as someone who was pleasant to look at but unambitious. She would be useful to wed off but not much else. Her mother felt Nesta would be worthy of marrying royalty from the continent.
Nesta and Elain get in a fight. Nesta says she sat by Elain's side for a long time while she refused to eat or drink and wasted away. And that no one ever suggested for Elain to be shipped off and sent to the human lands. Elain says she wasn't drinking or sleeping around. Nesta points out that she knows Elain slept with Graysen a month before she was turned Fae. Elain says they did this to Nesta because they love her and tries to mention their father but Nesta gets angry. She suggests Elain is to blame for his death as she took too long to come and kill the King - is trying to hurt her on purpose. Nesta feels Elain has chosen Feyre over her and she can't blame her.
Elain goes to find Rhysand in the House of Wind so they can leave, she is crying. Cassian then goes to see Nesta to demand to know what happened, they have another fight. He asks the house to start a fire, which it does but Nesta keeps trying to get the house to get rid of it. He notices how she flinches when a log cracks on the fire. She leaves angrily and tries to make her way down the steps of the house again.
Chapter 18: Manages to get down 1,000 steps before turning back and going back up. Cassian is at the top waiting for her. Tries to ask her about Elain but she dodges it, asks what set her off and she says everything. She asks why the priestesses won't sign up, realises it bothers her. She says some of them have been here for hundreds of years and have not been able to come back from what they've endured so what hope does she have. Tries to tell her it took Feyre months but she snaps that she doesn't want to hear about Feyre's special journey or the others.
Cassian says he will tell her about his journey then, that he slaughtered every person who hurt his mother. When he was strong enough and old enough he finally went back to where his mother was and found out she was dead. Refused to tell him where they buried her, a female hinted to him that they'd dumped her off the cliff. So he destroyed all of those responsible, and with Rhys and Azriel's help he found his father and they killed him together. Took him ten years to face what he did to all those people. She asks if he regrets it and he says no.
He tells her he can take whatever she has to throw at him but she says she isn't like them. He says it doesn't bother him and never has, she says it should. They fight and she feels like Cassian feels like he has won the fight so she kisses him.
Chapter 19: Cassian kisses her back and she palms him through his trousers and he comes in an embarrassingly short amount of time. Nesta, thinking he regrets it, decides to try to hurt him by commenting that he's "quick off the mark".
Azriel comes to get them the next day, both are needed at Feyre and Rhys's river house.
Chapter 20: Azriel has been watching Briallyn for a few weeks and knows what her next steps are. The other queens have fled from her. Beron did visit her and pledge his forces to her. Briallyn wishes to find the Cauldron so she can get her youth back. The death-lord Koschei is working with her even if he remains trapped at the lake. He has pointed Briallyn to the Dread Trove so that he can use it to free himself from the lake.
The Cauldron made many objects of power and they know of three of them - the Mask, the Crown and the Harp. Some claimed there was a fourth but today's legends only tell of three.
- The Mask - can raise the dead and is a death mask molded from the face of a long forgotten King. If you wear it then you can summon the dead and command them.
- The Harp - can open any door physical or otherwise, even those between worlds.
- The Crown - can influence anyone, even pierce through the mightiest of mental shields but you do have to be in close proximity to it for it to initially gain control of you. Could make that person do whatever you wanted, even kill those they love.
They were somehow lost years ago. The Trove was made by the Cauldron and 'like calls to like' (This will be said 7 million times by the end of this book!) so she could use it to find the Cauldron. Nesta asks why Briallyn can't just track it herself, as she was also Made by the Cauldron. Thinks Nesta is different as she took something from it, asks what she took. Nesta says she doesn't know, that she just knew she was taking things the Cauldron didn't want her to take. So Amren thinks that it could only give Briallyn the power to track items it Made and not the Cauldron itself.
Feyre asks what a death-lord is. Cassian says he is like Lanthys, they are literally deathless and can't be killed. Says Koschei is the master of his own death. Dread Trove was last rumoured to be in Prythian. Azriel still isn't sure why she would have taken Eris's soldiers, asks Cassian to go and meet with him.
Feyre asks why they didn't look for the Trove when they were trying to find the Cauldron in the war against Hybern (I can tell you why... 'cause she's just made it up now, Feyre!) Amren says because the book was easier to find and she assumed the Dread Trove was at the bottom of the ocean. Also apparently the Made objects may have conveniently made everyone forget about them but that Briallyn was Made so the Cauldron probably removed the glamour hiding the Trove from her and that Elain and Nesta are the same. Ask how Azriel was able to remember the Dread Trove and tell them, Amren says maybe it wants them to know about it (convenient!)
Chapter 21: Elain says they can use her to find the Dread Trove but Nesta says no, that the last time they tried to do something like that the Cauldron abducted Elain. Amren tells Nesta to look for it instead then. Nesta says she can't, that when she tried to find the Cauldron it trapped her. Her and Elain fight about it and Elain says that she went into the Cauldron to but all Nesta thinks about is what Elain's trauma did to her. Elain leaves, telling them to come find her when they want to begin searching for it.
Nesta asks Feyre to look for the Trove instead but she says she can't risk it because she's pregnant (*surprised Pikachu face*) Feyre is two months along, Fae pregnancy is 10 months. Rhys has been keeping the shield around her so they couldn't scent the pregnancy and also to keep her safe - has become overbearingly protective. Nesta agrees to search for the Trove so Elain doesn't have to.
Feyre goes to speak to Nesta, wants to tell her before anyone else that she is having a boy.
Chapter 22: Cassian and Azriel are back at the House of Wind talking. Azriel asks if he thinks Nesta can find the Trove, Cassian says he hopes so. Azriel says she should try scrying but Cassian doesn't think she will be up for that. They talk about the baby, Cassian asks if Azriel wants kids and he says it doesn't matter what he wants. He asks Cassian the same and he says he definitely wants children.
Cassian goes to Nesta's room to pay her back and make them even for the other night when he came and she didn't. She asks why he came, that he had made it clear the other night was a mistake, that she saw it in his eyes. Says only regrets he didn't get to return the favour. They agree that whatever this is stays out of training and everything else, it is just sex (They've clearly never seen No Strings Attached or Friends with Benefits) So he gives her oral sex before leaving, saying they are now even.
Chapter 23: The next day Azriel can tell what they did. Azriel comes to their training that day, wants to train himself. Cassian and Azriel spar while Nesta watches and thinks about having a threesome with them both (probably the threesome the publishers made SJM cut)
Nesta asks Gwyn about the Dread Trove, she doesn't know what it is so Nesta tells her all about it and that they must find it. Gwyn agrees to try and find more information on it for Nesta. Asks Gwyn to come to training but she says it is not for her.
