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A Court of Silver Flames Chapters 55–67 Summary
This Sarah J. Maas A Court of Silver Flames chapter summary contains full spoilers.
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 55
After returning from the Prison, the group gathers to deal with the fallout. Rhysand puts Cassian on rest due to Cassian’s injuries, while Nesta and Feyre quietly make peace through mind-speak. The group then decides to lock the Harp away separately from the Mask so no enemy can obtain both at once.
Conversation turns to Nesta and Cassian’s encounter with Lanthys. Rhysand explains the Daglan, the Wild Hunt, and the legendary High King Fionn. Nesta brings up a possible fourth Trove object she glimpsed in Lanthys’s vision, which unsettles Rhysand more than Rhysand lets on.
The group then debates its next move. Feyre pushes back against going after Briallyn and the Crown directly, so Rhysand proposes having Nesta dance with Eris at the Winter Solstice ball to keep the alliance intact. Cassian objects, but Nesta agrees on her own terms and asks Rhysand to put her in touch with Mor for dance lessons. On her way out, Nesta leaves Ataraxia behind, telling Rhysand she wants nothing more to do with killing.
Later, Nesta brings Cassian to the ruined cottage where she and her sisters once lived in poverty. She talks through the guilt she has carried over how she treated her father and how she failed Feyre during those years. Before leaving, Nesta takes one of her father’s small wood carvings, and the two go flying together.
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 56
A month into winter, Nesta trains with the other Valkyries through the cold and snow. She and Cassian have also begun a physical relationship, though Cassian never stays afterward.
To prepare for an upcoming ball, Nesta takes dance lessons with Mor. Three days before the Winter Solstice, Mor tells Nesta she needs to find Nesta something suitable to wear, and the two share their first genuinely warm conversation.
When Nesta and Mor head to the library, Nesta finds Emerie there. In the lower levels of the library, Emerie grows distressed and begins hearing her abusive father’s voice from the darkness, so Nesta steers Emerie to a higher floor.
Gwyn then arrives with gifts. She has written a chapter for Merrill’s historical book about Gwyn, Nesta, and Emerie and what they’re building together as Valkyries.
That evening, Nesta learns Cassian must stay overnight at an Illyrian outpost. Alone, Nesta makes herself sit by the fire until it dies down completely, facing a fear she has long avoided.
Afterward, the House leads Nesta to the deepest level of the library. There, Nesta understands that the darkness gathered at the bottom is something intimate to the House itself. Nesta blows out her lantern, lets the dark close in around her, and quietly tells the House she isn’t afraid and that it’s her home.
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 57
Feyre and Rhysand arrive at the Court of Nightmares for the Winter Solstice and make a point of showing off Feyre’s pregnancy to the gathered court. Nesta and Elain walk in behind them, a signal that the sisters belong to the royal family. Before the dancing begins, Rhysand gives Eris a dagger that Nesta Made, telling him it’s a family heirloom so no one learns what Nesta is capable of.
Since Feyre is too sick to dance, she sends Nesta to take her place with Eris. Nesta’s dancing stops the room. Even Eris, who isn’t easily impressed, can barely take his eyes off her. Cassian watches the whole thing and eventually can’t help himself. He steps onto the floor mid-dance and cuts in. Nesta and Cassian dance together, and for a moment, something quiet and unguarded passes between them.
Later, Eris goes to Rhysand and Feyre with a proposition. He wants Nesta as his bride and says he’ll give Rhysand anything he asks for in return, including the armies of the Autumn Court. Rhysand keeps his composure and tells Eris he’ll think it over and talk to Nesta. From across the room, Cassian watches Eris, certain the male has something unpleasant headed his way.
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 58
Nesta and Cassian arrive at the river house for the Winter Solstice party. On the way in, Nesta has a tense moment with Elain that ends with Nesta saying something unexpectedly rude. Elain finds the comment hilarious, and the two head inside on lighter terms.
The Inner Circle is gathered around the fireplace. Nesta makes small talk with Lucien, agrees to let Mor join Valkyrie training, and checks on Azriel, who’s hanging back in the doorway rather than joining the group.
When gifts are exchanged, Feyre gives Cassian a painting that moves him. Azriel gives Nesta a faelight reading device, and she pulls Azriel into a hug in thanks, catching everyone off guard.
Later that night, Cassian comes to Nesta’s room and gives her his gift, a rare orb called a Symphonia that can store and replay music. He had the musicians from the ball play everything again just for her. Nesta tries to give it back. They argue, and she brings up Eris’s marriage proposal to push Cassian away. It backfires. She breaks down and admits she has wanted him since the moment they met and that she has kept her distance because she believes she does not deserve him and that losing Cassian would destroy her.
Cassian is brought to tears. He crosses the room and kisses Nesta, and they finally let their walls down completely as they become intimate. Afterward, Nesta asks him to stay. He does.
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 59
Nesta wakes up in Cassian’s arms, and they spend a slow morning together before he suddenly remembers his yearly snowball fight tradition with Rhysand and Azriel. He also mentions that he’ll be away for a few days to inspect the Illyrian legions. Then he leaves.
Three days pass without word from Cassian. Azriel fills in as Nesta’s trainer but offers little company, and she’s surprised by how much Cassian’s absence affects her. Craving companionship, she invites Emerie and Gwyn to the House for a sleepover.
The evening starts lighthearted. The three women make increasingly ridiculous requests of the House until it fills the room with floating bubble-birds, a miniature pegasus, and a towering lit cake. The mood shifts when Gwyn admits she’s not sure she’ll ever be ready to face the world again, and Nesta confesses that she feels the same.
Gwyn then opens up about her twin sister Catrin, who died, and says that losing her taught Gwyn that small fights and distance between people matter least. She pulls out a bundle of colored thread and silver charm coins she had originally intended as Solstice gifts and suggests that they make friendship bracelets with wishes for one another.
Nesta then takes all three charms and makes a single wish for all of them. She hopes they’ll find the strength to face the world again when they’re ready and that, no matter what happens, they’ll always find their way back to each other.
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 60
Cassian returns from a five-day trip to find Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie already deep in training together. He watches as Gwyn cuts a ribbon hanging in the practice ring, and Nesta crowns Gwyn with the severed half, naming her a Valkyrie. Before the morning is over, all three women have earned the title.
The following day, Cassian and Azriel set up a grueling obstacle course and tell the women that Valkyries were never meant to fight alone. The course changes every night and gets harder each time, and it takes Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie two full months before they finally complete it.
Only then do Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie find out the course was actually the Blood Rite Qualifier, and that Devlon had been watching from above the whole time. Cassian had set it up so Devlon would have to recognize what the women had achieved. When Emerie worries they’re expected to enter the Blood Rite, Cassian makes clear that entering the Rite was never the point. He just wanted the Illyrians to see the women as equals to any trained warrior unit. Nesta speaks for all three of them when she tells him she’d rather be a Valkyrie.
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 61
Nesta sets herself a personal challenge to descend the full staircase alone. She makes it all the way down and opens the door to the city at the bottom, briefly tempted to go out. Instead, she turns around and climbs back up to attend the Starfall party, where Cassian is waiting.
Cassian finds Nesta at the door when she returns and carries her the rest of the way up. On the veranda, Nesta sees Starfall sober for the first time and is completely overwhelmed. The beauty of Starfall moves her to tears.
Amren approaches, and Nesta drops to one knee and apologizes. She admits that she’d been proud, frightened, and envious, and tells Amren that she can’t accept losing their friendship. Amren forgives her, then shares something she discovered while exploring the House earlier that evening.
The House had come alive and become responsive in a way it hadn’t been before, and Amren believes that Nesta’s power caused the change, driven by Nesta’s silent, desperate wish for companionship when Nesta first arrived. They talk about the darkness still living in the House and how it mirrors Nesta’s own inner life. Amren then welcomes Nesta back to the Night Court.
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 62
Nesta and Cassian fly out to meet Eris in the Middle. Eris warns them that his father made another secret trip to Briallyn and came back seeming perfectly normal, which worries everyone. The meeting takes a turn when Nesta’s reaction to a question reveals that the Night Court already has the Harp. Eris warns them to stay away from the Crown because if Briallyn gets hold of it, she could use it to uncover the whole secret alliance. Cassian handles the exchange with cool authority, and they leave having given Eris very little.
On the flight back to Velaris, the mood between Nesta and Cassian is easy and unhurried.
But a walk along the river pulls everything to the surface. Nesta keeps deflecting when Cassian presses her about the mating bond until he loses patience and shouts about it in front of the whole city. She admits the bond frightens her because accepting it feels like surrendering the last thing that still makes her human. He fires back with the word “shackled” in frustration, and the damage is done. Nesta calls in the favor Cassian owes her and sends him away before the fight gets uglier.
Nesta goes to Emerie’s shop and falls apart. Gwyn shows up, and the three of them spend the night together. By the time Nesta goes to sleep, she has made up her mind to find Cassian in the morning and explain everything.
But Nesta never gets the chance. She wakes to an unfamiliar scent and hears Gwyn scream before falling silent. Then someone presses something over Nesta’s face.
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 63
Cassian had spent the required night at the House of Wind, and as soon as it was over, he went to Rhysand at dawn and asked Rhysand to winnow him to Windhaven. He was ready to settle things with Nesta.
When Cassian and Rhysand reach Emerie’s shop, Cassian catches the scents of Nesta and Gwyn outside the door, but Rhysand immediately knows that something is wrong. Nobody is inside. Cassian breaks in and finds the place empty, though unfamiliar male scents hang in the air as though someone had winnowed directly into the rooms. No ordinary Illyrian should’ve been able to do that.
Nesta’s room makes it clear that she hadn’t gone quietly. The furniture is in disarray, there’s male blood on the floor, and the sharp smell of a powerful sedative still lingers. Emerie’s and Gwyn’s rooms tell the same story.
