A Court of Wings and Ruin

Feyre fights Hybern soldiers at the palace, killing them easily with her powers but struggling emotionally. Blood floods the palace floor. Finding a dozen of Tarquin’s soldiers overwhelmed, Feyre turns the room pitch black, and she and Mor slaughter the Hybern troops in the dark. Meanwhile, the Illyrian forces support Tarquin’s ships against Hybern’s fleet. Feyre reaches out through the mating bond, and Rhys, under high mental guard, eventually allows her to see his point of view. He vaporizes Hybern soldiers as he lands on one of their ships. The King of Hybern strides on deck.

Feyre observes Rhys face the king from inside Rhys’s mind. Rhys wants to capture the king alive. Feyre begs him to kill the king and to wait until she or the others can help him. Meanwhile, the Illyrian forces repel Hybern’s assault.

The king taunts Rhys about Amarantha’s abuse and for how Feyre’s undermining of the Spring Court enabled Hybern to quickly occupy Prythian. Rhys throws a javelin at the king, who is revealed to be an illusion. Enraged, Rhys makes the ship explode, killing everyone aboard.

Mor shakes Feyre awake in the streets of Adriata, now in her own mind. Feyre vomits from the horror and exhaustion of battle. She wonders how war might alter her permanently, even if they win.

Mor and Feyre find Varian at the palace, who sends them to Tarquin. Tarquin asks Feyre why they helped him after he swore to kill them and Feyre answers that they both want “[a] better world” (370). Rhys arrives, confirming Cassian and Azriel are safe. Tarquin asks them to leave. Feyre tells Tarquin to take care of his casualties, and Rhys insists their forces will remain close until the city is secure. When Tarquin calls Feyre’s suggestion presumptuous, Rhys publicly declares her as High Lady of the Night Court for the first time.

Feyre and her friends tend to the wounded at their camp. Later, in their tent, Rhys reveals that he fears how the king uses their past trauma to torment them. They need more allies. Feyre suggests holding the war council sooner and advises Rhys to drop the centuries-old act of cruelty. Feyre wonders if it would be enough to win the war if they could find Miryam and Drakon and make an alliance with Vassa.

Back in Velaris, Nesta asks where Cassian is; he went to visit the families of the Illyrian dead. Mor answers Nesta coldly, and Feyre realizes Mor fears losing Cassian as a buffer between her and Azriel. Rhys announces the war council will now take place in three days. Feyre asks Rhys to take her back to the Prison.

Feyre begs the Bone Carver to choose another condition for helping them. He refuses, insisting Feyre bring him the Ouroboros mirror.

At the town house, Feyre finds Elain baking with Rhys’s handmaiden-spies, Nuala and Cerridwen. Sensing Feyre’s emotion at Elain’s progress, Rhys says he felt the same the first time he saw her truly at peace after leaving the Spring Court. They make love.

The next day, Feyre finds Nesta still waiting for Cassian. Nesta asks why Feyre went to battle without hesitating. Feyre says only that “people needed help” (388).

Six of the seven High Lords of Prythian plan to attend the council; Tamlin doesn’t answer. The meeting will take place at the Dawn Court, which is closest to the middle of Prythian. Feyre dresses for the meeting in a spectacular gown; Rhys had it made for her for the Starfall festival in A Court of Mist and Fury. Feyre also wears a dazzling tiara from Rhys’s family jewels, and Rhys is greatly moved to see her in High Lady regalia; she imagines them as “Night Triumphant—and the Stars Eternal” (394).

Nesta arrives, dressed simply but elegantly, and declares she is going, too.

Nesta agrees to share her story if it will help save the humans below the Wall. Rhys offers Nesta an official role as emissary to the mortal realms. Cassian and Nesta gaze intently at one another before they begin the journey.

The Dawn Court is idyllic, filled with golden clouds and dewy breezes. Morning glory vines climb the palace walls, and the staff wear flowing robes. Before they enter the meeting room, Feyre reassures Rhysand that she loves him for who he really is. Rhys reminds her that she is an equal there.

In the opulent meeting chamber, Feyre meets Thesan, High Lord of the Dawn Court. Rhys greets Kallias, High Lord of the Winter Court, next; Feyre knows Kallias resents Rhys for failing to prevent Amarantha from massacring Winter Court children. Helion Spell-Cleaver, High Lord of the Day Court and Rhys’s friend, arrives next. When Thesan questions Nesta’s nature, Feyre reveals that the King of Hybern made her High Fae with the Cauldron, enabled by Tamlin’s betrayal. Tarquin arrives late, as does Beron with his wife and Eris in tow. As the meeting starts, Tamlin winnows in, “vicious as a spring storm” (414).

Doubting Tamlin’s loyalties, Rhys suggests waiting to discuss the war. Tamlin says Rhysand forced him to ally with Hybern by “stealing” Feyre away. He blames Feyre’s espionage for Hybern’s total occupation of the Spring Court.

When Feyre accuses Tamlin of manipulating the truth to his advantage, Tamlin humiliates her by revealing intimate details of her sexual behavior. Azriel warns Tamlin to speak civilly to the High Lady of the Night Court. Tamlin, who refused to make Feyre a High Lady when they were engaged, calls Feyre power-hungry and accuses Rhys of wanting to conquer Prythian himself. Tamlin asks the High Lords how they can collaborate with Amarantha’s former consort; the truth of Rhys’s sexual enslavement is not public.

Kallias confronts Rhys for the massacre of Winter Court children. Rhys admits his failure to stop it haunts him, but he says they must now prevent future atrocities. With Feyre’s encouragement, Rhys reveals the non-consensual nature of his relationship with Amarantha and how he stopped her from assassinating Kallias. Suspicious, Amarantha ordered the massacre to ruin any alliance between Rhys and Kallias. Rhys didn’t know until it was already happening. Kallias believes him.

