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 this also may have some spelling mistakes as I typed it up quite quickly.
Crescent City recaps:
ACOTAR recaps:
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
I hope you have found this useful! Again, I am sorry if there were any spelling mistakes. I will be doing recaps for ACOWAR and ACOFAS and will also upload them for ACOSF at some point in the future too.
When did rhys have a nightmare and feyre woke him up? What chapter?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the useful recaps, my book memory is also awful.
ReplyDeleteI'm deeply surprised there are no other comments here, given the clear amount of work you put into this and how incredibly helpful this is. I read the first book, and it frustrated me so much. It seemed very repetitive, with Feyre telling herself the same awful things in her head over and over and over, no matter what was going on around her, and her incredibly bad attitude and nonstop belligerence to people trying to help her was just so off-putting to me. And then I could not get over the fact that at the end of the book, she consciously chooses to murder innocent captives who are literally begging and weeping and praying for mercy, and yet all that inner monologue is about herself and HER suffering and how miserable SHE is. So I really did not want to read any more in this series, but I was certainly curious about whether her relationship with Rhys was going where it seemed to be going, and how the author was going to square that with all the Tamlin stuff. Reading this summary made it extremely clear to me that I would have hated reading this book, and that finding a good, thorough (and just a wee bit cynical) writeup was the right choice for me. So thank you so much for putting in the labor. I hope a lot of other people have also found this, and found it useful, even if they didn't leave comments. You're doing us all a favor here.
ReplyDeleteI'm deeply surprised there are no other comments here, given the clear amount of work you put into this and how incredibly helpful this is. I read the first book, and it frustrated me so much. It seemed very repetitive, with Feyre telling herself the same awful things in her head over and over and over, no matter what was going on around her, and her incredibly bad attitude and nonstop belligerence to people trying to help her was just so off-putting to me. And then I could not get over the fact that at the end of the book, she consciously chooses to murder innocent captives who are literally begging and weeping and praying for mercy, and yet all that inner monologue is about herself and HER suffering and how miserable SHE is. So I really did not want to read any more in this series, but I was certainly curious about whether her relationship with Rhys was going where it seemed to be going, and how the author was going to square that with all the Tamlin stuff. Reading this summary made it extremely clear to me that I would have hated reading this book, and that finding a good, thorough (and just a wee bit cynical) writeup was the right choice for me. So thank you so much for putting in the labor. I hope a lot of other people have also found this, and found it useful, even if they didn't leave comments. You're doing us all a favor here.
ReplyDeleteThank you! It means a lot to me that these have proved helpful to people as they definitely took me a very long time to complete.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the recaps! Truly thank you...I also have the same thing of not remembering the storyline straight and what you did it's the most useful.
ReplyDeleteThank you
I'm glad they were useful to you! So happy others are finding these.
Delete