When Rhysand brings Feyre back to the Night Court, he immediately notices how badly she looks and asks what happened at the Spring Court. Feyre refuses to explain the fear he sensed through their bond, but Rhys reveals that lately he has felt almost nothing from her except silence, which made that burst of terror alarming. Over breakfast, he asks again whether she will consider helping him with the threat of war. Feyre refuses, arguing that being used as a weapon is no better than being used as a pawn, and she accuses Rhys of wanting her help partly to spite Tamlin.

Rhys admits that his own past Under the Mountain damaged his credibility, but he still asks for Feyre’s help in preventing Prythian from suffering what he endured under Amarantha. He speaks plainly about being trapped, tortured, and abused for nearly fifty years, explaining that protecting others was what kept him alive. Feyre is moved by the confession, but she decides not to risk the fragile peace she is trying to rebuild with Tamlin. She says nothing and continues eating, ending the conversation.

Feyre then spends the rest of her week in the Night Court withdrawing further. She skips meals with Rhys until he intercepts her at noon and gives her a writing exercise filled with mocking praise of himself. After Feyre copies the sentences, Rhys tries to break into her mind, but her strengthened shield blocks him completely. Pleased that she has practiced, Rhys leaves her alone for several days, and Feyre passes the time reading the books he leaves behind, using them as a way to dull her loneliness and emptiness.

At the end of the week, Rhys returns and brings food to the lounge where Feyre has been reading. Instead of letting her eat immediately, he keeps the plate out of reach and demands to know how to help her. He bluntly points out that she still seems like a ghost and challenges the idea that giving her space is helping. When he invokes what they survived Under the Mountain and warns that Amarantha wins if Feyre lets herself collapse, Feyre finally reacts. Rhys pushes harder, and Feyre’s rage breaks through: she feels cold power gather in her hands, frost forms on the book she is holding, and she hurls it at him.

Rhys is relieved by the outburst because Feyre is feeling something real at last instead of numbness. He tells her to seek him out whenever she needs someone to fight with, then lets her eat. Feyre realizes, however, that her anger does not save her from the larger truth that she has been falling apart since she killed the innocent faerie youth Under the Mountain.

The next morning, Tamlin is waiting in the Spring Court garden, furious with Rhys. Rhys tells Feyre to fight Tamlin’s control before vanishing, but Feyre insists she is fine. Tamlin vows to end the bargain, then makes her recount everything she learned in the Night Court. That night his need to protect and reclaim her shapes their intimacy, and by the following morning the full guard presence has returned around Feyre, showing that Tamlin’s response to danger is even tighter restriction.