valar morghulis

The courts band together to stop Hybern, and when the NC inevitably sees what’s up, they try to come in at the last minute like heroes, but no one’s having it. They were holding their own without NC warriors, so if Rhysand doesn’t want to fall in line, he can leave and get his blowjobs elsewhere. Nesta and Elain still end up slaying the King of Hybern somehow, Cassian makes no deathbed declarations that he forgets, and Nesta/Elain/Lucien see that the NC is not necessarily the best place to be if they want peace and unity in Prythian.

The other courts, seeing how well they worked together, join each other to form a coalition in rebuilding efforts for all the courts, starting with Spring. Tamlin is enveloped in love and understanding and acceptance by everyone else, who all come to understand that Rhysand is a POS and Feyre’s sole account of all that happened between them is not to be trusted. They help him rebuild and return Spring to its former glory, supporting Tamlin with inter-court treaties and relations as needed. With time, Lucien grows curious and checks in on Spring. Tamlin apologizes, Lucien accepts his apology, and they work to rebuild their friendship. Eventually, Lucien gives up on Elain and returns to Spring as its emissary. Tamlin bans Rhysand and his IC from Spring indefinitely so no one can try to grab Lucien without it being treated as an act of warfare from Tamlin and his allies.

Summer and Winter never give Rhysand the time of day and also ban him and his IC from their courts indefinitely. Eventually, with the backing of a newly re-empowered Spring and an almost complete coalition of courts, Tarquin is able to demand the return of his half of the Book of Breathings, which was never chucked into a void, before he re-issues the blood rubies. It is returned to him by Nesta, one of the only ones the NC can think to send who isn't banned or a backstabber. She and Cresseida become fast friends when Cresseida notices she's wasting away. She encourages Nesta to stay in time for a ball Summer is throwing the other courts excluding Night to thank them for helping rebuild Adriata. At the ball, Nesta runs into Eris again and dances with him almost all night. She sees Lucien, who doesn't ask after Elain, and becomes friends with him as well. Before she leaves, she has invitations to visit Spring, Summer, and Autumn whenever she wishes.

Nesta returns to the NC to find her apartment demolished and has no choice but to go to the House of Wind. A lot of SF proceeds as it did, where Nesta is forced to train and work in the library. She befriends the House, Emerie and Gwyn. Lucien, in his official capacity as emissary to Spring, arrives at Velaris with armed guards to extend a formal declaration from Tamlin regarding reparations talks with Night in light of Feyre's destruction of Spring and to warn them (because he's a good guy who never hated Feyre) that a similar delegation would be arriving from Summer and Winter not too long after. Everyone is surprised and upset when he asks after Nesta and doesn't bring up Elain. They attempt to dangle Elain in front of him, but he doesn't rise to the bait, although his pain and longing is evident, so they refuse to allow him to see Nesta. He leaves her a letter explaining that he and Tamlin wanted to know how she was doing, but no one gives her the letter.

Summer and Winter arrive around the same time to setup details for the reparations talks. Letters from Cresseida and Eris are written for Nesta, but Feyre holds on to those too. The IC hold a vote as to whether they should give Nesta the letters. Some say it might be good for her to establish footing in other courts to try to ease the tensions toward the NC, others say Nesta can't be trusted not to spill secrets out of spite. The results of the vote are to not tell Nesta that anyone is worried about her and wants to see her. Since she's an idiot, Feyre doesn't burn the letters, and Azriel (who was always sympathetic toward Nesta and becoming closer to her because of his attraction to Gwyn) decides to swipe the letters long enough for Nesta to read them before returning them. She learns that the IC held a vote on her friendships and decides enough is enough. She, Gwyn, and Emerie discuss ways to get Nesta out of the NC.

At first, they threw themselves into training so Nesta could brave the 10,000 steps in one go. Then, after Nesta's nightmare, they decide that she needs to leave sooner rather than later because her powers are growing out of control and the NC is not helping her, so they ask Az for a sleepover on a day Cassian is gone. He agrees and flies Emerie to the House. When Azriel leaves, the House packs them three large bags of supplies. When Nesta notices the three bags, she doesn't understand initially. Gwyn and Emerie tell her that after thinking about it, they've decided to leave with her so they can all be together. Emerie's already packed all her valuables and taken all the money from her shop. Nesta tries to talk them out of it, but she's unsuccessful. Together, they spend the night going down the stairs, taking them a thousand at a time and resting in between. After several hours, they make it to the bottom and move through Velaris as quickly as possible. Nesta finds an old friend from her drinking days who shelters them for the rest of the night and sends a letter to Lucien for Nesta. Later that day, the entire city is looking for the three of them. They're worried about being found by Azriel, so they stay in the sunniest room in the house, but that can only work for so long. Someone knocks insistently on the door and they think they're discovered. But instead of someone from the IC, it's Eris. Lucien told him about Nesta's letter since Eris was already scheduled to meet with Rhysand that day. Eris somehow convinced Rhysand to show him Velaris. Rhysand agrees as to not tip Eris off that anything is wrong, and Eris gives him the slip long enough to find the three girls from the letter's directions, winnow them to Spring, and then winnow back. They all settle into Tamlin's manor, and when Nesta opens her bag, it contains a small book that, when placed in her bookshelf, imbues her room with the same magic as the House of Wind. The magic seems to recognize her as it immediately conjures three pieces of cake and a smutty book, so Nesta's happy.

