A Court of Frost and Starlight

This section includes both rising tension between Cassian and Nesta and the resolution of A Court of Frost and Starlight, particularly for Feyre and Rhys. Feyre and Rhys’s Healing After Trauma and Loss has come full circle, as they have taken the time to heal both separately and together. However, the stories of Cassian, Nesta, Mor, Elain, Lucien, and Azriel continue to build tension and are set up for further conflict and exploration in the next novel in the series.

Cassian’s pursuit of Nesta on the night of the Winter Solstice reveals their increasing tension and hints toward their story in A Court of Silver Flames, the next book in the series. While Cassian and his friends lean into The Power of Love and Friendship in Overcoming Adversity, Nesta rejects it. She has fallen so deeply into sadness and guilt that she begs Cassian, “Stop following me. Stop trying to haul me into your happy little circle. Stop doing all of it” (192). Cassian understands: “He knew a wounded animal when he saw one. Knew the teeth they could bare, the viciousness they displayed” (192). He lets her go, but he still follows her home, insistent on providing protection and support in any way, even if he must do it without her knowing. He does so despite her behavior triggering some of his own insecurities surrounding his painful past, her final look at him making him feel “[a]s if he were nothing. As if he weren’t worth her time. The effort. A low-born Illyrian bastard” (193). He works through his trauma to reach out to Nesta, even as she rejects him, foreshadowing healing and a future union between them, as Nesta knows that he is following her, even turning on her light to let him know she is safely inside. The characters are all at different stages of healing in a post-war world, and Nesta represents a very early stage, as she must reconcile with both her new identity as a High Fae and also the horrors of war. Lucien’s patience shows that the partner bond between them is strong enough to hold a connection, even if it is not yet love.

Mor’s next steps are also foreshadowed in her final musings in the novel: “She had always been drawn to the untamed, wild things of the world” (214). Rhys’s request that she act as an ambassador gives her an opportunity for freedom and a chance to spread her wings away from Velaris, one she seems eager to accept. Her other friends, she knows, would be against the decision, but her cousin knows her best and sees her need to get away. Mor’s decision to first retreat to her private estate to decide things on her own shows her growing independence, and her decision to take on the role of ambassador shows a desire to pull back from the push and pull of her father’s power. She does not need to prove to her father or her former betrothed, Eris, that she is strong enough to face them.

Rhys’s view into Tamlin’s despair at the end of the novel reveals how difficult healing after trauma and loss is for some, especially if they cannot benefit from the power of love and friendship in overcoming adversity. Tamlin lives alone in his large manor now, and even most of his soldiers have abandoned him based on the rumors Feyre spread about him. He still loves Feyre, and he has no one else in his life to build a relationship with, romantic or otherwise, which leaves him lonely and without the support often needed for real healing to take place. Rhys wonders if Feyre’s “wishing him happiness was the same as forgiveness. If Feyre would ever want to offer that to him. Forgiveness could be a gift to both, but what he’d done…” (211).” Despite this wondering, he feels pity for Tamlin, who seems to be waiting for death. Rhys makes a meal for him instead. He tells himself that it is not an act of forgiveness, but it is still an act of mercy—one that someone with the love and support of others has more of a capacity to give. And while this act of mercy is not forgiveness, it foreshadows a future alliance, which will require trust and therefore forgiveness.

Feyre and Rhys’s story—which is the primary plot of the second, third, and fourth novels of the series—concludes in terms of tension and conflict in this section of A Court of Frost and Starlight, making room for the exploration of the other characters’ stories in the next novel. After 50 years of sacrificing himself and being used for Amarantha’s pleasure to save his people, Rhys has found love and security. Feyre, after years ensuring her family’s survival and then enduring torture at Amarantha’s hands to save Tamlin’s people, followed by Tamlin’s crushing mistreatment in the aftermath, finds peace and happiness. She finds the artists’ quarter, where she discovers people who treasure and care for artists and a community that accepts her as she is, rather than for her new position as High Lady. She also finds home, wondering at how strange her new feelings of happiness are: “It’s strange […] This feeling, this excitement to wake up every day. To see you, and to work, and to just be here” (228). Feyre and Rhys both find their home and the peace they have been denied for much of their lives.