At breakfast, Rhysand needles Feyre about learning to read and to shield her mind, arguing that both skills are necessary for a future High Lord’s wife and hinting that Feyre may have unusual strength or inherited power from being remade by all seven High Lords. When Feyre throws Under the Mountain back at him, Rhys briefly loses his easy composure before his cousin Morrigan arrives. Mor immediately treats Feyre warmly, jokes at Rhys’s expense, and establishes a livelier, more intimate side of his household.

After breakfast, Feyre reluctantly agrees to lessons because she knows illiteracy nearly got her killed before and because she refuses to let anyone, especially Rhys, pry into her mind. Rhys tests her reading with a written sentence, but he has intentionally chosen a taunt: “You look absolutely delicious today, Feyre.” When Feyre reacts, Rhys uses the moment to demonstrate the real danger of an unguarded mind by slipping into her thoughts, physically and mentally immobilizing her, and warning her that someone with his powers could erase her identity.

Pressed to fight back, Feyre first struggles, then imagines herself as a wave and drives Rhys from her mind. When he immediately tells her to keep him out, she creates a thick black wall of adamant that blocks his return. Though furious at his methods, Feyre has succeeded in reading the sentence, expelling him, and forming a shield. Rhys bluntly acknowledges her progress and tells her to spend the next hour copying the alphabet while repeatedly raising and lowering her shield.

During the practice session, Feyre notices the quiet freedom of the House and the absence of guards watching her. When Rhys returns, he tests her shield again and finds it holding. Their conversation then turns to the bargain, Tamlin, and the Spring Court. Feyre insists Rhys is not owed anything after what happened Under the Mountain and repeats that Tamlin and others consider Rhys an enemy, while Rhys counters that Feyre is being coddled and treated like a prize. He also shows open contempt for Ianthe before ending the lesson.

Rhys next brings Feyre to a tower room filled with maps and strategic markers. There, Feyre notices that the Night Court’s territory has been left blank on the map of Prythian, while Hybern is prominently marked. Rhys forces her to confront the meaning of the wall dividing faeries from humans and points out that Feyre’s human family would be endangered if it fell. The chapter ends with Rhys revealing the larger threat behind his seriousness: war is coming.