Divine Rivals Recap

Book facts

Forest goes to war, leaving Iris to support their mother

The gods Dacre and Enva are at war in western Cambria. After hearing Enva's call through music, Forest Winnow enlists to fight for her. He gives his younger sister Iris his trench coat and promises to write. Iris promises to look after their mother and stay in school.

Five months later, Forest has sent no letters. Their mother, Aster, has become dependent on alcohol and lost her job. Eighteen-year-old Iris has left school to support them by working at the Oath Gazette.

Iris wants the columnist promotion, but her wealthy colleague Roman Kitt wants it too. Their editor, Zeb Autry, restricts coverage of the war. Much of Oath treats the conflict as a distant problem rather than a threat to the city.

Iris's letters to Forest reach Roman instead

Iris writes to Forest on the Alouette typewriter she inherited from her grandmother. When she slips the pages under her wardrobe door, they disappear. She hopes this means they are reaching him.

The letters actually appear beneath Roman's wardrobe. He recognizes Iris from what she writes about the Gazette and keeps her letters. When he finally answers, he tells her he is not Forest but conceals his own identity.

They continue writing while competing at work. Roman eventually gives her the name Carver, his middle name. Iris shares worries with him that she does not share with Roman in person. He knows both sides of the relationship; she believes they are two different men.

Aster dies, and Iris leaves the Gazette

Roman's father arranges his engagement to Elinor Little, the daughter of a wealthy chemist. Roman does not want the marriage. His father also expects him to advance at the Gazette rather than pursue the literature studies he wanted.

Aster briefly promises Iris that she will do better, but then fails to come home. At work, Iris receives a notice about an unidentified woman killed by a tram. She goes to the station and identifies her mother's body.

Roman visits when Iris misses work, but she does not tell him what happened. Through their letters, he shares his own loss: his younger sister Del drowned while he was supposed to be watching her.

Zeb gives Roman the columnist job. Roman asks him to give Iris another chance because of her bereavement, but Zeb refuses. Iris resigns and decides to find Forest. Before leaving, she leaves one of Carver's letters unread in her room.

Iris becomes a war correspondent at Avalon Bluff

Helena Hammond hires Iris for the Inkridden Tribune and sends her west. Helena recognizes her typewriter as one of three Alouettes made so that a sick girl and her two friends could exchange letters without meeting. Iris's grandmother owned one; Roman's grandmother owned another. The third is in a museum.

Iris travels with fellow correspondent Thea Attwood, known as Attie. They stay at Marisol Torres's bed-and-breakfast in Avalon Bluff. Marisol's wife, Keegan, serves in Enva's army.

Marisol teaches them the sirens: hide from Dacre's hounds at night, remain still and out of sight during eithral attacks by day, and evacuate if the front collapses. The eithrals are flying creatures that drop bombs.

Iris interviews soldiers and writes letters for those too injured to write themselves. She asks about Forest and continues corresponding with Carver. The letters still arrive away from Oath, confirming that the typewriters provide the connection.

Roman follows Iris to the war

Roman sends Iris information about Dacre and Enva from his grandfather's mythology. The accounts describe Dacre forcing Enva to live below with him and Enva using music to put him to sleep. They raise doubts about the official history that all the gods were buried by humans.

After reading Iris's published reporting, Roman breaks off his engagement, quits the Gazette, and becomes a correspondent for the Tribune. His grandmother encourages him to choose his own future.

He reaches Avalon Bluff during an eithral alert. Iris runs into the field and makes him lie still so the creatures will not spot his movement. He moves into Marisol's house, next to her room.

They become closer through their work and morning runs, while Roman still writes as Carver. Attie also tells Iris that she plays the violin, an ambition interrupted when stringed instruments were confiscated because of fears about Enva's music.

Roman is wounded while reporting from the trenches

Roman writes a letter admitting that he is Carver. Before Iris can read it, they are taken to report on Lieutenant Lark's Sycamore Platoon. Iris puts the letter in her bag.

They spend several days in the trenches. When Dacre's army attacks, a grenade explodes near them. Roman protects Iris and takes shrapnel in his leg. Iris also loses Aster's gold locket, which contains a picture of her and Forest.

Iris gets Roman onto a lorry, then stays to help move other wounded soldiers. On the last lorry out, she holds Lark's hand as he dies. Roman undergoes surgery back at Avalon Bluff.

Iris learns Carver's identity and agrees to marry Roman

After returning from the trenches, Iris reads the letter and learns that Roman is Carver. She confronts him in the infirmary. He says his feelings and everything he wrote to her were real, but she needs time to deal with his deception.

Iris rereads the letters and eventually reconciles with him. After Roman leaves the infirmary, a joking proposal becomes serious. He reads his letter aloud to her, and she accepts his marriage proposal.

The evacuation siren interrupts their plans. Keegan arrives with retreating soldiers and news that Forest survived his original injuries and was reported serving with another force. Iris believes he may reach Avalon Bluff and decides to stay. Roman stays with her despite his injured leg.

The wedding takes place before Dacre's attack

With Dacre's army approaching, Keegan helps prepare the town's defense and teaches Iris and Attie to drive a lorry. Someone steals emergency packs and one of Roman's correspondent uniforms.

Iris scatters Aster's ashes in a field. Roman, Attie, Marisol, and Keegan arrange a wedding in Marisol's garden. Iris and Roman marry and spend the night together.

They wake to bombing. During a pause, the group goes out to help the injured. A second attack drops gas canisters, and Iris and Roman become separated.

Forest takes Iris away and leaves Roman behind

A masked man wearing Roman's stolen uniform takes Iris into the fields. She initially thinks he is Roman, then notices he runs without Roman's limp. When she sees Roman struggling after them, the masked man reveals himself as Forest.

Iris tries to return to Roman, but Forest forces her away. When they later search the captured town and fields, they cannot find him. Forest takes Iris back toward Oath.

Iris discovers that Forest has the locket she lost in the trenches. He explains that he was badly wounded while fighting for Enva and left behind during an evacuation. Dacre healed him and compelled him to fight on the opposing side. Finding Iris's locket helped him recover enough of himself to desert and find her.

At their old flat, Iris tells Forest that Aster is dead. She remains determined to find Roman and opens the letter she left behind before going west, which also reveals Carver's identity.

The epilogue reveals that Roman is alive

Dacre finds Roman badly wounded in the field after taking Avalon Bluff. He heals him and has his servant Val take him into the under realm. Dacre intends to use Roman as his own war correspondent.

Iris does not know this has happened. The novel ends with the newly married couple separated: Iris is in Oath with Forest, and Roman is in Dacre's custody.

Where the main characters end up

Continue the duology

Next: Ruthless Vows recap.

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Plot references: SuperSummary's overview and guides to prologue–4, 5–14, 15–28, and 29–epilogue; Book Series Recaps; Recaptains. Published October 27, 2026.