Our Vicious Oaths Summary, Characters and Themes
Our Vicious Oaths by N. E. Davenport is a darkly imaginative fantasy that merges political intrigue, divine prophecy, and forbidden love into a tale of war and power. The story follows Kadeesha, the fierce archprincess of Aether, whose destiny is bound to shape the fate of all Nimani.
Forced into a political marriage meant to secure peace, she instead becomes the spark that ignites a world-shattering conflict. Torn between duty and defiance, Kadeesha’s path crosses with Malachizrien, the enigmatic fae king of Apollyon—her sworn enemy and unexpected lover. Together, they navigate betrayal, prophecy, and passion as empires crumble and a new reign rises from blood and ruin.
Summary
Kadeesha, archprincess of the Aether Kingdom, commands the elite all-female kongamato squadron known as the Nkita. When she discovers Apollyon soldiers secretly camped near her palace, she launches a swift ambush.
Using enchanted bracelets that cloak them in invisibility, she leads a violent dawn strike, burning the camp and capturing several prisoners. She hopes to learn why the enemy dares to cross their borders.
Upon returning to the palace, she presents the severed heads of the slain scouts before her father, King Sylas. Despite her success, Sylas is displeased.
He views the skirmish as proof that war looms and insists that her upcoming marriage to Rishaud, High King of Hyperion, must proceed to strengthen their political alliance.
Kadeesha begs her father to cancel the marriage, arguing that her leadership and combat skills serve the realm better than a royal union. Sylas refuses, citing an ancient prophecy foretelling that she will become High Queen of a united Nimani and that her firstborn will inherit a peaceful world.
He orders her to marry Rishaud and fulfill destiny’s will. At the ceremonial court, Rishaud arrives in gold and white splendor.
Charismatic yet cruel, he treats Kadeesha as property while striking political bargains with her father. Their marriage symbolizes both alliance and subjugation.
Meanwhile, in the rival Apollyon Court, its young king, Malachi, faces his own pressures. His aunt, Nychelle, chastises him for his reckless affairs and lack of an heir.
Malachi reveals that he has already sent spies to the Aether palace and plans to assassinate both Sylas and Rishaud during the royal wedding, intending to destabilize the Six Kingdoms and seize dominion. Nychelle reluctantly agrees, recognizing the opportunity for conquest.
The night before the wedding, Kadeesha escapes the palace with her trusted Nkita companions, seeking freedom one last time. They visit Oleander House, a secret club she owns, where she meets a mysterious, commanding stranger.
The attraction between them flares into an intense encounter, and only afterward does he reveal his name—Malachi. Unaware she has just lain with her enemy, Kadeesha returns to the palace burdened by guilt and exhilaration.
At the wedding, the ceremony begins with regal solemnity. As vows are exchanged, Rishaud abruptly halts the proceedings, accusing Kadeesha of infidelity.
Enraged, he commands his soldiers to execute her father and all Aether nobles present. Chaos erupts.
Sylas counters with his aether magic, but Rishaud’s sunfire overwhelms him. Before Kadeesha’s eyes, her father burns to ash.
Desperate and furious, she attacks Rishaud but cannot match his power. As she braces for death, a group of disguised nobles reveal themselves as Apollyon fae.
Their leader, the amber-eyed man from her illicit night, unmasks himself—Malachizrien, the Apollyon king.
Malachizrien confronts Rishaud, and their clash of void and sunfire magic tears through the temple. Malachizrien severs Rishaud’s arm before the latter escapes in a blaze of light.
Amid the carnage, Kadeesha accuses Malachizrien of exposing her secret tryst to provoke this massacre. He admits it and offers her a deal: come to Apollyon willingly to help him lure and destroy Rishaud, and he will heal her wounded companion, Samira, and release her remaining allies.
Reluctantly, Kadeesha agrees.
In the Apollyon capital of Zahare, Kadeesha finds herself a political hostage. Malachizrien keeps her close, alternating between threat and fascination.
