A Court Of Silver Flames Quotes

“You’re an arrogant bastard.”
“And you’re a haughty witch. We’re evenly matched.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“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.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Then Rhys fell to his knees and took Nesta's hands in his, pressing his mouth to her fingers. 'Thank you,' he wept, head bowed. Cassian knew it wasn't in gratitude for Rhys's own life that he knelt upon the sacred tattoos inked upon his knees.

Nesta dropped to the carpet. Lifted Rhys's face in her hands, studied what lay in it. Then she threw her arms around the High Lord of the Night Court and held him tightly.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“You two came looking for me.'

'Of course we did,' Emerie said, interlacing her hand with Gwyn's, then Nesta's, and squeezing tightly. 'It's what sisters do.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Stroking Feyre's cold hand, Nesta spoke into the timeless, frozen room, 'You loved me when no one else would. You never stopped. Even when I didn't deserve it, you loved me, and fought for me, and...' Nesta looked at Feyre's face, Death a breath away from claiming it. She didn't stop the tears that ran down her cheeks as she squeezed Feyre's slender hand tighter. 'I love you, Feyre.'

She had never said the words aloud. To anyone.

'I love you,' Nesta whispered. 'I love you.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Her friends had made it... but she did not want to die.

She wanted to live, and live well, and live happily.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“I feel nothing, Nesta said silently. Only the sight of Feyre on Death's threshold kept her from forgetting why she was here, what she needed to do.

Is that not what you wanted? To feel nothing?

I thought that was what I wanted. Nesta surveyed the people around her. Her sisters, Cassian, who had been willing to plunge a dagger into his heart rather than harm her. But no longer. When the female voice didn't press her, Nesta went on, I want to feel everything. I want to embrace it with my whole heart.

Even the things that hurt and hunt you? Only curiosity laced the question.

Nesta allowed herself a breath to ponder it, stilling her mind once more. We need those things in order to appreciate the good. Some days might be more difficult than others, but... I want to experience all of it, live through all of it. With them.

The wise, soft voice whispered, So live, Nesta Archeron.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Gwyn threw her arms around Nesta. 'I heard you might need us.' Nesta was so stunned to see the priestess that she returned the hug.

Mor, a step behind, gave her a concerned nod, and then winnowed away.

Emerie was the one to say to Gwyn, 'I can't believe you left the library.'

Gwyn stroked Nesta's head. 'Some things are more important than fear.' She cleared her throat. 'But please don't remind me too much. I'm so nervous I really might vomit.'

Even Nesta smiled at that.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“I refuse to leave you here.'

Emerie's pained face told Nesta enough: she understood. Saw the logic.

Nesta said to Gwyn. 'It is the only way.'

Gwyn screamed. 'IT IS NOT THE ONLY WAY!' And then she was sobbing. 'I will not abandon you to them. They will kill you.'

'You need to go,' Nesta said, even as her hands began shaking. 'Now.'

'No,' Gwyn wept. 'No, I won't. I'll face it with you.'

Something deep in Nesta's chest cracked. Cracked open completely, and what lay within bloomed, full and bright and pure.

She wrapped her arms around Gwyn. Let her friend sob into her chest. 'I'll face it with you,' Gwyn whispered, over and over again. 'Promise me we'll face it together.'

Nesta couldn't stop her tears. The chill wind froze them on her cheeks. 'I promise,' she breathed, stroking Gwyn's matted hair. 'I promise.'

Gwyn sobbed, and Nesta let herself sob with her, squeezing her tightly. Letting her stroking hand come to rest on Gwyn's neck.

A pinch in the right spot, exactly on the pressure point Cassina had shown her, and it was done.

Gwyn went down. Unconscious.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Do it for the miniature pegasus,' Emerie said. Cassian had no idea what it meant, but Gwyn's lips twitched upward.

Nesta laughed.

The sound might as well have been a lightning strike to his head for how much it rocked him, that laugh. Free and light and so unlike anything he'd ever heard from her that even Azriel blinked. A true laugh. 'The miniature pegasus,' Nesta said, 'was an illusion. And is now back in his make-believe meadow.'

'He loved Gwyn most,' Emerie teased. 'Despite your efforts to woo him.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“She was the rock against which the surf broke. These males would break against her, too.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Nesta had loved Cassian since she'd first laid eyes on him. Had loved him even when she did not want to, even when she had been swallowed by despair and fear and hatred. Had loved him and destroyed herself because she didn't believe she deserved him, because he was all that was good, and brave, and kind, and she loved him, she loved him, she loved him-”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Rhys lunged against his hold, but Amren stepped to their side and hissed, 'Listen.'

