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Vows of Blood and Deception Chapters 11–20 Summary
This Aria Ashbrook Vows of Blood and Deception chapter summary contains full spoilers.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 11
Rose settles Ruben in her room, then slips away to the orangery. Her magic draws her to a cluster of plants she recognizes as containing the same ingredients as the health tonic her mother made Rose and Kay drink growing up. The tonic was never about their health. It had been suppressing their magic all along. Rose wonders whether she could take it again, but Dinah’s warning stops her. What has already awakened in Rose can’t safely be put back to sleep.
Back in the kitchen, Rose finds Kay, Jonas, and William and tells them everything Dinah shared. Kay confirms that she kept taking the tonic while Rose was away, which comes as a relief. William then reaches for his glass of water and freezes it solid. He says he’s had Issen magic since childhood but kept it to himself, too frightened to tell anyone. William also mentions finding a portrait of their father and says that seeing his own face reflected in it made him certain he is their brother.
Rose asks whether William can teach her to control her powers, but he says he can only chill a drink. What Rose can do is something else entirely.
On her way to the library, Rose spots Kyor with another woman on his arm. She freezes. Kyor notices Rose, and the sky immediately darkens and breaks into a downpour. Things turn worse when Rose slips on the wet stones and the woman makes a pointed remark about Rose’s father. Kyor glances back but keeps walking.
Rose holds herself together long enough to reach the library, where she breaks down in an empty aisle. Caz finds Rose there and takes her somewhere quieter to talk.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 12
Rose breaks down in tears, and Caz takes her back to Caz’s private dorm room. Rose tells Caz about Kyor and about Kay and Jonas secretly getting married. She then confesses that she believes she has Issen magic. Caz tells Rose that the king had all Issen texts destroyed long ago, leaving nothing useful behind.
With no way to learn how to control her powers, Rose accepts that she has to leave before she puts Kay in danger. Caz promises to bring Rose maps and forgives her for Llinos’s death.
Rose gets home late that night to find William still there. He asks whether she’s made up her mind about their mother. Rose tells him she has, but she needs William’s permission before she can move forward.
Rose’s plan is to bind her closest friends to secrecy through a blood vow so she can safely tell them the truth. She brings Benny, Caz, and Ruben together and makes clear they can walk away, no questions asked. All three agree without hesitation. They complete the ritual, and Rose seals it by placing a written note into the bowl of combined blood. She then turns to the group and introduces William, revealing that he’s also known as Florian, her brother, and that his very existence is treasonous enough to require a magical oath to protect it.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 13
After introducing her long-lost brother William to her closest allies, Rose reveals that their family carries Issen blood on their mother’s side, which explains the strange powers Rose displayed during the trials.
The mood shifts when Benny notices William flinching in pain. Under pressure, William lifts his shirt to reveal that frost-like markings have spread across his stomach, and Benny warns the group that the markings are still growing.
Rose announces she plans to travel north along the Hirathean Path to find the Issen, believing they’re the only ones who can help her control her magic and slow whatever’s happening to William. She plans to pass off her absence as a religious pilgrimage.
Jonas argues Rose should simply lie low in the house, but the idea of confinement triggers Rose, and her magic surges out of control, causing the plants around the room to overgrow violently. The outburst settles Jonas’s argument more effectively than words could.
Ruben and Caz agree to join Rose for the full journey, and Benny offers to travel with her as far as Galreck. Rose refuses to bring William, knowing that his presence on the road would risk exposing his identity to the king. Rose asks Kay and Jonas to stay and keep up appearances. Kay leaves the room clearly hurt, and Rose commits to departing soon.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 14
Jonas finds Rose alone in her father’s study and asks her to hold off on leaving until after the ball, when Kay and Jonas’s marriage will be publicly announced. Rose agrees, though purely out of love for her sister. She also makes Jonas promise to bring William into the house once Rose is gone, and he agrees without hesitation. The conversation ends with Jonas sheepishly admitting he can’t exactly sleep at his father’s house if he wants the marriage to look convincing, so Rose arranges a guest room for him.
The next morning, Kay is in high spirits and has already sorted out the family’s outfits with Jonas, landing on cornflower blue for everyone. Rose gets fitted for a dress alongside her sister and genuinely tells Kay she looks beautiful. The two share a moment of sadness over their mother’s ring, which Kay lost during the trials.
Kay then confronts Rose over her poorly hidden cynicism toward both the ball and the marriage. Kay insists she isn’t naive but simply choosing to look forward, and she reminds Rose that Jonas may realistically be the only partner Kay will ever have. Rose concedes she was wrong, and the two make up. Rose suggests they dig through their mother’s jewellery box to find something for both sisters to wear at the ball.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 15
Rose spends her final hours before departure preparing herbal tonics and potions in the orangery. While she works, William shows up and asks whether she’ll teach him about plants and herbalism, wanting to connect with something their mother used to do. Rose happily agrees, and the two spend the time harvesting plants and making tonics together.
As they work, William asks about their father. Rose tells him about their father’s difficult beginnings as an unacknowledged son who was only brought into the family when his power made him useful. She explains how their father became a charismatic and formidable wind weaver despite never quite being accepted. She also tells William honestly that their father never recovered from the grief of believing William had died.
William feels guilty hearing that, but Rose reassures him it was never his fault. She steers the conversation back toward lighter ground, and they keep working, eventually brewing a small batch of arrowroot tonic at William’s request.
