Both the Bone Carver and Lanthys were interested in Nesta, which is often used to backup Rhysand's claims that Nesta's power is Pure Death, but both mention how various elements of the earth itself recognized Nesta when she emerged from the Cauldron. Rock, darkness, sea, wind. My theory is that Nesta emerged with a connection to the Mother, the creator of their world, and that Nesta is a Death-Maiden, who have the ability to unbind the very fabric of life, of worlds. The power of creation and destruction. Life-Giver. World-Maker. Which is why the elements of their very world, and the ancient beings on it, recognized Nesta.
The Carver stroked the shard of bone in his palm, attention fixed upon a stone-faced Cassian. "What if I tell you what the rock and darkness and sea beyond whispered to me, Lord of Bloodshed? How they shuddered in fear, on that island across the sea. How they trembled when she emerged. She took something - something precious. She ripped it out with her teeth."
Cassian's golden-brown face had drained of color, his wings tucking in tight.
"What did you wake that day in Hybern, Prince of Bastards?"
My blood went cold.
"What came out was not what went in." A rasping laugh as the Carver laid the shard of bone on the ground beside him. "How lovely she is - new as a fawn and yet ancient as the sea. How she calls to you. A queen, as my sister once was. Terrible and proud; beautiful as a winter sunrise."
Rhys had warned me of the inmates' capacity to lie, to sell anything, to get free.
"Nesta," the Bone Carver murmured. "Nes-ta."
I squeezed Cassian's hand. Enough. It was enough of this teasing and taunting. But he didn't look at me.
"How the wind moans her name. Can you hear it, too? Nesta. Nesta. Nesta."
I wasn't sure Cassian was breathing.
"What did she do, drowning in the ageless dark? What did she take?"
The "rock and darkness" represent primordial, ancient forces, and I don't think they fear Nesta. I think they revere her.
But it struck true, somehow. Lanthys's skin drained of color. "It is not possible." He looked to the Harp beside a stirring Cassian, and his eyes widened again. "We heard about you down here. You are the one the sea and the wind and the earth whispered of." He shuddered. "Nesta." He grinned, showing teeth slightly too long. "You took from the Cauldron itself."
Lanthys halted his retreat. And extended a broad, graceful hand. "You do not even know what you could do. Come. I shall show you." He smiled again with those too-long teeth, turning his face from beauty to horror with a quirk of his lips. "Come with me, Queen of Queens, and we shall return what was once lost." The words were a lullaby, a honeyed promise. "We shall rebuild to what we were before the golden legions of the Fae cast off their chains and overthrew us. We shall resurrect the Wild Hunt and ride rampant through the night. We shall build palaces of ice and flame, palaces of darkness and starlight. Magic shall flow untethered again."
Just like Death-Maiden powers are opposites (creation and destruction/life and death/healing and unhealing/Making and Unmaking), Lanthys makes sure to mention the opposites of what Nesta could do: Build palaces of ice and flame/darkness and starlight.
Nesta's not a being to be feared; she's a Death-Maiden to be revered.
