A Court of Wings and Ruin

Five hundred years later, and several weeks after the events of A Court of Mist and Fury, Feyre Archeron paints in her studio at the Spring Court. In the previous novel, Feyre left Tamlin, High Lord of the Spring Court, for his nemesis Rhysand (Rhys), who is now High Lord of the Night Court many miles to the north. Feyre and Rhys are mates, a romantic and spiritual connection that transcends typical love. Rhysand also secretly married Feyre and made her High Lady of the Night Court, giving her tremendous power. This supplements the secret powers Feyre received from Prythian’s seven High Lords when they resurrected the previously human Feyre as High Fae after she died saving them from the tyrant Amarantha, a former Hybern general who terrorized Prythian for 49 years, in A Court of Thorns and Roses. Though Feyre once loved and was betrothed to Tamlin, his violent outbursts and overprotection inhibited her recovery from this trauma until Rhys brought her to the Night Court. Tamlin allied with the King of Hybern—who wants to re-enslave humans—to reclaim Feyre from Rhysand, believing Feyre was abducted rather than rescued. Feyre pretended her mating bond with Rhys was severed and she still loved Tamlin, returning to the Spring Court as a spy.

Now, Feyre paints an “idyllic” nature scene to dupe Tamlin into thinking she has a similarly “sunny disposition” (7). Feyre wants vengeance for herself and her sisters, Nesta and Elain, who were also turned from humans into High Fae by the King of Hybern against their will; Tamlin’s alliance with Hybern led to their abduction. Tamlin appears with Lucien, his best friend and emissary and the estranged youngest son of the High Lord of the Autumn Court. They remind Feyre of their meeting with Ianthe, Tamlin’s friend and Prythian High Priestess who kidnapped Feyre’s sisters for the king. Feyre wonders how Lucien, who discovered Elain was his mate when she became High Fae, feels about Ianthe.

Feyre changes in her new bedroom; she found her old room overgrown with thorny vines upon her return. Lucien arrives and asks about Elain’s safety at the Night Court. Feyre reassures Lucien but doesn’t reveal that the Night Court’s violent reputation is a tactic to ensure the other courts leave them in peace. Lucien blames Ianthe for hurting Elain and hints that he knows Feyre’s mating bond is not truly broken.

At the meeting, Ianthe claims she was only helping Feyre and her sisters be immortal together. Ianthe believes Hybern’s victory over Prythian is inevitable; she also claims the king promised no harm to the Spring Court, though Lucien doubts this. Tamlin insists on solidarity. Feyre disdains what she considers Tamlin’s half-measures but is pleased that he’s evacuated Spring Court families. A delegation from Hybern is expected the next day.

Among the Hybern delegation is Jurian, a human commander in the war 500 years ago. Jurian was magically preserved as the captive of Amarantha, and the King of Hybern restored Jurian’s body using the Cauldron (an ancient magical artifact) to be his emissary to the queens of the human realms. In exchange for enabling the re-enslavement of humans, the king offered the queen’s immortality. To prove the possibility, he transformed Nesta and Elain into High Fae with the Cauldron. Feyre hasn’t seen Jurian since that showdown weeks ago. Now, Feyre seeks to discover Hybern’s plans while undermining the Spring Court, thereby weakening Hybern’s chief ally in Prythian.

Also in the delegation are the king’s twin niece and nephew, Princess Brannagh and Prince Dagdan, who are daemati like Feyre and Rhys, able to read and influence minds. The twins want to visit the Wall, which the King of Hybern intends to destroy. Feyre offers to escort them to upset the overprotective Tamlin.

Jurian reminisces about the ancient war, noting that the Illyrians, infamous warrior faeries of the Night Court, fought alongside humans. Their enemies kept Illyrian wings as trophies. Tamlin possesses the wings of Rhysand’s mother and sister, whom Tamlin’s father butchered. Feyre has searched but cannot locate them. Jurian tells Feyre that he fought alongside “her” High Lord in the war, referring to Rhys and angering Tamlin. As Jurian distracts them with insults, Feyre realizes Brannagh and Dagdan are attempting to infiltrate Lucien and Tamlin’s minds. She mentally attacks them, displaying her own power. The meal ends in silence.

Content Warning: This summary section references sexual assault.

