“So you can’t eat normal food anymore—or are you too good for it?” A question and a challenge."
From here you can imagine the chaos that ensues. Feyre, a girl SO smart that Rhys taught her to interpret text using VERY intuitive methods, responds;
I laid my hand flat on the table. “I can eat, drink, fuck, and fight just as well as I did before. Better, even.”
Yes, she responds with something that has NOTHING to do with Nesta's criticism, which was about her table manners/behavior around food. In fact, it only confirms something we already know: fairies are superior even in simple abilities.
And it's not like Nesta is wrong to question such a thing, knowing how egos fairies are and if that applies to Feyre now.
"I had become too big for these rooms, for this fragile mortal life, too stained and wild and … powerful. And I was about to bring that permanently into their lives as well."
(It would be interesting if, by chance, arrogance were a natural faerie trait and Feyre had to fight against that nature, but no, it's just Feyre thinking she's too good for fragile human life. It has nothing to do with the fact that she turned into a fairy and that ended up changing her personality.)
And incredibly, it's Rhys who gives a coherent answer to Nesta's question and explains WHY Feyre behaved the way she did, since Feyre doesn't have the capacity to do so herself.
"Rhys didn’t so much as blink at me before he said evenly to Nesta, “If you ever come to Prythian, you will discover why your food tastes so different.”
Simple, without any fuss or fuss... I was even surprised. That's because Nesta doesn't have a crystal ball to know the problem is the different taste of the food, not Feyre's bad manners.
"Nesta looked down her nose at him. “I have little interest in ever setting foot in your land, so I’ll have to take your word on it.”
And here, everything goes wrong again, now with Cassian interfering, and obviously, blaming Nesta for Feyre going into the forest, saying that she was the one who let her go.
Strange, that's none of him business. And even if Feyre didn't defend it, we know she doesn't see it that way.
"I didn't think about my family's last name; I hadn't used it in years and years. Because, even when I had sacrificed myself and hunted for them, I didn't want my father's name—not when he sat by a fireplace and let us starve. Let me wander alone in the woods."
"Five years ago, when the money finally ran out, when my father still couldn't—didn't want to—move much, he didn't argue when I announced I was going hunting. My father didn't bother trying to get up from the chair by the fireplace, didn't bother lifting his face from the wood carving. He just let me into that deadly, terrifying woods that even the most experienced hunters feared." - ACOTAR
Continuing, Cassian even accuses Nesta of insulting his people by... I don't know, not wanting to set foot in Prythian?
"[C]"...So don’t expect me to sit here with my mouth shut while you sneer at her for a choice she did not get to make—and insult my people in the process.”
Nesta didn't insult his people... She doesn't even know they're Illyrian, but apparently, now Cassian considers himself part of the Fae people, even though he previously said they're just Illyrian. Disposable warriors that fly... Apparently, depending on the conversation, he presents himself as a Faerie, not an Illyrian.
[C] “Illyrians certainly aren’t High Fae. And grateful for that.” He tucked his black hair behind one ear: round, like mine had once been. “And we’re not inferior Fae, though some try to call us that. We’re just… Illyrians. Considered expendable air cavalry for the Night Court at best, brainless brutish soldiers at worst.”
Quotes taken from chapter 24 of A Court of Mist and Fury. Profile @snarkformysanity