Nesta whispered, 'I give it all back.' Her shoulders heaved as she wept.

Rhys began shaking his head, his power a palpable, rising wave that would destroy them all, destroy the world if it meant Feyre was no longer in it, even if he only had seconds to live beyond her, but Amren grabbed the nape of his neck. Her red nails dug into his golden skin. 'Look at the light.'

Iridescent light began flowing from Nesta's body. Into Feyre.

Nesta kept holding her sister. 'I give it back. I give it back. I give it back.'

Even Rhys stopped fighting. No one moved.

The lights glimmered down Feyre's arm. Her legs. It suffused her ashen face. Began to fill the room.

Cassian's Siphons guttered, as if sensing a power far beyond his own, beyond any of theirs.

Tendrils of light drifted between the sisters. And one, delicate and loving, flowed towards Mor. To the bundle in her arms, setting the silent babe within glowing bright as the sun.

And Nesta kept whispering, 'I give it back. I give it all back.'

The iridescence filled her, filled Feyre, filled the bundle in Mor's arms, lighting his friend's face so the shock on it was etched in stark relief.

'I give it back,' Nesta said, one more time, and Mask and Crown tumbled from her head. The light exploded, blinding and warm, a wind sweeping past them, as if gathering every shard of itself out of the room.

Ans as it faded, dark ink splashed upon Nesta's back, visible through her half-shredded shirt, as if it were a wave crashing upon the shore.

A bargain. With the Cauldron itself.

Yet Cassian could have sworn a luminescent, gentle hand prevented the light from leaving her body altogether.

Cassian didn't fight Rhys this time as he raced to the bed. To where Feyre lay, flush with colour. No more blood spilling between her legs. Feyre opened her eyes.

She blinked at Rhys, and then turned to Nesta.

'I love you, too,' Feyre whispered to her sister, and smiled. Nesta didn't stop her sob as she launched herself onto Feyre and embraced her.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Cassian lay facedown on the earth.

Nesta rushed toward him,, praying, sobbing, her magic still echoing through the world.

She turned him over, searching for the knife, the wound, but-

The knife lay beneath him. Unbloodied.

He groaned, cracking his eyes open. 'I figured,' he rasped, 'I should lay low while you did that.'

Nesta gaped at him. Then burst into tears.

Cassian sat up, soothing sounds on his tongue, and took her face in his hands. 'You Unmade her.'

Nesta glanced to the Crown on the earth- the black stain where Briallyn had been. 'She had it coming.'

He chuckled, leaning his brow against hers. Nesta closed her eyes, breathing in his scent. 'You are my mate, Cassian,' she said against his lips, and kissed him softly.

'And you're mine,' he said, kissing her in turn.

And then his hands slid into her hair.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Rhys said to his mate, 'Feyre darling-'

'No good-byes,' Feyre panted. 'No good-byes, Rhys.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Thunder cracked, and the entire mountain shook with its impact. Bellius took one step toward her, knife lifting.

Blood sprayed.

At first, she thought it was lightning that flashed across his throat, opening it so wide that his blood showered the snowy air.

But then she saw the wings. The other set of wings.

And when Bellius slumped to the earth, choking on his lifeblood, revealing Cassian standing there, teeth bared, blade in hand, she wondered if the thunder rocking the mountain had been his rage.

Cassian stepped over Bellius's dying body and offered her a hand. Not to sweep her into his arms, but to help her rise. As he had always done.

Nesta gripped his hand and stood, her body bleating in protest.

But she forgot her pain, the death around them, as he folded her into his chest and held her tightly, whispering tenderly into her bloody hair, 'And now I'm going to slit your pretty little throat.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Cassian's arm shook, and Nesta braced herself for the blow, showing him her forgiveness, her unending, unbreakable love for him-

But Cassian roared.

And then the knife twisted in his hand, angling not toward her, but toward his own heart.

Of his own free will.

Against the Crown's hold, against a gasping Briallyn, he chose to drive the knife into his own heart. Kill, she had said. But had not specified who.

And as the sun broke over the horizon, as Cassian's knife plunged for his chest, Nesta erupted with the force of the Cauldron.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“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?'

Eris barked a laugh, harsh and empty. 'Why does it still matter to all of you so much?'

'Because she's my sister, and I love her.'

