Ruthless Vows Recap

Book facts

Iris returns to reporting while Roman serves Dacre

Iris is back in Oath with Forest. Roman is missing, Marisol has reached River Down, and Iris and Attie are working for Helena Hammond at the Inkridden Tribune.

Chancellor Verlice tries to suppress war reporting. Helena asks Iris and Attie to go west again. Forest objects but warns Iris that Dacre may have healed Roman, as he healed Forest.

Roman is alive in Dacre's custody. The god's magic has suppressed his memories along with his injuries. Roman writes favorable accounts of Dacre without remembering his marriage or why he went to war.

The prologue also reveals that Enva has killed Alva, Mir, and Luz and taken their powers so Dacre cannot claim them. She and Dacre are the only surviving gods.

Iris steals the remaining Alouette and writes as Elizabeth

Dacre recovered both typewriters left at Avalon Bluff. He destroys Roman's own machine and gives him Iris's, removing an object that might help him remember his past.

When Iris sees Roman's byline praising Dacre in the Oath Gazette, she knows he is alive. With Attie and Sarah Prindle's help, she breaks into the museum and steals the first Alouette, the third machine in the original set.

Roman's reply to her questions confirms that he does not remember her. She introduces herself as Elizabeth, her middle name, and they begin corresponding again.

Roman's father tries to pay Iris to annul their marriage. She refuses. Iris and Attie then leave Oath with Tobias Bexley, a post runner who drives them and carries their reporting back to Helena.

Roman warns Iris that Dacre will attack Hawk Shire

Iris and Attie stay with Marisol in River Down, then continue west. They feel movements beneath the ground. Roman learns that Dacre's forces are reopening underground passages, allowing soldiers to move quickly between distant places.

Dacre has five keys that open hidden thresholds into the under realm. His servant Val uses these routes to deliver Roman's articles to Oath. Roman also learns that his father is supplying gas to Dacre.

When ordered to write about an upcoming attack on Hawk Shire, Roman secretly warns Elizabeth. Iris keeps the letter despite his instruction to burn it. She, Attie, and Tobias take it to Keegan, now a brigadier.

Keegan evacuates the remaining forces fighting for Enva. They plan a final defense near Oath. Iris, Attie, and Tobias stay to help load wounded soldiers before following.

A meeting at Hawk Shire restores Roman's memories

Tobias's roadster gets a flat tire. Iris returns to Hawk Shire to find a tire iron and takes shelter in an enchanted house. Dacre's soldiers enter through a magical doorway, and Roman finds her hiding upstairs.

He recognizes her as the woman appearing in his dreams and helps her escape instead of reporting her. Iris tells him they are married and leaves her wedding ring with him. She rejoins Attie and Tobias, who get away from the town and outrun Dacre's hounds.

Roman's memories return after the encounter. So do the effects of his injuries: his leg hurts, and breathing becomes difficult. He hides both his recovered identity and his correspondence from Dacre.

He and Iris confirm their connection by answering the personal questions they exchanged earlier. Roman agrees to keep passing her information about Dacre's movements.

Iris tracks Dacre's doorway to the Kitt estate

Back in Oath, Iris learns that Forest and Sarah are dating. The city is also being patrolled by the Graveyard, an armed group that opposes the gods, imposes a curfew, and interferes with the press. Verlice refuses to let Keegan's army enter the supposedly neutral city.

With Sarah's help, Iris follows the man delivering Roman's articles. He leads her to the Kitt estate, revealing a doorway inside Roman's family home.

Dacre is impressed by Iris's writing and wants to recruit her. He sends Roman to deliver the offer in person. Roman meets Iris at Gould's Café, slips a private message into Dacre's letter, and arranges a secret meeting that night.

Iris and Roman reunite and plan around the ley lines

Iris sneaks into Roman's room at the estate, and they spend the night together. He returns her wedding ring. His coughing shows her that the gas at Avalon Bluff has damaged his lungs.

Roman gives her a map of Oath's ley lines. Iris and Keegan identify buildings on those lines as the strongest bomb shelters.

Iris and Attie discover that both have been hearing the same melody in dreams: Alzane's Lullaby. Attie obtains the composition and practices it on her hidden violin. They believe the music can put Dacre to sleep.

Meanwhile, Roman learns that Dacre cannot take the other gods' powers because Enva has already killed them. Dacre's anger and suspicion increase as his plans fail.

Shane blackmails Roman, and the assassination attempt fails

Lieutenant Shane discovers Roman's letters and forces him to write a confession about the Hawk Shire warning. He threatens to expose Roman unless he delivers a note to a man wearing a red anemone at Dacre's press conference.

Roman sees Iris and misses the handoff. He opens the note: Dacre must be beheaded to die. Bruce, an associate of Roman's father, drags him away before the explosion.