Nychelle forces Kadeesha to swear a magically binding oath not to harm Malachizrien until Rishaud is dead. Kadeesha bargains for her Nkita squadron’s safety and the sanctuary of their kongamatos, securing limited protection.
Despite her fury, she begins to recognize Malachizrien’s strategic brilliance and the vulnerability he hides behind arrogance.
During their captivity, their relationship transforms. What begins as a battle of wills turns into physical attraction and eventual intimacy.
A night of passion leads to an irreversible magical act: they bite each other, creating forbidden “Markings” that bind their souls and power. Though horrified at first, they are drawn together by the bond.
The shared connection amplifies their magic and emotions, blurring the line between alliance and obsession. They agree to use the Markings as a temporary advantage against Rishaud but cannot ignore their growing affection.
Kadeesha soon uncovers a new assassination plot when her lady-in-waiting delivers a poisoned gown. She kills the assassin and learns that Rishaud now leads a rebellion against both Aether and Apollyon.
When her mother, Yashira, arrives at the palace under Nychelle’s invitation, Kadeesha learns that Malachizrien’s gift of royal jewelry may signify genuine love or intent to make her his queen. Kadeesha dismisses the idea, but Yashira urges her to see the political potential in such a union.
Their argument ends bitterly, yet Kadeesha dons the same dangerous gown, ready to face court intrigue as both warrior and queen.
Malachizrien challenges her again, testing her loyalty and independence. When she bargains for Aether’s future freedom in exchange for cooperation, he grants temporary autonomy but withholds full sovereignty.
Their negotiation ends with mutual respect and renewed tension, both recognizing that love and power are inseparable in their world.
As their bond deepens, Malachizrien proposes they rule together after Rishaud’s defeat, promising to make her his equal and high queen. Kadeesha, torn between distrust and desire, hesitates until he swears a binding oath to rule all fae justly and protect their unborn heir.
She accepts, realizing she loves him too. Their union becomes both emotional and strategic, sealing an alliance stronger than any political treaty.
Their fragile peace shatters when Rishaud launches a massive invasion. His army—composed of forces from the Six Kingdoms and even Aether defectors—marches toward Zahare.
Malachizrien and Kadeesha prepare for war, splitting duties: he readies his troops while she insists on evacuating civilians. Refusing to flee, Kadeesha leads her Nkita and kongamato riders into the skies.
The ensuing battle engulfs the realm. In the air, Kadeesha fights her own people, forced to kill former allies.
On the ground, Malachizrien and Rishaud clash in a devastating magical duel that shakes the earth.
Determined to end the bloodshed, Kadeesha joins Malachizrien in confronting Rishaud. Together, they synchronize their powers—void and aether—to trap him.
Malachizrien impales the enemy king with his blades, and Kadeesha decapitates him in the final blow. The war ends in silence, broken only by surrendering soldiers.
Malachizrien declares Kadeesha the new High Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. The surviving armies bow, uniting under her rule.
In the aftermath, Kadeesha returns to Aether to rebuild. She mourns her father and the fallen, but she has forged a new era.
Standing beside Malachizrien, she announces the unification of all fae realms under their joint crown. Her people, once divided by loyalty and fear, kneel in acknowledgment.
Kadeesha feels the prophecy fulfilled—not as a pawn of destiny, but as the ruler who claimed her fate through strength, sacrifice, and the most dangerous love of all.
Characters
Kadeesha
Kadeesha, the archprincess of the Aether Kingdom, emerges as the novel’s most dynamic and commanding figure. Her personality blends ferocity, intelligence, and vulnerability in equal measure.
As the leader of the Nkita, her all-female kongamato squadron, she is a symbol of female military prowess and defiance against the patriarchal and political constraints of her society. Her early actions—leading stealth raids, taking prisoners, and commanding with ruthless precision—demonstrate her strategic mind and the depth of her loyalty to Aether.
