Wings, Wards and the Weight of Dreams
Day 3
Chapters 15-21
Velaris Unveiled
Feyre’s first glimpse of Velaris is breathtaking—and jarring. The city is intact, alive, and untouched by the horrors she endured. Children laugh in the streets, buildings gleam with beauty, and the people are well-fed and unconcerned. It’s a stark contrast to the trauma Feyre carries, and her reaction is complicated. She lashes out at Rhysand, questioning why he didn’t open Velaris as a safe haven during Amarantha’s reign. Her bitterness is palpable, and honestly? It’s hard to watch. Where was this fire when Tamlin was locking her away?
Her anger simmers as she walks the city, agitated and jealous of the joy around her. She even considers rampaging through the streets - until Rhysand gently reminds her that his people are blameless. It’s a moment of tension, but also clarity. Velaris is sacred because it was protected. And now, Feyre is part of that protection.
The Inner Circle Awaits
Soon, Feyre is introduced to Rhysand’s inner circle - his chosen family. Cassian, the General. Azriel, the Spymaster. Mor, his Third in Command. And Amren, his Second in Command. Rhysand warns Feyre about Amren’s temper, noting that even he doesn’t raise his voice to her. She’s older than 5,000 years and burns hotter than most. A classic case of FAFO.
Rhysand also drops a quiet bombshell: he’s the most powerful High Lord in history. Feyre, absorbing all this, has a troubling moment questioning her life. Just as she did Under the Mountain, she sees herself through Rhysand’s eyes—gaunt, hollow, changed. Is this a testament to her power? Or is it the bargain bond that allows her to slip past his mental shields? Rhysand is just as perplexed. Apparently, there are others who can slip into minds - they are called Daemati, and they are rare and coveted.
First Flight & First Truths
Before dinner, Feyre experiences her first flight with Rhysand - and I think she likes it! it’s nothing short of transformative. Suspended between wind and stars, she’s no longer the girl who clawed her way through the Spring Court’s suffocating walls. She’s becoming something else now. Something freer. Something stronger.
When they land a balcony of The House of the Wind, Rhysand, uses the moment to share pieces of himself. Not just power or strategy - but vulnerability. He opens up about his own loneliness, his own need for connection. And in doing so, he gives Feyre permission to do the same.
“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… Maybe that worked for who I was before. Maybe it doesn’t work for who—what I am now.”
This is Feyre’s emotional pivot. She’s not just surviving anymore—she’s reflecting, questioning, evolving. Her relationship with Tamlin wasn’t built on mutual strength, but on desperation and trauma. And now, with Rhysand, she’s beginning to see what it means to be truly seen.
The Inner Circle—Dinner with Dreamers
Chapter 16 chock full of revelations. Feyre meets Rhysand’s Inner Circle for the first time—and instead of icy formality, she’s greeted with warmth, banter, and bonds forged in fire. It’s a stark contrast to the rigid courtly rules of Spring. Here, they’re not just allies. They’re family.
• Cassian, the bastard-born warrior, raised in Illyrian war camps. Blunt, loyal, and fiercely protective.
• Azriel, the shadowsinger, son of a cruel lord, shaped by isolation and rare magic. He hears what others can’t -and feels even more.
• Mor, the only High Fae among them, a dreamer born into the Court of Nightmares. Her past remains untold, but Feyre suspects it may be the darkest of all.
• Amren, ancient and otherworldly. Not born Fae but Made. She calls the rest “boys and girls” with hilarious disdain - and drops a chilling truth:
Feyre learns she’s one of the few humans ever Made. Her soul—still mortal—was returned to an immortal body. And perhaps, through the bargain bond, it was Rhysand’s magic that tethered her soul back to this plane.
We also learn about Illyrians, a distinct race of winged warriors. Cassian and Azriel are Illyrian. Rhysand is half Illyrian, half High Fae - a lineage that earned him scorn from both sides. When he became High Lord, he appointed his Inner Circle to power. The rest of his father’s court rebelled, fled, or joined Amarantha. Those who survived now rule themselves in the Hewn City - The Court of Nightmares. But Rhysand’s true court? It’s this one. The Court of Dreams.
Feyre listens to their stories - of pain, survival, and chosen family. And when Cassian asks for hers, she shares it. All of it. From the woods to Under the Mountain. It’s the first time she’s spoken her truth aloud. And it begins her healing.
Cassian offers to train her. Rhysand offers her purpose. Feyre accepts both.
And so, the epic journey begins.
But the threat looms. Azriel’s intel suggests that Hybern plans to resurrect Jurian. The massacres of priestess temples are connected. The only way to uncover the truth? Visit The Prison. Speak to The Bone Carver. And only Feyre can do it.
Nightmares & Tenderness
If Feyre ever doubts her decision to leave Tamlin, Rhysand is steadily proving why she made the right call. When Feyre wakes from a nightmare - claws blazing and trauma surging - Rhys is there. He comforts her as she vomits, shares one of his own nightmares, and gently tucks her into clean, dry bedding. It’s intimate and healing. This is the kind of care Tamlin never offered. And those fire claws? We’ll circle back to that mystery.