She goes down the steps as far as she can and back up and while doing it suddenly knows what she must do to convince the priestesses to train.
Chapter 24: Clotho calls Cassian down to the library, says Nesta keeps practicing her training in the library despite being told not to. He goes to find her and sees her messing up what he has taught her so shows her how to punch properly while down there. When they are finished he notices a bunch of the priestesses have stopped to watch. He realises Nesta did it on purpose to have him called down here so she could get them to see what it is he is teaching her.
Cassian leaves a book for her to read, The Dance of Battle. Gwyn then becomes the first person to sign up for training.
Part Two: Blade
Chapter 25: Gwyn comes to training, that day is the first time she has been outside since coming to the library. Gwyn says she signed up so she never feels powerless again. Then Nesta goes to Windhaven with Cassian and goes to visit Emerie in her shop. A fae male is in the shop when she gets there, he appears drunk and says his father sent him to convey a message. Emerie says message received but the store is hers. His name is Bellius and he is her cousin, his father was Emerie's uncle, her fathers brother. Bellius is due to compete in the Rite this year.
Emeries says warmer leathers can be made but it won't be cheap, Nesta says she can't afford them. Emerie invites her to have lunch with her. Emerie says it'ss just her, no mate or husband, Nesta says the same for her. Emerie says it is nice to meet another female not obsessed with getting married and having babies. The food is nice, Emerie says it is the spices she uses which are hard to come by in Windhaven.
They talk of family, she tells Emerie that both her parents are dead and other than her sisters has no family except for a cousin of her mothers who lives on the continent. Emerie says her mother died giving birth to her and her older brother died before she was born, her father died during the war with Hybern. Her family keep trying to take the store from her because she's female. Nesta offers for Emerie to come train with them, says someone could come get her and winnow her to the House of Wind, but she says no.
Cassian goes to meet Eris in the Illyrian Steppes, asks him about the Dread Trove and whether Beron knows about them. Eris says his father doesn't know about them yet. He and Cassian exchange a few words, he calls Cassian a bastard and it gets to Cassian.
Chapter 26: Finds Cassian in a chair, drinking a glass of wine and looking miserable; he's in a mood after his meeting with Eris. She asks what happened with Eris, he tells her he intends to help them find the Trove and won't tell his father. That's what they want so she doesn't understand what his problem is and Cassian says he hates Eris and doesn't know how to deal with him as it feels like Eris has the upper hand.
Nesta wants to cheer him up so decides to go down on him because there is no easier way to cheer a man up than with a BJ. He plans to sleep with her until Azriel the cock block enters and so Nesta leaves.
Chapter 27: Gwyn hasn't found anything on the Trove yet. Cassian is going up to Windhaven so Nesta gives him a package to give to Emerie filled with spices and tea. Cassian says she can thank Nesta by coming to training the next day but Emerie says it's not the right time. But the next day Emerie is there when Nesta goes to training.
Chapter 28: Emerie struggles at training, her clipped wings cause her issues. Her father didn't have a healer do it, he did it himself and she fought back so he did a sloppy job. Emerie and Nesta bond over the fact they both enjoy reading smutty romances and they also offer to lend Gwyn some.
Rhys comes to collect Emerie and take her back to Windhaven. He sees Gwyn there and goes into Nesta's head and tells her that she is to treat Gwyn with kindness. She tells him to mind his own business. Emerie agrees to come to training the next day as well.
Rhys watches Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie talking. Cassian has a go at him for giving Nesta a mental warning, that she has only ever treated Gwyn with kindness. Cassian says he is pissed off that Rhys only ever thinks the worst of Nesta
Chapter 29: Nesta is still attempting to get down the stairs, makes it to step 3,000 this time.
Cassian goes to meet with the others without her, Amren says Nesta needs to start looking for the Trove. Amren thinks they should ask Elain, Azriel says there is an innate darkness to the Trove that he doesn't think Elain should be exposed to - Cassian gets mad that they think Nesta should be exposed to it though. They agree to give Nesta one more week before they ask Elain to search for it instead.
Gwyn finds Nesta in the library, says Merrill somehow found out she swapped the book out and is coming to find her (Scene is just here so Nesta can stand up to Merrill). Merrill says she is descended from Rabath, Lord of the Western Wind. Nesta isn't scared of her, argues right back and Merrill eventually leaves, calls Gwyn nymph.
Gwyn reveals that her grand-mother was a river-nymph who seduced a High Fae male from the Autumn Court, so she is quarter nymph. Her mother was unwanted by the nymphs or the High Fae, so she was sent to Sangravah and raised there. She partook in the Great Rite when she was of age and had Gwyn and her twin sister, mother never found out who the fae was that she slept with (Tamlin?) Three priestesses show up to training the next day - Roslin, Deirdre and Ananke.
Nesta decides to try scrying, tells Cassian she can't ask the priestesses to face their fears when she isn't doing the same. She tries but nothing happens, tells Cassian she thinks the power is gone. But he says he can feel it in her bones, has seen it in her eyes.
She has a nightmare that night that the Cauldron comes to find her. Cassian wakes up, heard Nesta scream. Cassian and Azriel run to her room and find her in bed, bathed in the silver fire and screaming. Rhys appears and tries to wake her but can't get into her mind to help calm her. Cassian goes closer to her and calls her name, seems to get through to her enough for Rhys to get into her mind, help her calm down and go back to sleep.
Rhys tells Cassian her scrying brought up memories, her nightmare was of when she was in the Cauldron. He saw and felt it, saw what it took from her and what she took from it. Says he didn't understand her trauma till he felt it himself. Cassian asks what her power is and Rhys says it is pure death.
Chapter 30: Nesta wakes after the nightmare and finds Cassian asleep in a chair beside her bed. At training she tells Gwyn and Emerie about her nightmare.
Rhys tells Cassian that the baby has wings, Madja the healer told him the day before. Cassian says the baby is only quarter Illyrian so rare for him to have wings but Rhys says Feyre was in Illyrian form when he was conceived. But Feyre can't shapeshift back into the form while pregnant because of what it could do to the baby. Rhys tells them they are forbidden from telling Feyre about it, as Madja only told her there is an elevated risk in labour. The truth is it's very likely Feyre and the baby will die during the labour.
Azriel warns they must prepare for when Tamlin finds out about the pregnancy, not sure how he will react. Azriel says they need to summon Lucien and have him stationed in the Spring Court to contain any damage and to be their eyes and ears.
