67 pages • 2 hours read
Sarah J. MaasA Court of Silver Flames
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 3, Chapters 51-63Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3: “Valkyrie”
Part 3, Chapters 51-56 Summary
Gwyn hangs a white ribbon on a beam in the training area. She says that the Valkyrie considered their training complete if they could slice the ribbon in half with a sword. None of the trainees are yet able to accomplish that feat. Only Cassian succeeds. Later, Gwyn invites Nesta to attend the evening musical service that the priestesses hold. Nesta agrees and confesses how much she misses music: “And I…I think I might be glad Feyre did this for me. The drinking, the males—I don’t miss any of it. But the music…that I miss” (520).
At the service, Nesta sits entranced by the beautiful, ancient melodies. Gwyn’s voice is the best of all. As she listens, Nesta finds her mind drifting to another place. She is startled to find herself in the depths of the mountain called the Prison, where she sees the third item of the Dread Trove—the Harp. She informs Cassian, and he flies to tell Rhys what she’s discovered. Rhys agrees to lift the enchantments from around the place so that Nesta and Cassian can enter. He also sends Cassian away with the great sword that Nesta forged, just in case she needs a magical weapon.
The next morning, Cassian and Nesta walk to the terrible Prison where Cassian has locked up many monsters. Nesta is now carrying the magical sword, which she has named Ataraxia. In the lower depths, they find the enchanted room where the Harp is kept. When Nesta touches it, she immediately forms a mental link with Briallyn, who is wearing the Crown. The crone says that she knows exactly where Nesta is. When Nesta plucks a harp string and commands the Harp to break the magical link connecting her to Briallyn, it complies but also breaks the warding that guards the worst inmate in the Prison—the immortal Lanthys, who hates Cassian for capturing him.
As Nesta and Cassian try to flee, Lanthys comes after Cassian and nearly kills him. Nesta then attacks Lanthys herself: “Nesta swung Ataraxia again, and Lanthys cringed away. Afraid of the blade. That which could not be killed was afraid of her blade. Not her, but Ataraxia. Her Made weapon” (546). When Lanthys recognizes Nesta’s power over death, he tries to seduce her into using all the items in the Dread Trove to rule the Fae lands with him. In the vision he shows her, Nesta sees the outline of a fourth item in the Trove but can’t be sure what it is. She rejects Lanthys’s offer and succeeds in killing the immortal with her blade. Then, as Autumn Court soldiers sent by Briallyn are poised to attack, Nesta uses the Harp to transport Cassian and herself to the river house.
While Cassian’s injuries are being tended to at the house, Rhys speculates about what to do next. He urgently needs to strengthen his bonds with the court’s current allies, especially Eris. Feyre suggests Nesta dance with the prince at the upcoming Winter Solstice festivities and charm him to remain an ally. Despite Cassian’s objections, Nesta agrees. She always loved music and dancing when she was still human.
A month later, the court prepares for the solstice celebration. Mor has been teaching Nesta all the traditional dances she will need to know and hints at a change of wardrobe to impress Eris. In the library, Gwyn presents Nesta and Emerie with a solstice present. Merrill has written another chapter to her book about the three of them reviving the Valkyrie tradition. They are pleased to have been included.
Later that night, the House lures Nesta down to the lowest level of the library, the place she has always feared to go. The House shows her that this is where its heart dwells because it is also a survivor of abuse. Nesta is touched by the House’s trust in her, and she wishes it a “Happy Solstice.”
Part 3, Chapters 57-63 Summary
The solstice festivities have finally begun. At the ball, Cassian is seething with jealousy when Nesta captivates Eris with her flirtation and elegant dancing. Rhys gives the prince Nesta’s Made dagger as a gift but doesn’t tell Eris who forged it. By the end of the evening, Eris is so enthralled by Nesta that he asks Rhys for her hand. In exchange, he promises to do anything that the king asks.