Rhysand then delivers the confirmation from Devlon. The Blood Rite had begun at midnight, and someone had taken all three women from their beds and thrown them into it.
A Court of Silver Flames Part 4: Ataraxia
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 64
Nesta wakes up in a forest surrounded by hundreds of unconscious Illyrian warriors, placed in the Blood Rite against her will. Her powers are gone, and she stands alone in a nightgown with no weapons and no idea where Gwyn or Emerie might be.
Before she can figure out her next move, Nesta spots a knife embedded in a nearby tree trunk. A male warrior across the clearing sees the knife at the same moment. She sprints for it but barely touches the handle before he slams into her at full force. They tumble down a hill and crash into a streambed. When Nesta opens her eyes, the knife is already in the warrior’s throat. She takes his clothes, boots, and blade, then sets off to find her friends.
Meanwhile, back at Emerie’s house, Cassian is ready to go after Nesta when the rest of his family arrives, but Rhysand stops him. The Blood Rite’s laws are absolute. Pulling a competitor out means execution for both the rescuer and the competitor.
Azriel then delivers another problem. Eris has been captured by Briallyn and knows too much about the Night Court to remain in her hands. Rhysand can’t go because he and Feyre share a bargain to die together, and with Feyre heavily pregnant, neither of them can take any risks. Cassian and Azriel are sent to retrieve Eris, and Cassian forces himself to go, holding on to the fact that he trained Nesta well.
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 65
Nesta climbs a tree to get her bearings and spots Ramiel far to the east, placing herself somewhere in the west. Her friends are either north or south of her, and she has to choose a direction.
The choice is made for Nesta when the charm on her bracelet begins to glow and buzz. She tests it in each direction and finds it blazes most intensely toward the north, flooding her with dread and urgency. She remembers that she had Made the charms herself, wishing they’d always lead her friends back to one another. The charms are acting as beacons now. Whatever is happening to the north is worse, so that’s where she goes.
As she crests a hill, an arrow flies past Nesta. She grabs the arrow and tucks it away, then eases back up for another look. A warrior waits on the other side with an arrow aimed straight at her face.
Meanwhile, Cassian is flying surveillance over Briallyn’s stronghold with Azriel in search of the captured Eris. Cassian finds nothing and keeps losing focus, his mind drifting to Nesta and the Rite. He can’t go to her without both of them being executed, so he pushes the thought down and keeps circling.
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 66
Nesta runs into an Illyrian warrior who threatens her at arrowpoint. The warrior mentions leaving a wounded female behind, and Nesta knows he means Emerie. She fakes surrender, drives her knife into his groin, and takes his bow and arrows. She then runs in the direction the warrior came from.
Following a nearby river, Nesta overhears warriors talking about a woman who jumped into the rapids to escape them. She pushes on until she spots Emerie slumped unconscious over a fallen tree, just before a fatal drop. Nesta crosses the icy rapids rock by rock, pulls Emerie free, and gets her to the bank. To carry Emerie back across, Nesta tears off Emerie’s nightgown to bind their wrists together and uses the bow to secure Emerie to her back. They make it to the other side.
Nesta builds a fire and huddles close to Emerie to warm them both. A young Illyrian named Balthazar appears, points out a hidden cave, and swears an oath not to harm either of them. Nesta lets him help bring Emerie inside. The three wait out the night as creatures stalk the woods and kill other warriors in the dark. Nesta stays awake the whole time.
At dawn, Balthazar leaves. Nesta scavenges clothes, weapons, water, and food from the bodies outside. When she returns, Emerie is awake. The two use their enchanted bracelets to locate Gwyn somewhere to the south and set out without delay.
A Court of Silver Flames Chapter 67
Nesta and Emerie follow their bracelet charms toward a ridge where they smell smoke and hear male voices. When they spot a nightgown hanging at the camp’s edge, they fear the worst for Gwyn. Nesta peers over the ridge and finds ten armed warriors around a fire, but when Nesta looks back, two of the warriors have already dragged Emerie away.
The warriors throw Nesta and Emerie at the feet of Bellius, who mocks them and reveals that the nightgown was just something his group stumbled across. Bellius’s glazed expression tells Nesta that Briallyn used the Crown to manipulate him into smuggling weapons into the Blood Rite. With no magic, no weapons, and the group badly outnumbered, things look desperate until a monstrous creature tears over the ridge and launches itself into the camp.
In the chaos, Nesta recovers her weapons, and Emerie grabs a fallen sword. Gwyn then appears alive on the far side of the ridge, bloodied but sharp-eyed, and waves Nesta and Emerie toward her. The three of them run until the screams behind them go quiet.
While catching their breath, Gwyn explains that she woke early, found weapons and spare clothes, and used her charm to track Nesta and Emerie down. When Gwyn spotted Bellius that morning, she deliberately roused a sleeping beast and led it straight to the camp. They still have four days left to survive the Rite. Emerie then takes both Nesta’s and Gwyn’s hands and tells Gwyn that they came for her because that’s what sisters do.