Jump to Chapter Recap of Vows of Blood and Deception: 1–10 | 11–20 | 21–30 | 31–40 | 51–60 // The Hirathean Path Book 1 Summary
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapters 41–50 Summary
This Aria Ashbrook Vows of Blood and Deception chapter summary contains full spoilers.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 41
Rose wakes beside Kyor and, despite Kyor’s preference to spend a slow day in bed recovering from his shoulder injury, pushes them to get moving. She sends Kyor out for food and supplies while she goes to find Caz.
At the library, Rose finds Caz asleep among books and half-finished maps. When Caz wakes, Caz mentions a book on the Sannings referencing ravens and three mysterious protectors, though the language is too archaic to translate. Rose slips the book into her bag before they leave.
Out on the street, Caz confirms that Caz is continuing the journey rather than staying in Galreck with Benny. Rose doesn’t bother hiding her relief. Rose and Caz make their way through a packed beer festival to the tavern where they planned to meet Kyor.
Benny is already inside, and he isn’t alone. The man across from Benny is missing an eyebrow, which matches the description Rose was given of Arle, the rebel Ryne warned her about. Rose pulls Benny aside in a panic and tells him Kyor is nearby and that guards are already hunting Arle in the city. Arle stays composed, introduces himself, and makes a point of noting how close Rose and Kyor are.
Before anyone can say anything more, a thunderclap shakes the building. Rose knows immediately, from the feeling it triggers in her, that Kyor has just walked through the door.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 42
Kyor walks in to find Rose with Benny and immediately realizes Benny is the man who bankrolled the plot that got Zelle killed. Rose manages to convince Kyor she had no part in it, and his fury lands squarely on Benny instead. Kyor kills Arle with a lightning strike and turns his attention to Benny next.
Rose puts herself between Kyor and Benny and begs Kyor to stand down. She argues that killing Benny won’t bring Zelle back and will only give the rebellion more fuel.
Benny then makes his own case, telling Kyor that Kyor’s father has gutted the Eastern Isles and that the rebellion is a direct consequence of that. Benny also admits that when they first learned Kyor was in the competition, Llin hoped he might be different from his father and open to negotiation. But Kyor proved too much like his father, and the Rettlings from the Eastern Isles gave up on that idea.
Rose drops to her knees and pleads one last time. Benny delivers a final pointed observation, noting that Kyor’s father didn’t even stop the celebrations to acknowledge Zelle’s death. It lands. Kyor spares Benny, not because he forgives him, but because Rose asked him to, and that turns out to be enough.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 43
Kyor walks out after learning the truth about Benny, and Rose falls apart. Caz helps Rose hold herself together while Benny, still reeling from the fact that he’s alive at all, tells Rose and Caz that he’ll travel with them the rest of the way as a way of repaying what Rose did for him.
Rose, Benny, and Caz gather their things and make their way to the stables, where Ruben has already sorted out three horses. Rose gives Ruben a quick version of what happened with Kyor, and the group rides out of Galreck without him.
On the far side of the city, the group finds the Sannings waiting near the forest. The Sannings mention offhandedly that the wolf is ready to go, and Rose assumes Kyor and Elska have both moved on without her. Then Rose notices Kyor in the dim light near the trees, still mounted on Elska. She tells him she didn’t think he’d stayed, and Kyor’s answer is clipped and cold. He’s there for now, and that’s all he’s willing to say.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 44
Rose wakes from a bad dream to find Caz on watch, her posture radiating despair. Rose sits beside Caz, gets the fire going again, and stays close. Eventually, Caz opens up about developing feelings for Thessa, though guilt over Llinos torments her. Rose reminds Caz that Llinos would only have wanted her to be happy, and Caz finds some peace in that.
The next day, the group rides north while Kyor and Thessa clash over the route. Kyor keeps to himself, still furious with Rose and Benny. By evening, the group realizes that the supplies are mostly soft fruit, and Kyor refuses to eat with the others and heads into the forest with Elska. Benny uses the moment to encourage Rose to join the rebellion, but Rose says it isn’t the right time.
Rose ends up taking two watches, unable to sleep until Kyor returns. When Kyor does, Rose offers him the pain tincture for his shoulder, and he accepts, though he makes clear that his feelings about what Rose did run a lot deeper than any physical injury.
The following day, the group settles on the western Rowell route. The Vypash port may be closed, and Rose killed Zara Duarte during the Retterheld, so Rose is unwelcome there. Nobody wants to tell Kyor, so Rose does it herself. Rose faces down Elska, who backs off, and Kyor speaks to Rose directly for the first time since their falling out. Rose takes it as a small but real step forward.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 45
The group has to navigate around Rowell, caught between a frozen lake and the Taron River. Kyor wants to take the lake route, but Caz, Ruben, and Benny push for the river. The argument threatens to drag on until Elska whines in obvious distress, and Kyor abruptly backs down and agrees to head for the river.
At camp that night, Rose helps Loch, whose magical hearing has been overwhelming him. She sterilizes moss into makeshift earplugs and channels a little magic into them. The earplugs work, and Loch gets some relief.
Afterward, Rose asks Kyor what’s wrong with Elska since Elska’s agitation is keeping everyone unsettled. Kyor admits that Elska seems to be sensing pain from somewhere or someone else, but she’s shutting him out, which frightens him.
Later, Ruben talks Kyor into handing over watch duty and getting thirty minutes of sleep. Kyor resists but eventually relents.
