Previously, Feyre finally returned to her home in the Night Court, caught up with her friends, and then Rhysand showed up and immediately told everyone to leave so that he and Feyre could fuck. What a guy.
A Court of Wings and Fury: Chapter 15
They get back from fuckin’ and Lucien is still just stuck with their other friends in his dirty clothes he’s been wearing for the past week or so.
I fought my cringe as I halted in the threshold. Lucien was still in his travel-worn, filthy clothes. His face and hands, at least, were clean, but … I should have gotten him something else. Remembered to offer him—
“but I didn’t because I got laid instead lol”
Before we feel too sorry for Lucien (tbh not sure how much danger we were in of that), the moment he sees Rhysand and Feyre together, he snarls. I have no idea why. Bro code for Tamlin, I guess.
Lucien did not bother to hide the slight curling of his lip.
As if he could see the mating bond glowing between Rhys and me.
And lo, the first half of this chapter is an insufferable conversation where everyone – but mostly Rhysand, and least of all Feyre – assures Lucien that Feyre isn’t a slut.
“I will say this only once,” Rhys went on, his expression smoothing into lethal calm […] “Feyre did not dishonor or betray Tamlin.”
I’m kind of not exaggerating. Think about how profoundly weird this scene is for a second. Rhysand is mansplaining that Feyre was totally on the Madonna end of the Madonna-Whore Complex, because Lucien is mad at her on behalf of his BFF who she broke up with. It might seem like this scene exists to assure Lucien (who has previously bought into Feyre’s lie that she was manipulated and sexually assaulted by Rhysand) that Feyre totally had her own agency while Rhysand (sorta) respectfully kept his distance when she wasn’t into him… but that whole “Feyre did not dishonor Tamlin” framing is so already so cringey, and it’s extra weird because Lucien has to believe it? Why? Why is Lucien such a third wheel?
“I was in love with Feyre,” Rhys said quietly, “long before she ever returned the feeling.”
Lucien crossed his arms. “How fortunate that you got what you wanted in the end.” […]
“I suspected Feyre was my mate before I ever knew she was involved with Tamlin.”
WE HAVE EXPLICITLY BEEN TOLD MULTIPLE TIMES THAT THIS STUPID BOOK’S PREDESTINED SOULMATE BULLSHIT IS A LOVE-AT-FIRST-SIGHT THING WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN “SUSPECTED” WHAT ARE WORDS
“If it made her happy, I was willing to step back.”
“You came to our house and stole her away on her wedding day.”
“I was going to call the wedding off,” I cut in, taking a step toward Lucien. “You knew it.”
“I was willing to lose my mate to another male. I was willing to let them marry, if it brought her joy. But what I was not willing to do was let her suffer. To let her fade away into a shadow. And the moment that piece of shit blew apart his study, the moment he locked her in that house …” […]
Lucien only shifted on his feet. Wary. Considering. […] he at last murmured, “There is a longer story to be told, it seems.”
After… whatever the fuck all that was, Feyre finally gets to check in on how her sisters are doing. LOL JUST KIDDING they all fly over to their home where the sisters have been staying and chill on the balcony STILL ASSURING LUCIEN THAT FEYRE AIN’T NO HO.
I said to Lucien, “Rhys saved my life on Calanmai.”
So I told him. All of it—the story that perhaps would help him understand. And realize how truly safe Elain was—he now was. I eventually summoned Rhys to explain his own history […]
Lucien rubbed his eyes. “I’ve seen Rhysand do such … horrible things, seen him play the dark prince over and over. And yet you tell me it was all a lie. […] And you love him. And he—he truly does love you.”
Okay okay to be fair, it is a little more nuanced than “Lucien is mad that his BFF’s ex dumped him”.
Lucien dragged a hand through his red hair. “And all these people I have spent my centuries hating, even fearing … They are your family.”
“I think Amren would probably deny that she feels any affection for us—”
“Amren is a bedtime story they told us as younglings to make us behave. Amren was who would drink my blood and carry me to hell if I acted out of line. And yet there she was, acting more like a cranky old aunt than anything.”
“We don’t—we don’t enforce protocol and rank here.”
“Obviously. Rhys lives in a town house […] I hadn’t realized I was a villain in your narrative,” Lucien breathed.
Holy shit, is a character in this book actually growing as a person?
Feyre tells Lucien that her sister hasn’t actually been told anything about him beyond the basics. Lucien says he’d like to see her, and will wait for Feyre to get him when she’s ready to see him. Spoiler: Lucien absolutely does not actually do this, because all the men in this story are trash.
