Previously: There's no way out of the Contrivance Treaty.
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We start the chapter with this clunky thing:

1- I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's a cold thing. SJM could've been clearer.

2- She describes the cold thing at different points as creeping, leeching, lurching, shimmering, whispering, and circling. Those all describe different movements and create, to me, a bunch of competing imagery. You can't just pick a word that ends in -ing and go with it.

3- THE REPETITION.

4- I love that she says she can't see anything EXCEPT some shimmering, but then says again, I can see nothing. Okay.

On the bright side: that didn't have one em dash!! A win is a win.

The Cold Thing talks to Feyre in her head, trying to get her to look at it. Feyre stares straight ahead and thinks of pleasant things like full bellies, hot baths, and sex with Isaac. She hadn't reminded us that she has, like, a lot of sex in a chapter or two, so we were overdue.

The Cold Thing finally leaves after a while, and they can relax. Feyre asks Lucien what that thing was, and "Lucien's russet eye was dark."

Should I add Lucien's eyes to the drinking game? I mean, SJM is going to describe all of her character's eyes incessantly, but there is this really weird focus on Lucien's eyes because this whole book has a bunch of ableism sprinkled in. Maybe we need to drink to deal with it.

Anyway, Lucien says the Cold Thing was a Bogge, and if you look at it or acknowledge it, it becomes real, and it can kill you. It cannot be hunted or killed, and it shouldn't be in their lands.

"A shiver spider-walked down my spine."

SPIDER WALKED DOWN MY SPINE.

Not since "scuttled" has a shiver required this many limbs. Why do all of Feyre's shivers require an exterminator?

Feyre says this is what she expected when she came to Prythian, terrible creatures like this.

This was the Prythian I’d expected—the creatures that made humans speak of them in hushed tones even now. The reason I hadn’t hesitated, not for a heartbeat, when I’d considered the possibility of that wolf being a faerie.

That's revisionist history! You hesitated a lot? You were standing there trying to convince yourself it was a faerie, even though it had magic snow-stopping abilities? Nice try, tho.

Lucien and Feyre keep hunting or patrolling or whatever and walk in silence for a while, until Feyre calms down enough to resume her questions. She knows that Lucien is old and carries around a sword, so she asks if he fought in the war, mostly because she "hadn't quite let go of [her] curiosity about his eye." SEE? It's WEIRD.

Lucien says he's not THAT old. Feyre asks if he's a warrior, and Lucien huffs a laugh, so bottoms up.

Lucien says he's not as good as Tamlin, but he knows how to handle his weapons. He wonders if Feyre wants to learn how to handle a sword, but then snarkily says that she probably doesn't need to learn since she's such a good, fae-murdering hunter. Lucien keeps prodding Feyre, even asking her if she ever stops being so serious and dull. Feyre snaps and asks if he ever stops being a prick. Lucien enjoys that.

We cut to dinner time, and Feyre says that whatever truce she and Lucien had formed earlier is gone now. Tamlin is glaring at them. Lucien immediately confesses that they went on a hunt together. Tamlin asks if they had fun or if they caught anything, and everything is awkward.

Lucien tells Tamlin that the Cold Thing was in the forest, probably snuck in through the border. Tamlin Hulks out, or whatever, destroying the fork he was eating with before stalking off into the forest because even though Lucien said the Cold Thing can't be hunted or killed, Tamlin can, um, do both those things. This is like when Feyre saw nothing but saw shimmering. Nothing can kill the Cold Thing, but Tamlin can kill the Cold Thing. I hope you are following along.

Feyre is impressed with Tamlin because all this anger is apparently distracting her from the fact that he kidnapped her.

Feyre finishes her food and then heads back to her room. She watches to see if Tamlin returns, but it gets late, and he still isn't back. When she decides to head to bed, something moves out in the garden, but it isn't Tamlin. It's Papa Archeron.

This was 4 Kindle pages and 15 em dashes.

Next time: It's totally for real, definitely her father in Chapter 11.

♥️

Mari