'I didn't realise Illyrians were in the habit of fucking their sisters.'

Cassian growled. 'It still matters,' he ground out, 'because it doesn't add up. You know what a monster your father is and want to usurp him; you act against him in the best interests of not only the Autumn Court but also all of the faerie lands; you risk your life to ally with us... and yet you left her in the woods. Is it guilt that motivates all of this? Because you left her to suffer and die?'

Golden flame simmered in Eris's gaze. 'I didn't realise I'd be facing another interrogation so soon.'

'Give me a damn answer.'

Eris crossed his arms, then winced. As if whatever injuries lay beneath his immaculate clothes ached. 'You're not the person I want to explain myself to.'

'I doubt Mor will want to listen.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“I have no interest in explaining to Rhys and Feyre why you died on my watch. And even less interest in explaining it to Nesta.'

Cassian stared toward the castle. 'You think she's alive?' The question haunted him with every breath these last few days.

'You'd know if she'd died,' Azriel said, pausing his work and looking up at Cassian. He tapped his brother's chest with a scarred hand. 'Right here- you'd know, Cass.'

'There are plenty of other unspeakable things that could be happening to her,' Cassian said, voice thickening. 'To Emerie and Gwyn.'

The shadows deepened around Azriel, his Siphons gleaming like cobalt fire. 'You- we- trained them well, Cassian. Trust in that. It's all we can do.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Come with us,' Emerie offered, eyes lined with silver.

Nesta shook her head. 'Consider it the repayment of a debt.'

A tear slipped down Emerie's cheek. 'For what?'

'For being my friend. Even when I didn't deserve it.'

Emerie's face crumpled. 'There is no debt, Nesta.'

But Nesta smiled softly. 'There is. Let me pay it.'

Swallowing back her tears, Emerie nodded.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“You really think you can beat me in hand-to-hand combat?'

Blood flowed from her mouth, her nose. But Nesta smiled anyway, its tang coating her tongue. 'I do.'

Bellius threw his first punch, putting the entire force of his powerful body into it. Nesta blocked it, driving her fist into his nose. Bone crunched. Bellius howled, falling back a step.

And Nesta hissed, 'Because my mate taught me well.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“There was nothing in Nesta's head but screaming. Nothing in her heart but love and hatred and fury as she let go of everything inside her and the entire world exploded.

The baying of her magic was a beast with no name. Avalanches cascaded down the cliffs in seas of glittering white. Trees bent and ruptured in the wake of the power that shattered from her. Distant seas drew back from their shores, then raced in waves toward them again. Glasses shook and shattered in Velaris, books tumbled off the shelves in Helion's thousand libraries, and the remnants of a run-down cottage in the human lands crumbled into a pile of rubble.

But all Nesta saw was Briallyn. All she saw was the slack-jawed crone as Nesta leaped upon her, throwing her frail body to the rocky ground. All she knew was screaming as she clutched Briallyn's face, the Crown glowing blindingly white, and roared her fury to the mountains, to the stars, to the dark places between them.

Gnarled hands turned young. A lined face became beautiful and lovely. White hair darkened to raven black.

But Nesta bellowed and bellowed, letting her magic rage, unleashing every ember. Erasing the queen beneath her from existence.

The young hands turned to ash. The pretty face dissolved into nothing. The dark hair withered into dust.

Until all that was left of the queen was the Crown on the ground.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“So Nesta held her sister tightly, with Time halted around them, and she whispered, 'If you show me how to save her, you can have it back.'

The world paused. Worlds beyond their own paused.

Nesta buried her face in the cold sweat of Feyre's neck. She opened that place within herself, and said to the Mother, to the Cauldron, 'I'll give back what I took from you. Just show me how to save them- her and Rhysand and the baby.' Rhysand- her brother. That's what he was, wasn't he? Her brother, who had offered her kindness even when she knew he wanted to throttle her. And she him. and the baby... her nephew. Blood of her blood. She would save him, save them, even if it took everything. 'Show me,' she pleaded.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“I can't wait to see it.'

And for the first time, with these two friends beside her, with a mate waiting for her... it was true.

Nesta couldn't wait to see the future that unfolded. All of it.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Everyone deserves happiness. The road there isn’t easy. It is long, and hard, and often traveled utterly blind. But you keep going"....“Because you know the destination will be worthwhile.”
― Sarah J. Maas

“Four fucking days,' Cassian hissed from where he and Azriel monitored the castle. 'We've been sitting on our asses for four fucking days.'