On the next night, Nesta and Cassian attend a party at the river house where gifts are exchanged. Nesta ruefully remembers how badly she acted the year before during the solstice celebration. After last year’s party, she even rejected the gift Cassian gave her. This time, she behaves herself. Though she still isn’t speaking to Amren, she makes up with Elain and accepts the gifts given to her.
When Cassian and Nesta return from the party, Cassian gives her his gift. It is a small round object called a Symphonia that can play music when it is tapped. Nesta is delighted with the gift but then abruptly rejects it. Cassian is crushed but persists until Nesta explains herself. She admits that she has always felt unworthy of his love, which is why she repeatedly pushed him away from the very start.
Cassian reassures her that she is worthy, and the two reconcile. “‘You’re not going to marry Eris,’ he said roughly. ‘No,’ she breathed. His eyes blazed. ‘There will be no one else. For either of us.’ ‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘Ever,’ he promised” (608). After this disclosure, they make love. For the first time since the beginning of their sexual relationship, the two of them share a bed and sleep together for the remainder of the night.
The next morning, Cassian must leave abruptly for a round of inspections and will be gone for three days. To distract herself from missing him, Nesta invites Gwyn and Emerie to spend the night at the House of Wind. They are delighted by the way the House grants wishes, and soon they feast on chocolate and take bubble baths.
Gwyn has brought a craft project along. Each female weaves a knotted thread bracelet and makes a wish for one of the others. The wish is supposed to come true when the bracelet finally drops off from wear. Nesta wishes that their friendship bond will never break and that they will always reunite, no matter where they are.
Several days later, the new Valkyries are confident they can cut the ribbon hanging from the training court beam. This time all three succeed, each one declaring that “nothing can break me” (621). Cassian and Azriel watch in admiration, realizing that the new Valkyries have enough faith in themselves to defeat any opponent.
When Nesta arrives for training the following morning, she notices that the ring has been reconfigured into an obstacle course. Cassian says that it can only be conquered in teams of three. No individual can manage it alone. The course is grueling, and no one succeeds on the first day. They continue to try every day, but each night Cassian and Azriel reconfigure the course to make it more difficult.
Eventually, Gwyn, Nesta, and Emerie succeed. Unbeknownst to them, Cassian has invited the Illyrian warlord Devlon and one of his underlings to observe. The spectators are not pleased to see females conquering the obstacle course, and they fly off angrily. Cassian tells the trio that their success means that they have completed the Blood Rite Qualifier. Cassian wanted to be sure the Illyrians knew that females had done so, even though they would be barred from the Blood Rite because of their gender.
A few days later, Nesta decides to pass one final personal test. She has never been able to descend the 10,000 steps to the city since her fight with Amren. Now, she tries again, fueled not by anger but by a sense of purpose. When she reaches the bottom stair, she immediately reascends to meet Cassian at the top. Everyone has assembled on the roof of the House of Wind for a Starfall party.
When Nesta appears in their midst, she immediately goes to Amren to apologize for her bad behavior. The Fae accepts her apology and observes how much Nesta has transformed the house. Amren welcomes Nesta back to the Court of Night as a royal family member.
By the time spring returns, Briallyn still hasn’t made a move to attack, so Cassian and Nesta meet with Eris for an update. The prince informs them that his father has just returned from a visit with Briallyn, indicating that something will happen soon. Eris urges Nesta and Cassian to search for the Harp and is incensed to learn that they have it, but nobody bothered to tell him. He is also put out because Nesta rejects his marriage proposal. Cassian warns that if Eris turns against them, his father will be informed of his double dealing. This threat causes Eris to leave in a huff.
Nesta and Cassian then spend an idyllic evening flying and strolling through the city. Somehow, their conversation drifts to what the two mean to each other. Cassian declares that he has always known that Nesta was his mate. This is a Fae bond much stronger than mere marriage. The declaration frightens Nests. She says, “‘Because with that one word, the last scrap of my humanity goes away!’ She didn’t care who saw them, who heard. ‘With that one stupid word, I am no longer human in any way. I’m one of you!’” (642).