Chapter 31: Cassian comes back from seeing Rhys with a black eye and bruised jaw from sparring with Rhys. Cassian tells Nesta about the baby having wings and explains that Illyrian women have a pelvis specifically designed for children with wings to pass through. High Fae don't have that so when they try to give birth to a baby with wings it will usually get stuck, killing both mum and baby. Any attempts to cut a child out of the mother has never worked and has always killed the mother. Tells her Feyre doesn't know the full risk.
Cassian asks Nesta why she hasn't sought him out after that day when she went down on him but she points out he hasn't seeked her out either. Tells him that when his face is healed, they will fuck.
Nesta wants to attempt scrying again so they head to the river house. She holds Cassian's hand while she tries to scry as a way to ground her. As she is scrying she begins to go ice cold and so does the room. Rhys tries to reach her but he can't get through her shields. Cassian tries to get her out of it, calls her name. She opens her eyes and they are burning molten silver but he still can't get her to drop the bones. So he kisses her and and she eventually drops them.
The scrying shows the Mask is in the Bog of Oorid. It was once a sacred place where warriors were laid to rest. But it changed into a place of darkness and filled with such evil that no one goes there. The bog is in the Middle. They have no detailed map of the Middle as it was declared forbidden to map it in detail by an ancient council of High Lords. Nesta, Cassian and Azriel will head to the Bog to try to find the Mask.
Chapter 32: Cassian, Nesta and Azriel arrive at the Bog. She asks what creatures dwell here, Azriel says kelpies but Cassian says they haven't been seen in a long time. Kelpies are an ancient creature, one of the first true monsters of the faeries - shape-shifters who lured people into their arms and drowned them. They haven't been seen in a long time, hundreds of years before Cassian was born. They continue walking and go through a mist, Nesta senses something is there and when they look back Azriel is gone.
Chapter 33: Cassian grabs Nesta and flies to find Azriel - sees his blue Siphons glowing and goes down through the mist but finds him surrounded by a dozen Autumn Court soldiers. He flies back up and finds a faraway tree to put Nesta in, tells her to wait there and he will come back for her, then he goes to help Azriel. Goes back to Azriel, the sight of an ash bolt through Azriel's wings angers him and he begins killing the soldiers.
Nesta tries to wait in the tree but she gets worried that Cassian could be being killed. She jumps out of the tree and plans to swim across the bog when she sees a creature in it.
Chapter 34: A male creature comes out of the water, it is whiter than bone with obsidian hair and black eyes and fingers as long as Nesta's forearm. She realises it is a kelpie, it is so terrifying that she pisses herself. It tries speaking to her but she doesn't understand it. She can hear a female voice in her head telling her to run but the kelpie grabs her before she can and drags her under the water.
Cassian and Azriel have killed all of the Autumn Court soldiers except for two of them, have kept them alive so they can take them back and question them. Cassian notes that they are both vacant and unfocused and that there is something wrong with them. They head back for Nesta and Cassian realises she is no longer in the tree.
Chapter 35: The creature is dragging her through the water, she grabs one of the daggers she has on her and uses it to slice the creature. It grabs her chest and begins pushing her right to the bottom of the water. The creature then kisses her, shoving its tongue in her mouth. It takes all her weapons from her, kisses her and cuts up her mouth with its rows of sharp teeth. She sees a golden object shining underwater and it comes closer and closer to her. She gabs it and realises it is the Mask, she shoves it on her face.
Chapter 36: Cassian is screaming for Nesta. They then notice golden light shining beneath the surface of the water. Spears break the surface and then a legion of dead rise from the water, followed by Nesta wearing the Mask and holding the head of the kelpie. Nesta takes the Mask off, the dead soldiers all collapse to the ground and Nesta goes unconscious.
Chapter 37: Cassian and Azriel have brought the two Autumn soldiers to a place in the Court of Nightmares where even Keir won't go in. It has a hatch in the center of the circular room where the bodies of their enemies are given to the beasts below. Azriel is trying to get answers from them while Cas, Rhys, Feyre and Amren watch. Nesta is upstairs sleeping in Rhys's palace above the Hewn City.
Amren says they appear to be under an enchantment, their only drive is to harm without reason. These soldiers are likely Eris's soldiers that went missing. They will ask Helion to come to see if he can break the spell on them.
They go upstairs and Nesta is awake, sitting in the room with the Mask. Rhys asks how she got into the room with the mask and she says the door was open and she found herself beckoned there. Amren says she is lucky she was able to take the mask off, most who have worn it could not remove it and had to be beheaded to stop them. But Rhys says others couldn't remove it because the Mask did not recognise their power but Nesta is different as she is Made and 'like calls to like.
They believe Nesta can ward a room to keep the Mask in so that others won't be able to get to it, as when Rhys tried the Mask unlocked the door for Nesta. Nesta says she will try if they show her how to do it. Rhys says he will have Helion show her how to do it when he comes.
They ask how the kelpie got her, she explains she was worried and went to try and find them and the kelpie came out of the water, begun speaking to her and then dragged her under the water. Rhys asks her to show him, so he can see what the kelpie was saying, then he shows Amren. Amren says it is a dialect that hasn't been spoken in 15,000 years. The kelpie had asked Nesta if she was his sacrifice and that he would take her as his bride before he had her for supper. Kelpies were made and can't reproduce so the kelpie must have been ancient. The Mask flew to Nesta, she tried to call her power but the Mask came instead. Feyre says it is because, you've guessed it, 'like calls to like' and her powers are similar to the Mask.
Nesta plans to spend the night in the palace, she is having a bath in the sunken pool in her room. Cassian comes in to bring her food. She invites him to get in the pool with her but he says she is hurt. So she gets out and goes to him. They agree to have sex but that it is just sex and nothing else.
Chapter 38: At training Emerie can tell that Nesta and Cassian slept together. Gwyn tells Nesta of a Valkyrie technique she found called Mind-Stilling, used to train their minds and essentially it is meditation. Gwyn says she will make copies of the chapters on it for Emerie and Nesta.
Nesta moans at Cassian about finally starting to train with weapons. Tells her if she thinks she is ready to train with swords then he should show her. She practices with wooden ones and enjoys it, it makes her feel like she won't be weak again.
Chapter 39: Nesta makes it down 6,000 steps this time before having to go back up. More priestesses show up for training so Cassian has to bring Azriel in to help. Gwyn keeps looking over at Az, he was the one who found her that day in Sangravah.
Gwyn and Nesta decide to practice the Valkyrie Mind-Stilling techniques in the library that day. She finds she likes it, makes her feel utterly settled in her own skin for the first time ever.
Chapter 40: Cassian takes Nesta to a blacksmith in Velaris so that she can see a sword being made, as she is learning to use one. Nesta watches him hammering the blades and asks to try it herself. He lets her do it on a dagger, a sword and a great sword.
