Accomplice to the Villain

“And finally, and certainly most enjoyable, watching his best friend—The Villain—a man who Alexander had never thought would open up his cold, closed-off heart, fall truly, deeply, and wildly in love with Evie Sage.”

Kingsley’s reflections on Trystan’s relationship with Evie convey the Transformative Power of Love. Because Kingsley and Trystan have been friends for so long, Kingsley knows Trystan extremely well. His belief that Evie’s love has softened Trystan’s “cold, closed-off heart” underscores the life-changing significance of their connection. Further, Kingsley is able to see the truth, depth, and wildness of Evie and Trystan’s love because he is consigned to being a silent observer.

“Nura Sage, however, had a choice, and no matter what happy feelings surged at reuniting with her—and as much pain as Evie knew her mother had suffered—she couldn’t help but resent her for forcing Evie to suffer all those years, too. Alone.”

Evie’s internal monologue during her interaction with her mother, Nura, conveys the Complexity of Intimate Relationships. In the privacy of her own mind, Evie is free to acknowledge and explore her dichotomous feelings for her mother. On the one hand, she is “happy” that her mother is back in her life. On the other hand, she can’t “help but resent her” for abandoning her years prior. Evie’s conflicting emotions imply that love and intimacy aren’t black and white. Evie is still learning this lesson via her maternal dynamic.

“Except now she was no longer throwing the danger away from her. She was throwing it toward someone else. And that made Evie do something she knew even The Villain didn’t do during his acts of violence. She smiled. A real one.”

The way Evie behaves when King Benedict and the Valiant Guard storm Massacre Manor foreshadows the revelation of her villainous identity. Instead of protecting her allies, Evie uses her strength to harm her enemies—throwing the pumpkin at a chosen victim. Further, Evie smiles with “real” glee as she participates in this battle. The moment implies that Evie does, in fact, have the wicked tendencies that she revels in.

“The past two weeks had been spent juggling out-of-control feelings, plans to steal back the pregnant female guvre after the king’s men stole the animal away during the battle, and, of course, searching for the fourth item in the prophecy to save Rennedawn’s magic. It mattered not if they had every object in their arsenal (which they didn’t). Without the knowledge of that fourth piece, Rennedawn would continue to descend into darkness.”

This passage lays out the central conflicts and stakes of Accomplice to the Villain. Evie is reflecting on the events of recent weeks and musing on what she must do next. Her internal monologue helps to reorient the reader to the raucous world of the book series without getting bogged down in exposition. The moment also underscores the importance of the Rennedawn storybook prophecy and clarifies the protagonists’ devotion to solving this riddle.

“The camaraderie that had been tentatively building back between them gave Clare pangs of guilt in her stomach. But she selfishly wasn’t prepared to give up the newfound ease. Just as she wasn’t ready to admit that the day Tatianna walked out of Clare’s life, she truly realized the depth of pain that came with a broken heart.”

Clare’s reflections on her relationship with Tatianna convey the Transformative Power of Love in a new relational context. Evie and Trystan’s love affair is central to Accomplice to the Villain, but Clare and Tatianna’s romance also captures the possibilities and complexities of developing loving bonds. For Clare, rekindling her connection with Tatianna doesn’t simply mean accepting love but requires her to reconcile with her past mistakes and the heartbreak she experienced.

“Nura had the very same curly dark hair as Evie, Lyssa’s dark-brown eyes, and Gideon’s smile. It was as if the woman was an abstract of the three children she’d left behind. Becky wondered how difficult it would be to face all the people you failed every time you looked in the mirror.”

Becky’s observations of Nura, Evie, and Lyssa underscore the Complexity of Intimate Relationships. Becky notices how similar Nura’s daughters look to their mother and wonders if their resemblance is a constant reminder of Nura’s failures. This meditative passage underscores the work that Nura, Evie, and Lyssa must do to confront their fraught past and heal their family dynamic.

“Evie Sage is meant to be your downfall, and you her undoing. His answer to that reminder should’ve been to pull away. To set her down and offer his regrets, as he had every time their lips had touched before that moment. But then, in a shy whisper, her light eyes glimmering with unshed tears, she said words he thought he’d never hear from anyone ever again: ‘I love you.’”

Trystan’s intense absorption in kissing Evie captures his overwhelming affection for her. Trystan is battling competing emotions. On the one hand, he feels compelled “to pull away” from Evie to satisfy the prophecy. On the other hand, he is consumed by desire for Evie because he genuinely cares about and wants to be with her. The scene has a tense and passionate mood that echoes Trystan’s state of mind.

“Unsure of his original path. He’d been doing something. He’d been someone before this moment, but everything was fading. Everything he was seemed to be, too. And then the frog was no longer confused. Because he was just a frog.”