The Prison & the Past
The next day, they journey to the Prison—an ancient, terrifying place built before High Lords even existed. It houses the darkest creatures in Prythian, and Amren refuses to enter. Why? Because she was once a prisoner there. Gasp. Another mountain. Another stone tomb. Feyre’s PTSD flares, and she can’t go in. Her trauma is real, and Maas writes it with raw, believable weight.
The following morning, Amren wakes Feyre and lends her a protective amulet. It’s a small gesture, but layered with meaning. Amren, mysterious and bound by a spell that keeps her confined to her body, is a walking enigma. If she’s ever unleashed… Cauldron save us all.
The Bone Carver & the Bargain of Truths
Inside the Prison, Feyre meets the Bone Carver—an ancient being who appears differently to each person. To Feyre, he’s a boy with inky black hair and violet eyes. Is this a child version of Rhys?
Rhys offers the bone Feyre used to kill the Middengard Wyrm. The Carver is intrigued - Feyre is something new. The deal: a question for a question. His question? “Where did you go when you died?” Feyre’s answer partially confirms my earlier theory: at the moment of her death, her soul was bonded to Rhysand through the bargain, and when the High Lords remade her body, her soul returned—still human, still hers.
The Bone Carver is clearly searching for a portal to another world and believes true death may be the key.
Secrets, Cauldrons & the Book of Breathings
Now it’s Rhysand’s turn to ask about Jurian and Hybern. The Bone Carver reveals that resurrection is possible with just a fragment of a person—if you have the Cauldron. But where is it?
Rhys must offer a secret no one else knows. And in true Rhys fashion, he gives up… his knee arthritis. 😂
Still, the Carver delivers:
• The Cauldron was last seen at the bottom of a frozen lake in Lapplund.
• Millennia ago, its three feet were removed and hidden in temples: Cesere, Sangravah, and Itica—the very ones recently ransacked.
• The Cauldron can shatter the wall between realms.
• The only way to stop it? The Book of Breathings—a spell book split in two.
• One half with the Summer Court.
• The other with the six mortal queens, spelled to self-destruct if taken by force.
• Only something reforged can wield it. That leaves three: Amren, Feyre, and Miriam (who is Miriam?!).
The Bone Carver appears to Rhysand as Jurian. The significance? Still unclear. But it’s a chilling reminder that the past is clawing its way back - and the stakes are rising.
Emissary of the Night Court
Armed with the Bone Carver’s revelations, it’s time to strategize. Rhysand believes Feyre holds a kernel of every High Lord’s power—an echo of their magic that could be used to confuse wards and locate hidden objects. He proposes infiltrating the Summer Court to retrieve the Book of Breathings. Feyre, now titled Emissary to the Night Court, will represent the fae to the mortal realm. It’s a poetic full-circle moment: once human, now Made, and still a bridge between worlds.
Rhys suggests using Feyre’s family estate as a base of operations. The queens must be convinced to hand over their half of the book, and Feyre’s human ties may be the key.
Into the Weaver’s Web
Before they approach the queens, Rhysand needs Feyre to test her locating abilities. He’s lost something precious—hidden in the hoard of the Weaver of the Wood.
The Weaver is another ancient being, feared and revered.
As Feyre nears the cottage, she hears the Weaver singing at her spinning wheel. The song feels prophetic—possibly about Feyre and her sisters. She finds Rhysand’s ring, she is not thrilled to be sent into danger for a trinket, and the moment she touches it, the Weaver stops singing. Stops spinning. And turns.
Strength in the Shadows
Feyre is detected. Windows lock. Doors seal. The only way out is the chimney. Midway up she gets stuck, and panics, but then remembers the Middengard Wyrm trial. She remembers her strength—not only brute force, but cleverness. She also remembers that along with her new body, she also has that brute force. She loosens a brick and hurls it into the Weaver’s face, escaping through the chimney coated in fat and onto a roof made of hair (ewww).
She stumbles through the woods in the treetops, finds Rhysand, and they winnow back to the House of Wind. Feyre is done running. She accepts Cassian’s offer to train again. She wants to fight.
Memory & Consent
As part of her training, Rhysand shares a memory—one that reveals the true nature of Ianthe. Beneath the Mountain, at the Court of Nightmares, she splayed herself across his bed, naked and uninvited. Feyre tried to back out of the memory, but Rhysand traps her in the memory.
When she tried to touch him without consent, he crushed her hand. Ambition without boundaries. A predator cloaked in sanctity.
The memory ends with a lesson: never enter a mind without holding the way out open.
Final Thoughts
Chapters 12–21 chart Feyre’s slow, aching rebirth—from the suffocating silence of the Spring Court to the soul-stretching revelations of Velaris. We’ve witnessed her unravel and begin to reweave herself, thread by thread. The Inner Circle’s stories deepen the emotional landscape, while Feyre’s encounter with the Weaver reminds us that healing isn’t gentle—it’s fierce, terrifying, and utterly transformative.
Which moment hit you hardest—Feyre’s panic in the woods, her first glimpse of Velaris, or the Weaver’s lair?
How do you interpret Rhysand’s bond with Feyre—fated connection or emotional resonance?
Which member of the Inner Circle feels most real to you so far?
We’re just getting started. If you’re reading along, drop your thoughts in the comments or share your own reflections. Tomorrow, we dive deeper into training, trust, and the politics of power with Chapters 22-28. Come read with us.
