Page 132 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
Behind her, The Mist fell.
VI
Chapter Summaries
Chapter Eight
Triggers: graphic depictions of torture and murder, including blood.
The chapter opens with Mia and Xavier torturing Asher. Xavier and Mia get into a fight when Xavier says he no longer wishes to harm Asher. He fears they will kill her if they continue on. Mia calls him weak and the two fight before Xavier leaves. Mia calls Asher ungrateful and then allows Theon to come in. When Mia leaves, Theon taunts Asher, touching her lips and making degrading remarks. Asher bites off the tip of Theon’s thumb, enraging him. He takes a knife and scalps her, calling her worthless and ugly. Tish comes in and heals Asher. Theon then drags Asher back to her cell next to Sterling. We learn that Theon had wanted to be with Asher when they were in Academy with the hopes of sitting on the throne, but Asher turned him down. He then stalked her and caught her with Sipho. He would go on to impersonate Sipho so that Xavier could see Asher and him. This led to Asher and Sipho eventually being caught and Sipho being murdered in front of her. Theon shifts into Sipho and Asher loses control. She somehow travels from inside her cell to outside of it and tackles Theon to the ground, ripping out his throat with her teeth and then beating him to death. Mia shows up and says that she has loved Asher.She then hits Asher upside the head and tells her that love will mold her into what she was always meant to be.
Chapter Forty
Triggers: graphic descriptions of torture and murder.
Asher and Bellamy make their way to the dungeons, where Asher learns Bellamy had put Sterling. Asher tells Bellamy that she is not mad at him for not telling her about Adbeel and that they have all made mistakes or kept secrets. They hear screaming. Asher runs forward, thinking it must be Sterling. However, when they get to the cell where the screams are coming from, she discovers it is not Sterling’s cell at all—it’s Xavier’s. She watches as Ranbir tortures Xavier, telling him that it is retribution for Mia killing Winona. Asher talks down Ranbir, telling him he is better than that. She convinces him to leave with the promise that she will take care of it. Xavier thanks Asher and says he loves her, to which Asher says that she only did it for Ranbir’s sake. Then Asher begins taking Xavier’s memories. She tells Xavier he did not love her enough. She takes any important memory she could use and then she forces him to light himself on fire. When she stops, he asks if it will be her who kills him. Asher smiles and says that she has heard that marriage means “what’s mine is yours,” so she feels it necessary to share with her fiancé. Bellamy tells Xavier that he is doing this for all the times he hurt Asher, and then he dismembers him and rips out his heart before burning the remains. The pair go on to find Sterling and bring him to Ranbir in the infirmary. Ranbir thanksAsher for stopping him. The Trusted come to greet Asher, as well as Farai, Jasper, Nicola, and Kafele. Henry brings Genevieve, who reunites with Sterling. Genevieve punches Asher for killing her people. Everyone gets defensive, but Asher calms them all down and apologizes to Genevieve. Ranbir says that it appears that Sterling’s brain has been through some sort of trauma. Asher tells Genevieve and Sterling that they will stay the night. Nicola tells everyone that she leads the rebels and has a vision that someone will come to see Bellamy that night. Asher also announces to everyone that she and Bellamy are engaged.
Chapter Forty-Four
Triggers: discussion of suicide as well as blood play during sex. Includes graphic descriptions of blood and self-harm.
In this chapter, Stassi is training Asher. The two argue, but Stassi internally acknowledges their sort of alliance that stems from their mutual adoration of Sterling. Stassi tells Asher more about the high demons, specifically discussing the generation before hers. We learn that Stassi’s parents loved each other deeply, her father breaking the mold of high demons and choosing to marry his lover rather than mate with many low demons to ensure a strong heir. Stassi’s mother would go on to take her own life after repeated miscarriages. When Stassi and her father walked in and found her mother dead, her father apologized to Stassi and ripped out his seed, ending his life and forcing Stassi to become the high demon of Sin and Virtue at a very young age. Torrel and Milo come, and we discover that Milo has taken a liking to Asher. Sterling also arrives with Henry and Genevieve. When alone in her bedroom, Stassi notes how unwell Sterling seems. She mentions his blood. He decides to cut himself and offer her that blood, mentioning that everyone seems to want it these days. The pair have sex, during which Stassi can tell that something is not right with Sterling, realizing that it is his trauma catching up with him. Stassi consoles him,crying for the first time in longer than she can remember. She realizes how much she is beginning to feel.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Triggers: graphic description of self-harm, including blood and gore, and an on-page anxiety attack
On the night before her wedding, Asher is alone and suffering from night terrors. Demon tradition requires the bride and groom to sleep separately, so Bellamy is not around to help talk Asher down. She becomes confused and scared, not immediately sure where she is. When she realizes that she is safe, she starts tracing her scars, wishing they were there to reassure her. Her panic attack becomes unbearable, and Asher makes a hasty decision to carve her scars back into herself. She begins to do so, but Nicola, Ranbir, Sterling, and Queen Shah burst into her room. Ranbir forcibly heals Asher as Sterling talks her down. When she is calm, Sterling and Ranbir leave. Nicola tells Asher she would have died if she continued on, but that she has an idea. Shah then offers to tattoo Asher’s scars back on in a similar color to what they were. They tattoo Asher through the night. After they leave, Asher cleans herself up and Bellamy comes in. He tells her that she is whole in his eyes after she cries to him. They hold one another for the rest of the night, talking and cuddling. Noe comes in early the next morning, telling Bellamy to leave because it is time for Asher to get ready.
VII
Bonus Content
Mia
~ Mia tolerates a young Bellamy—then Baron—and dotes on a baby Asher ~
He was following me. Again.
I wished he would stop.
Following. Talking. Laughing.
Breathing.
He was a stain. A problem that could not be fixed while it still lived.
I could practically hear my mother screaming at me from the grave. Blaming me for this abomination’s existence. For being so pathetic that I would birth it.
“Mama?” the little male asked. I stopped midstep, my right leg slightly ahead of my left and my balance precarious at best. But if I moved, if I did anything at all, then he would only try harder. That was the problem. Helovedme. I wished he would hate me like I hated him.
“What is it, Baron?” I practically sighed the words, so exhausted by his presence that I could no longer pretend. Not that I had ever done a good job when no one was around to correct me.
Not that I ever let anyone around him anyways.
“Can we play in the garden?” he asked with unabashed glee.
Turning, I faced him, my blue eyes of winter ice flicking down to his blue eyes of summer skies. On his cheeks, freckles were beginning to appear, pairing beautifully with his deep dimples as he beamed up at me. We somehow matched while also being unnervingly different. He closer resembled the me that existed before my power had come. The me that still believed in a good world.