Months go by and Rhysand is furious. Three courts openly hate him, Feyre's upset that Nesta is gone and Azriel hasn't found her, Cassian is upset that Nesta is gone and Azriel hasn't found her, and he and Feyre have to halt building plans on their vacation home in the Illyrian Steppes due to all the pending reparations talks. He and Feyre go to Helion for help convincing the other courts to back off, only for Helion to tell them he'd seen Nesta with two friends at Calanmai in Spring just a few days before. This year, all of the courts except Night had been invited. Feyre winnows directly to Spring but before she could approach the manor, sentries stop her. They recognize her and remember what she did to them and start screaming at her about how much of a horrible person she was to them when they had been so good to her before demanding she leave. She refuses and demands to see her sister and tries to threaten them with her power. More and more people arrive and begin yelling at her to get out of their court, she wasn't wanted there. Feyre tugs on the mating bond, but Rhysand doesn't come right away for some reason.

Someone runs to get Tamlin and he arrives, dismissing everyone until it is only him and Feyre. Feyre starts screaming at him about how she wouldn't let him lock Nesta in his manor like he did to her, how she'd rescue her. Tamlin tells Feyre that his home was a safe haven to Nesta after she was rescued from Feyre. He points out her hypocrisy at daring to be upset at him for doing to her the same exact thing she did to Nesta. Feyre tries to spin it as her protecting Nesta from endangering herself, and it being a last resort after Nesta refused all other attempts at getting through to her, but Tamlin again asks what was so different since he also had been trying to keep Feyre from endangering herself and that had been a last resort for him as well. Feyre went quiet. He apologizes to Feyre for hurting her and expresses that after everything, he needs her to realize that was the last thing he was trying to do, the only thing he never wanted to do. He also says that the deterioration of their relationship wasn't only on him, and that as much as he locked her out of his trauma and didn't communicate with her, she did the same to him. Feyre acknowledges that he was correct and says she'll think on his apology and where they go from there. She apologizes for barging into his court but can't bring herself to apologize for anything else he said because she doesn't know if she thinks it matters. She still asks to see Nesta, just to make sure she was okay. Tamlin says he asked Nesta if she wanted to see Feyre when the sentry first went to get him, but she said no. However, he says that if that ever changes, he will allow Feyre and only Feyre to visit if Nesta doesn't want to go to her. He assures her that Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie are all safe and happy and that he'll do everything he can to ensure it stays that way. He asks her, just to be sure, that Rhysand makes her happy, truly happy. Feyre wants to blow up at the thought that he believed otherwise, but in a moment of maturity and clarity, doesn't. She puts herself in his shoes for a moment, thinks about how everything must look and feel from his pov, and sincerely tells Tamlin that no other could make her happier. It hurts to hear, but Tamlin tells Feyre that's all that matters, that she lives long and stays happy. He'll pray to the Mother that remains true for her no matter what. Rhysand finally shows up, begins threatening Tamlin, but to his surprise, Feyre stops him and convinces him to take her home.

Nesta and Emerie visit Cresseida in Summer often (Gwyn was too shocked by the sudden change from Night to Spring that she spends all of her time in the manor). Emerie and Cresseida immediately hit it off as friends, and after one drunken night, they all have a threesome. Once was enough for Nesta, who just wanted to know what being with two women was like after being with two men, but Emerie and Cresseida keep it going. Soon, Emerie visits Summer on her own and Cresseida visits her in Spring when she can. They're not necessarily in love at this point, but they do have fun encouraging others to join them in bed. Their greatest conquest so far has been Tamlin, their toughest sell has been Eris. They never ask Gwyn but she shows interest and they figure it might be only a matter of time. They fantasize about people they'd never ask but who might surprise them in bed (mainly LoA and Viviane, but also Feyre and Rhysand…separately, never together). They turn down Helion often just because they feel his ego needs to get knocked down a peg or two.

