What happened in A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas - Recaptains

The basics

Title: A Court of Silver Flames

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #4

- A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015)
- A Court of Mist and Fury (2016)
- A Court of Wings and Ruin (2017)
- A Court of Frost and Starlight (2018)
- A Court of Silver Flames (2021)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she's struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can't seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.

The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre's Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta's orbit. But her temper isn't the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.

Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.

Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance-and healing-in each other's arms.

Read a full summary of A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas below. If you can’t remember what happened in A Court of Silver Flames and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.

what happened in A Court of Silver Flames?

• This is a long bloody book, so buckle in. I’ve tried to keep it as concise as possible because chances are you’ll want to reread A Court of Silver Flames anyway.
• Prologue: Nesta is thinking about the Cauldron and fire and darkness and stuff. It’s all very emo until she burns through the darkness.
• Feyre sends Cassian over to Nesta’s apartment. Cassian tells Nesta to sort herself out and get ready to go over to Feyre’s place.
• Nesta heads to Feyre’s room, only to find Rhysand and Armen already inside. Of course.
• There’s an argument between the Inner Circle. Feyre puts her shield up, just in case Nesta loses it.
• Cassian tells Nesta he’s taking her to the Illyrian mountains to train. Nesta is displeased, but when she is threatened with being returned to the mortal realm, she agrees to go to the House of the Wind.
• Nesta asks to speak to Feyre alone. Rhysand waits in the corridor. Nesta tells Feyre she’s angry with this entire plan, and she is upset that she is being supervised. Nesta tries to get out of training, but Feyre leaves her with no choice.
• Rhys warns Cassian that Nesta is dangerous. They discuss her powers, which they don’t really know much about. Cassian wonders if Nesta even has powers since the Cauldron broke.
• Cassian is super lonely, is what I got from this entire conversation.
• Cassian goes to see Mor, who was sent to Vallahan to set up a treaty with the king. It didn’t work out because the humans are problematic, so Mor is now back.
• Mor says Vallahan isn’t interested in peace. She tells Cassian he should visit a mortal queen called Vassa, who might be useful.
• Nesta contemplates marriage a little bit.
• Nesta refuses to eat anything at breakfast until Cassian forces her to.
• Nesta also refuses to train. Mor comes to get the angry pair.
• Nesta heads to the library and helps organise it. Genuinely sounds like a fun job tbh.
• Mor takes Cassian to the human realm to see Vassa. On the way, Eris tells Cassian some of his soldiers went missing while on patrol. An unknown scent was detected at their last known location.
• Cassian and Vassa discuss the human queens, who are apparantly about to start something. Vassa suggest that Briallyn used the Cauldron to gaint powers, and it’s probably her who’s about to start a war. Briallyn also looks like an old lady.
• Vassa points out that Briallyn didn’t have the right powers to mysteriously abduct Eris’s soldiers, but someone could be working with her.
• Eris tells Cassian that his soldiers met Briallyn and they returned acting strange.
• Everything about this is weird!
• Rhys tells Cassian to watch out for Eris.
• Nesta heads into the city. She struggles up thousands of steps, and meets Cassian at the top.
• Cassian takes Nesta shopping in a nearby village. They meet Emerie, whose wings have been clipped. Nesta asks Emerie for some warmer training clothes.
• Nesta eats and goes to bed. She wakes up cold and the house sets a fire for her, but Nesta puts it out.
• Nesta tries to head up the stairs again but once again struggles. She falls over and sparks come out of her hand.
• Nesta heads to the library again but is unable to enter because the door won’t open for her.
• Cassian realises that Nesta felt self conscious, and so takes her to an isolated training ground away from everyone else. Cassian and Nesta gently train for a bit.
• Nesta goes back to the library and bumps into Gwyn. Gwyn is looking for a book about The Great War. She gave Merrill volume eight instead of seven and is freaking out, thinking Merrill will kill her for her error. Nesta gets the correct volume for Gwyn and takes the book to Merrill.
• More training. Cassian and Nesta get talking and they’re able to not argue for a bit.
• Cassian and Rhysand meet with Eris and talk about his father, Beron. The human queens are a hot topic of conversation too.
• Nesta makes it up 150 steps. Only 9000 or so more to go!
• Gwyn and Nesta meet in the library again. They chat about Nesta’s training.
