A ​Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4)

by Sarah J. Maas

So Nesta had become a wolf. Armed herself with invisible teeth and claws, and learned to strike faster, deeper, more lethally. Had relished it. But when the time came to put away the wolf, she’d found it had devoured her, too.

“They say a beast prowls these lands now. A beast with keen green eyes and golden fur. Some people think the beast has forgotten his other shape, so long has he spent in his monstrous form. And though he roams these lands, he does not see or care for the neglect he passes, the lawlessness, the vulnerability. Even his manor has fallen into disrepair, half-eaten by thorns, though rumors fly that he himself destroyed it.”

She didn’t want to be in her head, didn’t want to be in her body.

Wanted to find a bottle of wine and drink deep, let the wine pull her out of herself, set her mind drifting and numb.

“Their crimes are ones of nature. A kelpie is designed to lure and kill, just as a wolf is designed to hunt its prey. The Middle keeps them separate from us without punishing them for what they were made to be.”

Today, she would happen to him.

And so they did what their people had always done before Death’s beautiful face. They bowed.

“What are you thinking about?” Helion drawled as they approached a shut wooden door. Cassian straightened. He hadn’t realized his thoughts had dragged such a scent from him. He grinned. “Your mother.”

“Put your hands on the headboard.”

What you feel, this guilt and pain and self-loathing—you will get through it. But only if you are willing to fight. Only if you are willing to face it, and embrace it, and walk through it, to emerge on the other side of it. And maybe you will still feel that tinge of pain, but there is another side. A better side.”

I’ve seen what you can do when you are willing to fight for the people you love. Why not apply that same bravery and loyalty to yourself?

Upon Nesta, this once-human female who had conquered death, who now glowed as if she had devoured the moon, too.

Emerging from her cocoon of grief and rage, this new Nesta might very well send entire courts to their knees. Kingdoms.

Gwyn whispered, “I am the rock against which the surf crashes.” Nesta straightened at the words, as if they were a prayer and a summons. Gwyn lifted the blade. “Nothing can break me.” Cassian’s throat tightened, and even from across the ring, he could see Nesta’s eyes gleaming with pride and pain. Emerie said, “Nothing can break us.”

The world was beautiful, and she was so grateful to be in it. To be alive, to be here, to see this.

She gestured to the stars zooming past. “The struggle with that darkness is worth it, just to see such things.”

“Welcome back to the Night Court, Nesta Archeron.”

Nesta grinned back, slinging her arms around her friends again and sinking into the deep cushions of the couch. “I can’t wait to see it.” And for the first time, with these two friends beside her, with her mate waiting for her … it was true. Nesta couldn’t wait to see the future that unfolded. All of it.