Near the end, William brings up Rose’s upcoming journey and asks her to bring him back one of the Torailians’ legendary arrows if she happens to encounter them. She promises she will.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 16
Kay comes downstairs dressed for the ball, looking beautiful, and Rose tells her so. Kay mentions that Rose will need to formally present Kay to the king, catching Rose off guard, but Rose agrees.
At the ball, Rose spots William across the room but holds back when she notices Artur approaching him. Since William hasn’t told Artur that he knows the truth about his parentage, Rose can’t publicly acknowledge their real connection. She finds Benny instead, who delivers the unwelcome news that since the king isn’t there, Kyor is representing his father, which means Rose will have to present Kay to him.
Kyor walks straight over to Rose. They keep things formal on the surface, but the tension between them is obvious. Benny steps in and steers the conversation toward the announcement before things go further.
Shortly after, Kyor takes to the dais and announces the marriage of Jonas and Kay, then asks who’s presenting the bride. Rose steps forward and gives her full title. The court is surprised that Jonas and Acacia are already married rather than engaged, and whispers about the reasons why spread around the room.
When the toast comes, Jonas kisses Kay far more passionately than Rose expected, and she struggles to hide her discomfort. Benny quietly tells Rose to smile. Kyor then appears at Rose’s side and asks her to dance.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 17
Kyor corners Rose into honoring a dance she once promised him. Rose agrees to one dance and nothing more. When another man asks her to dance next, Kyor dismisses him as if the decision belongs to Kyor. Rose calls him out, gives him a pointed curtsey she knows he hates, and walks away.
Just after midnight, Rose gathers her siblings and Jonas in a back room to say her goodbyes before leaving on a dangerous journey north. She asks Jonas to keep her family safe, holds her brother and pregnant sister for as long as she dares, and forces herself to walk out before she loses her nerve. Benny, Caz, and Ruben are already waiting outside on horseback.
Riding through the city and into the slums, Rose hears a child shout her name. Residents rally around her, chanting her name as one of their own. She notices hungry children in the crowd and passes her food pack to her neighbor Corem to distribute. Benny, Caz, and Ruben follow her lead, and the group rides out significantly lighter.
The group stops briefly to rest the horses. Caz turns out to be a surprisingly capable hunter and brings back rabbits for the group to eat. After breaking camp, the group pushes north until the horses bolt in a panic. Rose looks up to find Kyor stepping out from the trees. He has tracked the group from the city.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 18
Kyor shows up out of nowhere, and Rose is furious. He tells her he never left her willingly and that the redhead Rose saw him with was simply a new courtier his father had asked him to show around.
Then Kyor explains what happened with Thea. His father had secretly conspired with Thea to spike Kyor’s drink with an infatuation potion, hoping to push him into a relationship that would produce an heir. When Kyor uncovered the plot, he confronted Thea directly, and his father had her banished to hide his own involvement.
Rose sympathizes but tells Kyor it changes nothing. He lied about Rose’s mother and chose his crown over Rose when it mattered. Kyor admits he can’t fully explain his reasons, and Rose realizes he’s bound by some vow that prevents him from saying more.
Kyor also reveals that he knows Rose is heading to the Issen to understand her ice magic. Since his father is sending him north anyway, Kyor offers to join the group. Before Rose can refuse, Benny returns with bad news. Rose’s horse had to be put down, leaving the group one short.
Without hesitation, Kyor says that Rose will ride with him. Rose declines and chooses to ride with Ruben instead. When Kyor realizes that Ruben has a history with Rose, he reacts badly, but Rose warns him off. Kyor rides ahead alone, and the group sets out. In the end, Rose rides with Benny.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 19
The group makes camp after a long day of riding, cold and hungry. Caz, Benny, and Ruben gave away their food to children in the slums, so the group is relying on what Kyor packed, which isn’t much. Elska eventually slips off into the trees to hunt.
After eating, Kyor forces Rose to train, warning her that the Issen poison their blades and that she needs to fight defensively rather than aggressively. He then turns his attention to Ruben, but their sparring falls apart after Ruben makes a pointed remark about Rose. The two men come to blows until Rose loses patience and unleashes a burst of ice magic that sends both men flying.
Elska comes back overnight with a deer, so the group wakes to a proper meal. The mood sours again when they start debating their route, and Rose suddenly slips into a vision where she’s soaring over a bare winter forest, watching fox-like creatures fight with spears before something unseen begins attacking Rose. The others drag her back to consciousness and find Caz in tears and Kyor clearly shaken.
With no further argument, the group agrees on Galreck and sets off.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 20
The group pauses at midday to rest the horses before pressing on through worsening snow. Rose shares a laugh with Ruben during the ride, and Kyor’s jealousy is plain to see.
Elska suddenly goes rigid and alert. An eerie silence falls over the forest, and the group realizes something is wrong. A pack of unbonded dire wolves emerges from the trees.
Kyor and Ruben go after the wolves with their swords while Elska throws herself into the fray as well. Rose tries using her plant magic to stop the wolves, but it does nothing, and her attempt to reason with the animals also falls flat. When one wolf squares up to attack Rose and Caz, Rose’s ice magic erupts beyond her control and freezes the ground around them. The opening created by the ice lets Benny take down one wolf with a dagger, and Kyor and Elska handle the rest.
Most of the pack retreats, but the scarred lead wolf charges at Rose. Kyor intercepts the wolf and runs it through with his sword at the same moment Rose’s magic seizes around it. The wolf dies, though Rose can’t say for certain which of them actually finished it.
Afterward, the group checks in with each other. Everyone is shaken but unhurt.