Lucien and Feyre escort the Hybern delegation to inspect one of several known holes in the Wall. Alone, Lucien questions Feyre’s loyalty. Feyre maintains the ruse that she was abducted, rather than liberated, from the Spring Court on her wedding day by Rhys’s cousin and third-in-command, Morrigan. Lucien admits Tamlin was entrapped by allying with Hybern to “rescue” Feyre.

Ianthe greets the returning party. Feyre notes Lucien’s discomfort and he privately admits that when Tamlin refused to participate in the fertility festival of Calanmai out of despair over Feyre, Ianthe forced Lucien to complete the Rite by having intercourse with her. Feyre regrets she wasn’t there to stop it.

In her room, Feyre’s lady-in-waiting, the tree faerie Alis, notes Feyre’s healthy appearance undermines her story that she was tortured at the Night Court. Alis saw Feyre cling to Morrigan when she saved her from marrying Tamlin, and the servant faeries gossip between courts: Alis knows Rhys is just and kind. When Feyre denies it, Alis drops the issue but suggests Feyre wear her abandoned wedding dress to the Summer Solstice.

Riding to the early morning solstice ceremony, Feyre reflects that one year ago that day, Tamlin kissed her and made her feel “carefee […] for the first time” (39). Feyre pities Tamlin, who still loves her.

During the ceremony, Feyre maneuvers so the rising sun shines on her instead of Ianthe. Feyre magnifies the light with her power, and all the Spring Court bows in awe. Feyre reputation as “cursebreaker” undermines Ianthe’s religious authority.

At the following celebration, Feyre risks a telepathic exchange with Rhys via their mating bond, promising they will be together soon. Feyre dances with Tamlin and feigns appreciation that he refused to sleep with Ianthe on Calanmai but secretly loathes his hypocrisy in overcoming his aversion to working with Hybern.

Feyre avoids physical intimacy with Tamlin by claiming to be too traumatized by her experiences at the Night Court.

That night, Feyre changes into a lacy nightgown and then fakes a nightmare. When Lucien investigates the screaming, Feyre embraces him breathlessly, feigning distress. Tamlin discovers the half-naked Feyre in a shirtless Lucien’s arms. Feyre gives her nightmare excuse, and everyone returns to their rooms. Feyre wonders if Lucien realizes she used him to stoke Tamlin’s jealousy and reflects on the discord she’s sown so far.

A set of keys to Tamlin’s estate is missing. Feyre suspects Ianthe of plotting to regain the Spring Court’s favor. As Tamlin debates escorting Feyre on her next outing to the Wall with Brannagh and Dagdan, Ianthe hints that Rhysand may want Feyre back or want to take revenge. She suggests returning the wings of Rhysand’s mother and sister, but Tamlin admits he burned them long ago. Tamlin tells Feyre to take care with a meaningful look at Lucien.

Camped at the Wall, Feyre asks Lucien if there’s any way to break Tamlin’s bargain with the King of Hybern to allow the Hybern army access to the Spring Court. Faerie bargains are an ancient, unbreakable kind of magic; Lucien confirmed this when he tried to help Tamlin find a way to break Feyre’s bargain with Rhys. Before she fell in love with him, Feyre agreed to spend one week of every month in the Night Court in exchange for Rhys’s help defeating Amarantha. Tamlin and Lucien still believe this bargain was the only reason Feyre went to the Night Court. Tamlin allied with the King of Hybern, believing it was the only way to get Feyre back without breaking the bargain. Lucien confirms that Tamlin destroyed her previous bedroom with vines in his wrath over the decision. Lucien hates that Hybern and the Spring Court are now allies.

The next morning, the group hikes to the next hole in the Wall, where they find three young humans.

The three humans are Children of the Blessed, who worship rather than hate faeries, as most mortals do. Brannagh and Dagdan, eager to torture the humans, entice them across the Wall with sex. Feyre tells the humans they will find “only death” if they cross. She psychically shows them images of other humans murdered by faeries. The humans flee, and Feyre warns Brannagh not to pursue them. Jurian privately thanks Feyre for saving the other humans.

Brannagh and Dagdan spend all day inspecting the Wall. Feyre talks with Jurian, who is amazed by the Children of the Blessed’s eagerness to serve faeries after humans fought and died for freedom 500 years before. Feyre asks how Jurian can now serve his former enemy, and Jurian claims to have “unfinished business.” Jurian seduced a High Fae named Clythia (Amarantha’s sister) for information about Hybern’s armies during the war. Meanwhile, his real love, a half-Fae, half-mortal woman named Miryam, left him for the High Fae Prince Drakon. Jurian remembers Rhysand’s behavior during the war and knows Rhys is decent and kind. Jurian says that Rhysand has not “lost” Feyre but “unleashed” her.