Kingsley’s disoriented state adds narrative tension. For some reason, Kingsley is rapidly losing control of his human mind. He remembers he had once “been doing something” and had once “been someone” other than a frog. However, these memories are fast fleeting. The moment raises the stakes of the quest to reverse Kingsley’s curse: If the protagonists do not complete their mission, Kingsley is in danger of remaining “just a frog” forever.

“Lionel thinks someone placed a curse on my magic. He thinks before my magic was awoken, someone tampered with it. So, when it was triggered in the cell all those years ago, it wasn’t working the way it should. […] My magic has been under a curse for more than ten years.”

Trystan’s declarative statements convey his attempt to accept his identity as The Villain. Trystan lives in conflict with this assigned role, but he is trying to internalize this aspect of his fate as he explains it to Evie. He uses clear language and a brusque tone because he is trying to adjust to his circumstances without fear or resentment.

“A horrible thought filled her with guilt. Her brother and mother had returned to her life. There was a time when she would’ve given anything for that to be her reality. For her family to be whole again. But she’d been romanticizing it, romanticizing them.”

Evie’s internal monologue affects a conflicted, melancholy narrative mood. Evie feels ashamed of her own emotional experience because she believes she has to uphold her role as the dutiful, compliant, and loving daughter. In this scene, she is acknowledging the Complexity of Intimate Relationships while trying to reconcile with her competing feelings.

“‘It’s strange. I don’t think I’ve ever spoken this candidly with anyone. I adore my brothers, and we have our own sort of bond.’ She looked back and forth between the women on either side of her. ‘But this is different, with women, I think. I never had sisters.’”

Becky affects an intimate, vulnerable tone when opening up to Tatianna and Evie without shame or fear. She is also acknowledging and expressing gratitude for their friendship. The bond between the women underscores the importance of close friendships. These connections bolster the characters throughout the novel.

“But nothing in his body was asleep at this moment. She pulled her thick locks behind her shoulders, revealing that the skirt was attached to a small scrap of fabric in the middle of her stomach. He followed the line of fabric up and up until it stopped, covering her breasts. Trystan was suddenly grateful that he was having such a violent reaction to her; if he didn’t, it would surely mean he had fallen over dead.”

The narrator’s detailed description of Evie conveys Trystan’s attunement to her. Trystan is overwhelmed by Evie’s beauty. He is carefully observing her “thick locks,” her “skirt,” “stomach,” and “breasts” because he feels drawn to her physically and emotionally. Although Trystan has tried to quash his feelings for Evie, in this moment, he is grateful for his instinctual response because it makes him feel alive. The passage plays into the Transformative Power of Love: For Trystan, love is awakening and energizing.

“He didn’t need to touch her. Didn’t need to lay a finger upon her skin for her to feel his voice like a caress. ‘I am,’ he stated so simply, so seemingly harmlessly, and yet it was so terrifying. Suddenly, she was desperate, desperate to repair the barrier she’d been slowly tearing down, desperate to fortify it for both their restraints because it was feeling far too much like they were on the precipice of great change.”

Evie’s emotional response to Trystan’s presence conveys the power of their connection. Even before Trystan touches Evie, she feels his presence “like a caress”—a simile of gentle affection. At the same time, Evie is terrified to give herself over to her desires because she knows that entering a sexual relationship will change her via the Transformative Power of Love. Evie can feel herself evolving as a result of Trystan’s closeness, but is wary of this evolution because it is unfamiliar. To fully experience love’s effects, she will have to take a risk with Trystan.

“I want you. If that wasn’t obvious—although I’m sure it is obvious and has been obvious, but I realize that you’ve decided to keep us at a distance, and I should be respecting it, and I haven’t been. I’ve been pushing you on purpose, and it’s unkind and disrespectful, so I’m going to stop.”

Evie learns how to own her feelings when she professes her love and desire to Trystan. Her repeated use of the word “obvious” underscores the passionate intensity of her desire. She is claiming her emotional experience without fear. This moment marks a turning point in her Journey Towards Self-Discovery because she is no longer shying away from or tamping down what she wants.

“The old Becky would never have confided in Nura Sage. But she was not the old Becky anymore, or even a brand-new one. She was just who she was—unashamed and proud—but now also trying her hand at living a life, not hiding away from her past.”

Becky’s decision to confide in Nura conveys her newfound ability to be herself. Throughout the majority of the novel, Becky is reserved, fearful, and anxious. By this juncture of the narrative, she realizes that it is okay to be vulnerable and to ask for help. Her newfound ability to own her emotions without shame and with pride marks a pivotal moment in her Journey Towards Self-Discovery. She isn’t merely donning a mask to hide her old self, but is removing a mask to become who she really is.

