Chapter 39

Feyre is held captive in the dungeons while Rhysand maintains his presence through daily meals. Shadow servants retrieve her, paint her body with intricate designs matching Rhysand's marks, and dress her in a revealing gossamer gown for Midsummer celebrations in the throne room. She is paraded before Amarantha and Tamlin as Rhysand's property, bound to him by a bargain marked on her palm.

Days pass in isolation as Feyre remains imprisoned, tormented by Amarantha's unsolved riddle and the constant screams from the dungeons. Rhysand's shadow servants mysteriously appear and transport her through the castle using glamour. They bathe her and paint her entire body with blue-black designs—a continuation of the tattoo on her arm—before dressing her in a sheer white gossamer dress that exposes most of her body. Rhysand reveals he has orchestrated this for the Midsummer party as his "escort." At the celebration in the throne room, he publicly announces their bargain: one week with him each month for the rest of her life in exchange for his healing after her first task. Feyre realizes the painted designs serve as a claim and warning to others. She is forced to drink faerie wine that clouds her memory, and spends the night dancing in Rhysand's lap. She wakes violently ill with no clear recollection of events, though Lucien later reveals she danced for hours and that Rhysand touched her waist and sides—marks visible in smudged paint. Lucien reveals he was kept from helping her sooner by injuries Amarantha inflicted, and that Tamlin witnessed everything without reacting, playing a dangerous game by hiding his emotions. Over subsequent nights, Feyre is repeatedly dressed and brought to the throne room, where she is drugged with wine and used as entertainment while she dances and sits in Rhysand's lap. She catches only glimpses of Tamlin before the wine takes effect, and conveys her love through her eyes each time. Before her second trial the next night, Rhysand cryptically tells her the trial could be her last. When questioned about his own sacrifices and Amarantha's purpose, he deflects. In the throne room, Amarantha orders Rhysand to execute a Summer Court faerie caught attempting escape. Rhysand probes the male's mind, discovering escape plans and possible accomplices, but appears to show mercy by killing him swiftly rather than shattering his mind as ordered—though Feyre suspects this calculated mercy may serve Rhysand's unknown purposes. Throughout, Rhysand remains an enigma: protective yet cruel, possessive, and playing games whose rules and stakes remain unclear.