Nesta has been exchanging secret letters with Eris. Finally, on the Autmnal Equinox, he invites her to Autumn. They don't dare put on a show while Beron is watching like they did in Summer, but he did have them dance once. They were amazing, and Beron finds reasons to keep inviting her back to Autumn. Eventually, he orders Eris to seduce her and make her his wife. Eris tells Nesta what Beron told him, they laugh about it, but take the opportunity to visit each other freely in each other's courts. During one overnight visit in Spring, Nesta had a nightmare and her room caught on fire. Eris was right down the hall and was able to smother her fire with his. When she woke up in three days, he offered to train her in her magic as best he could. Lucien offered to help also. The three of them spent lots of time together, training magic and playing with Eris' dogs. Nesta bonds with one of the puppies. Eris decides to trust them and let them in on his plan to kill Beron and become the next High Lord of Autumn. Unfortunately for Eris, Gwyn and Emerie were on their way over with a picnic basket for lunch, and they had dragged Tamlin along, so all three of them heard. But it didn't matter. Lucien and Nesta vouched for their trustworthiness and pledged to help Eris no matter what. Gwyn and Emerie pledged to help Nesta no matter what, so they were in, too. After staring Tamlin down for a while, he begrudgingly joined in. They all made bargains with Eris not to say anything to anyone about it until after it was all done.

During one training session, Nesta noticed Lucien's magic acting funny. He tried to play it off as him getting sick, saying he always felt worse in wintertime. Nesta asks if maybe they should consult Viviane about it, because she'd know what to do about wintertime sicknesses. Lucien declines her offer. Later, Eris asks Lucien to take a walk with him and he finally tells him the truth about his parentage. At first Lucien is pissed Eris kept it from him, but he also feels relieved. Beron raised him, there was no getting around that, but to know he had a shot at having a good parental relationship made him happy. Eris assured that he would always support Lucien as his brother, not only because they shared a mother and an upbringing, but because he chose to be his brother. Lucien made fun of him for being so sappy, but he appreciated it and told Eris he'd always have one supporter as High Lord of Autumn. He also asked Eris to be there when he went to see Helion. Eris agreed, and joked that Lucien should feel lucky Helion never propositioned him. Lucien was so disgusted that Eris would even bring that up that he refused to speak to him for a month.

Nesta thinks about Cassian sometimes. She feels him hurting through their bond, but is still angry at him for never sticking up for her or acknowledging her in front of the IC and continuing his weird relationship with Mor while saying he wanted her. She's also angry about his complicity in her forced removal to the House of Wind. So she doesn't respond to his letters and refuses to visit Feyre in the NC. However, she does eventually allow Feyre to visit her in Spring. When Feyre comes, she brings Elain. The sisters are all tense at first, and there's a lot of yelling. Accusations are thrown around, feelings pour out, and they fight (verbally) until their mouths are dry. Feyre and Elain leave. Gwyn and Emerie are there to comfort Nesta, but she's smiling. She assures them that she finally knows everything will be okay. Sure enough, the next morning at breakfast, Tamlin informs Nesta that Feyre wrote a letter asking him to inform Nesta (not ask her) that she and Elain would be returning in a week. The next week, they come again. Tensions are high, and there's more arguing and snide comments, but not as much as the week before. Weeks and weeks go by, and the sisters all meet in Spring on the same day. It happens gradually, but they learn to smile with each other and enjoy each other's company again. Feyre shows her sisters her favorite spots when she lived in Spring, though she was never allowed close to the manor again and sentries watched their every move. Eventually, they open up to each other. Nesta tells her sisters about Tomas and what he did to her, what their mother and grandmother did to her, and how she often thinks about her pain and suffering until she knows nothing else. She apologizes to Feyre for how mean she is, and tells her that she's only mean to others because of how much she hates herself. Feyre, shocked to realize how much Nesta had been through and how much she wanted to die all those years in the cabin, accepts her apology and gives her one of her own for both giving back as good as she got and for not being there for Nesta in the way Nesta needed her, back then and more recently. Nesta and Feyre continue apologizing back and forth, while telling the other they have nothing to apologize for that now that they understand each other better. Elain finally gets tired of it and tells them to knock it off before also apologizing to Feyre for her years of weaponized incompetence and to Nesta for packing her stuff and not protecting and sticking up for her the way Nesta always protected and stuck up for Elain. Feyre apologizes to Elain (and Nesta again) for devaluing all the work they did in the house while she hunted, and Nesta apologizes for smothering Elain. Apologies were given and accepted, and the sisters spent weeks talking about their childhood and how their lives looked from each other's point of view up until that point. They still fight sometimes, and they steer clear of a few topics (like their father, Tamlin, and their mates), but their bond as sisters was stronger than ever.

