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 write these with myself in mind so feel free to ignore any personal comments I throw in. These are for me, but I post them as know others may find a detailed recap useful.
I am now going to do the same for the ACOTAR series. 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 this also may have some spelling mistakes as I typed it up quite quickly.
Crescent City recaps:
ACOTAR recaps:
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.
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.
