Carved into the Red Mountain · The Night Court
House of Wind
“Cassian sat on the flat top of the mountain in which the House of Wind had been built, peering down into the open-air training ring beneath him. The stars glinted overhead. Below, Velaris was a golden sparkle, accented along the Sidra with a rainbow of color.”
A Court of Silver Flames
A fortress hewn from the living crimson rock above Velaris, crowned in gold at night — Rhysand's official seat, the Court of Dreams' war room, and a sentient House that warms the floor for the broken.
Ten thousand steps below the city. A library that goes down into the dark. A training ring open to the stars.
At a glance
The House of Wind
The place
A mountain crowned in gold
The House of Wind is carved directly into the upper reaches of the middle and largest of the red, flat-topped mountains that rise along the northern edge of Velaris. Its halls share the deep crimson hue of the rock they are cut from; broad balconies, gilded with golden lanterns, look out over the Sidra far below. At night, with golden light pouring through the windows hewn high in the summit, the whole peak looks as though it has been crowned in gold. It is Rhysand's official residence — distinct from the private Velaris townhouse — and the headquarters of his Inner Circle, the Court of Dreams: a place of war rooms with black tables and mirrors, dining halls built long enough to seat Illyrian wings, and a rooftop open to the stars.
The defenses
Ten thousand steps
The House is very nearly impregnable. Ten thousand stairs rise from the streets of Velaris to its doors — steep, narrow, spiral, each a foot high, with only the occasional slitted window to offer a breath of air and a glimpse of progress. The whole ascent is warded against winnowing, so there are only three ways to the summit: fly, drop dangerously from a winnow onto a balcony, or climb. In A Court of Silver Flames those steps become the ladder of Nesta Archeron's recovery — defeated by them at first, she conquers them at last, Cassian waiting at the top.
What lives beneath
The Library and the dark
Far below the House, a vast multi-level Library extends down into the mountain — polished red stone floors, shelves carved into the rock or built of dark wood, reading alcoves lit by glass lamps and warmed by stone hearths. It is a sanctuary, gifted to priestesses who survived violence; three dozen and more live and work there under the head priestess Clotho. At its heart a great black pit descends into darkness — once the dwelling of Bryaxis, the creature of nightmares Feyre bargained with. The lower levels grow stranger the deeper they go; on the seventh, the darkness still whispers. And the House itself is awake: it fetches books, lays out meals, reconfigures the training ring overnight, and — sensing Nesta's fear of fire — warms the floor instead of lighting a flame.
Landmarks
Within the House
The features that make the House of Wind itself.
From the page
The House of Wind
“The steep, narrow stairwell. Spiral stairs. Each a foot high. Ten thousand steps, around and around and around. Only the occasional slitted window to offer a breath of air and a glimpse of progress.”
A Court of Silver Flames
“Cassian sat on the flat top of the mountain in which the House of Wind had been built, peering down into the open-air training ring beneath him. The stars glinted overhead. Below, Velaris was a golden sparkle, accented along the Sidra with a rainbow of color.”
A Court of Silver Flames
“We're in a book. Our stories are worth telling.”
A Court of Silver Flames — Gwyn's Solstice gift