After a night with Feyre that leaves Rhysand feeling wholly bound to her, Rhysand holds onto Feyre’s joy over the riverfront estate and travels to Tamlin’s manor. Rhysand finds no answer at the door, senses Tamlin alive in the kitchens, and enters the dilapidated house without hiding his presence.

In the kitchen, Rhysand discovers Tamlin sitting silently before a dead elk on the worktable, with blood pooling on the floor. Tamlin is unresponsive at first, and Rhysand recalls Lucien’s warning that Feyre should not kick a male who is already down.

Rhysand tells Tamlin that Rhysand has asked Varian to persuade Tarquin to send Summer Court soldiers to the Spring Court border within a few days. The action is meant to stabilize the region and preserve Tamlin as a needed ally in the unsettled postwar world.

Tamlin finally speaks and asks whether Feyre will forgive him. Rhysand does not know, and when Tamlin asks whether he deserves forgiveness, Rhysand’s reaction makes clear that Rhysand thinks he does not. Tamlin then asks whether Rhysand forgives him for the deaths of Rhysand’s mother and sister, and Rhysand replies that he has never heard an apology.

Seeing Tamlin utterly broken, Rhysand still refuses to offer forgiveness or forget Tamlin’s crimes. But because it is Solstice and because Feyre has given Rhysand renewed hope, Rhysand uses magic to butcher the elk, light the stove, and begin cooking food for Tamlin. Rhysand orders Tamlin to eat and tells him he may waste away only after they have dealt with the new world they must help stabilize.