A Court of Thorns and Roses: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

Feyre struggles home to the crude cottage with the doe and the wolf skin. She reaches the door and studies the “ward-markings” around it. Father bartered for the marks, which are supposed to protect against faeries. Even if the marks are useless—and they probably are—Feyre appreciates that for once, her father did something for her and her sisters. When she bursts inside, her next oldest sister, Elain, asks where Feyre got the doe and how long it will take Feyre to have meat ready to eat. Feyre tries not to get too angry at Elain’s rudeness and entitlement. Elain is naturally hopeful and, perhaps, naïve. Still, Feyre bought Elain flower seeds to grow in the summer, and similarly, Feyre paints floral motifs around the house with paint she purchased, despite the expense of such luxuries.

Father praises Feyre, while cruel Nesta, the eldest sister, snorts and glares resentfully at Father. Feyre explains that they can eat half now, cure the rest, and she’ll sell the skins tomorrow. Father sits by the fire, his “ruined leg” stretched out. The creditors destroyed Father’s knee in front of young Feyre when they came to collect, and Nesta in particular hates him for his injury and his ensuing apathy. To some degree, Feyre shares Nesta’s viewpoint—Father let her begin hunting in the dangerous woods and only occasionally sells wood carvings to help support the family. Now, Elain and Nesta begin arguing over what they want to purchase with the money from the pelts. Father notices the wolf pelt and, after questioning where Feyre got it, tells her shooting a wolf was risky. Feyre resents this: Father does nothing to support the family, and they only eat because Feyre hunts.

Nesta tells Feyre to change out of her smelly clothes, asking her to “at least try to pretend that [she’s] not an ignorant peasant[.]” Swallowing her anger, Feyre asks Nesta to boil water and chop wood, a job Nesta was supposed to do earlier. Feyre changes in the bedroom, taking note of the celestial and floral designs she painted on the dresser. Nesta and Elain have never said a thing about the paintings. Later, the family eats roast venison and even has seconds. Feyre sucks on her bent fork, which used to belong to her family’s servants. She recalls her mother, who was cold to her children. Feyre figures it’s good she died—she wouldn’t have been able to handle poverty, and she’d be one more mouth to feed. Feyre resents her mother for making her promise to protect and stay with her sisters and father.

Feyre jerks out of her reverie. Nesta is regaling Elain with a story about Tomas, the woodcutter’s son, whom Elain says that Nesta wants to marry. Feyre says Nesta absolutely cannot marry him, but Nesta argues that according to Clare Beddor, Tomas will propose soon. Nesta is enraged when Feyre suggests she’d be a burden on Tomas’s family, and Nesta retaliates by saying that Isaac Hale will marry someone from another village soon. Feyre is already aware of this, and Nesta and Elain storm away. Feyre tells Father to speak to Nesta—Tomas is certainly not in love with her. But Father says they need hope to survive, so he’ll let Nesta dream of “a better world.” Feyre spits that a better world doesn’t exist.