Tamlin provides documents detailing Hybern’s stores, weapons, and armies. When Helion remains suspicious, Tamlin asks how they know Rhys isn’t a double agent since only the Night Court heard of the attack on Adriata. Varian reveals he sent for them, and Tamlin accuses Varian of colluding against Tarquin.

Feyre denounces this as wild speculation, and Nesta ridicules Tamlin for dodging blame. Tamlin threatens Nesta, earning a warning from Cassian. As Tamlin berates Feyre, Rhys takes away Tamlin’s ability to speak. Rhys is more powerful than any other High Lord; as half-Illyrian and half-High Fae, the natural magic of the Illyrian race magnifies his powers.

Rhysand notes it would be easier to destroy everyone in the room than to earn their alliance. Tarquin asks why Rhysand helped him; when Rhys says they are still friends, Tarquin ends the vendetta. Rhys releases Tamlin’s voice, insisting they stop fighting among themselves.

Beron asks where Lucien is. Feyre says he is helping the Night Court. Eris jokes about Lucien and Elain and insults Mor when she retorts. Azriel attacks Eris, only stopping at Feyre’s command.

If Tamlin’s documents are accurate, Helion suggests destroying Hybern’s stores of faebane; his “master tinkerer” also developed an antidote. Rhys insists the Night Court will use it as a declaration of trust. Tarquin agrees to harbor refugees from the Spring Court.

Beron resents that Hybern’s forces are concentrated in the southern, seasonal courts while the northern, solar courts are relatively safe. Rhys and Nesta explain that the King of Hybern wants to destroy the Wall, which lies at the southern border of the Spring Court, but Beron is disinterested in the fate of humans. When Beron ridicules Rhys about Amarantha, Feyre attacks him with fire—Beron’s own power.

Feyre hammers at Beron with her various powers until Rhys calms her. The other High Lords now know that Feyre possesses a bit of each of their powers. Beron insists the meeting is over, but Nesta appeals to the room.

Nesta calls Prythian “all that there is between Hybern and the end of everything that is good and decent” (442). She argues letting the human realms fall endangers their own lands: In the Cauldron, Nesta glimpsed the King of Hybern’s plan to “butcher” all of Prythian as a warning to other opponents. Nesta challenges the High Lords to protect the innocent and focus on the future. Cassian looks admiringly at Nesta. Beron agrees to consider the alliance and then winnows away.

The other High Lords return to the matter of Feyre’s powers. Feyre stands and reminds them that they gave her their magic willingly in thanks for saving them from Amarantha. The powers are hers now, and she promises to use them to destroy Hybern. She scolds them for worrying more about their power than the safety of their people.

One by one, the High Lords of the remaining courts stand and pledge to the alliance, even Tamlin. Rhys commends Feyre through their bond.

Everyone decides to stay overnight. In their rooms, Rhys praises Feyre and admits they may have done Tamlin a “disservice” by not considering he could remain loyal to Prythian.

Helion visits the Night Court rooms to discuss strategy via sexually charged banter with Mor, Azriel, and Cassian. Helion rescued Beron’s wife from Hybern in the war 500 years ago; Beron’s marriage was a political arrangement made without his wife’s consent. Feyre pieces together that Helion and Beron’s wife were once lovers and that Lucien is Helion’s son and possibly the heir to the Day Court. Nesta senses some disturbance with the Cauldron. Rhys, Cassian, and Azriel winnow away to investigate but find nothing amiss for miles.

Mor leaves dinner with Helion. In their own rooms, Feyre and Rhysand discuss how Mor sometimes sleeps with others to remind Azriel of her romantic boundaries. Feyre asks if Rhys thinks Cassian and Nesta are mates; Rhys can’t be sure until the bond “snaps” into place. Feyre is proud of Rhys for revealing his true nature. She tells him Tamlin burned his mother and sister’s wings, and Rhys is grateful his family is at peace. They fall asleep in each other’s arms.

Everyone prepares for another day of debate. Thesan suggests Tamlin and Tarquin hold the front lines until the other courts bring reinforcements. Tamlin disagrees; his forces are too diminished after Feyre undermined the loyalty of his troops. Feyre regrets the long-term consequences of her desire for vengeance.

Nesta collapses; Cassian rushes to her. She insists she is fine but that “[s]omething is wrong” with the Cauldron (466). An earthquake follows. Rhys sends his magic south to find the source of the disruption: Hybern has destroyed the Wall.

Nesta’s connection to the Cauldron allowed her to sense it gathering power. Feyre considers if losing Nesta would be worth the possibility of using her magic to end the war before it begins. She is horrified by the hard choices of war.

At dinner at the Velaris town house, Nesta wonders what will happen to the people on the Archeron estate below the Wall. Elain suggests that Graysen, her faerie-hating fiancé, could shelter them and begs them to let her go to his estate. Elain insists things can’t get worse than they already are. Rhys declares they will visit the Illyrian war camp and then visit the mortal realm together.

Feyre visits Amren, who is furious at not preventing Hybern’s destruction of the Wall. Resolved to prevent Rhys from sacrificing himself, Feyre asks Amren to help her strike a new bargain with the library monster. Amren reveals its name: Bryaxis.

Feyre and Amren offer Bryaxis a new bargain: freedom for help in battle. Bryaxis only wants a window to see the sun and stars again. Feyre agrees on the condition that the monster only destroys Hybern’s soldiers. Amren will break the spells imprisoning Bryaxis and summon it when needed. The bargain is struck.

Alone before departure for the Illyrian war camp, Feyre reveals the new bargain to Rhys, considering it an alternative to the Bone Carver since she cannot get the Ouroboros mirror. Feyre promises Rhys they will return home as he winnows them away.