Rhysand interrupts Feyre and Tamlin’s wedding just as Feyre is silently begging for someone to stop it. He freezes Tamlin’s side, invokes the bargain that gives him one week of Feyre’s time each month, and makes it clear that he knows she was about to refuse the marriage. Tamlin, furious but unable to stop him, lets Rhys take her, and Rhys winnows Feyre away to the Night Court.

Feyre arrives expecting horror, but Rhys brings her to a beautiful private mountain residence open to the stars and winter peaks. When Feyre demands to be returned, Rhys says he saved her because he heard her plea through their bargain-bond and because Tamlin can now blame the broken ceremony on him. He also reveals that he has sensed Feyre’s nightly vomiting and terror through that bond, criticizes Tamlin for not seeing her suffering, and insists that she is a guest rather than a prisoner. He explains that the feared court beneath the mountain is separate from this home and that he has no intention of taking her there.

Rhys’s taunting and the shock of what has happened push Feyre into anger. She hurls both of her shoes at him, striking him with the first and forcing him to catch the second, which he destroys with magic. After hearing an amused female voice somewhere in the house, Feyre retreats to the room prepared for her. The luxury of the room, especially after her fear of captivity, unsettles her further. Alone, she strips off the wedding clothes, hides the dress away, thinks about how she must eventually explain herself to Tamlin, and finally breaks down sobbing in bed.

The next morning, Nuala and Cerridwen, the twin handmaidens who once served her Under the Mountain, wake Feyre and tell her Rhys expects her at breakfast. Feyre bathes, dresses in Night Court clothes, and feels Rhys use the bargain as a mental summons to guide her to him. At breakfast on a sunny veranda, Rhys explains that the Night Court is a Solar Court, so it follows a normal day-night cycle unlike the magically fixed Seasonal Courts. He also answers Feyre’s questions about their bargain-bond, describing it as a bridge between their minds and admitting that his powers let him slip through mental shields when hers weaken.

Feyre presses Rhys to explain what he actually wants from her during this forced week. After all the menace, taunting, and revelations, his answer is unexpectedly mundane but important: he wants Feyre to learn how to read. The chapter closes with Rhys shifting the terms of their relationship from abduction and fear toward instruction, exposing one of Feyre’s vulnerabilities and suggesting that this visit may change more than her location.