Come morning, Thessa leads the group to the river and suggests they fish while the tide is low. Suddenly, Rose is floored by a rush of terror that isn’t hers, a desperate dread of dying that belongs to someone else. Loch and Elska freeze at the same moment, all three locked onto the same point upriver. Kyor spots something, takes off running, and calls out a name in pure shock: Fen.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 46
The group spots a dire wolf named Fen trapped in the muddy bed of the Taron River with the tide closing in. Rose takes charge, sending Kyor to hold Elska back with his magic before wading into the freezing water with Benny guiding Rose’s steps from the bank. Rose keeps Fen’s head above the surface while growing a vine from a nearby tree.
Benny enters the river and loops the vine around Fen’s body, and Rose uses the last of her magic to fuse the vine into place. The group pulls hard from the bank, but the mud holds fast and Fen stays trapped.
Running out of options and energy, Rose clears the way for Kyor to act. Kyor calls lightning down onto a large tree, and as the tree falls, it drags the vines taut, finally wrenching Fen free.
Benny carries Rose to shore, but she has stopped shivering, a warning sign that the cold has pushed her to a dangerous point. Rose loses consciousness. The last thing she sees is Fen looking back at her, Fen’s eyes now ringed with white.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 47
Rose is freezing, and to revive her, Ruben uses his warming magic, which means Rose and Ruben have to be undressed under furs together while Rose’s clothes dry over a fire Kyor conjures. Kyor tolerates it despite his obvious jealousy. Benny makes a lighthearted complaint about being left out of the care and comfort, so Kyor pulls Benny into a brief, fierce hug before carrying Rose closer to the fire to rest.
When Rose wakes, Thessa gives her an herbal drink to ward off a fever. As her head clears, Rose realizes she has somehow bonded with Fen, which should’ve been impossible since Fen was already bonded to Zelle and was expected to die after losing Zelle. Fen tells Rose the gods saw her sacrifice and that he now believes he was travelling toward her all along.
The bond overwhelms Rose with shared emotions, and Kyor, drawing on his experience with new knights, talks her through how to create some mental distance from Fen without losing the connection.
Rose then asks Kyor if he’ll stay with her. Kyor admits he nearly lost her and can’t face that again, and he tells Rose he always will.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 48
The group wakes and gets ready to move out. Rose checks in with Fen through their bond, and he confirms that he’s well enough to travel. She then pulls Benny aside to discuss Loch, who’s still muttering to himself and clearly struggling. Rose and Benny agree to keep a close eye on him.
Kyor steps in to make Rose eat, noting that Rose’s hunger carries through to Fen via their bond. Elska has been cold toward Kyor after he used his magic to restrain her, but she eventually softens. Kyor then offers to let Rose ride with him on Elska.
Rose settles in comfortably until Fen makes his feelings known through the bond. Fen’s protest leads to an unexpected reveal. Elska is Fen’s mate, which is why Elska was so distressed when Fen nearly drowned. Kyor admits he already knew and had been waiting for the right moment to bring it up.
After learning the truth, Rose dismounts and tries to ride Fen instead. He agrees but makes her work for it, refusing to crouch while Rose scrambles onto his back. Once she’s up, Rose and Fen slowly find their footing. Rose discovers that the bond lets her feel Fen’s movements before they happen, making riding him far more intuitive than expected. She feels hopeful about what lies ahead for both of them.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 49
Rose is riding through the forest on her bonded dire wolf when her thoughts drift to the people she misses, and she accidentally slips into a vision. She finds herself above Wrohelm in bird form, where she spots Kay and Jonas waiting outside the palace for a royal ball. She gets close enough to hear Kay voice her worry about Rose before Jonas ends the conversation, and Rose notices that William is nowhere among the crowd.
Before Rose can look further, Fen’s voice breaks through, pulling her sharply back to reality.
Rose returns to find the group already under attack by Rottings. Fen urges her to dismount so he can fight without restraint, and the others scramble to hold their ground. Stide realizes they can use a nearby vätte hule to their advantage and leads a portion of the creatures toward it, with Benny going after her.
The rest of the group manages as best they can. Kyor rides in to pull Ruben clear when Ruben is knocked from his horse, and Rose draws on her green magic to snare the oncoming Rottings and buy everyone a moment to breathe.
It isn’t enough to stop the Rottings. When Rose reaches for her magic a second time, nothing comes. She knows immediately what that means. The Myrkr has found them.
Vows of Blood and Deception Chapter 50
The group is being overrun by Rottings while the Myrkr drains their magic. Rose notices that the creatures aren’t targeting the Sannings at all, and she notes it as something worth understanding.
When the Myrkr’s horse kicks Fen, Rose charges the Myrkr and drives her sword into its chest. The Myrkr then turns its attention directly to Rose, hitting her with what feels like a crushing psychic pressure. Her sword gets stuck in a Rotting, so she grabs the ceremonial dagger Dinah gave her.
Kyor covers Rose by locking blades with the Myrkr, and Rose uses the opening to drive the dagger into its chest. Instead of dying, the Myrkr starts laughing and speaking in strange, fragmented phrases. Its dark form peels away to reveal a blond man dressed in Sanning robes, with a priesthood mark on his forehead and a black feather at his throat. The man collapses, and his body disappears.
The moment the Myrkr falls, every Rotting drops dead. In the quiet that follows, Caz presses Thessa about what the creature actually was, calling it a vendari, a word meaning protector. Thessa refuses to engage, and when Rose tries to ask Thessa directly, Thessa simply walks away. Rose is left with the clear sense that the Sannings know far more than they’re willing to say.