The Assassin's Blade
Quotes from the Book
To the people who look at the stars and wish, Rhys." Rhys clinked his glass against mine. “To the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered.
He thinks he'll be remembered as the villain in the story. But I forgot to tell him that the villain is usually the person who locks up the maiden and throws away the key. He was the one who let me out.
I fell in love with you, smartass, because you were one of us—because you weren’t afraid of me, and you decided to end your spectacular victory by throwing that piece of bone at Amarantha like a javelin. I felt Cassian’s spirit beside me in that moment, and could have sworn I heard him say, ‘If you don’t marry her, you stupid prick, I will.
When you spend so long trapped in darkness, Lucien, you find that the darkness begins to stare back.
I was not a pet, not a doll, not an animal. I was a survivor, and I was strong. I would not be weak, or helpless again I would not, could not be broken. Tamed.
There are good days and hard days for me—even now. Don’t let the hard days win.
To the stars who listen—and the dreams that are answered.
If you were going to die, I was going to die with you. I couldn’t stop thinking it over and over as you screamed, as I tried to kill her: you were my mate, my mate, my mate.
No one was my master— but I might be master of everything, if I wished. If I dared.
There are different kinds of darkness,” Rhys said. I kept my eyes shut. “There is the darkness that frightens, the darkness that soothes, the darkness that is restful.” I pictured each. “There is the darkness of lovers, and the darkness of assassins. It becomes what the bearer wishes it to be, needs it to be. It is not wholly bad or good.
She is my mate. And my spy,' I said too quietly. 'And she is the High Lady of the Night Court.' 'What?' Mor whsipered. I caressed a mental finger down that bond now hidden deep, deep within us, and said, 'If they had removed her other glove, they would have seen a second tatoo on her right arm. The twin to the other. Inked last night, when we crept out, found a priestess, and I swore her in as my High Lady.' (...) 'Not consort, not wife. Feyre is High Lady of the Night Court.' My equal in every way; she would wear my crown, sit on a throne beside mine. Never sidelined, never designated to breeding and parties and child rearing. My queen.
I am broken and healing, but every piece of my heart belong to you.
And so Tamlin unwittingly led the High Lady of the Night Court into the heart of his territory.
My friend through many dangers. My lover who had healed my broken and weary soul. My mate who had waited for me against all hope, despite all odds.
And I wondered if love was too weak a word for what he felt, what he’d done for me. For what I felt for him.
And I realized—I realized how badly I'd been treated before, if my standards had become so low. If the freedom I'd been granted felt like a privilege and not an inherent right.
I painted stars and the moon and clouds and just endless, dark sky.” I finished the sixth, and was well on my way sawing through the seventh before I said, “I never knew why. I rarely went outside at night—usually, I was so tired from hunting that I just wanted to sleep. But I wonder … ” I pulled out the seventh and final arrow. “I wonder if some part of me knew what was waiting for me. That I would never be a gentle grower of things, or someone who burned like fire—but that I would be quiet and enduring and as faceted as the night. That I would have beauty, for those who knew where to look, and if people didn’t bother to look, but to only fear it … Then I didn’t particularly care for them, anyway. I wonder if, even in my despair and hopelessness, I was never truly alone. I wonder if I was looking for this place—looking for you all.
But then she snapped your neck.” Tears rolled down his face. “And I felt you die,” he whispered. Tears were sliding down my own cheeks.
I heard every word between you. I knew you could take care of yourself, and yet … ” He went back to his pie, swallowing a bite before continuing. “And yet I found myself deciding that if you took his hand, I would find a way to live with it. It would be your choice.” I sipped from my wine. “And if he had grabbed me?” There was nothing but uncompromising will in his eyes. “Then I would have torn apart the world to get you back.
I was burning through books every day - stories about people and places I'd never heard of. They were perhaps the only thing that kept me from teetering into utter despair.
The Court of Dreams. The people who knew that there was a price, and one worth paying, for that dream. The bastard- born warriors, the Illyrian half breed, the monster trapped in a beautiful body, the dreamer born into a court of nightmares...And the huntress with an artist's soul.
I’m thinking,” he said, following the flick of my tongue over my bottom lip, “that I look at you and feel like I’m dying. Like I can’t breathe. I’m thinking that I want you so badly I can’t concentrate half the time I’m around you, and this room is too small for me to properly bed you. Especially with the wings.
He locked you up because he knew—the bastard knew what a treasure you are. That you are worth more than land or gold or jewels. He knew, and wanted to keep you all to himself.” The words hit me, even as they soothed some jagged piece in my soul. “He did—does love me, Rhysand.” “The issue isn’t whether he loved you, it’s how much. Too much. Love can be a poison.” And then he was gone.
