Web of Vows and Vengeance (The Hirathean Path, Book 1), by Aria Ashbrook | Free Audiobook
27 July 2026
The Iliad and the Odyssey are two poems out of eight. Six were lost.
27 July 2026
Audiobook details
She won the crown's blessing. It cost her more than she expected
Rose Kultavaris survived the Retterheld. She has her magic back, her title back, her place at Court restored. On paper, she has everything the Tournament of the Gifting promised her. In practice, victory has left her more exposed than the poverty she escaped, surrounded by people who smile at her while deciding what she is still useful for.
Prince Kyor still wears the crown he chose over her, and every encounter between them threatens to unravel whatever fragile control either of them has managed to hold onto. Behind the palace's polished surfaces, alliances are shifting fast, and the goddess's blessing that was supposed to fix Rose's life is starting to look like it came with strings nobody explained to her.
When the truth she needs cannot be found within the city of Wrohelm, Rose has no choice but to leave its walls and chase it down herself. What she finds out there does not just complicate her feelings for Kyor. It forces her to ask what she actually wants now that revenge is no longer the only thing keeping her upright: vengeance, love, or something even harder to hold onto than either.
Second books in a trilogy have a reputation for sagging in the middle. This one does not, and a lot of that comes down to Aria Ashbrook refusing to let Rose's victory feel like an ending.
Rose's return to Court could easily have played as a triumphant homecoming. Instead, Ashbrook makes it uncomfortable almost immediately. Her magic is back, but so is everyone who wants something from her, and the book is smart about letting that discomfort simmer instead of resolving it too fast.
Kyor remains the most frustrating part of the story in the best way. His crown puts him at odds with Rose in ways that go beyond simple stubbornness, and the tension between them stays genuinely unresolved for most of the book rather than collapsing into an easy reconciliation.
The decision to send Rose beyond Wrohelm partway through shakes up a story that could have gotten stuck in palace politics. It widens the world in a way the first book never had room for, and the reveals waiting outside the city hit harder for the buildup.
By the final chapters, Rose's choice between vengeance, love, and freedom feels earned rather than forced, and the book leaves enough unresolved to make the wait for book three genuinely uncomfortable.
On the narration: Amanda Leigh Cobb and Anthony Palmini return with the same chemistry that carried the first book, and their familiarity with these characters shows. Palmini brings out more of Kyor's frustration and doubt this time around, while Cobb handles Rose's shift from triumphant to increasingly isolated with real control. The two narrators keep their separate perspectives distinct even as the story pulls Rose and Kyor's paths closer together.
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Vows of Blood and Deception by Aria Ashbrook is an immersive listen and the second book in the Hirathean Path, following Rose as she discovers that reclaiming her magic and her place at Court has not solved the problems she thought it would.
Take advantage of the free trial, cancellable at any time, and let Amanda Leigh Cobb and Anthony Palmini guide you through this fantasy romance. Their returning dual narration keeps the tension between Rose and Kyor as sharp as it was in the first book, while giving the story's new revelations real weight.
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