• Cassian and Nesta discuss Bryaxis, who once lived in the library but escaped.
• They also discuss how to become an Illyrian – you have to survive The Blood Rite on a sacred mountain.
• Elain and Nesta discuss Nesta’s situation. Elain thinks Nesta is miserable and should cheer up. Nesta blames Elain for their father’s death. Nesta summons her silver flames.
• Elain asks Rhys to let her go home.
• Nesta and Cassian get it on before Cassian goes off to meet with Azriel.
• Azriel summons the pair to the river house. The group talks about Briallyn and how she has been building an army. She allied with Beron. Her goal is to find the Cauldron again so she can turn back into a youngster.
• Koschei, an immortal, has teamed up with Briallyn too.
• Azriel suspects the pair will be after four Trove items, and they already know where three of them are – The Mask (for raising the dead), The Harp (for opening doors), and Thw Crown (for influencing).
• Elain wants to help them find the Trove. Nesta is unhappy with this and wants Feyre to go looking instead, but Feyre reveals that she’s pregnant. Hence the super strong shield, I guess.
• Cassian and Nesta spend the night together.
• The next day there’s more training, and more speaking to Gwyn. Nesta asks her about the Trove. Gwyn says she’ll try to find out some info.
• The priestesses see Nesta and Cassian practicing punching stuff in the library.
• Cassian gifts Nesta a cute romance book.
• Gwyn signs up for training with Nesta.
• Nesta goes shopping after their first session. Nesta bumps into Emerie’s cousin, Bellius, who taunts Emerie.
• Nesta and Emerie have lunch together. They talk about their pasts and spices and stuff. Nesta invites Emerie to training but Emerie declines the invitation.
• Cassian is sad that Eris called him names. Nesta becomes angry on Cassian’s behalf and they get it on again. Azriel interrupts because he has the funniest timing.
• Cassian goes to inspect the army and delivers spices to Emerie on the way.
• Emerie comes to training.
• The Inner Circle discuss Nesta again. They need her to start looking for the Trove items, and quickly.
• Merrill finds out that Nesta swapped the books. There’s an argument.
• Gwyn reveals that one of her grandparents was a nymph.
• Three more priestesses attend training.
• Nesta tries to scry but doesn’t find anything. Except her body lights up in silver fire. Rhys and Azriel help her out and enter her mind. Nesta passes out.
• Rhys tells Cassian that the baby will have wings. He’s worried that Feyre and/or the baby will die during the pregnancy or childbirth.
• Cassian and Rhys spar, and Cassian gains a split lip. Cassian tells Nesta about the baby’s wings.
• Nesta scries again. This time, the air goes cold. Nesta gets wrapped up in whatever is happening and Cassian has to break her out of it by kissing her. Because of course.
• Nesta came up with a location, though. The Bog of Oorid, which sounds like something from Doctor Who.
• Cassian, Nesta, and Azriel head to the bog. The water is black, and is devoid of life. Azriel vanishes. Nesta and Cassian search for him but instead find Eris’s soldiers.
• Cassian continues to search for Azriel while Nesta waits in a tree, except Nesta starts to hear a voice that tells her to run. So she does so. Nesta sees her reflection with black eyes.
• An arm reaches out of the water and tries to drag Nesta in. It’s a kelpie.
• Cassian fights off some soldiers, helps Azriel, and goes back to Nesta. He realises she is gone from the tree and goes looking for her.
• Nesta fights the kelpie off a little, so she has time to place the Mask on her own face. Nesta uses her new power to fight off the kelpie.
• Cassian jumps in the water but Nesta is able to get herself out.
• The group brings Eris’s soldiers back with them. They seem to have been enchanted and didn’t know what they were doing. It’s highly likely.
• Nesta feels the Mask, which has been put away in a warded room, calling out to her.
• Rhys says the kelpie was speaking an ancient language.
• Cassian brings Nesta some food and there’s more steamy stuff.
• More priestesses join Nesta for training.
• Nesta starts training with a sword. Cassian shows Nesta how blades are made, and Nesta makes her own.
• Helion arrives at the Night Court. He says the soldiers’ weren’t acting by themselves, but there doesn’t seem to be any enchantments on them. Their minds are foggy.
• The blacksmith says Nesta’s weapons are cursed. She seems to be putting her magic into the weapons she is making. The Circle don’t want to tell Nesta about this at first but Feyre insists.
• Eris is informed about his soldiers.
• Cassian tells Nesta about her magical weapons. Nesta is angry when she finds out that Rhysand and Amren voted against telling Nesta about this.
• Nesta confronts Amren. Feyre intervenes, and Nesta tells Feyre about the baby’s wings and that Rhys and the rest have been keeping it a secret.
• Rhysand threatens to kill Nesta if she doesn’t leave the Court.
• Cassian takes Nesta away.
• Nesta refuses to speak for two days and then passes out from dehydration.
• Nesta and Cassian have an emotional chat. Cassian tells Nesta about his dead mother.