I was his and he was mine, and we were the beginning and middle and end. We were a song that had been sung from the very first ember of light in the world.
Many atrocities, have been done in the name of the greater good.
I was not prey any longer, I decided as I eased up to that door. And I was not a mouse. I was a wolf.
Did you enjoy the sight of me kneeling before you?
Did you know?
- It is the second book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, following A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015).
- It was published by Bloomsbury on May 3, 2016.
- The first edition hardcover runs to 626 pages.
- The series was optioned by Hulu for a television adaptation, with Ronald D. Moore attached as developer.
- Sarah J. Maas is also the author of the Throne of Glass and Crescent City series.
About Sarah J. Maas
More by Sarah J. Maas
All books by Sarah J. Maas →About the book
A Court of Mist and Fury is the second novel in Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses series, published by Bloomsbury in May 2016. It follows Feyre Archeron in the aftermath of the events at Under the Mountain: now transformed into a High Fae, she returns to the Spring Court and to Tamlin, but finds herself haunted by what she did to survive. When the bargain she struck with Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court, comes due, Feyre is drawn into his realm and into the dark politics of a world facing a rising threat.
At its heart the book is about recovery, autonomy, and self-worth. As Feyre navigates the Night Court's web of politics, passion, and power, she begins to heal from trauma and to reclaim agency over her own future. Maas weaves themes of found family, consent, and personal growth through the story, expanding the world of Prythian and its High Lords well beyond the fairy-tale framing of the first book.
A Court of Mist and Fury was a commercial breakout that helped propel the series to global success; the wider A Court of Thorns and Roses series and Maas's other work have sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. The novel is frequently cited by readers as a favorite entry in the series and is credited with driving much of the romantasy genre's mainstream popularity. The broader series has been optioned for a television adaptation.
Key characters
- Feyre ArcheronThe protagonist, a former human huntress now transformed into a High Fae.
- RhysandHigh Lord of the Night Court, whose bargain with Feyre draws her into his realm.
- TamlinHigh Lord of the Spring Court and Feyre's love interest from the first book.
- AmrenA powerful, ancient member of Rhysand's Night Court inner circle.
- MorRhysand's cousin and a trusted member of his inner circle.
- CassianA warrior and commander in the Night Court's forces.
- AzrielThe Night Court's shadowsinger and spymaster.
Book details
- First published
- 2016
- Length
- 626 pages
- Reading time
- 11 hours
- Author
- Sarah J. Maas
- Genre
- Fantasy
- Goodreads rating
- 4.63 (3.4M ratings) →
Series & reading order
- 1 A Court of Thorns and Roses
- 2 A Court of Mist and Fury
- 3 A Court of Wings and Ruin
- 4 A Court of Frost and Starlight
- 5 A Court of Silver Flames
If you liked this, read…
- 1A Court of Thorns and RosesThe first book in the same series, introducing Feyre and Prythian.
- 2Throne of GlassSarah J. Maas's other epic fantasy series with a fierce heroine.
- 3Crescent City: House of Earth and BloodMaas's adult fantasy blending romance, action, and an intricate world.
Keep reading
A Court of Thorns and Roses
A Court of Frost and Starlight
Cruel Beauty
The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King
A Queen This Fierce and Deadly
Slaying the Vampire Conqueror
Daughter of No Worlds
The Beauty of Darkness
A Court of Wings and Ruin
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
In the Veins of the Drowning
On Wings of Blood
Ruin and Rising
Wintersong
Captive in the Dark
Furyborn
Lightbringer
King's Cage
Dead of Winter
Feversong
The Bone Season
Relentless
Blood & Honey
Servant of Earth
Sky in the Deep
A Shade of Blood
Kingdom of the Feared
Son of the Shadows
The Wrath and the Dawn
An Enchantment of Ravens
Hunted
Ricochet
A Fire Endless
A Dowry of Blood
A Mercy
The Fates Divide
Savage Lands
The Madman's Daughter
Sacrifice
The Host
Debt Inheritance
Seraphina
The Bond That Burns
Arcana Rising
One Dark Window
The Everlasting
Like Flames in the Night
Widdershins
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me
Bloodrose
The Red Palace
Escaping Destiny
The First Girl Child
Amber & Dusk
A Breath of Snow and Ashes
Untamed
Trial of the Sun Queen
Incarnate
Kingdom of the Cursed
Shadow and Bone