The next day, Lucien and Feyre find the mutilated bodies of the three humans from the previous day. Brannagh and Dagdan abducted and murdered them as a statement of power. Feyre promises to make a statement in return.

At the Spring Court mansion, Tamlin confronts Feyre and Lucien for sending the Bogge, a dangerous, non-humanoid species of faerie, after the twins in retaliation. They survived, but Tamlin scolds Feyre and Lucien for endangering the alliance. Tamlin dismisses Lucien, but Feyre senses Lucien and Tamlin’s sentries listening from the hall.

Tamlin rebukes Feyre for undermining him and admits he knows his court thinks he is dishonorable for working with Hybern. Feyre goads him, and Tamlin explodes with power, sending Feyre flying across the room. Lucien rushes in to escort the injured Feyre to safety. She makes sure the sentries see the blood on her face. Feyre imagines painting the moment: “A Portrait of Snares and Baiting” (70). Later, while Feyre bathes, Rhysand senses her injuries via their telepathic mating bond, and she assures him she is fine.

Feyre makes a show of forgiving Tamlin. Brannagh and Dagdan keep their distance, but Feyre keeps her mental shields high. Feyre invites Ianthe to the house. That night, seven naga, vicious hate-faeries, trespass on estate grounds. Ianthe warns everyone in time, claiming she had a vision from the Cauldron.

The next morning, Tamlin publicly disciplines the sentry who was on guard. Ianthe sentences the sentry to 21 lashes, but Feyre uses her powers to make the sentry reveal that Ianthe staged the attack to regain credibility. Ianthe asks if a sentry’s word is worth more than a High Priestess’s. Feyre has trapped Tamlin: He can’t punish the sentry without losing the respect of his men, and he can’t let him go without alienating Ianthe and losing credibility with Hybern. Tamlin whips the sentry, sending shockwaves through “the foundations of the court” (76).

Content Warning: This summary describes a sexual assault.

As Feyre tends to the punished sentry, the other sentries regret not intervening—both in the whipping and in Tamlin’s violent outbursts with Feyre. The next day, Ianthe and Tamlin demand to join the next outing to the Wall.

Alis helps Feyre prepare to run away on the next outing. Alis also plans to flee the Spring Court for her home in the Summer Court. Feyre warns Alis not to reveal their friendship, as Tarquin, the High Lord of the Summer Court, wants Feyre dead for stealing his part of an ancient spell book, the Book of Breathings, months before.

At the Wall, Feyre shares a tent with Ianthe to avoid Tamlin and keep Ianthe from Lucien. Lying awake, she thinks of her Night Court family and knows her true goal is “bigger than revenge” (80). The next day, Feyre eats an apple as Brannagh and Dagdan survey the break in the Wall and debate strategy. She taunts them into revealing the size of Hybern’s army.

Feyre prepares to escape; she has successfully destabilized the Spring Court and gained knowledge of Hybern’s plan. She’s planted a story in a sentry’s mind that the Hybern delegation attacked her, and she knows Tamlin’s people will abandon him for love of her. Sneaking away, Feyre finds Lucien tied to a tree as Ianthe tries to coerce him into having sex. Feyre enters Ianthe’s mind, forces her to release Lucien, and compels Ianthe never to touch anyone against their will again. As a reminder, Feyre forces Ianthe to crush her own hand with a rock. Suddenly, Brannagh and Dagdan appear.

The twins have secretly been feeding faebane poison to the Spring Court to dampen their powers. Feyre’s apple was heavily dosed, and soon she will completely lose her abilities (albeit temporarily). Lucien urges Feyre to flee, but Feyre engages Dagdan in battle. Realizing Dagdan plans to wear her out as the faebane activates, Feyre attacks Brannagh, distracting her so Lucien can kill her. Feyre kills Dagdan when he rushes Lucien in retaliation. Anxious to see Elain, Lucien insists on going with Feyre.

Feyre and Lucien reach the border as their magic becomes fully inept. Feyre can’t sense her bond with Rhysand. The mountain holds many passages to the various courts of Prythian, but none to the Night Court. Feyre decides it is wisest to go through the Autumn Court, despite Lucien’s bad blood with his brothers and father. They enter the passage as Tamlin roars in the distance.