That day at training she wants to spar with the punching bag they have - a tree trunk wrapped in blankets. Lucien shows up and watches her doing it. She has punched through the blankets and wood, her power seems to have burned the tree from the inside out and when Cassian touches it, it dissolves into a pile of cinders.
Chapter 41: Helion, High Lord of the Day Court, shows up on a Pegasus. He has seven breeding pairs that he managed to keep hidden from Amarantha. Rhys and Feyre reveal her pregnancy to him, to show they trust him. He goes to see the soldiers and says they aren't enchanted but their bodies and actions aren't their own. He can't seem to find any spells on them. They tell him about the Trove and the fact Briallyn must have used the Crown on them. So the only Trove item they need to find is the Harp.
They ask him to help show Nesta how to ward the Mask. Helion creates the wards and keys them to Nesta's blood, no one can enter it unless Nesta unlocks the ward. She tells Helion not to tell her the spell to unlock it, says she doesn't' want the knowledge of how to get the Mask in case Briallyn gets her. Helion will show Rhys instead so he can show Nesta if they ever need it.
Nesta is reading more books to help her learn about battles, battle strategy and leadership. Says she'd like to lead a small unit of females, like the priestesses. That night Cassian brings her more texts she might enjoy reading. When he goes to leave she asks if the sex wasn't good for him as he left quickly afterwards and didn't seek her out again. Then we get another classic SJM sex scene including classics like: "her pebbled breasts" "silken flesh" "her pink sex" and "her drenched entrance"
Chapter 42: Cassian is called to see Rhys, along with Amren and Azriel. He says the blacksmith Nesta and Cassian visited stopped by and dropped off the three weapons she helped make, he said they were cursed. Rhys says the High Fae were once more elemental and they could imbue weapons with their power. They think Nesta has done that with these even though no one has been able to great a magic sword in more than 10,000 years. The last one created was the the great blade Gwydion, got its powers when the High Priestess Oleanna dipped it into the Cauldron during crafting. Gwydion had belonged to a true Fae High King who united the lands before being betrayed by his queen and his fiercest general - has only been High Lords since.
Amren says the sword is to be treated as new Trove. The Dread Trove was created by the Cauldron and she has the powers of the Cauldron. Cassian says Nesta could create more, could give them an arsenal of weapons to win any war. But Amren says Nesta is not to know, but Azriel and Cassian are against it. Rhys says Feyre can be the deciding vote.
Rhys tells Azriel and Cassian he can find no answers to help Feyre and the baby. Drakon and Miryam couldn't help as Seraphim wings are more flexible and rounded. Feyre still doesn't know, only knows the birth could be difficult but has no clue it will likely kill her (Rhys seems to have forgot all that spiel in ACOMAF about never hiding things from Feyre just because he thinks he knows what's best for her.) Says he doesn't tell her because he doesn't want to take her joy away. Rhys has asked Helion to check his libraries for any information.
Amren tells them Amarantha once found a great sword but it would not come to her hand so she threw it in the sea. It was called Narben and Amren heard about her disposing of it from a water-nymph
Amren tells Rhysand that with these three magic blades he could make himself High King (God, please no!) He doesn't want it but she says seven courts united under one ruler would be better for any upcoming conflict. Azriel thinks Helion, Tarquin, Kallias and Thesan would all kneel to him. He insists he doesn't want it. Azriel says the seven courts are all weakened but if they were united under one King and Queen, with three magical weapons then their enemies will think before attacking.
Rhys says he will not be High King, will not consider it (Okay, sure, we'll see - Sarah Janet doesn't mention anything unless it is gonna come up again) Amren says that it can't be coincidence that magic objects that once made a High King have now appeared thousands of years later. She says the Cauldron wanted those weapons made and brought to Rhys. He says he will not entertain the idea. She says it won't be long before the Cauldron offers the chance to someone else.
Chapter 43: Nesta & Cassian go to meet Eris in the Spring Court - tell him most of his missing soldiers are now dead and what happened to them. Tamlin finds them on his land whilst he is in his beast form.
Nesta stands up to Tamlin and says her and Elain were put in the Cauldron because of him. Threatens to kill him if he tells anyone they were there.
Chapter 44: Cassian mentions at training that he fought with Valkyries in the War. He fought beside them for five battles until the Battle of Meinir Pass where most died to save it, knowing it was a suicide mission. Cassian had a Valkyrie lover called Tanwyn who died in that battle.
Cassian asks Gwyn to bring him all the information she has on the Valkyrie's fighting style/techniques so he can teach them.
Later Cassian goes to see Feyre, Rhys and the others. Elain comments on how Nesta was trained in dance from an early age. The last ball they went to before they became poor was when Nesta was 14. Another heiress there seemed to hate Elain for no reason. So when a wealthy duke came to the ball that the heiress had her sights on, Nesta made sure that the duke asked her to dance instead. The duke proposed the next morning but her father said Nesta was too young.
Chapter 45: Cassian begins teaching Valkyrie methods. He asks Nesta what she'd name a sword but she won't answer, even when pushed.
She pushes him to find out why he wanted to know so bad and he ends up telling her about the blacksmith and the three blades she created - the new Dread Trove. Finds out they took a vote on whether to even tell her about it, which makes her angry.
She is so angry she makes it down all 10,000 steps and heads to Velaris.
Nesta gets annoyed when Feyre orders her to leave but is too scared to give Amren any orders. But Feyre says Amren is her friend so she respects her. Nesta asks if Amren or the others really respects her when no one has told her that the baby she is carrying will kill her.
(One thing to note is that Rhys will have known their baby having wings, while rare, was still a possibility before they ever got pregnant. But never once thought that was a conversation they should have before trying for a baby? Seems important when it could kill her.)
Feyre says the boy the Carver showed her did not have wings.
Rhys tells Cassian what Nesta has done and orders him to "Get Nesta out of this city... Before I fucking kill her." (Unpopular opinion time: Nesta did nothing wrong, even if she told Feyre out of anger. Someone needed to tell her and not one of them had any right to keep it from her under the 'guise' of protecting her.)
Chapter 47: Cassian takes Nesta out of the city and takes her somewhere they can camp for the night.
Feyre uses her powers to mind speak with him and ask how he is. She tells him Rhys overreacted and she is angry with them all for hiding it from her. And she isn't angry at Nesta, as she was the only one who told her, even if she did it to hurt her at the time.
Feyre asks Cassian to come home but he says they will stay for a few days and he will make Nesta hike.
