A Court of Wings and Ruin
by Sarah J. Maas
Contents
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Overview
Feyre, Nesta, and Elain privately bury their father, marking the sisters’ first shared act of mourning after the war and underscoring both their loss and their altered bond. Lucien returns with condolences and explains that Feyre’s father helped secure Vassa’s aid, tying the human forces’ arrival to one final act of sacrifice.
Feyre invites Lucien toward Velaris, hinting at a new place for him after the war. The chapter ends with Feyre discovering Miryam and Prince Drakon with Rhys, showing that the story is shifting from battle to reckoning, alliances, and what comes next.
Summary
After the battle ends, Feyre goes with only Nesta and Elain to the clearing where their father died. Feyre struggles to leave Rhys, newly restored to life, but understands that this farewell belongs to the three sisters alone. In the clearing, Hybern’s corpse lies abandoned nearby, and Nesta spits on it before they turn to their father.
Elain gently tends their father’s body by washing his face, arranging his hair and clothes, and placing flowers on him. When Elain asks about a prayer, Feyre realizes they have no human ritual to offer, so she recites a Prythian blessing instead. Using the little power she has left, Feyre sets their father’s body aflame, and the sisters watch in silence as he is reduced to ash.
Lucien then arrives, bloodied and exhausted from the fighting. He first checks on Elain, then offers all three sisters his condolences for their father’s death. Feyre embraces Lucien in gratitude for coming to the battle, and Lucien reveals that he has much to explain about how Vassa and the human reinforcements came to help.
Lucien explains that Feyre’s father negotiated with Vassa’s captor so Vassa could join the war temporarily, and Lucien confirms that Vassa is cursed to be a firebird by day and a queen by night. As they walk back toward camp, Elain follows Feyre and Lucien while Nesta remains behind. Lucien also acknowledges Elain’s part in killing Hybern, and Elain quietly corrects him by saying Nesta made the true killing blow.
Feyre invites Lucien to come to Velaris, and he accepts, though his future remains uncertain. On the way back, Lucien recounts how he found Vassa already allied with Feyre’s father and an army moving west, and how Miryam and Drakon joined them on their own journey to help. When Feyre finally enters her tent expecting privacy, she instead finds Rhys already meeting with Prince Drakon and Miryam, signaling that the aftermath of war is bringing old allies together.
Who Appears
- FeyreMourns her father, performs his funeral rite, reunites with Lucien, and discovers Miryam and Drakon with Rhys.
- LucienReturns from battle, comforts the sisters, explains Vassa’s role, and accepts Feyre’s invitation toward Velaris.
- ElainTenderly prepares her father’s body, mourns him openly, and quietly acknowledges Nesta as Hybern’s true killer.
- NestaJoins the burial, remains emotionally closed, spits on Hybern’s corpse, and stays behind after the cremation.
- Feyre’s fatherHonored in death by his daughters; Lucien reveals he negotiated for Vassa’s temporary aid.
- RhysRecovers after his resurrection, helps manage the aftermath of battle, and later meets with new allies.
- MiryamArrives as one of the allies who came to help and is waiting with Rhys in Feyre’s tent.
- Prince DrakonAlly who helped come to the war and is present with Rhys when Feyre returns.