Under The Mountain Quotes

“The boy's smile was a mockery of innocence. 'Are you frightened?'

'Yes,' I said. Never lie- that had been Rhys's first command.

The boy stood, but kept to the other side of the cell. 'Feyre,' he murmured, cocking his head. The orb of faelight glazed the inky hair in silver. 'Fay-ruh,' he said again, drawing out the syllables as if he could taste them. At last, he straightened his head. ''Where did you go when you died?'

'A question for a question,' I replied, as I'd been instructed over breakfast.
...
Rhys gave me a subtle nod, but his eyes were wary. Because what the boy had asked...

I had to calm my breathing to think- to remember.

But there was blood and death and pain and screaming- and she was breaking me, killing me so slowly, and Rhys was there, roaring in fury as I died. Tamlin begging for my life on his knees before her throne... But there was so much agony, and I wanted it to be over, wanted it all to stop-

Rhys had gone rigid while he monitored the Bone Carver, as if those memories were freely flowing past the mental shields I'd made sure were intact this morning. And I wondered if he thought I'd give up then and there.

I bunched my hands into fists.

I had lived; I had gotten out. I would get out today.

'I heard the crack,' I said. Rhys's head whipped toward me. 'I heard the crack when she broke my neck. It was in my ears, but also inside my skull. I was gone before I felt anything more than the first lash of pain.'

The Bone Carver's violet eyes seemed to glow brighter.

'And then it was dark. A different sort of dark than this place. But there was a... thread,' I said. 'A tether. And I yanked on it- and suddenly I could see. Not through my eyes, but- but his,' I said, inclining my head toward Rhys. I uncurled the finger of my tattooed hand. 'And I knew I was dead, and this tiny scrap was all that was left of me, clinging to the thread of our bargain.'

'But was there anyone there- were you seeing anything beyond?'

'There was only that bond in the darkness.'

Rhysand's face had gone pale, his mouth a tight line. 'And when I was Made anew,' I said, 'I followed that bond back- to me. I knew that home was on the other end of it. There was light then. Like swimming up through sparkling wine-'

'Were you afraid?'

'All I wanted was to return to- to the people around me. I wanted it badly enough I didn't have room for fear. The worst had happened and the darkness was calm and quiet. It did not seem like a bad thing to fade into. But I wanted to go home. So I followed the bond home.'

'There was no other world,' the Bone Carver pushed.

'If there was or is, I did not see it.'

'No light, no portal?'

Where is it that you want to go? The question almost leaped off my tongue. 'It was only peace and darkness.'

'Did you have a body?'

'No.'

'Did-'

'That's enough from you,' Rhysand purred- the sound like velvet over sharpest steel. 'You said a question for a question. Now you've asked...' He did a tally on his fingers. 'Six.'

The Bone Carver leaned back against the wall and slid to a sitting position. 'It is a rare day when I meet someone who comes back from true death. Forgive me for wanting to peer behind the curtain.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“I was about to beg Rhys to fly me home when I caught the strands of music pouring from a group of performers outside a restaurant.

My hands slackened at my sides. A reduced version of the symphony I'd heard in a chill dungeon, when I had been so lost in terror and despair that I'd hallucinated- hallucinated as this music poured into my cell- and kept me from shattering.

And once more, the beauty of it hit me, the layering and swaying, the joy and peace.

They had never played a piece like it Under the Mountain- never this sort of music. And I'd never heard music in my cell save for that one time.

'You,' I breathed, not taking my eyes from the musicians playing so skilfully that even the diners had set down their forks in the cafe nearby. 'You sent that music into my cell. Why?'

Rhysand's voice was hoarse. 'Because you were breaking. And I couldn't find another way to save you.'

The music swelled and built. I'd seen a palace in the sky when I'd hallucinated- a place between sunset and dawn... a house of moonstone pillars. 'I saw the Night Court.'

He glanced sidelong at me. 'I didn't send those images to you.'

I didn't care. 'Thank you. For everything- for what you did. Then... and now.'

'Even after the Weaver? After this morning with my trap for the Attor?'

My nostrils flared. 'You ruin everything.'

Rhys grinned, and I didn't notice if people were staring as he slid an arm under my legs, and shot us both into the sky.

I could learn to love it. I realised. The flying.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“I had done everything- everything for that love. I had ripped myself to shreds, I had killed innocents and debased myself, and he had sat beside Amarantha on that throne. And he couldn't do anything, hadn't risked it- hadn't risked being caught until there was one night left, and all he'd wanted to do wasn't free me, but fuck me, and-
...
And when Amarantha had broken me, when she had snapped my bones and made my blood boil in its veins, he'd just knelt and begged her. He hadn't tried to kill her, hadn't crawled for me. Yes, he'd fought for me- but I'd fought harder for him.
...
And he had the nerve once his powers were back to shove me into a cage. The nerve to say I was no longer useful; I was to be cloistered for his peace of mind. He'd given me everything I'd needed to become myself, to feel safe, and when he got what he wanted- when he got his power back, his lands back... he stopped trying. He was still good, still Tamlin, but he was just... wrong.

And then I was sobbing through my clenched teeth, the tears washing away that infected wound, and I didn't care that Cassian was there, or Rhys or Azriel.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“And the blood on my hands felt different from what it had been like Under the Mountain. This blood... I savoured. Blood for blood. Blood for every drop they'd spilled of his.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“It is no waste,' I said. 'One life may change the world. Where would you all be if someone had deemed saving my life to be a waste of time?' I pointed to Rhys. 'If he had deemed saving my life Under the Mountain a waste of time? Even if it's only twenty families, or ten... They are not a waste. Not to me- or to you.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin

“I'm not going to learn to read or shield with you.'