Chapter 48: Start hiking. At one point Cassian makes some off-handed comment that if she doesn't stay hydrated she could faint and fall off the mountain and break every bone in her body, it is in that moment he sees in her eyes that she hates herself enough to not care if that happened, maybe even wants it.
Chapter 49: They trek for two more days, barely talk at all. Nesta faints so they rest for the night before hiking again the next day. Finally make it to the lake and Nesta finally breaks down crying.
Chapter 50: Nesta tells Cassian that she let her father die and let him die with hate for him in her heart. She says she was horrible to him and he still loved her even though she didn't deserve it (Nesta, honey, are you forgetting how utterly useless your father was?) Nesta believes she can't fix the horrible things she's done and can't fix herself.
Cassian tells her it wasn't her fault and she couldn't have stopped it. Nesta reveals she can't stand fires now because the cracking sounds they make reminds her of the sound of her father's neck breaking. Cassian tells her she will get through this if she is willing to fight, face it and embrace it.
Part Three: Valkyrie
Chapter 51: They spent two more days at the lake, either training or fucking.
Gwyn ties a ribbon from a beam under Cassian's instructions - tells them it is a Valkyrie test to show whether your training is complete or not. It is only complete when you can cut the ribbon in half. Emerie tries and fails.
They keep trying to cut the ribbon over multiple training sessions but haven't yet.
Nesta asks to go to the evening service the priestesses have, as they have music there and she misses it.
Gwyn reveals she dreads Nesta and Emerie finding out her history as she thinks they won't look at her the same afterwards.
Chapter 52: Nesta attends the service and listens to them sing while she visualises. She sees herself flying to a mist-veiled mountain and then inside it. There she finds a towering carved gate that she goes through, following a dark path.
She drifts down until she is in a cavern, where there is carved black rock with symbols etched into it and on the floor is the golden harp. Nesta realises she has used her own bones and the stone of the mountain as her scrying tools and she has found the location of the harp.
The harp speaks to her, telling her to play it and join her voice with it. If she does, it will open doors and pathways so they can move through space and eons together.
Cassian goes to see Rhys with the news that Nesta believes the Harp is beneath the prison. Rhys gives him the great sword Nesta made, tells him to take it with him as Rhys wants to know what happens when Nesta uses it.
Chapter 53: Cassian & Nesta head to the prison with the sword. Nesta leads the way and takes him down to where she saw the hidden chamber. There are wards on the chamber but they can't seem to keep her out, only Cassian.
When Nesta touches the Harp, she has visions. She sees Briallyn on her throne, wearing the Crown and the queen begins talking to her. Reveals she knows she has the Harp and also that she is friends with Emerie and Gwyn. Tells Nesta she is a fool for keeping a hold of the Harp, as it is answering all her questions and she now knows exactly where Nesta is.
Nesta had opened a doorway between her and Briallyn's mind by touching the Harp while Briallyn wore the Crown. Nesta can't seem to let go of the Harp, it talks to her and asks her if it should open a door for her and she says yes. Asks it to open the wards and it says it will if she plucks the first string, which she does.
She tells Cassian what she saw. Tells him she will name the sword Ataraxia, a word she found in a book in the library. She then kisses Cassian's cheek and tells him she thinks he's her friend, he tells her he has always been her friend.
As they're leaving he screams at her to run, the door to Lanthys's cell is open - one of the old gods he warned her about.
Chapter 54: Lanthys talks to Cassian and calls him the Lord of Bastards. Nesta realises the Harp is what opened his cell door. Lanthys talks for a while, comments on their scents and says "Based upon scent alone, I would say that you two are-" But Cassian attacks him before he can finish what he was going to say. (He was clearly going to reveal they are mates. I get such ACOMAF vibes in this book - human-turned-fae is dealing with her trauma, believes herself unworthy and pushes away the guy she's clearly in love with and the whole time he knows they're mates but doesn't tell her.)
Cassian throws on of his siphons to Nesta and tells her to run. She starts to but changes her mind just as she sees Autumn soldiers charging towards her, sent by Briallyn. Plucks the harp and tells it to take her to Cassian, and it does. She sees he is losing to Lanthys.
Nesta draws her sword and slashes at him - the sword begins to glow and Lanthys goes from being like mist to being a naked, golden-haired male. She realises he is afraid of her blade.
Lanthys asks her what death god she is and she says she is nobody. Lanthys says he has heard of her - that she took from the Cauldron and doesn't even realise what she can do.
He says he will show her and they can rebuild what they were before the golden legions of Fae cast off their chains and overthrew them. Shows her a vision of what they could be together - she sees a fourth object on the alter but it is veiled in shadow and she can't make out what it is - only makes out a gleam of age-worn bone.
Lanthys then shows her a vision of them sleeping together and that he would impregnate her with a child that could rule entire universes and restart the Wild Hunt.
She snaps herself out of his visions and orders him to go back to his cell. He says he will escape again and find her to make her his queen. While she's distracting him, Cassian throws a dagger into his chest and then Nesta attacks Lanthys too and she manages to kill him before using the harp to transport her and Cassian to Rhys and Feyre's house.
Chapter 55: They tell Feyre and Rhys what happened. Explains when she first touched the harp she had a vision of what it was last used for - to trap the people who once lived on the island into the walls of the prison somehow.
Nesta asks what the Wild Hunt is - according to legend the Fae were created by beings who were near-gods (The Daglan). The Daglan ruled for millenia and enslaved both the fae and humans. A Fae named Fionn rose up to overthrow them and was given the great sword Gwydion by High Priestess Oleanna. Then Fionn set himself up as High King.
Fionn was eventually betrayed by his queen, a leader of her own territory, and also by his dearest friend, who was his general. They killed him and took some of his bloodline's most powerful weapons. After that seven High Lords rose and the courts have been in place ever since.
Nesta asks what Narben is, as Lanthys commented that her sword wasn't Narben. Rhys says it is a death-sword that has since been lost. The sword could kill anything, including Lanthys.
The Daglan took pleasure in tormenting both fae and humans and used the Wild Hunt to keep them in line. They'd gather a bunch of their strongest warriors and grant them free reign to kill as they pleased. The Daglan had beasts that they'd use to chase them before they tortured and killed them. Nesta says the beasts they had looked like the beasts in the Hewn City as Lanthys showed her a vision of what they could be together and those beasts were there, looked like the scaled beasts carved into pillars in the Hewn City.
Nesta tells them about the fourth object she couldn't quite see.
Rhys wants to go after the Crown but Feyre doesn't. Rhys says they need to secure alliances for war then. Reveals Eris is coming to Winter Solstice and they need to remind him that he is important to them.
