A Court of Thorns and Roses

From the mess, Feyre can tell it was a difficult fight. But there are no bodies, which suggests Tamlin is still alive. The situation in the dining room makes it look as though while others fought, Tamlin and Lucien walked out—likely with their captors—alive. Hearing something down the hall, Feyre creeps toward the sound, her knife out. She spots a figure, but it turns out to be Alis. Feyre demands to hear what happened, and Alis drags her to the kitchen. Alis confirms that Lucien and Tamlin are alive, and that Amarantha took them both to her court Under the Mountain. Amarantha took them because Tamlin failed to break the curse in “seven times seven years.”

Alis elaborates: Amarantha became the High Queen of Prythian a hundred years ago, after she arrived from Hybern. She charmed each High Lord and spent 50 years pretending to make up for what she and Hybern did during the War. Amarantha was the King of Hybern’s most ruthless fighter. But her younger sister, Clythia, fell in love with a human named Jurian. Jurian used Clythia and ultimately betrayed her, crucifying her. Amarantha eventually got revenge on Jurian, and she’s despised humans since. She killed her enslaved humans rather than free them when the Treaty was signed.

As she packs a satchel, Alis continues her story. Amarantha convinced High Lords to believe that she’d changed. But really, Amarantha wanted Prythian for herself so she could take over human lands. Forty-nine years ago, she threw a party and poisoned all the High Lords so she could steal their magic. Amarantha is the Deceiver, and she herself is the blight—she destroyed the faeries’ sacred Mountain and built her court beneath it, all so she could torment the Prythian courts.

Turning to Feyre, Alis spits that Feyre could’ve fixed all this. Tamlin grew up close to Amarantha, and she wanted him. But he rejected her, especially after her behavior in the War. Just before she stole his powers, she carved Lucien’s eye out when Tamlin sent Lucien to try to negotiate peace. She threw the masquerade ball, supposedly to apologize. At the ball, she insisted they could have peace if Tamlin married her—but he said he’d rather marry a human and pointed out that Clythia preferred a human. So, Amarantha cursed him, giving him 49 years to convince a human girl who hated faeries enough to kill them to marry him. The girl needed to kill Tamlin’s faerie. Finally, Amarantha affixed the masks to the Spring Court’s faces and made it so nobody could talk to Feyre about the curse.

Alis continues. Tamlin used to send men daily, but he stopped when there were only 12 left. He’s been trying to defend his court ever since. Three courts stood up to Amarantha, and Amarantha killed most of them. Now, everyone else lives Under the Mountain, where Amarantha can surveil or torment them. This is why Alis’s nephews are in hiding here—she and the boys only just escaped. Alis says that Tamlin resisted the curse, believing that bringing a human woman here would be a form of slavery, or that Amarantha would murder the woman if he did break the curse. But Tamlin got desperate, and Feyre killed Andras. All Feyre had to do to break the curse was say she loved Tamlin. Now, Tamlin and the rest of the Spring Court are imprisoned until Tamlin agrees to be Amarantha’s lover.

Alis says that Amarantha is also offering safety to the frightening faeries and creatures, like the Attor, and she plans to use them to attack the mortal realm. Feyre realizes that Amarantha was the one who ordered the Beddors murdered. She can’t believe Tamlin let her go, just to save her, knowing she loved him. Feyre asks if Tamlin got his powers back, if he’d be strong enough to overthrow Amarantha. Alis’s answer is noncommittal. Feyre asks Alis to show her how to get Under the Mountain, insisting she understands the risks. She has to at least try, so Tamlin knows for sure she loves him. Eventually, Alis agrees.