Elain loves it in Spring. She spends a good chunk of her days picking flowers to bring back to Velaris. She's able to successfully plant a few of them, but the majority are linked to the magic of the SC and die as soon as they leave the SC. She also finds the NC smothering. Once, while Feyre was teaching Nesta to paint, she wandered the fields of Spring on her own. She came upon a river. It was a warm day, and she decided to dip her feet in. Just as she reached the riverbank, Lucien popped up from under the surface, completely naked. She shrieked and ran away. Her sisters laughed at her when she told them what happened, Nesta asking her to describe exactly how terrifying his chiseled abs were. Elain complains about Nesta noticing Lucien's abs, and Feyre says it's not like they're blind. Lucien is one of the hottest guys in Prythian. Elain is dismayed that Feyre, a mated woman, is so open about it too. Seeing Elain's jealousy distress, Feyre asks her why she doesn't just reject the bond outright. Elain doesn't have a good answer to that, something about the thought of being bonded to someone when her last relationship went bad. She doesn't know anyone who had a good relationship or outcome with someone they were promised to (everyone purposefully ignored the elephant that was Rhysand and Feyre), and being Fae meant that whatever they had was forever, something she could not get out of no matter what and that scared her, but not enough to reject something that could possibly make her as happy as it made Feyre, so she was at an impasse and just shut down whenever Lucien was around. Nesta admonished Elain, saying she's not some weak little girl who can't hold her own. She was thrown into that Cauldron and came out someone High Lords were scared of, just like Nesta. Mate bond or not, Elain makes her own choices, everyone else be damned, and if she didn't think she and Lucien made a good match, then that was that. But there was no way to know if she didn't get to know him.

Feyre kept mostly silent, not only because she felt it was inappropriate to comment on their mate bond considering how she'd treated it in the past when she wanted to punish Lucien, but also because she noticed how vehemently Nesta was talking about disregarding mate bonds. Things were fraught at home, with Rhysand and Cassian raging over all that's happened. She never even brought up her weekly visits, just had them, went home, and went on about her life as if nothing happened. But she couldn't deny that Nesta looked happy, which was why (in addition to finally having the sisterly bonds she'd wanted her whole life) she refused when Cassian tried to get her to pass along messages to Nesta. She just wished Nesta felt comfortable enough telling her what, or who, was making her feel that way.

Nesta made a bargain with Elain. Every time Elain spent a week in the manor with her, Nesta would spend a week at the Townhouse in Velaris with Elain. Elain was delighted at the thought and accepted. She ran ahead to the manor, insisting on starting her week right then and there. Feyre was happy for them, but sad she'd never be allowed to join. But she insisted that she visit when Nesta was in Velaris and that Nesta would come to dinner at the River House at least once. Nesta begrudgingly accepted, not knowing how she'd deal with Cassian.

Elain and Gwyn hit it off, and she immediately recruits Elain into their smutty novel book club. They now have four members. At dinner one night, while everyone was talking, Elain shocked Lucien by responding to something he said. He didn't speak again for the rest of the night, but in the morning at breakfast, he did ask about her night. She responded, and the two of them awkwardly picked up their conversation from the night before. By the end of the week, both are looking more comfortable yet more frustrated around each other.

Tamlin's not too happy about the new arrangement, which was made without his knowledge or permission. As much as he's come to tolerate and sometimes even appreciate Nesta, he wasn't comfortable with yet another Archeron in his court after what happened with the first one. But he couldn't deny Lucien's happiness, and so he tolerates Elain's presence and gives Lucien a nod when Elain asks Lucien about when she could return.

The last day of Elain's visit comes. True to her word, Nesta prepares to go with Elain to Velaris. Eris comes by, and she tells him she'll be gone a week so they halt their lessons. Eris gives her the puppy she'd grown attached to, both to remind her of him while she was in the NC and to send word if she needed help. She could give the puppy a letter and it would know to get him or Lucien if he couldn't be reached.

Feyre is waiting for Elain and Nesta at the border of the SC and winnows them to Velaris. For the first three nights, no one bothers them. On the fourth night, she accepts Feyre's dinner invitation and goes to the River House. It's awkward, but no one is rude to her. After dinner, Azriel offers to walk them back home. When they're getting their coats, Cassian comes up behind Nesta and quietly asks if he could walk with them. She agrees. To her surprise, the boys only walk them to the door in silence, say goodnight, then leave. When the week is up, Cassian meets them for breakfast at the Townhouse after clearing it with Nesta. He asks when he'd see her again. She says it's up to Elain. Elain comes down the stairs with a bag, having already decided she was going with Nesta back to Spring again. Nesta tells Cassian she'd see him in a week. Azriel gives them a letter to give to Gwyn from him.

