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Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapters 15–28 Summary
This Aria Ashbrook Web of Vows and Vengeance chapter summary contains full spoilers.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 15
Rose arrives at the ball to find Zara glaring at her, burns still visible, with Zara’s brother beside her. Rose is grateful when Jai’s bluntness gives her an excuse to move on.
Jonas walks the group through some of the competitors: Grenda, the toughest knight, fighting to bring Grenda’s two sons home from the front; the Taros family, where the father wields fire and the women are healers; and Estel, a noblewoman whose sister was stripped of her status for falling pregnant outside the goddess Etta’s blessing. Jonas hints the official reason wasn’t the whole story but won’t say more in public.
Then King Korvane enters. Rose briefly considers killing him before forcing herself back to reason.
Suddenly, a drunk man cuts through the crowd and openly mocks the king for throwing a party while soldiers are dying at the border. King Korvane laughs off the insult and steers everyone toward a toast.
When the man turns around, Rose recognizes him from an encounter two nights earlier. Jonas identifies him as Prince Kyor. Rose is blindsided because Kyor used to have brown eyes. Jonas explains that Kyor had them changed after his mother’s death to match the queen’s exact shade. Those are the same eyes Rose watched as a child while standing beside her mother in the queen’s bedchamber. She’d been drawn to the man she holds responsible for destroying her family.
Kyor spots Rose glaring at him, meets her gaze without flinching, and walks toward her.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 16
Kyor approaches the group and hurls crude threats at Rose, implying that Rose won’t survive the trials and taunting her about Jonas and Benny. Benny defends Rose, and Rose notes that her new friends are making enemies on her behalf. Rather than snapping back, Rose waits, leans close to Kyor, and tells him she knows he lied and that his soul is doomed. Then Rose walks away and asks who wants to dance.
On the dance floor, Benny proposes that Rose formally work with him and his friends during the trials, and Rose agrees. When they return to the group, Llinos is frustrated about the confrontation, but Benny shrugs it off. Rose asks Jonas if he wants in too, and Jonas says he needs time to think it over.
Loch and Coulter arrive with updates. The Rowells pressured the healers into restoring Zara in time for the ball, and the healers are now badly drained. Loch shares a rumour that Prince Kyor got a competitor’s sister pregnant, after which the king stripped and banished her, and the child didn’t survive.
King Korvane then moves through the room toward their group. He dismisses Benny with a classist remark, implies that Rose has no business competing, and takes a dig at the goddess Etta. Rose pushes back, so King Korvane conjures flames in his palm as a threat. He then warns Jonas that Jonas’s father’s wards could be in danger if Jonas keeps siding with Rose, and King Korvane moves on.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 17
Rose watches Kyor leave the ball, still unsettled by her unwanted attraction to him. Not long after, an unknown woman bumps into Rose from behind and spits out an insult. Rose decides she’s seen enough and heads out.
Jonas walks Rose back to her room and offers to cast a protective ward on her door. Rose accepts, and the two flirt a little. Jonas gives Rose a light kiss on the cheek before saying goodnight.
Rose can’t sleep. The noise from the floors below and Rose’s anxiety about the upcoming trials keep her awake until she finally gives up and sneaks out to the battle yard to test her aim with her new dagger. She gets sidetracked by a weapons cabinet and picks up a double-ended blade out of curiosity. Then Kyor’s voice comes from behind her, and Rose realizes she’s completely alone with him and has nothing to protect herself with.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 18
While sneaking around at night, Rose stumbles into Kyor near a weapons cabinet. She thinks about killing him but talks herself out of it. Kyor notices that several weapons are missing from the cabinet, and Rose provokes him by bringing up a painful memory involving their mothers.
Kyor shoves Rose against the cabinet and grabs her by the throat. Rose draws a hidden dagger and presses it to his chest. Neither of them backs down until they settle on an uneasy truce because the trial goddess Etta gives them both a reason not to kill the other. Kyor leaves, telling Rose to pass along the message that whoever took the missing blades should return them.
The next morning, Rose paints her battle sigils on her face and heads to the yard for the inauguration. She falls in with a group of fellow Rettlings and spots that one of them, Jai, is carrying a blade that matches exactly what Kyor described as stolen. Rose keeps quiet about the stolen blade. She waves over a lone Rettling named Estel, and Jonas joins the group as well.
When carriages arrive to take them to the Sunken Temple, Rose climbs in and notices a raven perched on the wall, staring directly at her.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 19
The group travels by carriage to the Sunken Temple for the blood vow. Jonas keeps offering Rose unsolicited advice about the ceremony, which irritates Jai and adds to the group’s tension. Estel makes things worse with a pointed remark about Rose’s father, a bastard-born noble whom Estel implies married beneath his station. The carriage goes quiet after that.
Once arriving underground, the Rettlings gather in a vast cave beside a pale blue lake so still it looks like glass. Rose climbs a rocky outcrop on the cave wall to get a better view.
