A Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses #4) by Sarah J. Maas

“You could have ruled the world with your power,” he said carefully.

“I don’t want to rule the world.” Her eyes were unguarded in a way he had never seen. Mate, she had called him.

“What do you want?” Cassian managed to ask, voice rasping.

She smiled, and damn if it wasn’t the loveliest thing he’d ever seen. “You.”

“You’ve had me from the moment you met me.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind an arched ear. “I know.”

He brushed a kiss over her mouth. But Nesta said, “I want a disgustingly ornate mating ceremony.”

He laughed, pulling away. “Really?”

“Why not?”

“Because I’ll never hear the end of it from Azriel and Mor.” Or the Illyrians.

Nesta considered. Then pulled something out of her pocket. A small biscuit, swiped from a tray in the birthing room. “Then here. Food. From me to you, my mate. That’s the official ritual, isn’t it? The sharing of food from one mate to the other?”

He choked. “These are my two options? A frilly mating ceremony or a stale biscuit?”

Her face filled with such true light, it nearly stole the breath from him. “Yes.”

So Cassian laughed again, and folded her fingers around the pathetic biscuit, leaning to whisper in her ear, “We’ll make a coronation of it, Nes.”

“I already have a crown,” she said. “I just want you.”

His jaw tightened. Yes, they’d have to figure out what to do with the entire Dread Trove now that they possessed all three objects. How Nesta had summoned it despite the spells Helion had placed on the other two … He’d think of that another day. Along with the fact that she’d stopped Time with the Harp. And that she seemed to have some sort of connection—or understanding—with the Mother. The Mother.

But Nesta smoothed his bunched brow, as if she could see those worries there. “Later,” she promised. “We’ll deal with all that later.” Including the remaining queens, Koschei, and a still-looming war.

“Later,” he agreed, and she slid her arms around his neck.

There were no more words after that. Only the two of them, standing on the riverbank under the sun, letting its warmth seep through their bones.

Nesta pulled away, whispering, “I love you,” and it was all Cassian needed before kissing her again, the force of it more powerful and enduring than the Cauldron itself.





CHAPTER

79

Meeting Eris was the last thing Cassian wanted to do, but someone had to check in with the male. Two days after Nyx’s birth, Cassian set off to do just that. Eris had been seen to a suite in the Hewn City, and from Keir’s stormy expression upon Cassian’s arrival, he had a feeling that Eris had told the steward very little.

Eris was reading a book by the roaring fire, an ankle crossed over a knee, as if his presence here were nothing unusual. As if he hadn’t been kidnapped, enchanted, and manipulated by a vengeful queen and a death-lord.

Eris lifted his amber eyes as Cassian shut the door. “I can’t stay long.”

“Good.”

Eris closed the book, watching Cassian drop into the seat opposite him. “I suppose you want to know what I told Briallyn.”

“Rhys already looked into your mind. Turns out, you didn’t know much.” He gave the male a slashing grin.

Eris rolled his eyes. “So why am I here?”

Cassian surveyed the male. Eris’s clothes remained immaculate, but a muscle ticked on his jaw. “We wanted to know what you told Beron. Since you’re sitting here, in one piece, I’m assuming he doesn’t know about our involvement in your rescue.”

“Oh, he knows that you … assisted me.”

Cassian straightened, wings shifting.

Eris went on, “Always mix truth and lies, General. Didn’t those warrior-brutes teach you about how to withstand an enemy’s torture?”

Cassian knew. He’d been tortured and interrogated and never once broken. “Beron tortured you?”

Eris rose, tucking his book under an arm. “Who cares what my father does to me? He believed my story about the shadowsinger’s spies informing him that a valuable asset had been kidnapped by Briallyn, and that you lot were disgusted to arrive and find it was me, rather than someone from the Summer or Winter Courts or whoever stoops to associate with you.”

Cassian unpacked each word. Beron had tortured his own son for information, rather than thanking the Mother for returning him. But Eris had held out. Fed Beron another lie.

And then there was the way Eris had spoken about the other courts. Something had been off in his words, his tight expression. Was the male jealous?

Cassian opened his mouth, more than ready to launch that question at him and bestow a stinging blow.

Yet he hesitated. Looked into Eris’s eyes.

The male had been raised with every luxury and privilege—on paper. But who knew what terrors Beron had inflicted upon him? Cassian knew Beron had murdered Lucien’s lover. If the High Lord of Autumn had been willing to do that, what wouldn’t he do?

“Get that pitying look off your face,” Eris snarled softly. “I know what sort of creature my father is. I don’t need your sympathy.”

Cassian again studied him. “Why did you leave Mor in the woods that day?” It was the question that would always remain. “Was it just to impress your father?”