The two argue until Nesta calls in the bargain Cassian made with her on her first training day. He agreed to grant whatever she asked, so now she asks him to go away until she sends for him or until a week has elapsed. She fears saying something hurtful and needs time to master her emotions. He agrees and leaves.
Nesta immediately goes to Emerie’s shop in Windhaven to calm down. Gwyn arrives to lend moral support. As the three settle in for the night in the backroom living quarters, they are attacked and abducted. At the end of a week, Cassian searches for Nesta and has Rhys winnow him to Windhaven. He finds Emerie’s house in shambles. Rhys learns that the females have been snatched by Devlon’s troops to forcibly participate in the Blood Rite.
Part 3, Chapters 51-63 Analysis
This set of chapters begins the section of the book called “Valkyrie.” It focuses most of its attention on the theme of Alienation and Connection. Unlike earlier chapters in the novel that explored the same theme, the emphasis here is on connection rather than describing Nesta’s various antics designed to alienate her from her family and the world. We see her growing closer to her found family of Gwyn and Emerie. Gwyn then draws Nesta further into the community of priestesses by inviting her to an evening service that features music. Just as the Valkyrie mind-stilling technique has helped ground Nesta, the music provides the same level of calm with the unintentional side effect of allowing her to divine the location of the final object in the Dread Trove—the Harp:
Cold leached through Nesta, clarifying her thoughts enough to realize where she stood. That the music of the priestesses had lulled her into a trance, that her own bones and the stone of the mountain surrounding her had been her scrying tools (526).
During her visit to the Prison, Nesta carries the magical sword she forged, and the name she gives it further emphasizes her newfound self-control. She calls it “Ataraxia,” meaning inner peace. Ironically, the immortal Lanthys can be slain by this weapon, indicating the power of mental clarity in defeating demons, both physical and emotional.
The focus on connection continues when Nesta and her two friends complete the Valkyrie training and demonstrate their proficiency by all slicing through a ribbon with their swords. Cassian says:
In a hundred years, a thousand, this moment would still be etched in his mind. That he would tell his children, his grandchildren, right then and there. That was when it all changed. Azriel went wholly still, as if he, too, had felt the shift (621).
The female bond is further reinforced by the wish bracelets they weave for one another. Nesta unknowingly imbues these with magic when she expresses the desire that all three friends find a way to reunite with one another no matter how far they stray. The importance of this wish will become critical in the book’s final segment. Nesta also finds a way to heal the breach she created with her family by agreeing to help them keep Eris as an ally. She dances with him at the Winter Solstice ball, briefly dangling the promise of an engagement to retain his loyalty to the Court of Night.
The previous book in the series described a disastrous Winter Solstice celebration the preceding year in which Nesta alienated everyone, including Cassian. In A Court of Silver Flames, she makes amends for her previous outburst by apologizing to everyone she offended. At a Starfall celebration, she even apologizes to Amren, and the Fae welcomes her back as a member of the royal family.
The emphasis on connection is further emphasized in the obstacle course training that Cassian and Azriel design for their trainees. They insist that the course can only be completed by teams of three and that no individual can finish it alone. As one would anticipate, Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie are the only team able to finish it because they have learned how to work together effortlessly, and their personal ties have grown so strong.
Even Nesta’s bond with the House of Wind is cemented in a scene when the house lures her to the fearsome bottom level of the library. She has always feared the dark power that resides there, but the house helps her to understand that this is where its heart dwells. Like all the females who seek refuge within its walls, the house gives Nesta the understanding that it has known abuse, too: “You were trying to show me. Show others. Who you are, down deep. What haunts you. You were trying to show them all those dark, broken pieces because the priestesses, and Emerie, and I…We’re the same as you” (576).
Ironically, while Nesta makes amends to her family and solidifies her connection to everyone in her life, the only person she fails is Cassian. His suggestion that they are meant to be mates alarms her and sends her spiraling downward into another bout of self-loathing. It is significant that, for once, Nesta takes a beat before lashing out and driving Cassian away permanently. She merely sends him away for a week until she can get a grip on her emotions. Apparently, self-control has become a priority, and she knows that she can achieve it.
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