A Court of Wings and Ruin Chapter 44: Worst Meeting Ever

Omg if you haven’t voted for which Goosebumps book you want us to read, there’s still time!

Previously, we met a ton of side characters as the Big High Lord Meetup kicked off. THEN TAMLIN ARRIVED GASP!!!!

A Court of Wings and Ruin Chapter 44:

I felt the tremor of magic slide through the room as shield after shield locked into place around each High Lord and his retinue.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE NEUTRALITY WARDS?! You mean to tell me that something that sounds incredibly meaningless might actually be meaningless?

Feyre tells us that Rhys keeps his face bored and relaxed even though she can feel his wrath. What else is new? Rhys has a Cool Evil Guy act to keep up until he reveals that actually he and his pals are The Nice Guys.

Tamlin ignores the other High Lords as they try to speak to him and talk about how surprised they are he came. He’s just staring at Feyre and realising she’s a High Lady/seething.

Thesan cleared his throat. No one looked toward him.

Not as Tamlin surveyed the hand Rhys had resting on my sparkling knee.

Just when you thought this event couldn’t become more of a soap opera.

Why does Rhys feel the need to put his hand on Feyre’s knee right now? A generous reading is that she’s facing someone she’s terrified to face and he’s offering comfort. But he could have reached for her hand. The hand on the knee is typically a more possessive/sexual gesture. To me, it reads as a “subtle” power play and a way to bring the romantic drama to the surface.

Tamlin starts throwing jabs at Rhys–all sexual, mind you. That he fucked their enemy (Amarantha) and then stole Tamlin’s bride and forced him to join Hybern. I still don’t understand how Tamlin can possibly think that justification makes sense.

Tamlin also gets weirdly specific and says she was taken away in the night, and Feyre is like, “Bro wut…it was sunny AF?” Maybe this is a clue that Tamlin is being mind-controlled or something.

Tamlin gives his own version of events–conveniently explaining why he believed Feyre when she so obviously was faking her way back into his court–and Feyre is like ?????

Tamlin only angled his head at Rhys. “When you fuck her, have you ever noticed that little noise she makes right before she climaxes?”

Okay, so he’s gone full Toxic Masculinity Sexiest Villain. Sure. Makes total sense a High Lord would act this way at an important political gathering and not use craftier gaslighting or micro-aggressions to undermine Feyre and Rhys.

Heat stained my cheeks. This wasn’t outright battle but a steady, careful shredding of my dignity, my credibility.

WHAT PART OF THIS IS STEADY OR CAREFUL AND NOT OUTRIGHT BATTLE?

Azriel tells Tamlin to be careful how he speaks to “[my] High Lady”, and Tamlin is like, “OMG YOU GUYS! You see???? One time she asked me if when we got married she’d be High Lady, and I said no, so she married Rhysand! They want to be the king and queen of Prythian! Look how ambitious Feyre is!” It is one hell of a leap of logic, but the other High Lords are munching on popcorn enjoying the show.

Everyone turns to Rhys and start demanding answers about his involvement with Amarantha Under the Mountain, children who died at Amarantha’s hands. Rhys protests that he tried to stop it and that every day he remembers what happened.

Rhys tells Kallias that when the Winter Court rebelled, Amarantha had wanted to kill him as well but Rhys convinced her not to.

“Who knew,” Beron mused, that a cock could be so persuasive?”

“Father.” Eris’s voice was low with warning.

Daaaad, stop embarrassing meeee!

Tamlin rolls his eyes as Rhys insists to Kallias that he did his best and there was no more he could have done. I hate Tamlin, but I can’t fault him on the eye roll. Apparently, Kallias can, though, because he’s like, “OMG WHY ARE YOU HERE, TAMLIN?” Um, hi, hello. Clearly he is there to troll Rhysand and Feyre?

Tamlin insists he is there to help fight Hybern and that he knows of his movements.

Silence. Tarquin, across the pool, watched and listened— either because he was the youngest of them, or perhaps he knew some advantage lay in letting us battle it out ourselves.

Or perhaps because he realises you’re all idiots? And literally all anyone has done is make dick jokes?

Tamlin spews some more of his crap, and finally Helion is like PLEASE STOP AND LET US GET TO BUSINESS.

Tamlin lifted his hand, and a stack of papers appeared on the little table beside his chair. “Charts of armies, ammunition, caches of faebane … Everything carefully gleaned these months.”

Oh so now he has magical hand-waving, chart-summoning powers? Whatever.

Everyone starts arguing over whether the documents could be fake and who might be secretly working with Hybern. Tamlin asks why the Night Court knew about the attack on Adriata, and Varian informs them that he’s the one who told them. Apparently, Tarquin didn’t know this.

Tamlin goes back to making nasty comments about what a whore Feyre is and how they all can’t be trusted, until Rhys uses his MENTAL POWERS to start choking stop Tamlin from speak. [Edit: I thought Tamlin was being choked because he was “gasping like a fish”, but I think he’s just…somehow rendered Tamlin speechless through mind powers.] Feyre takes this moment to remind us all that Rhys is the most speshul High Lord EVARRRR.

Rhys was as different from them as humans were to Fae.

They forgot it, sometimes— how deep that well of power went. What manner of power Rhys bore.

And with that display of dominance we end the chapter. Surely now all the High Lords are convinced that Rhys is a wonderful, trustworthy dude.

If you enjoyed today’s post, please consider buying the BBGT writers a cup of coffee? That’d be swell of you!

Or support us on Patreon!