Gwyn and Azriel start exchanging letters, and she grows to miss him. She's been venturing out little by little, by herself, with Nesta and Emerie, with Elain and Lucien, even with Tamlin once. Eventually, she asks Nesta and Elain if there was room at the Townhouse for her if she wanted to visit. They told her that there was. She went with them on their next visit to Velaris and spent some time with Azriel, who was happy to see her. He took her to the library where she could speak to some of the other priestesses and let them know she was well. She promised to visit whenever she was in Velaris. When she got back to the SC, she doesn't leave the manor for a month, but she feels hopeful for the future anyway.

Eris continues teaching Nesta while she's in Spring. With Emerie in Summer half the time, Gwyn holed up inside writing not-so-secret love letters, and Elain spending more and more time with Lucien, she begins spending overnights in Autumn at Eris' private estate. They grow closer, and one night, Eris kisses her. She's over the moon about it, and ignores the forlorn feeling coming through her bond.

Reparations talks finally happen. All the courts are in attendance, and Helion hosts everyone in Day. New treaties are signed, and they hammer out exactly how Feyre and Rhysand can pay back the people of Spring, Summer, and Winter. Surprisingly enough, Tamlin is the most forgiving, seeing as how his court was the wildest and lowest maintenance of all the courts and never needed much anyway. Out of respect for his new understanding with Feyre, and maybe some penance of his own, when Tarquin and Kallias go a touch too hard on the NC, he convinces them to let up just a smidge. Feyre notices this the third time he does it, and he feels her asking permission to enter his mind. He drops his shield just a bit, she thanks him, he nods, then slams those shields right back up. They'll never be friends, or even on good terms really, but they can begin putting things behind them for good. Finally, after a month of extensive treaty-ing, the new agreements are signed. Feyre and Rhysand enter into extensive, specific bargains with every other High Lord that no one will act against them or challenge their rule so long as they pretty much leave everyone and their minds the fuck alone and don't lie to/steal from them ever again. Part of the deal is Amren (who never lost her powers) also entering into bargains with every court that she'd never act against a single person from that court unless it was okayed by at least 3 other High Lords excluding Rhysand, which she agrees to. With that, the other courts stop freezing out the NC. Viviane is ecstatic that Mor can visit her once again, Varian is happy that he and Amren can resume their relationship, and Tarquin is just happy that he no longer has to be angry and can put away his rubies. He'll never 100% forgive Feyre and Rhysand, and he'll never trust them again, but at least he can stop being angry. It's against his nature to hold onto anger. Tarquin and Kallias drop their bans, but Tamlin (understandably) keeps his. To celebrate, Helion suggests an orgy that night, led by him and Mor. Mor halfheartedly laughs, but once the drinks start flowing and people start dropping clothes, she finds herself between Emerie and Cresseida. After the sex, Emerie convinces them to join the smutty book club. They now have six members.

At the ball that follows (before the orgy), Lucien finally works up the nerve to approach Helion with Eris at his side. Helion is shocked, and he gazes at LoA longingly. Lucien and Eris realize that Helion and their mother are mates. Helion steels himself, turns to Eris, and tells him to hurry up and kill his father before Helion challenges him to a Blood Duel and does it for him. Lucien assures him there's a plan in place. Eris smacks Lucien upside the head for giving that info so easily. Helion laughs and pledges himself as an ally before shyly asking Lucien to visit Day sometime so they can get to know each other. Lucien agrees, and when Elain hears about it, she says that she'd love to visit DC, and so every other time Lucien goes, he brings Elain with him to help smooth over any awkwardness.

Nesta visits Velaris every other week because Elain is in Spring every other week. At first, Cassian steered clear. Then, he started coming around, but not speaking to her. Finally, he'd make small talk with her then leave, not wanting to crowd her. She got tired of it and cornered him. She demanded he speak to her. Cassian drops to his knees in front of her and begs her forgiveness for treating her the way he had. He had no good excuses so he wouldn't give any, but he wants to make things right. Nesta wanted to be pissed, but she could feel how tortured Cassian was through their bond. She admonishes him, reminding him of all the time they spent together when she was human, how they should be more than this, at the very least friends. Cassian feels hopeful at the thought of being friends and asks her if she's sure that's what she wants. Nesta says that what she wants is to sit on Cassian's face, but they're not quite there yet, so they could be friends for now. She does kiss him, and it's a good kiss.

