A Court of Silver Flames (Ch 10–18): The Kiss That Almost Broke the House of Wind

#036: This week on A Novel Bunch, we’re diving into chapters 10–18 of A Court of Silver Flames— a stretch of chapters where Nesta finally eats, finally trains (kind of), makes a friend or two, pisses off everyone else, uncovers brutal new truths, and accidentally becomes besties with a sentient house.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

We open with Nesta’s slow, reluctant climb out of rock bottom: talking to the House (which is absolutely alive and absolutely over her nonsense), nightmare spirals, failed attempts at the 10,000 stairs, and the kind of sexual tension with Cassian that could power Velaris for a century. But when Cassian hits her with a quiet, devastating please, Nesta freezes — and the distance between them deepens.

Meals with Cassian and Azriel are a disaster, but something shifts after Cassian’s talk with Feyre. He tries again, offering Nesta training on her terms — no Windhaven spectators, just an hour on the rooftop and a bargain sealed between them. One lesson becomes two, breath work loosens her tongue, and she lets slip the first raw truths about her mother, her noise-filled mind, and the shame that stalks her.

Meanwhile, the library gives Nesta something she didn’t know she needed: Gwyn. A friend who doesn’t flinch, doesn’t judge, and carries trauma of her own from Sangravah. Between stolen books, whispered nightmares, Valkyrie lore, and protective stones, their bond becomes the first real light Nesta’s let in. And the House? It keeps rewarding her for it — romance novels, warm food, baths, and enough chocolate cake to fix anyone’s inner child.

Outside Velaris, the threat rises: Eris pushes for alliances, the human queens are scheming with something ancient and wrong, and Tamlin is brooding in beast form. Cassian and Rhys can feel the danger sharpening — and Nesta? She’s more tangled in it than she realizes.

But the moment that truly cracks these chapters open? Cassian telling Nesta he doesn’t judge her — and her admitting she’s never hated him. That, and that rooftop confession: “Your power is a song, and one I’ve waited a very, very long time to hear.” A line that shifts everything, even if neither of them dares say what it means yet.

Let’s get into it, Bunchies!