Yet, her defiance against her father’s will to marry Rishaud also highlights her yearning for autonomy and identity beyond royal obligation. Throughout Our Vicious Oaths, Kadeesha evolves from a princess trying to prove her worth into a queen who wields both love and power with equal command.
Her transformation is marked by trauma—the betrayal at her wedding, the death of her father, and her forced alliance with Malachi—but she channels her grief into purpose. Her relationship with Malachi shifts from hatred to passion and finally to mutual respect and partnership, illustrating her capacity to reconcile vengeance with vision.
By the novel’s end, she embodies a ruler forged in fire—resilient, politically astute, and unafraid to blend compassion with ruthlessness.
Malachizrien (Malachi)
Malachizrien, king of the Apollyon Court, serves as both Kadeesha’s nemesis and counterpart. He begins as a figure of chaos and manipulation—cold, sensual, and power-hungry, commanding fear among his subjects and relatives alike.
His calculated assault on the Aether wedding, his initial intent to use Kadeesha as bait, and his brutal efficiency reveal a ruler hardened by necessity and ambition. Yet, beneath his veneer of cruelty lies a fractured humanity.
His interactions with Nychelle show the burdens of expectation, and his eventual connection with Kadeesha exposes his longing for understanding and love. The blood-bond they share transforms him, revealing a man capable of vulnerability and devotion.
His affection for Kadeesha is both redemptive and dangerous, intertwining desire with destiny. By the climax of Our Vicious Oaths, Malachi has evolved from a vengeful monarch into a king who finds balance in shared power.
His willingness to yield political dominance to Kadeesha, his restraint in violence for her sake, and his acceptance of partnership rather than ownership signify his full transformation. He becomes not only her lover but also her equal—an embodiment of the union between shadow and flame, void and aether.
King Sylas
King Sylas, ruler of Aether and father to Kadeesha, embodies both regal authority and tragic shortsightedness. He is a man bound by prophecy and political necessity, whose love for his daughter manifests through control rather than empathy.
His insistence on her marriage to Rishaud stems from a desire to secure Aether’s safety and fulfill the prophecy that promises a united realm through Kadeesha’s line. However, his inability to see beyond tradition and his underestimation of his daughter’s strength lead to his downfall.
His death at Rishaud’s hands marks the collapse of the old order and the beginning of Kadeesha’s transformation. Sylas’s legacy endures through her: his discipline, pride, and power continue to shape her reign, though she surpasses him by achieving the unity he sought—not through subservience, but through her own defiance and leadership.
Rishaud
Rishaud, the Hyperion high king, represents imperial arrogance and toxic masculinity. His initial portrayal as a charming conqueror quickly gives way to cruelty and obsession.
To him, Kadeesha is not a partner but a possession, a means to validate his divine right and expand his empire. His public humiliation of her at their wedding and his slaughter of the Aether court reveal his brutality and insecurity.
Rishaud’s fixation on divine will and dominance makes him the antithesis of both Kadeesha and Malachi—where they grow through vulnerability, he decays through hubris. His downfall is poetic justice; his beheading by Kadeesha not only avenges her father and kingdom but also symbolizes the end of an era of patriarchal tyranny.
Rishaud’s death allows for a new balance of power in the Seven Kingdoms, one founded on cooperation rather than conquest.
Nychelle
Nychelle, Malachi’s aunt and queen mother of Apollyon, is a shrewd and formidable political strategist. Her influence over Malachi’s reign is subtle but profound; she manipulates from the shadows, guiding the court’s stability while ensuring her own survival.
Nychelle’s pragmatism often borders on ruthlessness—she supports assassinations and invasions when they serve Apollyon’s advantage, yet she also demonstrates a deep, almost maternal concern for Malachi’s success. Her alliance with Kadeesha, though born from necessity, reflects her recognition of the young queen’s strength.
Nychelle embodies the idea that survival in a world of gods and monarchs requires adaptability and intellect over sentiment. Through her, Our Vicious Oaths explores the cost of power, especially for women who must wield it in a world built to deny them authority.