Tamlin is patrolling his borders and one of the Children of the Blessed gets too close. He feels an irresistible pull toward her and gets scared, so he tries to glamour her and send her home, but she shows up again the next day, straight up asking one of his sentries for "a guy with blonde hair, green eyes, and a larger chest than hers". He tries to glamour her again and again, but it doesn't work, so she keeps popping up at the Wall to hang out. Eventually, he tells his sentries to leave her be, but make sure no harm came to her and that she made it home safely every time she left the Wall. She stops coming one day, and Tamlin gets worried.

Nesta's trained her magic as much as she could with Eris. Now, they spend more of their time making out and dry humping than they do with their fire. Beron is getting restless, wondering why Eris hasn't proposed to Nesta yet. To deflect from his anger, Nesta formally requests that Eris be her travelling companion, as she wants to visit her sisters in the NC but doesn't want to be trapped. Beron agrees and tells Eris not to come home until she has either a ring on her finger or a baby in her belly. Eris pretends to be put out, but later that night celebrates by giving Nesta the best head she's ever gotten until she passes out. When she wakes up, she decides she wants to visit all the courts now that Eris is temporarily free from his father. He agrees.

They take Nesta's dog and start their celebratory tour of Prythian in Summer, where they visit with Cresseida and Emerie. Something big has happened in Summer, but no one will speak about it. Emerie's convinced Cresseida to take other Lesser Fae into their bed and Cresseida caved. Their sex life is better than ever, which pisses Nesta off, not because she's not having off the walls sex, but because they're neglecting this month's book club book. She snaps at them to get it together.

They move on to Winter. Mor is visiting Viviane. She and Nesta are still awkward around each other, but Nesta decides to offer Mor an olive branch. They couldn't have members of the book club at odds with each other. So she asked Mor how she was enjoying this month's book. Mor had lots of thoughts, many of which Nesta disagreed with (big surprise). Viviane drops in on the conversation and becomes curious about the book. They invite her into the book club. They now have seven members. She manages to finish reading the book before Emerie and Cresseida do. She loves it and wants to recommend a series they have in the WC that's been on her TBR for a while, but since she's the newest member, she has to wait her turn to recommend something.

They go to Dawn, which is a bore even though Thesan is nice and the sunrises are pretty. Eris spent most of their time there talking to the alchemists. Nesta tries to amuse herself by bothering Thesan and tempting his lover with a smutty novel. She doesn't succeed, but she leaves one on the table before she leaves, just in case. The dog had a blast, though.

They backtrack to Spring to meet up with Elain and Lucien, who accompany them to Day. Somehow, they convince Gwyn to join. Helion is glad to see Lucien but not so glad to see Eris, who he believes is dragging his feet with Beron. Helion also flirts with Nesta, who entertains the idea of sleeping with him because she is horny and he’s one of the hottest men in Prythian (top 3 for Nesta, if she were being honest). Eris puts his foot down and refuses to let her sleep with someone mated to his mother. As much as it pains her, Nesta admits it's a very good point, but refuses to be held responsible for her actions if she ever gets too deep into her cups again.

They leave Elain and Lucien in Day and finally head to Night with Gwyn, who meets up with Azriel immediately and goes to visit the library. Eris and Nesta go to the Townhouse, where Cassian was waiting for Nesta. She casually goes up to him and gives him a long heated kiss hello, then retires to her room before dinner. Cassian and Eris size each other up, then agree that may the best man win. All bets are off after that, and both spend all their time in the NC and beyond wooing Nesta: buying her chocolates, buying her smutty novels, touching her knee, complimenting her, fiddling with her braid. At night she goes to bed alone, but leaves the door open and makes as much noise as she possibly can while pleasuring herself, knowing they both can hear her and are wondering which one of them drove her to that point that day.

Emerie comes to visit, but immediately leaves the Townhouse that reeks like unfulfilled hormones. She wants to go to Illyria. She knows the shop is either closed or taken over by her family, but there are a few women and children she left behind that she'd like to see. Nesta offers to go with her. To their surprise, one of the other women in their camp took over Emerie's shop, watching it for her until she got back, fulfilling orders and stuff. Her husband had died in the war (good riddance) so she had no chores to hold her back like the others. Nesta threatened Emerie's family away from the shop for good, and Emerie told the woman the shop was hers. They slept there that night, and even though it was a far cry from the lavish palaces and seasoned meals they'd gotten used to the past few years, it was comfortable to the two of them in a way that nothing else would be. They made unrushed, unhurried love that night until morning.

