A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)

by Sarah J. Maas

“I’m not your enemy, Feyre.”

“But I know you—more than you realize, I think—and I don’t believe for one damn minute that you’re remotely fine with being a pretty trophy for someone who sat on his ass for nearly fifty years, then sat on his ass while you were shredded apart—”

Rhysand is the most handsome High Lord.

That girl who had needed to be protected, who had craved stability and comfort … she had died Under the Mountain. I had died, and there had been no one to protect me from those horrors before my neck snapped. So I had done it myself. And I would not, could not, yield that part of me that had awoken and transformed Under the Mountain.

“Stay here for however long you want. Stay here forever, if you feel like it.”

“Say the word, and it’s done.” He meant it, too. Even if I could tell from the ire in his eyes that he didn’t like it. He’d bring me back to the Spring Court the moment I asked.

“I’m thinking that I was a lonely, hopeless person, and I might have fallen in love with the first thing that showed me a hint of kindness and safety. And I’m thinking maybe he knew that—maybe not actively, but maybe he wanted to be that person for someone. And maybe that worked for who I was before. Maybe it doesn’t work for who—what I am now.”

I would not be weak again. I would not be dependent on anyone else.

“All I wanted was to return to—to the people around me. I wanted it badly enough I didn’t have room for fear. The worst had happened, and the darkness was calm and quiet. It did not seem like a bad thing to fade into. But I wanted to go home. So I followed the bond home.”

I knew there was something else waiting beyond that dark. Something good.”

“There are good days and hard days for me—even now. Don’t let the hard days win.”

“Thank you for warming the bed,” I said into the dimness. His back was to me, but I heard him clearly as he said, “Amarantha never once thanked me for that.”

“I know I’m supposed to look at you,” Tarquin said, “and see that he’s made you into a pet, into a monster. But I see the kindness in you. And I think that reflects more on him than anything.

“To the people who look at the stars and wish, Rhys.”

“To the stars who listen—and the dreams that are answered.”