Leisha and Samira
Leisha and Samira, Kadeesha’s closest companions, anchor her humanity throughout her transformation. Leisha’s fierce loyalty and pragmatic outlook make her both confidante and protector, while Samira’s gentler spirit adds emotional depth to the Nkita sisterhood.
Their bond with Kadeesha transcends mere friendship—it is forged in shared battles, losses, and defiance against patriarchal forces. Leisha’s skill in interrogation and combat contrasts with Samira’s empathy, yet both reflect facets of Kadeesha herself: strength tempered by care.
Their survival and continued presence reinforce the theme of chosen sisterhood as a foundation of resilience. When Kadeesha bargains for their safety, it underscores her moral core—she is a queen who values people over power.
Yashira
Yashira, Kadeesha’s mother, reenters the story as a figure of mystery and manipulation. Unlike Sylas, she understands the art of political survival and wields her influence through counsel and emotional insight.
Her interactions with Kadeesha reveal both pride and frustration—she sees in her daughter the same ambition that once defined her own youth. Yashira’s pragmatic advice about leveraging beauty and alliances exposes the harsh realities of female power in a male-dominated world.
Her revelation that she assisted Malachi in choosing symbolic gifts for Kadeesha blurs the line between maternal support and political scheming. Through Yashira, the novel examines generational contrasts in how women navigate power, love, and legacy.
She is a survivor who sees monarchy as a game of strategy rather than sentiment.
Trystin
Trystin, Malachi’s cousin and trusted ally, provides a moral and emotional counterbalance within the Apollyon court. Loyal, honorable, and often the voice of reason, he grounds Malachi’s volatile nature.
His relationship with both Kadeesha and Malachi reveals his quiet courage and integrity—traits often overlooked amid the chaos of war. As a soldier and diplomat, he bridges the gap between the court’s brutality and its humanity.
His farewell before battle carries an understated poignancy, representing the sacrifices demanded by loyalty and love. Trystin’s character adds emotional gravity to the broader narrative, reminding readers that even in a world of gods and kings, integrity remains a form of strength.
Themes
Power, Gender, and Autonomy
In Our Vicious Oaths, power operates as both a birthright and a battlefield. Kadeesha, the archprincess of Aether, exists within a realm where her worth is predetermined by lineage and prophecy, yet her struggle lies in redefining that worth on her own terms.
The novel portrays how female power, though revered in myth, is often constrained by patriarchal politics disguised as divine will. Kadeesha’s leadership of the Nkita—a formidable all-female kongamato squadron—embodies her rebellion against those constraints.
Through her, the narrative explores the limits of autonomy in a world where even a princess’s body and destiny can be traded as instruments of alliance. Her plea to her father to nullify the arranged marriage and his refusal reinforce the systemic subjugation cloaked in royal duty.
Yet, as the story progresses, Kadeesha transforms from a symbol of defiance into the very embodiment of sovereignty, not granted by prophecy but earned through battle, betrayal, and personal sacrifice. The theme questions whether power can ever be free from the structures that define it—whether a woman who inherits rule can truly govern as her own creation rather than a continuation of her father’s will or her husband’s conquest.
The conclusion, where she ascends as high queen beside Malachizrien, blurs victory and subjugation, suggesting that true autonomy in such a world is a negotiation rather than an achievement.
Love, Violence, and Transformation
The relationship between Kadeesha and Malachizrien serves as the most volatile and compelling core of the narrative. Their union begins with deception and dominance, evolves into passion, and culminates in a bond that fuses intimacy with danger.
Through their Markings—an exchange of blood that unites life and magic—the story explores love not as redemption but as a transformative, often violent force. Their connection destabilizes both empires, reflecting how desire can erode political boundaries and redefine loyalty.
Love here is neither tender nor moral; it is an extension of war, an act that blurs the line between conquest and surrender. Each sexual encounter becomes an assertion of dominance and an admission of vulnerability, revealing that passion in this world cannot exist without power.