They visit the camp later and come upon a blacksmith who recognizes Emerie and offers to let her and Nesta make weapons. They do, then go back to the Townhouse for the rest of the week. Eris and Azriel winnow them all back to Spring.

They'd only been home for a few days when sentries come to Tamlin's manor saying that Feyre and Cassian were at the border of Spring demanding to see Nesta, that it was urgent. Nesta and Tamlin meet them at the border where they throw the weapons Nesta had made (wrapped in lots of layers of spelled cloth) at her feet. Tamlin hisses and steps back. Nesta picks them up with no problems. Feyre said the blacksmith gave them to Rhysand, refusing to be anywhere near them. When they found out they were Made weapons, Feyre immediately sought out Helion, had him spell a bunch of cloth, had Cassian wrap them, and brought them to her. Nesta pulls out the simple sword she'd made, which gleamed brighter than a sunrise in Dawn, and named it Ataraxia. Later, Emerie and Gwyn looked at the other two weapons, and despite everyone warning them, picked them up. They had no trouble wielding them either. Nesta loves how shiny they are and makes seven more weapons for fun before Tamlin roars at her to cut it out. The weapons are driving the animals from the forest and scaring the SC citizens (and him too, if he wanted to be honest).

Eris visits Dawn one last time and convinces Thesan to ally with him. He finally has the backing of all the courts, or at least a connection to them, and starts poisoning the food at the Forest House. Nuan gives him enough antidote for himself, his mother, and trusted nobles and servants. A civil war breaks out, and Beron tries to go after Eris, who's attempting to get his mother out of Autumn. Helion arrives on four pegasi and proceeds to beat the shit out of Beron. Tamlin appears to take LoA to safety in Spring. All of Eris' allies fight against those opposing him. Nesta shuts all that shit down by showing how she's now in control of her powers. Elain creepily tells them that if they didn't stand down, she saw fire burning their dicks from the inside out until they all died. Everyone stands down, and Eris and Lucien haul Beron to the dungeons. Beron, weak as shit now, dies after a long drawn out torture session that lasts weeks. The magic flows into Eris and crowns him High Lord. He threatens his brothers and nobles by withholding the antidote until they swear fealty to him and enter into bargains promising to accept his rule forever. He runs out of antidote and goes to Nuan for more. She agrees...if he asks Nesta for another smutty book. She read the one she left for Thesan's lover and loved it. Eris rushes to Nesta, who gives him a copy of this month's smutty novel, and instructs him to invite her into the smutty book club. Nuan happily accepts. They now have eight members. Eris makes it back right as his brothers were about to die and gives them, and everyone else, the antidote. He honors all the deals and bargains everyone made with him, and all treaties made with Eris as a prince are now valid inter-court treaties with Autumn. Nesta sucks his dick as a job well-done, and he gives her that fire dick for a week straight.

I guess Briallyn and Koschei make an appearance? Briallyn tries to provoke Tamlin by dropping the human girl into the Cauldron, which makes a surprise appearance last minute. She becomes Fae, and the mate bond snaps immediately for both of them. Seeing what happened to her and Elain just to provoke a High Lord happen to another innocent girl to provoke a different High Lord, Nesta goes nuts. She starts beating the shit out of Briallyn and straight up steals the completed ancient Dread Trove from her. Elain had gone to the NC when this all started to go down, and she returns with Feyre, Rhysand, the IC and a bunch of Darkbringers and Illyrians. They wage war on the army of the dead Briallyn called while Nesta battles her. Lucien returns with Eris, Helion, and AC and DC armies. They fight as the battle ramps up. Feyre and Rhysand work to free the minds of the living that Briallyn controls with the crown. The rest of the courts show up. Elain beats the shit out of a zombie with a bouquet of tulips Lucien had gifted her. Emerie and Gwyn help Nesta fight Briallyn with their Made weapons. Nesta's dog bites a lot of ankles, friend and foe. Nesta finally kills Briallyn with Ataraxia. Everyone relaxes.

To Nesta's surprise, after the battle, she sees Mor and Cresseida holding two of the weapons she Made. They needed weapons, saw them in a pile, and picked them up. Elain, Viviane and Nuan also held glowy weapons, though Elain never used hers. And best of all, Feyre held one too, similar to Nesta's in almost every way, though she struggled to keep firm hold of it.

The NC apologized for breaching the SC's lands with the ban still in place. Tamlin let it slide since they helped save his people and protected his newly turned mate. So he temporarily lifted the ban to allow the NC to recuperate, and quietly suggested to Feyre that tonight she could be with her sisters in his manor, and they could revisit the ban in 50 years. Feyre was grateful.