Two commanders address the group. Zelle does most of the talking and makes the temple’s rules clear. The most important rule is that anyone who speaks inside will have their lips stitched shut and spend a year imprisoned for every word spoken. Coulter shakes at this.
Zara loudly questions why neither commander entered the trials, and Zelle shuts Zara down before moving things along.
When Rose climbs back down, Holden corners her. He makes no secret of his resentment toward Rose’s parents and is openly hostile, going as far as to hint that he hopes Rose won’t survive the trials. Jonas catches the end of the exchange, but Rose plays the confrontation down, and they move on.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 20
Rose and the other Rettlings enter a circular temple surrounded by rows of marble seats. As priestesses perform a stamping ritual, noble spectators teleport into the seats in complete silence, filling the tiers level by level. Among the priestesses, Rose spots Mila, the woman who once stripped Rose of her powers and now apparently serves as High Priestess.
Mila opens the ceremony with an announcement that surprises everyone. Only one Rettling will receive the gifting. The blood offering then begins, and each Rettling steps onto a raised dais, where a priestess drives a dagger through the back of their hand. Rose recognizes the blade as identical to one Dinah gave her, and she catches Kyor noticing the same thing.
When Jai steps onto the dais, something goes wrong. His wound bleeds far more heavily than the others’ wounds, and he can barely make it back before collapsing face down in the sand.
Coulter, who looks up to Jai, breaks the required silence in his grief and keeps talking despite the danger, pleading with the priestesses as they drag him away. Rose can do nothing but watch as Coulter’s word count climbs toward a punishment that could outlast his entire life.
The ceremony continues regardless, and after Kyor takes his turn without any complications, Rose hears her own name called.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 21
Rose gets through the dagger ritual and is officially accepted into the trials. While she’s on the dais, she spots her sister Kay in the crowd. Kay looks clean and well-dressed, which is a huge relief. Three other Rettlings, including Jai, don’t make it through the ceremony and die.
The carriage ride back is tense and heavy. The group mourns Jai and worries about Coulter, who faces a harsh punishment because of the number of words he spoke at the temple. Back at the High Hold, Rose notices that her hand has healed much faster than everyone else’s, though she plays it down.
Instead of going to the healers, Rose sneaks down to the kitchens to look for a back route to the library. She wants to research her priestess-gifted dagger before she risks using it. There, she runs into Kyor. After a brief, prickly exchange, Kyor tells her she can reach the library through the guards’ temple.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 22
Rose heads to the guards’ temple on Kyor’s tip, skeptical of his motives but following through anyway. Inside, she runs into Commander Zelle, who recognizes her as the daughter of her parents. He speaks of Rose’s parents with warmth and respect, offers her private training sessions, and directs her to a door near the altar of Aitara that leads down to the library.
Once there, Rose overhears an elderly blind man named Rohan dictating to a scribe. Rohan’s story involves a god called Sanrott who stole the magical gifts of a people known as the Sannings. Rose dismisses the story as blasphemous nonsense and steps into view, giving the scribe, Caroline, a welcome excuse to wrap things up.
The two women introduce themselves, and Caroline mentions that some of her friends from the Eastern Isles may have entered the Retterheld. Rose’s reaction reveals that something terrible happened to the people from the Isles, and Caroline quickly drops the subject. Caroline then offers to spend the next two hours helping Rose search for information about the ceremonial dagger a priestess used earlier that day. Rose suspects the dagger was magically imbued.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 23
Rose returns from the library with books on the Retterheld trials and heads to the battle yard to train. Commander Zelle pulls her aside and tells her that knowing herself, her fears, her limits, and her strengths is the best preparation she can do.
Shortly after, Jonas arrives with news that Jonas’s father has brought Kay to court. Rose is relieved. She’d already spotted Kay watching during the vows ceremony and had been second-guessing herself about it.
After a hostile exchange with Kyor at the weapons rack, Rose spends the rest of the day training with Jonas. Three gruelling days of training with Zelle follow, and by the fourth morning, Rose is barely keeping pace.
At breakfast, Llinos notices that Rose is reading and asks what she’s reading. Rose explains that she’s been tracking down information about a knife she received when she joined the Retterheld because the knife looks exactly like the blade the High Priestess used during the blood vow.
Llinos mentions wanting to visit the library, so Rose offers to take her to meet a librarian named Caroline. When Rose describes Caroline, Llinos goes quiet and tense. Rose suddenly remembers that Caroline had asked about any Rettlings from the Eastern Isles and realizes that Caroline and “Caz” might be the same person. Rose tells Llinos they need to go right now.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 24
Llinos, Benny, and Rose head to the library after realizing that Caroline might be there. Llinos races ahead, calling out for Caroline, and the two are reunited in an emotional moment that leaves Rose guilty for not making the connection sooner. Benny reassures Rose that it’s fine, and Rose and Benny slip away to give Llinos and Caz time together.