Azriel sharpened Truth-Teller. The black blade absorbed the dim sunlight trickling through the forest canopy above. 'It seems you've forgotten how much of spying is waiting for the right moment. People don't engage in their evil deeds when it's convenient to you.'

Cassian rolled his eyes. 'I stopped spying because it bored me to death. I don't know how you put up with this all the time.'

'It suits me,' Azriel didn't halt his sharpening, though shadows gathered around his feet.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Cassian told me only twelve have made it this far,' Nesta murmured to her friends. 'We've already earned the title of Oristian just by being here.'

Emerie stirred. 'We could stay up here today, wait it out overnight, and be done at dawn. To hell with any titles.' It was the wise thing to do. The safe thing to do.

'That path,' Nesta said, pointing to a small one along Ramiel's base, 'could also take us down south. No one would go that way, because it takes you away from the mountain.'

'So we'd come all this way and just hide?' Gwyn said, voice hoarse.

'You're hurt,' Nesta countered. 'And that is a mountain in front of us.'

'So rather than try and fail,' Gwyn demanded, 'you would take the safe road?'

'We would live,' Emerie said carefully. 'I'd love nothing more than to wipe the smirks off the lips of the males in my village, but not at this cost. Not if it costs us you, Gwyn. We need you to live.'

Gwyn studied Ramiel's craggy, unforgiving slope. Not much snow graced its sides. Like the wind had whipped it all away. Or the storms had avoided its peak entirely. 'Is it living, though? To take the safe road?'

'You're the one who's been in a library for two years,' Emerie said.

Gwyn didn't flinch. 'I have. And I am tired of it.' She surveyed the blood-soaked leather along her thigh. 'I don't want to take the safe road.' She pointed to the mountain, to the slender path upward. 'I want to take that road.' Her voice thickened. 'I want to take the road that no one dares travel, and I want to travel it with you two. No matter what may befall us. Not as Illyrians, not for their titles, but as something new. To prove to them, to everyone, that something new and different might triumph over their rules and restrictions.'

A cold wind blew off Ramiel's sides.
Whispering, murmuring.

'They call this climb the Breaking for a reason,' Emerie countered gravely.

Nesta added, 'We haven't eaten in days. We're down to the last of our water. To climb that mountain-'

'I have been broken once before,' Gwyn said, her voice clear. 'I survived it. And I will not be broken again- not even by this mountain.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“I refuse to leave you here.'

Emerie's pained face told Nesta enough: she understood. Saw the logic.

Nesta said to Gwyn. 'It is the only way.'

Gwyn screamed. 'IT IS NOT THE ONLY WAY!' And then she was sobbing. 'I will not abandon you to them. They will kill you.'

'You need to go,' Nesta said, even as her hands began shaking. 'Now.'

'No,' Gwyn wept. 'No, I won't. I'll face it with you.'

Something deep in Nesta's chest cracked. Cracked open completely, and what lay within bloomed, full and bright and pure.

She wrapped her arms around Gwyn. Let her friend sob into her chest. 'I'll face it with you,' Gwyn whispered, over and over again. 'Promise me we'll face it together.'

Nesta couldn't stop her tears. The chill wind froze them on her cheeks. 'I promise,' she breathed, stroking Gwyn's matted hair. 'I promise.'

Gwyn sobbed, and Nesta let herself sob with her, squeezing her tightly. Letting her stroking hand come to rest on Gwyn's neck.

A pinch in the right spot, exactly on the pressure point Cassian had shown her, and it was done.

Gwyn went down. Unconscious.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“She'd claimed it would be fine to die for her friends, that it was fine because they had made it, they had won, but to be killed by this nobody-

Nesta snarled. She had nothing left. Her body had given up on her. Like so many others had.
...
She was alone.

She had been born alone, and would die alone, and this awful male would be the one to kill her-”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“You know, Eris,' he said, a hand wrapping around the doorknob. 'I think you might be a decent male, deep down, trapped in a terrible situation.' He looked over his shoulder and found Eris's gaze blazing again. But only pity stirred in his chest, pity for a male who had been born into riches, but had been destitute in every way that truly mattered. In every way that Cassian had been blessed- blessings that were now overflowing.

So Cassian said, 'I grew up surrounded by monsters. I've spent my existence fighting then. And I see you, Eris. You're not one of them. Not even close. I think you might even be a good male.' Cassian opened the door, turning from Eris's curled lip. 'You're just too much of a coward to act like one.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames