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Summary
Chapters 31-40
Chapter 31
Feyre and Nesta run down the curling staircase to the pit of the library, where she hopes the creature that Cassian once encountered will help them. The Ravens chase after, taunting Feyre and Nesta. They claim that most of the mortal queens have refused to enter the Cauldron after the youngest queen entered first and gained immortality but at the cost of her youth, emerging from the cauldron an elderly woman. As she runs, Feyre realizes that some of Elain’s seemingly rambling comments accurately predicted the Ravens’ attack, as well as the aging of the mortal queen.
Feyre and Nesta reach the dark bottom of the pit and try to feel their way towards an exit. Feyre sees a distant light and urges Nesta to run towards it. Then, she knocks over a bookshelf which sets off a chain reaction, blocking the Ravens from following Nesta. Suddenly, she senses an immense presence and hears a voice which offers its assistance if Feyre promises to send down company to tell it about “life.” Feyre agrees and shuts her eyes as the monster brutally attacks the overpowered Ravens. Cassian and Rhysand, alerted by the priestesses, find Feyre and demand that she keeps her eyes closed as they escort her from the pit of the library.
Chapter 32
Back in the House of Wind, Cassian checks up on Feyre and Nesta, who are unhurt. Rhysand comes up, with blood on his hands. He has extracted information from the minds of the two Ravens before killing them. When he sees a new tattoo on Feyre’s wrist, he asks about the bargain she made with the monster, and she informs him that she has agreed to send down company, though she never specified who or when. They ask Nesta what she took from the Cauldron that has left it weakened and malfunctioning, but she admits that she isn’t sure herself. Rhysand is furious that Hybern was able to infiltrate his court and calls for an immediate curfew while Amren searches for any other agents of Hybern.
Shortly later, Rhysand’s Inner Circle meets to discuss the events. They agree to keep the infiltration a secret so that the other courts do not perceive them as unprepared or vulnerable. Elain cryptically notes that the “cursed” queen might ally with them. When Nesta gently questions her, asking Elain if she means the queen who was cursed by the Cauldron, Elain says no, identifying instead a queen “with feathers of flame.” Azriel realizes that Elain has been made a seer by the Cauldron and now possesses the gift of prophecy.
Chapter 33
The group asks Elain further questions about the queen who might ally with them. She states that there is a sixth queen, cursed by the others, who is being held captive by a sorcerer-lord who imprisons her, alongside other women, at a lake somewhere near the continent. By day, Elain claims, she is a firebird, but at night she is a woman. Azriel clarifies that the sixth queen is Vassa, the young queen of Scythia, a small but rich human kingdom on the continent. Mor offers to try and locate Vassa, but Cassian and Rhysand argue that they must instead focus on the upcoming war. However, Lucien, who has no place in the Night Court’s army, volunteers to find Vassa in the hopes of mobilizing any troops she might command. Rhysand thanks him and accepts the offer. Later, Feyre washes the blood off Rhysand’s hands and asks him why he killed Hybern’s Ravens. He responds that the Hybern attack has weakened the sense of safety in Velaris, particularly affecting the priestesses.
Chapter 34
Amren finds no additional intruders in Velaris that night. The next day, Rhysand checks on the priestesses and then transports Lucien to the edge of the human continent so that he can begin his quest. Shortly after Rhysand returns, Amren rushes in and informs them that Hybern has attacked the Summer Court, laying siege to Adriata, its capital city.
Chapter 35
Amren confirms that twenty fully armed ships have arrived at Adriata, likely overwhelming the limited forces there. Aware that Keir’s Darkbringer forces are not ready to march, Rhysand readies the Illyrian troops, who can fly. He winnows his entire army to Adriata. Mor winnows Feyre and they see the chaos of the bloody battle, with Hybern ships fighting against both High Lord Tarquin’s forces as well as Rhysand’s Illyrian troops.
Chapter 36
Feyre and Mor head to the palace, which has been infiltrated by Hybern troops. There, they slaughter the invading Hybern soldiers, clearing the palace and making their way down the streets of Adriata. Feyre realizes she cannot access Rhysand’s mind due to the strong mental walls he has put up. Suddenly, he shares his vision with her. She sees that Rhysand has found the Hybern ship that has, somehow, dampened his magical powers. The King of Hybern appears from the ship and smiles at Rhysand.
Chapter 37
Feyre watches through her mental connection with Rhysand as he faces the King of Hybern, who taunts Rhysand by reminding him of his sexual assault at the hands of Amarantha. Further, he reveals that he knows about Feyre and the source of her powers, borrowed from the High Lords of Prythian. Rhysand asks the King of Hybern about his motive for attacking Pythian and the King responds by criticizing the equality between species promoted by Rhysand; the King intends to restore High Fae power over both lower faeries and humans. After he defeats Prythian, the King of Hybern claims, he will kill Rhysand and take Feyre, perhaps giving her back to Tamlin. Rhysand sends a jolt of power toward the King, but it goes through him, revealing that the king was never truly there in person. When the illusory shade of the King disappears, so does the magic-dampening spell, and Rhysand kills the soldiers on the ship in a flash of power.
