Previously, Feyre continued to have super secret, convoluted plans. Matthew summed it up really well:
Feyre: “Ha HA! He’s fallen for my cunning trap! My grand scheme is to make Tamlin think that Lucien will BETRAY HIM! Because, you see, Lucien will do anything to be with my sister! Anything! He’d even go behind Tamlin’s back and fuck me in order to get with my sister! Wait. This might have made more sense in my head.”
A Court of Wings and Ruin Chapters 6:
Tamlin’s main character trait of being aggressively stupid continues to drive the plot (whatever it may be) forward.
A set of keys to the estate gates had gone missing.
But after last night’s incident, Tamlin didn’t appear to care.
Breakfast is super awkward as Tamlin glowers at everyone the whole time. Feyre debates confronting Jurian about the missing key but instead goes along with the awkward silence.
Until Ianthe breezed in, carefully avoiding acknowledging me, as if I was indeed the blinding sun that had been stolen from her.
…What? She’s ignoring Feyre as if Feyre were the thing that was stolen from Ianthe? “She refused to acknowledge me as though I were the wedding ring that had been stolen from her.” Wouldn’t she be super excited to see the stolen, beloved possession?
Ianthe makes a big show of asking Tamlin if they should speak in private to seem important to Hybern crew. Feyre cuts in to say that she should speak freely in front of their allies. This book is basically just fantasy Mean Girls.
Her white throat bobbed. “There is … My acolytes discovered that the land around my temple is … dying.”
Jurian rolled his eyes and went back to his bacon.
Look at Jurian getting in on this Mean Girls action! He might be becoming my favorite character.
The Hybern twins get in on the action too:
“Then tell the gardeners,” Brannagh said, returning to her own food. Dagdan snickered into his cup of tea.
“We’re gonna kill all the humans! But not before breakfast and bitchiness.”
Ianthe argues that this is not a gardening issue but a “blight upon the land”.
It was an effort not to glance to Lucien— to see if he also noticed the too-eager gleam in her eye. Even Tamlin loosed a sigh, as if he saw it for what it was: an attempt to regain some ground, perhaps a scheme to poison the earth and then miraculously heal it.
I can’t blame Ianthe for trying to find reasons to stay relevant. I honestly can’t figure out why she is in this series.
Feyre continues to use her best mean girl skills, and suggests perhaps it is a gardening issue. Then Feyre reminds us that Ianthe’s behavior is also part of her grand plan because somehow Feyre has become a master manipulator. I guess that must be one of the 60000 powers she got from the High Lords.
The conversation shifts to whether Tamlin will be going with Feyre, Lucien and The Hybern Crew to survey more of the wall (honestly all this wall surveying is ridiculous and confusing), and she suggests the Night Court might try to steal Feyre back.
Jurian says this is ridiculous and that the Night Court wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack, but Ianthe argues that Rhys has a vendetta.
She faced Tamlin, the morning sun catching in the jewel atop her head. “Perhaps if you returned to him his family’s wings, he might … settle.”
[…]
When Tamlin answered, his voice was low. “I burned them a long time ago.”
I could have sworn there was something like remorse—remorse— remorse and shame— in his words. Ianthe only tsked. “Too bad. He might have paid handsomely for them.”
Feyre keeps her cool, and assures Tamlin everything will be fine. He agrees, and tells Lucien (with his claws out) to be careful. Wow, he sure is quick to turn on his BFF.
While away on their surveying trip, everyone has to share tents…for some reason. Feyre explains that it was hard to carry so many supplies while winnowing? I don’t know. It’s an excuse for her and Lucien to share a tent and gossip about Tamlin.
Feyre asks if they can get out of the deal with Hybern.
“No. The King of Hybern crafted his bargain with Tamlin too cleverly, too clearly. Magic bound them— magic will strike him if he does not allow Hybern into these lands.”
“In what way? Kill him?”
Lucien’s sigh ruffled my hair. “It will claim his own powers, maybe kill him. Magic is all about balance. It’s why he couldn’t interfere with your bargain with Rhysand. Even the person who tries to sever the bargain faces consequences. If he’d kept you here, the magic that bound you to Rhys might have come to claim his life as payment for yours. Or the life of someone else he cared about. It’s old magic— old and strange. It’s why we avoid bargains unless it’s necessary: even the scholars at the Day Court don’t know how it works. Believe me, I’ve asked.”
Oh my lord, we get it. Magic is convoluted and confusing!
Anyway, that and Ianthe’s urging finally pushed Tamlin to make his deal with Hybern. Lucien tells Feyre things were awful and that Tamlin even killed sentries who had been on duty the day she was “kidnapped.” Yeesh.
“We were backed into a corner with no options. None. It was either go to war with the Night Court and Hybern, or ally with Hybern, let them try to stir up trouble, and then use that alliance to our own advantage further down the road.”
“What do you mean,” I breathed.
But Lucien realized what he’d said, and hedged, “We have enemies in every court. Having Hybern’s alliance will make them think twice.”
Apparently Lucien is lying, but I have no idea what anyone’s motivations are in this book. Well, Ianthe wants to be popular, Tamlin doesn’t want his best friend to sleep with his girl, Lucien wants to date Feyre’s sister, and Feyre has to infiltrate the popular crowd in order to take them down. Fantasy Mean Girls!
The chapter ends with more wall surveying and three “Children of the Blessed” staring at them through a hole in the wall. Those are the humans who are obsessed with the Fae.
Also…I thought these holes were invisible? Or the wall was invisible? Anyway, I don’t understand how this works.
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