Later, when the Archeron sisters cuddled in Nesta's room, Feyre shyly admitted that she'd been keeping tabs on Nesta and Elain because she felt left out. With their new lives, Mor and Azriel leaving the NC more and more, Amren spending all her time with Varian, and Rhysand and Cassian being so pissed off that they spent most days fighting and fucking each other to oblivion, Feyre was lonely. And she couldn't be where her sisters were and do the things they did, but she could look into their interests. So she took care of Elain's garden at the Townhouse when she wasn't in Velaris and read whatever smutty novel the rest of the book club was reading. Nesta and Elain were touched, and they spent the rest of the night discussing their opinions on the sex scenes. They now had nine members. The sword gave Feyre no more problems, and she took it home with her to the NC, where no one else could get near it.

Years later, Tamlin began showing Briar around the SC. She loved it there, but wasn't quite ready to fall in love with Tamlin yet, no matter how hot she found his beast form. He respected her need for space, and on the days his frustration reached new heights, he fucked Lucien until he could think straight again.

Elain had an elaborate mate-acceptance. They had a ceremony in every single court before going to the human lands, where Elain finally presented Lucien with a feast she prepared herself in Graysen's old manor.

The bond snapped for Emerie and Cresseida in the middle of a threesome with Mor, which only made them want her more. Mor was okay with this, and they had fun whenever she was in town. Whenever she wasn't, they found other thirds (and sometimes fourths) or kept to themselves. Cresseida decked Emerie in pearls and researched ways to restore her wings. Emerie learned to cook phenomenal meals with SC spices that made Cresseida's tongue sing.

Azriel and Gwyn became closer. She now let him take her on vacation in different courts, and she loved to hold him close when he flew with her. His shadows loved her. He swore he could hear her voice even when they were in different courts, and she never shied away from his burns. She was nervous about having sex with him, but Emerie and Cresseida slowly introduced her to a world of pleasure, which made her gain confidence. She had a long night with Emerie and Nesta before she felt she was ready to tackle Azriel.

Nesta set up shop in the Forest House. Last time she was in Velaris, the House gave her another book, and Nesta placed it in the library in the Forest House. Eris was shocked when his home came alive, and he felt uncomfortable even getting naked, let alone touching Nesta, when the House could be watching. Nesta assured him they just had to ask for privacy, but he still took her to his former estate whenever he wanted to have sex with her. So Nesta asked the house for another book, put it in the library at that estate, then winnowed to the NC for a month, which she spent with Cassian. They spent time in Velaris and Illyria equally, where Nesta was only too glad to strike fear in the hearts of misogynists, who called her the Lady of Bloodshed, Queen of Queens, Lady Death, and so much more. Cassian and Eris spent the next few centuries wooing her in their respective courts, but when she needed a break, she knew she was always welcome in Spring.

Feyre began drafting legislation to address the inequality between the CoN and the CoD. She flew to Illyria to hear the people's concerns, and when they told her how they felt about her wearing their wings, she immediately apologized and stopped. She went to the Hewn City numerous times, and eventually, young unmarried girls became bold enough to seek her out and beg her to take them away from their families. She did, every single time, and set them up with Mor, who had created a boarding school in Velaris for girls fleeing violence where they could learn in a safe environment warded by the High Lady herself.

The big secret in Summer was...a wedding! A new Lesser Fae who was working at the palace bumped into Tarquin and the bond snapped for them both. Tarquin spent months convincing the High Fae in Adriata to accept Lesser Fae before he married his mate. He is now pushing for equality across all the courts with the help of his mate, his new cousin, and Tamlin (who ruled the only court that wasn't racist). They spent the majority of their time in the NC, followed by the AC. Tarquin called in his bargain with Eris to support Fae equality, while Tamlin appealed to Feyre's better nature to garner her support. When all else failed, and they needed to resort to the threat of violence, Nesta ecstatically volunteered every time. They called her in for a disturbance with an inmate in the Prison who tried to convince her that they could rule the world together and have great sex doing it. It got her so worked up that she fucked him right there, and the pleasure had been mindblowing.

Then she killed him and left.

As for the wedding, since there was peace between all the courts, everyone was invited. And this time, when Helion proposed an orgy in honor of the new couple, most people participated. Funny enough though, he himself didn't. He, like Tarquin, smiled at the revelry then retired early to his rooms, where the former LoA, now the LoD, sat reading, waiting for him. She earmarked her page to preserve her spot, then put the book on a far table next to the glowing dagger she used as a night light before joining Helion in bed.