A bomb explodes, but Dacre survives. Bruce reveals that he belongs to the Graveyard and that Roman's father supplied explosives for the assassination attempt. Iris survives with another attendee's help and takes refuge in the museum.

Enva shows Iris the weapon that can kill Dacre

The museum guard is Enva, who has appeared in Iris's dreams disguised as Aster. She shows Iris an enchanted sword that can kill a god when given the wielder's blood.

Enva cannot kill Dacre herself because she vowed to respect his immortality. She is also trapped in Oath by her old bargain with King Alzane. Taking the other gods' powers has made using her own music painful.

Iris takes the sword. Attie's violin and the lullaby offer a way to incapacitate Dacre long enough to use it.

Dacre orders Oath to surrender, and Roman is imprisoned

Dacre has Iris brought to the Kitt estate. She refuses to become his correspondent but agrees to publish his ultimatum: citizens must move north of the river and submit by noon the next day, or remain south and face attack.

Iris and Helena arrange publication. Iris also gets the Gazette to print the shelter addresses. She and Roman meet afterward to plan an attack on Dacre below ground. Roman offers to steal a key.

Before he can do so, Dacre accuses him of taking Captain Landis's missing key. Roman suspects Shane has stolen it and exposed his confession to protect himself. Roman accepts responsibility for betraying Dacre rather than naming Shane. Dacre orders Val to chain him in the under realm and fetch Iris.

Iris kills Val and enters the under realm with Attie

Val breaks into Iris and Forest's flat and attacks Forest. Iris gives the sword her blood and kills Val. She takes his key and the flute used to control eithrals, giving her a route below without waiting for Roman.

As the bombing deadline approaches, Forest leaves to fetch Sarah. Iris, Attie, Tobias, and their families seek shelter. After finding their planned refuge unavailable and the museum overcrowded, they gather at Gould's Café, another building on a ley line.

Iris discovers that the café's bathroom doorway opens below with the key. She and Attie cross it with the sword and violin. Tobias stays to protect their families. Forest and Sarah have not reached them.

Attie puts Dacre to sleep, and Iris beheads him

Dacre sends his eithrals to bomb Oath, temporarily drawing them away from the imprisoned Roman. Iris and Attie find the god directing the attack from the under realm.

Attie begins the lullaby, but Dacre attacks before she can finish. Enva intervenes through an illusion, distracting him so Attie can continue playing. The music puts Dacre to sleep.

Iris feeds the sword her blood and cuts off his head. Dacre dies. His control over the soldiers he healed breaks, and their suppressed injuries begin returning.

Iris and Keegan stop Roman's execution

Shane frees Roman from his chains. He admits he works for the Graveyard and had stolen the key, using Roman to divert suspicion. They reach the surface but become separated. The Graveyard captures Roman with Dacre's other soldiers and prepares to execute them.

Bruce alerts Iris. She retrieves Roman's Hawk Shire warning and rushes to the execution, stepping in front of him as the order to fire is given.

The letter shows that Roman helped the opposing army evacuate. When the Graveyard remains unwilling to accept it as sufficient proof, Keegan intervenes and demands humane treatment of the prisoners. Roman is spared and taken to hospital.

Forest and Sarah are dead, and Roman's illness remains

Iris searches for three days and finds Forest and Sarah dead beneath debris, holding hands. They were caught in the bombing before reaching shelter.

Roman receives treatment for his leg and lungs. His father is found guilty over the transport of hazardous gas, conspiring with the enemy, and harboring Dacre. When Roman leaves hospital, he reunites with Iris.

Three months later, Iris prepares to sell the family flat. She finds a letter Forest wrote expressing his pride in her and thanking her for bringing Sarah into his life. Iris scatters his ashes on a hill with Roman, Attie, and Tobias beside her.

A year later, Iris and Roman live together in a new home. She gardens, he writes a novel, and they plan to attend Attie's concert with Tobias. Medicine helps Roman breathe, but it cannot repair his lasting lung damage.

Enva's final scene leaves her next destination open

Enva visits Gould's Café carrying the key Iris left at her cathedral. She remains bound to Oath by her bargain with Alzane, but wonders whether the under realm offers a route beyond that boundary. She descends to find out.

Enva is still alive, so magic has not disappeared from the world. The duology ends without showing where her journey leads.

Where the main characters end up

After the duology

Previous: Divine Rivals recap. Ruthless Vows completes Iris and Roman's story. Wild Reverence is a separate novel set earlier in the same world.

Letters of Enchantment series guide · Reading order · All book recaps

Plot references: SuperSummary's overview and guides to prologue–11, 12–24, 25–39, and 40–epilogue; BookRags; URSummary; Matcha & Motifs; StoriLuna's chapter 51 summary. Published October 27, 2026.