Chapter 38
Rhysand kicks Feyre out of his mind and she returns to the bloody street, where she vomits as Mor comes to her aid. She updates Mor on what she has learned, and they make their way back to the palace, where Prince Varian directs them to the dining hall where High Lord Tarquin is planning his next move. When Feyre was last in the Summer Court, she deceived Tarquin, despite the kindness he showed her, tricking him with magic and stealing half of the Book of Breathings from him, leading Tarquin to place a bounty on her head. Now, Tarquin notes that even though Feyre and her friends aided them in the battle, he is nevertheless not ready to forgive them, and he even suggests that Feyre is to blame for destabilizing the Spring Court and giving Hybern a place to station its troops. Rhysand winnows in and attempts to defend their actions, but Tarquin sends them out and tells Rhysand to withdraw his troops from the Summer Court. Before he leaves, Rhysand identifies Feyre as the High Lady of the Night Court.
Chapter 39
It takes some time for the battered Illyrian army to prepare to return to the Night Court. At their camp, Rhysand, Feyre, Cassian, and Azriel tend to the troops. Rhysand and Feyre discuss what they have learned and agree to come clean to the High Lords at the meeting about their pasts and the various deceptions that Rhysand has deliberately cultivated regarding the Night Court. Nevertheless, they also agree to keep Feyre’s borrowed powers hidden. Amid the groans of the wounded and dying, Feyre and Rhysand have sex in their tent. A few more injured Illyrian soldiers die that night, but their losses aren’t nearly as severe as those of the Summer Court. Feyre and Rhysand winnow back to the town house in Velaris, where they explain what has happened to Amren and Nesta, who anxiously asks about Cassian’s wellbeing. Nesta and Mor have an icy stare down and Feyre requests that Rhysand take her to The Prison.
Chapter 40
Feyre attempts to make a different deal with the Bone Carver, hoping to avoid the dangers of the Ouroboros mirror, but the Carver insists that there is nothing else he wants. Back at the town house, Feyre sees Elain, who seems to be feeling better and is learning how to make bread. Feyre and Rhysand winnow to their bedroom and have sex. The next morning, Feyre sees Nesta waiting at the dining table, presumably waiting for Cassian.
Analysis
The war that Feyre and her friends have been preparing for begins with a sudden bang as Hybern’s forces attack the Summer Court. Though Feyre has seen skirmishes and battles before, this is her first experience of full warfare, and her horrified reaction to the bloodshed and chaos underscores the great costs and brutal nature of war, an important motif in the novel. Previously, Feyre imagined that in war, two opposing armies meet each other in neat lines on a clear battleground. What she sees in Adriata, however, quickly disabuses her of these illusions. The seas, rivers, and streets of the city turn red with blood as Summer Court soldiers and civilians alike fight for their lives against the seemingly overwhelming number of Hybern troops. Feyre learns that there is little glory or honor in war. Instead, what she finds is cruelty and terror.
At first, she is internally hesitant to kill the Hybern troops, reflecting her relative inexperience in battle. After she sees how the Hybern troops attack and abuse the servants in the palace, however, her feelings harden and she attacks the troops without mercy, even taking extra time to torture those troops whom she witnesses committing atrocities against civilians. War changes Feyre quickly, and she realizes that she has never fully considered the emotional impact of war on her friends, who have fought many times before. She feels “forever changed” by her experiences, emphasizing the profound psychological effects of warfare. Even when she returns home to peaceful Velaris, she will still carry these traumatic experiences with her.
Feyre is by no means the only character who carries such scars. Rhysand responds with uncharacteristic fury to the Hybern Ravens who launched the attack on the library, killing them with his own hands rather than getting more information out of them. When Feyre asks him about his surprising range, he notes that Hybern has destroyed the sense of security of many in Velaris, including the already-traumatized priestesses who sought out the library as a refuge after their abuse by men. The library, he realizes, will no longer feel like a place of safety and solace for the priestesses, who may have been re-traumatized by the Hybern attack. Velaris is, for many, a safe space for those who have faced violence and abuse elsewhere in Prythian, including Feyre, Rhysand, and the other members of the Inner Circle, most of whom hail from other parts of Prythian but found a sense of family and belonging in Velaris. Now, Rhysand fears, the fragile peace has been shattered before the war has even officially begun.
Nevertheless, others slowly begin to heal from their trauma, showing that recovery is possible, if difficult. Nesta, who had a thorny personality even before her traumatic experience with the Cauldron in Hybern, slowly begins to show concern and care for Cassian, her mate, whom she has previously treated with contempt. When Feyre returns from Adriata, she realizes that Nesta has been pacing nervously in anticipation of news, suggesting that she is slowly opening her heart to Cassian despite all that she has been through. Even Elain, who has had a particularly difficult time adjusting to her new life as a faerie, becomes more active and begins to speak. When Feyre observes her learning to make bread with the handmaidens at the town house, she feels relieved to see her sister take a few tentative steps towards recovery from her trauma by developing friendships and working on hobbies. All of Feyre’s friends in the Night Court have experienced deeply upsetting and damaging events in the past, and they all learn to heal from their trauma in different ways, suggesting that there is no one-size-fits all path to recovery.