ANYWAY. NOW LET’S CHECK IN ON FEYRE’S SISTERS.
As you might recall, the last book ended with the big bad guy showing up for the first time out of nowhere with some minor characters Feyre’s sisters and testing the Cauldron on them by turning them into immortal faeries against their will because Feyre, Rhysand, and the super friends were too badass to suffer any real consequences throughout the entire second book themselves.
My sisters had been living in the House of Wind since they’d arrived in Velaris.
They did not leave the palace built into the upper parts of a flat-topped mountain overlooking the city. They did not ask for anything, or anyone.
They visit Nesta first, who doesn’t see them there, because they caught her reading.
Nesta had been beautiful as a human woman.
As High Fae, she was devastating. […]
“What do you want?”
I felt the blow like a punch to my gut. “At least immortality hasn’t changed some things about you.”
Nesta’s look was nothing short of icy. “Is there a purpose to this visit, or may I return to my book?”
…shit, if Nesta just wants to use her newfound immortality to read all the time, I think she’s automatically my favorite character.
Cassian sauntered over to Nesta, a half smile spreading across his face. She stood stiffly while he picked up the book, read the title, and chuckled. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for a romance reader.”
She gave him a withering glare.
Fuck off, Cassian. This bitch is reading.
But before long, Nesta goes on a rant about how of course she isn’t suddenly adapted to the immortality she never wanted.
“What do I care? I get to be young and beautiful forever, and I never have to go back to those sycophantic fools over the wall. I get to do as I wish, since apparently no one here has any regard for rules or manners or our traditions. […] It’s not me you should be checking on. I had as little at stake on the other side of the wall as I do here.”
It really says something that Nesta’s entire arc is just about how she’s actually self-aware enough to know that she doesn’t actually matter. Feyre’s sisters have never exactly been… important. Hell, way back in the first book they were goofy fairy tale rotten sister archetypes, just constantly demanding that Feyre do things for them and not do anything themselves. Then in the second book they… continued to barely be there until Hybern kidnapped them. So, perhaps unsurprisingly, Feyre’s visit to her sisters continues to kinda mostly be about how they’re not as important to the story as characters as they are as plot devices.
Observe.
I wondered why no one had yet mentioned what now shone in Cassian’s eyes as he gazed at my sister.
The sorrow. And the longing.
Yeah, Feyre’s kinda more interested in which of her friends want to bang her sisters than she is in her actual sisters. Maybe this is a cynical reading (obviously she can care about both), but let’s see who she sounds concerned about when she visits the much more devastated Elain…
She did not look, or speak, or even flinch as we entered.
Her too-thin arms rested on her chair. That iron engagement ring still encircled her finger.
Her skin was so pale it looked like fresh snow in the harsh light. […] Nesta’s rage was better than this… shell. […]
“I’m back,” I added a bit limply. Uselessly.
All she said was, “I want to go home.”
I closed my eyes, my chest unbearably tight. “I know.”
“He’ll be looking for me,” she whispered.
“I know,” I said again. Not Lucien—she wasn’t talking about him at all.
…obviously? Why would she? If we had to rank Elain’s concerns, they’d probably be something like 1) she can’t go back to her old life, family, and friends ever, 2) “ever” is “forever” now that she’s immortal, 3-1486) literally anything else, 1487) whether her Netflix subscription will still work in the immortal country or whether she might have to get a VPN for this shit, 1488) Lucien.
“We were supposed to be married next week. […] I want to go home,” she repeated.
I couldn’t ask her—about Lucien. Not now. Not yet.
Do you see what I mean? I’m not trying to suggest she shouldn’t see her sisters as capable of having romantic lives (which honestly might even be something of a return to normalcy after their traumatic experiences), but it’s weird how she’s just… sizing them up for her husband and ex-boyfriend’s best friends.
“I’m sorry.”
Nothing. Not even a flicker of emotion. “Everyone keeps saying that.” Her thumb brushed the ring on her finger. “But it doesn’t fix anything, does it?”
I couldn’t get enough air in. I couldn’t—I couldn’t breathe, looking at this broken, carved-out thing my sister had become. […]
Lucien was standing in the doorway.
And from the devastation on his face, I knew he’d heard every word.
Feyre’s not even mad that Lucien went back on his promise about waiting until Elain was ready, but I guess don’t read too much into that. This book certainly isn’t.
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