Chapter 25

At the Summer Solstice celebration, Feyre drinks faerie wine and becomes intoxicated, dancing freely with the other faeries and Tamlin. Tamlin leads her away from the festivities to show her will-o'-the-wisps in a moonlit meadow, where they dance together and share their first kiss. They watch the sunrise together from a hilltop, and Feyre realizes that a better world is possible.

Tamlin is called away to deal with the spreading blight but sends word through Lucien that he is alive. Feyre learns that the Summer Solstice celebration will be held at the Spring Court instead of the Summer Court due to changing circumstances. When Tamlin returns in the late afternoon, Alis dresses Feyre in a blue chiffon gown with a wildflower garland. At the solstice festivities on a distant plateau, Feyre becomes separated from Tamlin and Lucien while getting food. When Lucien warns her against drinking faerie wine, Feyre deliberately drinks two glasses, becoming intoxicated. The wine liberates her, and she dances freely among the faeries. Lucien reveals that Tamlin has been playing the fiddle with the musicians; Tamlin takes over watching Feyre and leads her away from the dancing. They walk to a vast meadow where will-o'-the-wisps appear and sing, dancing with ethereal grace. Tamlin dances with Feyre across the moonlit field, and when the spirits vanish at dawn, he kisses her—first tentatively, then with increasing intensity. They climb a nearby hill to watch the sunrise together. Feyre reflects on her father's words about imagining a better world and realizes that such a world now exists for her. Tamlin kisses her deeply as the sun rises, and Feyre considers it the happiest moment of her life.