The rest of the morning is spent in the battle yard, where Rose and Benny work through the strengths and weaknesses of the other competitors. Benny is honest about how outmatched Rose is, though not unkindly, and together they try to map out where Rose might have a fighting chance and where she simply needs to run.
Kyor eventually shows up and challenges Zelle to a spar. The whole yard grinds to a halt to watch. Kyor controls the fight throughout, lets Zelle believe he has an opening, and then knocks Zelle flat and puts a sword to his throat. The question shifts from whether Kyor is a genuine contender to whether anyone can touch him at all.
Zara steps forward to ask Kyor to train her. Kyor declines and, to everyone’s surprise, tells Rose that he’d rather train her instead.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 25
Rose arrives for an early morning training session with Zelle and finds Kyor waiting, shirtless in the cold. Zelle has brought Kyor in to help Rose with her stance and balance. Kyor physically corrects Rose’s positioning throughout the session, and though the tension between them never settles, Rose ends the session stronger than she started.
The following week blurs together with training, reading, and sleep. At dinner with Benny and Llinos, the group vents about Holden, who belittles Rose during training sessions. Llinos raises the idea of Rose moving into their dorm, but Rose puts it off. The conversation drifts toward Rose’s unresolved situation with Jonas, which she can’t make sense of either.
The meal is cut short when Seiren has one of her episodes and floods the dining hall with a forest illusion. Jonas appears beside Rose and mentions that the knights are saying the first trial is only a few days away. On Jonas’s advice, Rose heads to bed early.
Rose is jolted awake in the dark by a magical alarm and knows the trial has started. She rushes downstairs and finds Jonas already there. Jonas brings up why she hasn’t moved into Llinos’s dorm, and Rose discovers he nudged Llinos to ask her. They argue briefly before Llinos and Caroline arrive, and the group turns its attention to what’s ahead.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 26
The Rettlings wake early, gather in the dining hall, and climb into carriages for the journey to their first trial. During the ride, Benny and Jonas disagree over where they’re headed. Rose dozes off against Jonas and sleeps for most of the trip.
Rose wakes to find Benny and Jonas still bickering. Benny is certain they’re headed for the coast, while Jonas suspects Afaven Forest. The argument ends when Loch grows distressed and mutters that he can’t hear something he should be able to hear. He also admits that he isn’t sure he can face whatever is waiting for the group. The others do their best to calm Loch as the carriages pull to a stop.
Before Rose can get out, Jonas holds her back. He asks Rose to promise that she won’t do anything reckless during the trial and that she’ll put her own survival first, even if it means letting the others carry the danger instead. Rose disagrees, but before she can respond, he kisses her. Llinos knocks on the door a moment later and tells them it’s time to get out because the trial is about to begin.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 27
The Rettlings arrive at a beach and find nine enormous jötnar waiting for them. High Priestess Mila explains the rules. The Rettlings must stay alive for thirty minutes, and anyone who permanently takes down a jötunn earns a free pass out of the second trial.
The moment everyone steps onto the sand, the jötnar charge. Magic flies from every direction but barely registers as an inconvenience to creatures that size, and Rettlings who try to run just end up swatted aside.
Rose, Jonas, Benny, Llinos, Loch, and Estel decide to stay together and pick a target. Benny, who can see weaknesses, steers the group toward the largest jötunn, arguing that its damaged legs make it safer to fight than it appears. They go after it as a group.
It doesn’t go well. Jonas tries to disorient the jötunn with his powers, which only makes the jötunn angrier. The jötunn swings out, catches Estel, and sends her crashing to the sand, where she lies motionless. Time is running out, and the group’s approach clearly isn’t working.
That’s when Rose has an idea. She knows she can throw knives, and she can climb. She realizes the jötunn itself might be the solution she’s been looking for.
Web of Vows and Vengeance Chapter 28
Rose scrambles up the jötunn’s body, grabbing whatever handholds she can find on its skin. She almost loses her footing halfway up but recovers and keeps climbing. Time is against her, and the rest of the crew are getting badly hurt, so she pushes on until she reaches the jötunn’s shoulders.
From there, Rose plunges her dagger into the creature’s neck and hauls downward with everything she has. The wound is serious but not enough to drop the jötunn immediately, so Rose lets go and falls. Llinos catches Rose in midair with her magic, and Rose hits the sand hard but in one piece.
Benny takes advantage of the weakened giant and attacks the jötunn’s stomach from the outside. The jötunn topples and nearly crushes Rose, but Jonas throws himself at her and knocks her clear.
Then a second jötunn bears down on the group, and Benny has vanished. Jonas blinds the creature while Rose stabs its thigh and draws it toward the shoreline. Llinos pushes the jötunn into the waves, but both Llinos and Jonas are burning through the last of their magic and are close to collapse.
The sand timer saves the group. Every jötunn stops moving at once, and the trial is officially over. Rose is alive, but Benny is still nowhere to be found.