Feyre meets the five mortal queens at her family’s estate and quickly sees that they are politically ruthless, suspicious of Prythian, and determined to control the meeting. Rhysand formally greets them, Morrigan joins Feyre at the front, and Cassian and Azriel remain in the background as guards. From the start, the queens study Feyre’s transformation into High Fae and her closeness to Rhysand as potential threats.

When Feyre explains that Hybern’s war is coming and asks for help, the queens reveal that they already expect conflict but are willing to abandon the nearby human territory to save the larger continent. Their refusal shocks Feyre and angers Nesta, who calls their choice cowardly because innocent servants, families, and children will be left exposed. The queens answer that the Fae should clean up a danger created by their own kind and make clear that they neither trust Prythian nor feel responsible for sacrificing this small land.

Feyre then asks for the queens’ half of the Book, arguing that Hybern’s forces will destroy both humans and faeries if the wall falls. She recounts Amarantha’s brutality, her own death and remaking, and the scale of the threat, hoping compassion and urgency will persuade them. Instead, the eldest queen dismisses Feyre as young and naive, while Rhysand sharply intervenes to stop the condescension and condemns the queens’ selfishness hidden behind claims of the greater good.

The stalemate breaks when Morrigan rises and invokes her ancient reputation as a speaker of truth. Mor reminds the queens that she fought in the last war, knew the rulers who signed the Treaty, and sees little of their courage in the present queens. To prove that peace between humans and faeries is possible, Mor reveals a closely guarded secret: Miryam and Drakon are still alive, ruling a hidden island where humans, faeries, and mixed peoples have lived together in peace for five hundred years.

The revelation unsettles the queens, but instead of yielding, the eldest queen demands proof that Rhysand is truly a ruler of peace rather than the monster of rumor. Feyre realizes the proof will have to be Velaris, the Night Court’s hidden city. Rhysand ends the meeting by agreeing to provide that proof before asking again for the Book, and after the queens depart with cold promises to consider it, Elain quietly shocks everyone by saying she hopes they all burn in hell.