Rhys wants to use Nesta - says Elain says she once won the hand of a duke from a dance alone. He wants her to seduce Eris - not to take him to bed, but to show him what he might attain from their alliance. Nesta agrees to do it.
Nesta goes with Cassian to the cottage she used to live in and talks to him about her father - how she hated him and how poorly she treated him.
Chapter 56: A month has passed - more training and also Nesta practicing dances with Mor ready for Winter Solstice.
Mor goes to the library with Nesta and Emerie sees her there - later comments on how beautiful she is.
When Emerie says she can hear her father shouting at her, Nesta explains the library is ancient and strange.
Gwyn gives them a Winter Solstice gift - she had Merrill write about them in the final chapter of her work about the Valkyrie.
Nesta has a fire lit in the house so she can sit beside it and use her mind-stilling techniques to help her through it. She then finds a trail of evergreen twigs leader her to her open door. She follows it and it leads her down to the seventh level of the library.
She is lead to the lowest levels of the library, to the pit itself. Realises the darkness there is the heart of the House and it has been trying to lead the priestesses here as they are just like it - whatever that means.
Chapter 57: Winter Solstice is used as the big reveal that Feyre is pregnant. Rhys gifts Eris the dagger that Nesta made but pretends it is an old family heirloom.
Eris & Nesta dance and he urges her not to believe all the lies they tell about him. He tells her Mor knows the truth but has never revealed it because she is afraid of it.
Cassian eventually interrupts them and says he wishes to dance with Nesta. Cassian has been taking dance lessons with Mor for weeks.
Eris goes to see Rhys and asks him what he would want in exchange for Eris to marry Nesta. He tells Rhys he will give him whatever he wishes if he can marry her. Rhys says he will speak to Nesta.
Chapter 58: Nesta & Cassian go to Feyre's to celebrate Winter Solstice. Mor asks to join them at training when she is done at Vallahan.
The present Cassian threw in the river the year before was a tiny book - a miniature illuminated manuscript - one of the first printed books in existence.
Azriel gifts Nesta a reading light.
Cassian goes to her room that night to give her a present and she apologises for how she acted the year before.
He gives her a silver ball that plays music when she taps it. It is a Symphonia - a rare device from Helion's court that can trap music and play it back. Cassian had the musicians from the ball record the songs they played that night. Had musicians from her favourite taverns record music too.
Nesta says she can't accept it and that he should return it. Annoyed, he tells it's a gift, not a wedding ring and she responds that she will look to Eris for that.
He says he has got a little too close and now she is shoving him away - that she'd rather be with Eris than be with him. She says Eris is a brute and a piece of shit and she would marry him because she is just like him, that she deserves Eris.
Nesta tells Cassian he is too good for her and she doesn't deserve him and everyone knows it. Has wanted him from the moment they met and it terrifies her. Thinks if she let herself have him then he will be taken from her.
Cassian tells her that she isn't going to marry Eris and that there will be no one else for either of them and she agrees. Then he kisses her. They have sex and she asks him to stay with her for the whole night and he does.
Chapter 59: Cassian leaves the next day for the annual snowball fight and then has to go inspect the legions in Illyria for a few days - will be gone for 3 days.
Nesta isn't enjoying her time away from him so invites Emerie and Gwyn over for a magical house slumber party where they make friendship bracelets together.
Chapter 60: Cassian returns after five days. Gwyn finally cuts the ribbon, then Emerie and then Nesta.
The next day Cassian turns the training ring into an obstacle course and that they will work in groups of 3 to complete it.
The first day they make it halfway through and the next day it has been changed. It changes every night and after two weeks they haven't completed it.
Gwyn and Azriel have a few moments throughout the book - potentially the start of something.
Takes them two months to finally complete the obstacle course. They have technically completed the Blood Rite qualifier and even had Lord Devlon there to witness it - they can take part in the Blood Rite if they want to.
Chapter 61: Nesta finally goes down the stairs again - last test for herself.
Nesta goes with Cassian to the starfall party where she apologises to Amren. Amren says she has seen what Nesta did to the house - that she Made it because when she came there she had wished for a friend.
Chapter 62: A rare red star is seen blasting across the sky - seen as an ill omen. The Blood Rite is a few days away.
Nesta and Cassian receive a letter from Eris - demanding to see them and to meet in the Middle, near the sacred mountain that Rhys was once trapped under. She asks about the mountain and why it is sacred.
There are three sister peaks - this one, the Prison and Ramiel. All three are bald and barren. Two of the three have underground palaces carved into them. Illyrians never checked if anything lays beneath Ramiel - meaning something likely does.
Eris reveals his father visited the continent again and so he believes the fallout is fast approaching. All they are waiting for is Nesta to find the Harp. Eris realises they already have it.
Eris warns them to not go after the Crown - as Briallyn could use it on them, turn them against each other and have them reveal where the other two items are.
Nesta and Cassian go for a walk through Velaris where she asks if it undermines her image as a warrior to be with him. He tells her it doesn't undermine Feyre's to be with Rhys, but Nesta insists that is different because they're mates.
Cassian confronts her on why she is scared to admit that they are mates. They fight about it and she says she can't say that word as she will lose her last bit of humanity and officially be one of them - something she never asked for. He tells her that he didn't get a choice on being shackled to her either, which hurts her.
She calls in her favor finally - demands that he leave for the House of Wind and not to speak to her until she comes to talk to him or until a week has passed. He wants to fight the bargain but he can't, has to leave. (Another copy & paste from ACOMAF - a mate reveal and then running away for a week.)
She has Mor winnow her to Emerie's and then Mor brings Gwyn too. Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie spend the night there. Nesta wakes up to someone in her room, something wet is placed over her mouth rendering her unconscious.
Chapter 63: Rhys & Cassian head to Emerie's and find them all missing. Devlon started the Blood Rite and had the three snatched from the beds so they can take part.
Part Four: Ataraxia
Chapter 64: Nesta wakes up surrounded by unconscious Illyrians.
The law is that anyone who pulls a warrior from the Blood Rite will be hunted down and executed along with the warrior who they removed, even Rhys can't break the rule. (Awfully convenient for the plot. Also, this book just continues to undermine the idea of Rhys being the most powerful High Fae. WTF can the man even do? He can't enforce any rules on the Illyrians. Can't enforce them on the Court of Nightmares - they could have refused to go to war and he couldn't do anything about it. Rhys rules one tiny city in his own Court and that's about it. What's the point of being High Lord if he has exactly zero power? I know it's for plot convenience, but it makes no sense to me)
Eris has been captured and taken to Briallyn - Az and Cassian must go to get him back.
Rhys reveals he can't go because of the bargain he and Feyre made to die together. They realise that if Feyre dies in childbirth, Rhys will die too. This is the first time the others are learning of the world's dumbest bargain and Amren calls them out on how stupid it is.
Cassian doesn't want to go - thinks they should let Eris die. Feyre argues he poses great danger to them in Briallyn's hands if he is under the Crown's control, as he could tell her everything he knows.
Cassian tells them Eris was worried they'd use the Dread Trove to make a grab at power.
Feyre hopes the Made dagger they gave him may grant Eris immunity from the Crown.
Nesta comes across an awake male fae - they both see a dagger in a tree and make a move for it at the same time. She grabs it as he runs into her and they go down, the dagger buried in his throat.
Nesta takes his clothes as she's still in her nightgown and then she goes looking for Gwyn and Emerie.
Chapter 65: Nesta is far from Ramiel. Hears screaming and begins to run. The charm bracelet she made with the girls begins to glow and she somehow knows it is leading her to Gwyn and Emerie (another convenience right there).
Someone fires an arrow at her - realises someone has dumped weapons into the Rite even though they are banned.
Nesta gets caught by another Illyrian.
Cassian is flying around the queens castle.
Chapter 66: The Illyrian orders Nesta to hand over her weapons. She asks if he saw another female and he says he did, and left her to the others. She realises he saw Emerie.
She throws her knife into his groin and steals his bow and arrows before going to find Emerie.
Nesta overhears more warriors talking - Emerie escaped them by jumping in the river. She goes to follow the river and finds Emerie caught on a fallen tree, unconcious.
Nesta rescues her and builds a fire to warm them before setting off to find a cave - she finds another Illyrian. He shows her to the entrance to a cave and asks if she knows who dumped the weapons. He knows she has someone with her who is hurt and tells her to bring them to the cave as well.
He knows Nesta is Feyre's sister and he swears an oath that he will not kill her or whoever is with her - his name is Balthazar. They hear creatures throughout the night and find many dead Illyrians the next day. Balthazar goes off by himself after that.
Cassian learns that Eris was dragged into the queen's castle two nights ago and will be taken somewhere else very soon. Cassian and Azriel will wait for that to happen and then follow them.
Emerie and Nesta collect more clothes and weapons from dead warriors and then head to find Gwyn.
Chapter 67: Nesta and Emerie find a camp full of males and see Gwyn's nightgown. The charm indicates that she is there.
Emerie is grabbed by two warriors and then her and Nesta are taken into the camp. The leader is Bellius, Emerie's cousin. They used the night gown as a trap - they found it.
Bellius's eyes are glassy, like the Autumn soldiers were. He put the weapons in the Blood Rite and refers to a she - likely Briallyn. Nesta believes he is under the control of the Crown.
A creature (part cat, part serpent) finds the camp and attacks the warriors.
Gwyn appears and the girls run to her while the men fight the creature.
Gwyn woke before everyone else and started running. She found a cache of weapons and changed into someone else's clothes. Her charm started glowing - when Nesta made them she had made the wish that they'd always be able to find their way back to each other (At this point I need to ignore how ridiculous the plot of this book is and how deux ex machina coded the whole thing is)
Gwyn had led the beast to the camp.
Chapter 68: The three spend the night taking shelter in a tree.
They ask Emerie about the rite - her family always hated how Rhys, Cassian and Az all reached the peak of Ramiel as that is super hard to do apparently.
Emerie says they will be lucky to make it to the Pass of Enalius in one piece - long ago a war was fought between Fae and the ancient beings who oppressed them. One of the key battles took place in the mountains here. The enemy was desperate to reach the top of Ramiel for some reason. A young warrior named Enalius found a natural archway of stone and made it his bottlenek. He died in the end but held the enemy back long enough for allies to arrive. The Rite is to honor him.
There are a few different paths to the top of Ramiel but the hardest one is through the Pass of Enalius, they call that path the Breaking - the path Rhys, Cass and Az took.
They continue moving, but it is slow progress and once they reach Ramiel they will only have one day to reach the top. As the rules of the Rite are that they just have to survive, they could have been smart and stayed hidden until the end and still technically pass it.
They find a ravine with a bridge they can cross. They run for it but see 6 males running for it too. They end up fighting and killing all 6 of the warriors - you know, the warriors who are trained since birth for this.
After four days waiting by the palace, Cass & Az finally see a small caravan leaving the castle. They see Eris riding on a horse with the queen and he has Nesta's dagger still so they assume he isn't under the Crown's control - they believe he has betrayed them.
Another group of warriors find the girls and they run for the bridge. Gwyn is shot in the thigh with an arrow so tells them to run across the bridge and cut it to save themselves as she won't make it across.
Emerie and Nesta make it across and then tie rope around a tree and then fire it at Gwyn with an arrow so she can tie it around herself before they cut the bridge. The other warriors fall and die and they pull Gwyn up.
They find another tree to rest in and will make it to Ramiel the next day. Nesta reveals only 12 others have ever made it that far. Emerie says they could stay in the tree and wait it out (Because she's smart) because otherwise they'd be going through the Breaking having not eaten in days and with Gwyn injured - which undermines how hard this is supposed to be if they've managed it so easily.
Gwyn finally shares her story - a commander from Hybern raped her two years ago as he held her down on a table and laughed the whole time. Hybern attacked during the night and she shared a room with her sister Catrin who ordered her to go and protect the children.
She grabbed the children and ran to the catacomb tunnels. She had got the last child through the trapdoor to the catacombs when she heard the soldiers coming. She closed the door and then hid it under the rug before moving the kitchen table over it. The soldiers found her there and then brought in the other priestesses, including her sister.
When they asked her where the children were, she lied. The commander grabbed her sister and threatened to kill her if she didn't tell him. She still refused so he beheaded her sister before raping her and allowing his soldiers to do the same to the others.
The commander then ordered three of his soldiers to do the same to Gwyn until she told the truth about where the children were. Azriel arrived before they could follow out his orders and he killed them all. Mor healed her and brought her to the library.
Gwyn admits she doesn't wear the Invoking Stone like the other priestesses as it is a sign of holiness and she doesn't think someone like her can wear it.
Then Emerie shares her own tragic back story because all SJM women must have one. Emerie was beaten by her father. He beat her mother to death and then made Emerie dig her grave and then told everyone she died of blood loss from a miscarriage. Emerie says she will climb the mountain for her mother.
Then Nesta tells her story - sent to the House of Wind because she was going out drinking and sleeping with people. That she saw he father killed and did nothing to stop it. Tells them everything.
Nesta says they will win the whole thing.
Chapter 69: Cas & Az follow Eris and Briallyn - don't know where they are but it reminds them of the Middle. They go to a small lake. Eris sneaks up on Cassian.
Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie are 2/3 of the way up the mountain now. They see others below them, gaining on them - 7 others in total, including Bellius.
Eris tells Cassian he is disappointed Rhys never tried to look in his mind but when Eris refers to Mor as the Morrigan that is when he is sure he is under Briallyn's control.
The girls make it to the Pass of Enalius but they are too slow and the males will catch up to them soon. Nesta says she can hold them off while Emerie and Gwyn make the climb. Gwyn tries to insist they fight together but Nesta knocks her out so Emerie can carry her up.
Cassian and Azriel have to follow Briallyn and Eris to the lake. When the cloaked figure of Briallyn removes the hood it falls to the ground, there is no one inside - it was just an animated kernel of magic. A voice speaks from the lake - an animated shadow floating on the surface in the vague shape of a tall male, he reveals he is Koschei.
Nesta waits at the pass with her sword and shield.
Chapter 70: Bellius sends his warriors through the pass first and Nesta begins killing them one by one.
Chapter 71: Azriel asks Koschei where Briallyn is but he doesn't say, but says he has spent months preparing for them. Azriel tells Cassian to run as he grabs Eris and takes off but Cassian can't move. Briallyn comes out from behind a tree wearing the crown, telling Cassian she has need of him. Then she tells Koschei to winnow them.
Nesta kills ever male until Bellius is the only one left. Emerie and Gwyn make it to the very top of the mountain, touch the stone at the top and it winnows them out.
Bellius finally attacks her.
Chapter 72: Nesta decides to fight him in hand-to-hand combat, believing she can beat him because 'her mate taught her well'.
Chapter 73: Bellius is about to kill Nesta when Cassian appears and kills him. Cassian then hugs Nesta and tells her he is going to slit her throat. Cassian is under the control of the Crown and can't fight against it. Briallyn is there with him.
Chapter 74: Nesta realises that Briallyn is the one who made it so Nesta would be here in the Rite. When Nesta asks why she tells her that Nesta's powers are too strong and being in the Rite has wore her down. She did it to wear Nesta down and have her without magic.
Briallyn was waiting for Cassian so she could use the Crown on him. Bellius was also under her control this whole time after wandering into her lands. She had ordered him to hunt Nesta but not kill her. Briallyn says she wants retribution and powers - she wants the Trove.
Briallyn says she made sure Nesta knew about the Trove so she could help her find them - knowing the only way she could get Nesta to hand them over is if she had Cassian. Briallyn says Nesta can summon the items to her.
When Nesta refuses, Briallyn has Cassian attack her and then orders him to kill her.
Cassian gets back some control and rather than kill Nesta, he turns the dagger on himself. Seeing that makes Nesta erupt with the force of the Cauldron, which reduces Briallyn to nothing but ash.
Chapter 75: Cassian is unharmed. Nesta had Unmade Briallyn. Nesta finally accepts and says aloud that Cassian is her mate and they kiss.
Mor and Azriel appear to come get them. Eris is safe but something is wrong with Feyre.
Chapter 76: Feyre started bleeding a few hours ago, even though she is months away from giving birth. The baby is wedged in the birth canal. Feyre tells them to cut the baby out of her, even though it will kill her, which will also kill Rhys. Madja agrees to cut the baby out.
They get the baby out but it is too small and clearly not alive and Feyre is starting to die.
Nesta knows Feyre is dying - she puts on the Crown and mask while holding the Harp. No one has ever wielded all 3 and lived. Nesta plucks the final string of the Harp - the 26th string.
Chapter 77: The 26th string is Time itself and Nesta stops it as Feyre takes her last breath. She can feel death around Feyre, Rhys and the baby and she holds it at bay.
She can hear a female voice speaking to her - the Mother.
She goes to Feyre, covering her body with her own and telling her she loves her. Nesta speaks out loud, saying if it shows her how to save Feyre then the Cauldron can have back what she took from it. Feels a soft, invisible hand brush her cheek in answer to her request.
Time resumes and the others hear Nesta whispering "I give it all back" as light begins flowing from Nesta's body into Feyre. Light drifts between the sisters and then one light also goes to the baby in Mors arms.
The light then explodes and when it fades there is dark ink across Nesta's back - she has made a bargain with the Cauldron. Cassian swears a luminescent hand prevents all the light from leaving Nesta's body (potentially has some power remaining).
Feyre wakes up, alive and no longer bleeding, she tells Nesta that she loves her too.
The sound of a baby's wail fills the room and the baby is now alive and full-term. Nesta also made sure to give Feyre Illyrian anatomy so that this can never happen again. Rhys falls to his knees in front of Nesta and thanks her for saving Feyre. Nesta drops down in front of him and hugs him.
Chapter 78: Emerie and Gwyn are waiting for her at the house. Emerie and Gwyn were healed by the stone, it healed every wound they hand the moment it took them out the Rite.
Rhys and Feyre name their son Nyx.
Cassian goes to speak with Nesta, asks if her power is really gone - she says she gave it back to save them but a little remains. She says something else stopped the Cauldron from taking it all. And that she made some changes of her own - changed her own anatomy to so that if and when she wants to have a baby, the same thing won't happen to her.
He asks her what she wants and she says all she wants is him and he tells her that she had him from the moment they met. She asks for a very fancy mating ceremony but he says he'll never hear the end of it from Mor and Az. Nesta pulls a biscuit from her pocket and offers it to him instead as her giving him food is the official ritual. He says if it is between that or the ceremony then they'll have a ceremony instead. She tells Cassian she loves him.
Chapter 79: Cassian goes to visit Eris in the Hewn City to ask him what he told Beron. Beron tortured him to find out about his rescue but he says he didn't tell him anything.
Cassian asks why he really left Mor in the woods that day as he says it doesn't add up. Eris insists that Cassian isn't the one he needs to explain himself to, Mor is.
Koschei is still a threat and Beron might try to establish an alliance with him.
Cassian tells Eris he thinks he might be a decent male deep down but is too cowardly to act like it.
Chapter 80: Nesta, Feyre, Nyx and Elain go for a walk through the city. Nesta and Cassian's mating ceremony is in three days. Rhys is paying for everything - agreed to let him do it after he wouldn't stop buying her presents to thank her.
Rhys gifted her and Cassian the House of Wind.
Feyre gives her a mating present - a portrait of Nesta at the Pass of Enalius.
They have come to visit their father's grave - this is the first time Nesta has come. She places a small carved rose on the grave and then thanks her father before they go.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, it always makes my day! Because of time restraints, this is now an award free zone but thanks so much for considering me! Feel free to leave a link to your own blog and I will come visit.