Yet, by the novel’s end, their shared love transcends its initial brutality. It evolves into mutual recognition—a realization that domination gives way to dependence, and control gives way to trust.
This transformation mirrors their political trajectory: enemies forced into alliance who ultimately reforge the world together. Davenport crafts a narrative where love’s capacity to wound and heal exists simultaneously, making it a crucible that both destroys and remakes those who dare to wield it.
Destiny and the Weight of Prophecy
Prophecy drives the architecture of Our Vicious Oaths, shaping every major decision and conflict. From Kadeesha’s birth, the prediction that she will unite the fractured kingdoms defines her life.
What emerges is a profound meditation on destiny’s burden—how foretelling strips individuals of agency even as it exalts them. Sylas’s insistence on fulfilling the prophecy through marriage reveals how belief in divine inevitability becomes a political tool.
Kadeesha’s journey, therefore, is not about accepting her fate but about reclaiming it. When she ultimately fulfills the prophecy by uniting the kingdoms through war rather than matrimony, Davenport reframes destiny as an act of self-determination.
Similarly, Malachizrien’s manipulation of omens and strategy exposes prophecy as performance—an illusion wielded to justify ambition. The text interrogates whether fate is divinely ordained or humanly constructed.
In binding Kadeesha and Malachizrien through the Markings, Davenport literalizes destiny as a physical connection, one that neither foresight nor divine will dictated but that emerged from desire and circumstance. The theme culminates in the paradox that destiny, while unavoidable, is not always prewritten—it can be rewritten by those strong enough to defy its interpreters.
War, Alliance, and Moral Corruption
The politics of war in Our Vicious Oaths illustrate how morality decays in the pursuit of survival and dominion. Every alliance in the novel is born from necessity rather than trust.
Sylas trades his daughter to preserve Aether’s safety; Rishaud weaponizes religion to justify conquest; Malachizrien cloaks assassination in the language of unification. War becomes not only a contest of armies but of ideologies—where each ruler believes destruction is a righteous means to peace.
Through Kadeesha’s evolution from soldier to queen, Davenport examines how power forces compromise. Her initial adherence to honor and mercy gives way to pragmatism, culminating in the brutal slaying of Rishaud.
The victory that follows is steeped in blood, revealing that unity is achieved not through harmony but through domination. Even love cannot cleanse the moral residue of such conquest; instead, it becomes another tool of governance.
The final image of Kadeesha and Malachizrien ruling together, celebrated by a populace weary of war, underscores the cost of peace: that every empire is founded upon graves. The theme exposes how righteousness, when wielded as justification for war, corrodes into tyranny, and how even the noblest intentions are eventually stained by the power they seek to secure.
Identity, Freedom, and the Duality of Self
Kadeesha’s identity as both warrior and royal, woman and weapon, becomes a central axis of conflict. The narrative interrogates how individuals construct themselves amid competing loyalties and expectations.
Her dual existence—commanding the Nkita while being bound by royal duty—reflects the perpetual tension between freedom and responsibility. The secret ownership of Oleander House signifies her pursuit of autonomy through pleasure and anonymity, an escape from the rigid hierarchies that define her public life.
Yet, that very act of defiance leads to catastrophe, proving that freedom in such a world carries fatal consequences. Her relationship with Malachizrien further complicates her identity: she becomes both captive and equal, lover and adversary.
The Markings transform this conflict into a physical reality, binding her to someone who mirrors her ambition and darkness. Through Kadeesha, Davenport articulates that identity is never static—it shifts with circumstance, choice, and trauma.
By the novel’s end, Kadeesha’s acceptance of both her shadow and her light marks her liberation. She is no longer defined by lineage, prophecy, or desire alone but by her conscious choice to embody all that she has been—daughter, soldier, queen, and survivor.
Her freedom is not granted but seized, forged from the fragments of every identity the world tried to confine her within.