'Why? From spite? I thought you and I got past that Under the Mountain.'

'Don't get me started on what you did to me Under the Mountain.'

Rhys went still.

As still as I'd ever seen him, as still as the death now beckoning in those eyes. Then his chest began to move, faster and faster.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“And will I still be bound by this bargain at Nynsar, too?'

Silence.

I pushed. 'After- after what happened-' I couldn't mention specifics on what had occurred Under the Mountain, what he'd done for me during the fight with Amarantha, what he'd done after- 'I think we can agree that I owe you nothing, and you owe me nothing.'

His gaze was unflinching.

I blazed on. 'Isn't it enough that we're all free?' I splayed my tattooed hand on the table. 'By the end, I thought you were different, thought that it was all a mask, but taking me away, keeping me here...' I shook my head, unable to find the words vicious, clever enough to convince him to end this bargain.

His eyes darkened. 'I'm not your enemy, Feyre.'

'Tamlin says you are.' I curled the fingers of my tattooed hand into a fist. 'Everyone else says you are.'

'And what do you think?' He leaned back in his chair again, but his face was grave.

'You're doing a damned good job of making me agree with them.'

'Liar,' he purred. 'Did you even tell your friends about what I did to you Under the Mountain?'

So that comment at breakfast had gotten under his skin. 'I don't want to talk about anything related to that. With you or them.'

'No, because it's much easier to pretend it never happened and let them coddle you.'

'I don't let them coddle me-'

'They had you wrapped up like a present yesterday. Like you were his reward.'

'So?'

'So?' A flicker of rage, then it was gone.

'I'm ready to be taken home,' I merely said.

'Where you'll be cloistered for the rest of your life, especially once you start punching our heirs. I can't wait to see what Ianthe does when she gets her hands on them.'

'You don't seem to have a particularly high opinion of her.'

Something cold and predatory crept into his eyes. 'No, I can't say that I do.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“That girl who had needed to be protected, who had craved stability and comfort... she had died Under the Mountain. I had died, and there had been no one to protect me from those horrors before my neck snapped. So I had done it myself. And I would not, could not, yield that part of me that had awoken and transformed Under the Mountain. Tamlin had gotten his powers back, had become whole again- become that protector and provider her wished to be.

I was not the human girl who needed coddling and pampering, who wanted luxury and easiness. I didn't know how to go back to craving those things. To being docile.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“I didn't see you Under the Mountain,' I said instead. I had to know without a doubt- if they were there, if they'd seen me, if it'd impact howI interacted while working with-

Silence fell. None of them, even Amren, looked at Rhysand.

It was Mor who said, 'Because none of us were.'

Rhys's face was a mask of cold. 'Amarantha didn't know they existed. And when someone tried to tell her, they usually found themselves without the mind to do so.'

A shudder went down my spine. Not at the cold killer, but- but... 'You truly kept this city, and all these people, hidden from her for fifty years?'

Cassian was staring at his plate, as if he might burst out of his skin.

Amren said, 'We will continue to keep this city and these people hidden from our enemies for a great many more.'

Not an answer.

Rhys hadn't expected to see them again when he'd been dragged Under the Mountain. Yet he had kept them safe, somehow.

And it killed them- the four people at this table. It killed them all that he'd done it, however he'd done it. Even Amren.

Perhaps not only for the fact that Rhys had endured Amarantha while they had been here. Perhaps it was also for those left outside of the city, too. Perhaps picking one city, one place, to shield was better than nothing. Perhaps... perhaps it was a comforting thing, to have a spot in Prythian that remained untouched. Unsullied.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“Every year that I was Under the Mountain and Starfall came around, Amarantha made sure that I... serviced her. The entire night. Starfall is no secret, even to outsiders- even the Court of Nightmares crawls out of the Hewn City to look up at the sky. So she knew... She knew what it meant to me.'

I stopped hearing the celebrations around us. 'I'm sorry.' It was all I could offer.

'I got through it by reminding myself that my friends were safe, that Velaris was safe. Nothing else mattered, so long as I had that. She could use my body however she wanted. I didn't care.'

'So why aren't you down there with them?' I asked, even as I tucked the horror of what had been done to him into my heart.

'They don't know- what she did to me on Starfall. I don't want it to ruin their night.'

'I don't think it would. They'd be happy if you let them shoulder the burden.'

'The same way you rely on others to help with your own troubles?'

We started at each other, close enough to share breath.

And maybe all those words bottled up in me... Maybe I didn't need them right now.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“You were right,' Lucien declared at last. 'That girl I knew did die Under the Mountain.'

I wasn't sure if it was an insult. But I nodded all the same. 'At least we can agree on that.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin

“Yes, I’d say almost my entire court bet on you dying within the first minute; some said you’d last five, and”—she turned over the paper—“and just one person said you would win.” - Amarantha

.......

“You made me a lot of money, you know. I figured I would repay the favor.” - Rhysand”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses

“You,” I breathed, not taking my eyes from the musicians playing so skillfully that even the diners had set down their forks in the cafés nearby. “You sent that music into my cell. Why?”

Rhysand’s voice was hoarse. “Because you were breaking. And I couldn’t find another way to save you.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“Amarantha's court was the work of a child.

The Court of Nightmares was the work of a God.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury