Chapter 3

Feyre awakens from a nightmare in Tamlin's manor, struggling with trauma from her time Under the Mountain three months prior. She grapples with her new immortal body, the mysterious tattoo marking her bargain with Rhysand, and her fractured emotional state as she returns to bed beside the sleeping Tamlin.

Feyre experiences a violent nightmare and flees to the bathing room, where she vomits and battles panic as her mind conflates the present with memories of Amarantha's dungeons. She uses breathing techniques to ground herself in reality, though doubt creeps in about whether her escape was real. Examining her hands, she notes the contrast between her plain right hand and her left, which bears a dark tattoo extending to her elbow with an eye in the center of her palm—a mark of the bargain she struck with Rhysand, the High Lord of the Night Court, in exchange for his saving her life. She recalls that Rhysand has been silent for three months and reflects on their final conversation after Amarantha's defeat, remembering his words about her human heart. Returning to the bedroom, she observes Tamlin sleeping and acknowledges the sacrifice she made for him, though she questions whether her soul can be mended. She slips back into bed, noting Tamlin's pattern of transforming into his beast form during his own nightmares. The two have developed an unspoken agreement to ignore the trauma haunting them both rather than confront it directly.