“Tatianna’s hands came up to Clare’s cheeks, holding her face still, forcing Clare’s black eyes to her brown one. ‘She made you and your brothers think the world is full of only right and wrong, good and evil. And because of it, Trystan’s decided that he can only be one thing, and you believe that, too.’”

This moment of intimacy between Tatianna and Clare underscores the Complexity of Intimate Relationships. Tatianna is asking Clare to reckon with her mother’s negative effect on her perspective. Although she is challenging Clare emotionally, Tatianna’s warm and affectionate body language conveys her investment in and love for Clare. She cradles her face in her hands, which is a protective and loving gesture.

“He’d aspired to things before Sage, career goals that still mattered. Years of planning he could not let go of and a dear little green friend who desperately needed his help. The Villain was all he’d ever been; who was he if he let that go? And could it be someone who deserved her?”

Trystan’s internal monologue enacts his Journey Towards Self-Discovery. For years, Trystan has tried to reconcile with his prescribed role as Rennedawn’s Villain. Here, however, Trystan asks whether he can be someone other than the “bad guy” of the story. His and Evie’s love has changed him, letting him imagine a different future and identity for himself.

“Lyssa shrugged, taking one of Becky’s hands and squeezing gently. ‘No one. It just seems to me that someone who feels their feelings out in the open is braver than someone who hides them.’ Becky squeezed her hand back, smiling through her tears.”

Lyssa and Becky’s shared moment of intimacy reiterates the importance of female friendship. This scene also conveys how Lyssa has grown over the course of the novel. Instead of simply relying on Becky for comfort and support, Lyssa assumes the more empathic, caregiving role. She is encouraging Becky and validating her emotions. Her presence is vital to Becky’s well-being.

“She laughed, and he blushed. For a split second, they were not Villain nor Assistant nor Apprentice nor Accomplice. They were Trystan and Evie, exactly as they could’ve been in a different life, with rules that were fair and lives that were without pain, without struggles for power. For another split second, Evie wanted that life.”

Evie and Trystan’s dance on Jellyfish Jones’s boat allows Evie to dream. While they are dancing, Evie is free to imagine an alternate life for herself and Trystan, temporarily immersed in wish-fulfilling fantasy. The moment transports her because she feels so weighed down by reality. Evie longs for the freedom to escape familial and societal expectations and to discover life and love with Trystan on their own terms.

“Trystan didn’t think there was much merit to wanting the approval of others; repelling them was easier, simpler. Making people feel unwanted was assurance that they would leave him when he chose. But wanting the approval of his father…that was a desperate aspiration that lived in the marrow of Trystan’s bones, so intertwined with his existence there would be no exorcising it.”

Trystan’s internal monologue when he sees his father Arthur for the first time in a long time reiterates the Complexity of Intimate Relationships. Trystan has tried to convince himself that “wanting the approval of others” is futile. However, Arthur’s reappearance in his life reminds Trystan of how much he still wants “the approval of his father.” He has tried to overcome this longing in his adulthood, but it resurges as soon as he and Arthur reunite. The moment underscores the influence that family relationships have over the individual’s sense of self.

“I hired the enchantress to remove Trystan from this earth when I learned of the darkness that took him. To spare you, Trystan. It was Clare who went behind my back, hiring the same enchantress to merely pretend to kill you to fool me. Alexander got in the way, and for it, he is now this—but that had nothing to do with me.”

Amara’s explanation of Trystan’s childhood history conveys her heartlessness. Amara is telling Trystan, Evie, and their companions exactly what she did to Trystan and why in a callous, shameless tone. She has no remorse for her actions and indeed denies her own culpability. Her refusal to take responsibility for her past underscores her antagonistic role.

“‘You are mistaken. My oldest son is incapable of caring, truly, for anyone but himself,’ Amara said with a contempt Trystan had never understood. What had turned his mother so hateful? So unforgiving? So cruel to her children even before they’d disappointed her?”

Amara’s declarations about Trystan’s identity convey how much power she has had over his sense of self. Trystan has grown up believing that he is indeed “incapable of caring, truly, for anyone but himself” because this is what Amara taught him. His internal questions in response to Amara’s cruelty convey Trystan’s attempts to free himself from Amara’s emotional abuse. He wants to understand her, but he also wants to transcend her opinions of him once and for all.

“His lips drifted closer, his eyes closing as his forehead pressed against hers, a rightness in every place they touched. ‘If that’s what this awful feeling in my chest is, if that’s why I can’t imagine my life without you, if that’s what love is—then yes, Evie. I love you so much it’s terrible.’”

Trystan professing his love to Evie marks a turning point in his Journey Towards Self-Discovery. He can admit how he feels in a heartfelt manner. His words are direct and clear, and his body language is loving and affectionate. The moment offers the characters a sense of resolution.