Previously, Feyre was already finished up with her plans to bring the Spring Court down. As she began to make her escape, she came upon Ianthe about to sexually assault Lucien, and she made Ianthe smash her hand with a rock. Read Matthew’s very interesting thoughts on this here.
Before Feyre could leave, the maybe-incest twins show up.
A Court of Wings and Ruin Chapter 10:
The maybe-incest twins confront Feyre.
I pivoted slightly to keep Dagdan from slipping into my blind spot. “Such careful plotting these weeks, such skilled maneuvering. You didn’t seem to worry that we’d be doing the same.”
I genuinely can’t tell if that was sarcasm or not.
Suddenly, Feyre tells us they won’t be leaving Lucien leave alive (are they going to let Feyre leave alive? I don’t understand why just Lucien?)
He seemed to realize it at the same moment I did, understanding that there was no way they’d reveal this without knowing they’d get away with it.
Can’t they just mind control him the way Feyre does to everyone else? What do they stand to gain from killing him? I am really unclear on what their plan is here.
But that doesn’t matter because they reveal another big part of their plan. Turns out that apple Feyre was eating last chapter was laced with anti-faerie-magic poison! Turns out they’ve been poisoning everyone but especially Feyre! Feyre still has her powers for now, but it’s only a matter of time before they fade.
“We’ve been daemati for a thousand years, girl,” Dagdan sneered. “But we didn’t even need to slip into her mind to get her to do our bidding. But you … what a valiant effort you put up, trying to shield them all from us.”
So who has been mind controlling who this whole time? Mind control ception!
Feyre battles the twins, and together she and Lucien manage to kill them both before their powers fade. It’s actually a pretty brief scene. They winnow! They battle! They dead!
Ianthe is…there.
I merely looked at Ianthe, my power guttering, a hideous ache building in my gut, and made my last command, amending my earlier ones. “You tell them I killed them. In self-defense. After they hurt me so badly while you and Tamlin did nothing. Even when they torture you for the truth, you say that I fled after I killed them— to save this court from their horrors.”
I love how for the rest of this chapter Feyre is like, “As my power faded I did one last thing before these twenty other one last things.”
I guess I understand this new cover story? But it’s unclear why they were hurting Feyre. I know the villains motivations in this are super murky, but this story is so vague and suspicious.
Feyre starts heading off again, and Lucien declares he’s coming with her to the Night Court to get his mate. I thought at this point he had kind of figured out that Feyre has been lying to them this whole time since she’s willingly going back to the Night Court…but it’s not until the end of the chapter that he seems to get it?
In the meantime, before Lucien’s revelation, they begin their journey to “the foothills”. Lucien can still winnow them a bit, but they’re both fading fast. Just fast enough to get them to a convenient part of the plot…which is…at the entrance to a cave that will take them to the Autumn Court! I guess this is gonna be Lucien’s time to shine and truly redeem himself.
To be fair, I always liked his relationship with Feyre, so this isn’t the worst thing to happen.
“Then we go to Autumn. And from there …” I trailed off before I finished. Home. But Lucien gleaned it anyway. And seemed to realize then— that’s what the Night Court was. Home.
I could almost see the word in his russet eye as he shook his head. Later.
Seriously. He didn’t already know she was going home? What did he think was happening here? Unless…at first did he just think she was going to try to rescue her sisters? Unclear.
“I know a place,” Lucien said, walking toward the cave that would take us to his home.
To the lands of the family who’d betrayed him as badly as this court had betrayed mine.
Yup, y’all. I think we’re about to meet Lucien’s super shitty fam.
Also this bit amused me. They find the cave unguarded, and Lucien looks over at Feyre, like “was that you?”
I gave him another nod. I’d slid into their minds before we’d left, making sure this door would be left open. Cassian had taught me to always have a second escape route. Always.
The way we jump around in this book is a little cool in the sense that it’s a clever way to surprise the reader a bit rather than narrating out Feyre sneaking around and setting up all these bits and bobs. However, I don’t really understand how she snuck out here? Slid into their minds before they’d left where exactly? She’s been under pretty tight watch, so this feels too convenient again.
And in the distance, so faint I thought I might have imagined it, a beast’s roar cleaved the land.
Oooh Tamlin mad.
When you said ‘Lucien wants to get his mate’, I thought you’d suddenly gone British for a sec, then remembered the creepy way they all refer to their SOs
It always bothered me the way these books would narrate what already happened instead of showing me the action. I think those kinds of reveals could be really cool if they weren’t used for literally everything.
“And in the distance, so faint I thought I might have imagined it, a beast’s roar cleaved the land.”
Don’t worry, guys! it’s probably just a kitten