On the flight to the Court of Nightmares, Feyre notices Rhysand’s tension about the role he has asked her to play. She teases him until the mood lightens, and their flirtation grows more openly physical and charged. That brief respite ends when hidden attackers fire ash arrows at them in the mountains, proving the assault is meant to kill faeries and putting Feyre directly at risk.

Rhys lands and immediately moves to contain the threat. When he orders Cassian to take Feyre to safety, Feyre refuses and argues that she can help identify the arrows, sense whether another High Lord is involved, and track on the ground. Rhys accepts her reasoning, orders Cassian to strengthen border patrols without relying only on magic, tells Azriel to warn and rotate spies, and insists the attack be kept secret so the Night Court does not appear vulnerable. Despite searching the area, Feyre, Azriel, and later Mor find no tracks or useful evidence, which suggests the enemy knew Rhys and Feyre’s movements and covered their trail well.

With no time left, Mor brings Feyre into the Hewn City. Feyre is disturbed by how much the place recalls her trauma Under the Mountain, but she keeps her fear hidden and studies the Court of Nightmares’ cruel beauty and rigid power structure. Mor has dressed Feyre in revealing black finery to fit the role Rhys needs her to play, while Mor herself enters like a queen. In the throne room, Feyre meets Keir, Mor’s cold and contemptuous father, and sees the entire court freeze as Cassian, Azriel, and finally Rhys arrive in their feared public roles.

Rhys fully becomes the cruel High Lord his enemies believe him to be. He seats Feyre on his lap before the court and uses her as a deliberate distraction while Azriel slips away to steal Veritas, the truth-orb they need for the mortal queens. Feyre understands the purpose and plays along, answering Keir with biting confidence and helping sell the image that she is Rhys’s pampered, dangerous possession. While Keir gives his report, Rhys and Feyre maintain the performance so convincingly that their attraction stops feeling entirely false, and Feyre silently reassures Rhys through their mental bond that she sees the good male beneath the mask.

Azriel eventually returns with a subtle signal that he has secured the orb, and Mor helps reinforce the deception by making it look as though nothing unusual has happened. As Feyre leaves Rhys’s side, Keir quietly calls her a whore. Rhys responds with immediate, terrifying violence, dropping Keir to his knees and breaking his arms piece by piece until Keir apologizes and collapses. The display secures Rhys’s authority over the court, but for Feyre the more unsettling consequence is personal: Rhys’s touch and fury do not frighten her, and she realizes her feelings for him have deepened into dangerous territory.