Chapter 32

Feyre returns to the Spring Court manor to find it devastated by Amarantha's forces. Alis reveals the full truth of Tamlin's curse: Amarantha, a High Queen who conquered Prythian forty-nine years ago, cursed him to find a human girl who hates faeries and kills one in cold blood, then falls in love with him—an impossible task designed as punishment for his rejection of her. Tamlin has been taken Under the Mountain, and Feyre learns she was the key to breaking the curse all along.

Feyre arrives at the Spring Court manor in ruins, finding evidence of a vicious attack with no bodies. She hides from Alis, a faerie servant, but recognizes her and learns that Tamlin and Lucien are alive but have been taken by Amarantha. Alis explains that Amarantha is the High Queen of Prythian who conquered the seven High Lords forty-nine years ago by stealing their powers through trickery and potion. She placed a curse on Tamlin requiring him to find a human girl with hatred in her heart who would kill a faerie, then fall in love with him before the forty-nine years elapsed. The curse was Amarantha's revenge for Tamlin's public rejection of her at a masquerade Under the Mountain and his cruel reminder of her sister Clythia's love for the human Jurian. Alis reveals that Andras, the wolf Feyre killed at the story's beginning, was sent by Tamlin as a willing sacrifice to initiate the curse-breaking process. With only three days remaining after Feyre's departure, Tamlin was unable to win her love in time, and Amarantha seized him and most of the Spring Court. Alis details Amarantha's history: she was originally an emissary from Hybern who infiltrated Prythian over fifty years, then conquered it through magic and cunning. She keeps the other High Lords and their courts enslaved Under the Mountain. Feyre realizes the 'blight' afflicting the lands is Amarantha herself, and that the faerie attacks on human territory indicate Amarantha is preparing for war. Despite Alis's warnings that the task is suicide, Feyre demands to be taken to Amarantha Under the Mountain, determined to save Tamlin.