• Nesta trains again. Gwyn gives everyone a rippon to cut in half once their training is complete.
• Nesta is put into a trance by the priestesses’ music. She sees the Harp, which she now knows is beneath the prison.
• Nesta and Cassian go to find it. Nesta go through a rock and finds the Harp, and has a vision of war.
• Briallyn appears and traps Nesta in place. Nesta uses the Harp to escape.
• A prisoner named Lanthys escapes and Nesta and Cassian have to fight him. Nesta runs and is charged by soldiers. Nesta heads back to Cassian and kills Lanthys with her sword. Cassian is injured and Nesta takes him back to the river house.
• Nesta fills Rhysand and Feyre in on what went down in the prison. Rhys asks Nesta to dance with Eris in order to find out where his loyalties lie.
• Gwyn gives Nesta a book about their training, which is adorable.
• Nesta and Eris dance at the Winter Solstice ball. Cassian interrupts and dances with Nesta too. Eris asks to marry Nesta, and Rhys says he will speak to her.
• Cassian and Nesta head to the river house. Nesta apologises to Elain.
• Cassian gifts Nesta a music trapping device called a Symphonia.
• They say they love each other.
• Cassian goes off for a snowball fight, because that’s a normal thing to do during tense times. It’s apparantly a tradition.
• Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie defeat the obstacle course that was set up by Cassian and Azriel. This was the Blood Rite qualifier.
• Nesta makes it up and down the stairs for the first time.
• Cassian takes Nesta to Starfall.
• A red star shoots across the sky. A bad omen.
• Feyre’s pregnancy is progressing.
• Nesta and Cassian meet with Eris, who admits his father went to Briallyn’s country a while back. Nesta declines Eris’s proposal. Because it’s weird.
• Cassian and Nesta go for a walk and have the whole mate conversation. Nesta refuses to admit that she and Cassian are mates. Nesta wants to spend some time away from Cassian because it’s all a bit much.
• Nesta wakes up to a cold blade against her face.
• Cassian goes to Emerie’s place with Rhys. They realise the women aren’t there. There’s a male’s scent in the house, as well as blood. The three women are gone, presumably taken to participate in the Blood Rite.
• Nesta wakes up and sees a lot of warriors around her. They’re all unconscious. She sets out to find her friends and comes across a knife, which shouldn’t be allowed but is.
• Eris is captured by Briallyn and Cassian goes to get him.
• Nesta’s friendship bracelet tells her to hurry. She’s almost taken out by an arrow. She asks the shooter where her friends are. Nesta finds Emerie unconscious in a river.
• Emerie wakes up and the pair go looking for Gwyn. they come across ten guys, and Emerie is dragged away by her cousin Bellius. He seems to have a foggy brain too, like the soldiers had before.
• A creature attacks Bellius and the women run off. They reunite with Gwyn.
• The friends head to the Pass of Enalius. They reach a bridge, and there are people to fight off. Gwyn’s leg is injured in the fight.
• They make it to the base of the mountain. Nesta and Emerie want to stay behind with Gwyn, and then they share stories and they decide to climb the mountain instead.
• Cassian and Azriel find Eris, who doesn’t have a foggy brain because he’s holding onto one of Nesta’s magic weapons.
• Eris holds a knife to Cassian’s chest.
• Bellius and his team are pursuing the women. Nesta stays behind to fight Bellius while Gwyn and Emerie head to the top of the mountain.
• Cassian and Azriel realise that Eris is being controlled by Briallyn.
• Koschei captures Cassian and takes him to Briallyn. Cassian is given some brain fog.
• Nesta sees her friends reach the top, and Bellius attacks Nesta anyway. Nesta loses her sword. Nesta calls Cassian her mate in the middle of the fight. It’s interrupted by Cassian and Briallyn.
• Cassian asks Nesta to kill him.
  -Briallyn arranged for Nesta to be taken to the Blood Rite. Briallyn wants Nesta to trade the Trove for Cassian. Briallyn tells Cassian to “Kill” and so he kills himself instead of Nesta.
• Nesta goes a bit wild and explodes at Briallyn, who is disolved along with the Crown.
• Mor and Azriel arrive while Nesta is cradling Cassian. They tell her something is wrong with Feyre.
• Cassian doesn’t die, so don’t worry.
• Feyre has been bleeding and the baby is in distress. Nesta uses the Harp to help Feyre give birth. The Cauldron agrees to Nesta relinquishing her power in exchange for Feyre and the baby’s lives.
• The baby is called Nyx, because of course.
• Cassian and Nesta decide to get mate-married.
• Eris tells Cassian that he was tortured by his own father.

This is a full plot summary of what happened in A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas. Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!

Other recaps for this series:

• A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses #3.1)
• A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses #3)
• A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2)
• A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1)