“Run, a voice kept telling her. But she couldn’t; her arms and legs couldn’t hold her. In the absence of any physical ability, her thoughts turned inwards. Had she really forgotten something? Perhaps the Eternal Flame was not gone but remained as a hidden ember, waiting until the time was right. The possibility sparked a glimmer of hope. But how had she been made to forget?”

Helena’s inability to access her past life introduces the novel’s theme of The Contested Terrain of Memory. Helena senses that there is more to her existence than she remembers, but she is unable to access her buried past. Without these memories, Helena feels powerless. She does not know who she is or what her captors want with her. At the same time, Helena understands that her memories might contain a key needed to defeat her captors; this possibility offers her hope, which is essential to her survival.

“No matter what she did, it wouldn’t bring him back. Her shivering grew uncontrollable. She curled onto her side, burrowing into the bedding. The wounded feeling in her head grew until it was a sinkhole drawing her inwards, her skin growing taut like a membranous exoskeleton.

Helena’s body language in this scene captures the intensity of her grief and despair. When she remembers once more that Luc Holdfast is dead, she experiences a physiological reaction. She shivers uncontrollably, “curls onto her side,” and “burrows into the bedding.” She tucks herself into the fetal position, which conveys her vulnerability. The visceral imagery, including the metaphor of a wound in her head that becomes a sinkhole and the simile comparing her skin to a “membranous exoskeleton,” affects a hopeless mood that mirrors Helena’s state of mind, suggesting that her captivity threatens to dehumanize her.

“In her right palm there were more scars. Slits in the palm and fingers, as if she’d gripped a knife blade in her hands, and more oddly, seven tiny punctures. They were perfectly spaced into a circle in her palm. Not large but distinct in the way they marred the skin. She stared at them. The shape felt familiar.”

Helena studies her own body for clues to who she is. The image of her analyzing her own scars contributes to the novel’s theme of Reclaiming a Fragmented Identity. At this juncture of the novel, Helena is still unsure who she is and what she has lived through. Her scars symbolize her past life. They are reminders of the battles she fought and challenges she healed from. Studying these marks offers Helena a glimmer of insight into her identity.

“She was grateful that Ferron did not come and harass her about going outside. She didn’t want to see him again because she had a very clear memory of pressing her face against his hand without any idea of who he was. In charge of her care? A very generous way of describing himself. She paused, replaying their interaction.”

Helena’s internal monologue about Kaine Ferron foreshadows the evolution of their dynamic. This moment thus launches the novel’s theme of the Love as a Catalyst for Personal Growth. Helena has yet to recover her memories and thus continues to regard Kaine as her captor, enemy, and abuser. In this moment, however, her distaste for Kaine contrasts with Kaine’s softened demeanor. She “replays their interaction” because she is questioning her true feelings for Kaine and the true nature of their relationship.

“She read the coverage obsessively, her heart soaring. The Resistance was still out there. The papers emphasized over and over that it was a failed assassination attempt, trying desperately to gloss over the fact that someone ostensibly immortal had been killed by accident instead. Helena knew the continent had to be alight with speculation of how it had been done, and how it might be replicated. There was a way to kill the Undying.”

Reading the news about the killing of an Undying offers Helena renewed hope. This moment of discovery also marks a turning point in the narrative; Helena and the Resistance have begun to make progress toward defeating their enemies. The more information they garner about the Undying, the more likely they are to progress in their battle for good over evil. The passage’s diction also enacts how this discovery impacts Helena emotionally. Diction like “soaring” and “alight” affects a buoyant mood that mirrors Helena’s state of mind.

“Moving slowly, he started along her shoulder, removing the bits of white gravel and washing the wounds before his fingers brushed across her skin. She felt a tingle of warmth as the skin knit together, regenerating into delicate new tissue. He worked across her shoulders and up her neck, to her throbbing lip.”

Kaine’s gentleness with Helena in this scene foreshadows the coming revelations about the history of their relationship. In the narrative present, Helena is convinced Kaine is her enemy. Kaine’s desperation to help, protect, and heal Helena challenges this notion. His magical healing of Helena’s wounds is described in sensuous language that creates an intimate mood, conveying Helena’s developing affection for Kaine and Kaine’s abiding devotion to Helena.

“She laughed and laughed and then she wasn’t laughing anymore, she was crying. She was crying until she was rocking, back and forth, half screaming, and Ferron just stood there. She didn’t stop until she was hollow, as though she’d sobbed out everything inside her and now the only thing left was a shell. She was so tired of existing.”

Helena’s emotional outpouring in this scene conveys the complexities of reclaiming a fragmented identity. Helena is so upset because she can’t reconcile all that she has lost. She laughs, cries, rocks, screams, and sobs. Without her friends or her memories, she feels like “a shell,” suggesting that memory is integral to identity.

“She hadn’t thought it could be worse the second time, but it was a thousand times worse. Now her body wanted him. She tried closing her eyes, but she was restless. She couldn’t keep them shut. They fluttered open and she looked at Ferron again, taking in all the details she’d never cared to notice before.”

Helena and Kaine’s forced sexual encounter conveys the novel’s theme of the complications of enemies-to-lovers romance. Morrough has thrust the two into this sexual dynamic without choice. Helena does not want to want Kaine, but the desire she feels does help her to see Kaine more accurately. Studying his physicality in a new way offers her a new perspective on his character and spirit. This moment marks a turning point in their relationship.

“No, the thing eating you alive isn’t surviving or some subconscious instinct to appease me. What you can’t bear is the isolation. The Eternal Flame’s lonely little healer, with no one left to save. No one needs you, and no one wants you.”

Kaine’s cruel words to Helena expose her vulnerability. Kaine can identify Helena’s weaknesses because he knows her well. His words touch a nerve, upsetting Helena. Indeed, she has long relied on the Eternal Flame, the Resistance, and the Holdfasts to give her a sense of purpose. Without them, she feels worthless and alone.

“‘We are fighting a war against the dead and the Undying,’ Helena said. She’d known they wouldn’t listen, but surely by now they understood the Eternal Flame couldn’t possibly win if things continued as they were. ‘It wouldn’t be done to anyone who didn’t consent while they were still alive. Our soldiers are willing to die for the cause; why not at least give them the choice to keep fighting and spare the living?’”

Helena’s proposition to the Council conveys her bold, rebellious spirit. Although Helena knows “they won’t listen,” she suggests using necromancy to reanimate their dead soldiers anyway. Her brave proposition ultimately alienates her from her companions and comrades, but it is a risk Helena is willing to take. This moment provides insight into her true nature. In the narrative present, Helena is only a shell of this person; the past-tense chapters reveal the truth of who she has been, conveying the difficulty and importance of reclaiming a fragmented identity.

“It was a game. None of this was real. She was a toy, something he’d thrown into his list of demands as a diversion tactic. She wasn’t a part of his real plan. She had to remember that. She stepped towards him.”

Helena and Kaine’s first kiss initiates their complex relationship. Helena tries to convince herself that her and Kaine’s new arrangement is purely political, and thus personally meaningless. She tries to trick herself because she is afraid of her own heart. Even at this early stage of their relationship, she does not want to believe she could love a sworn enemy.

“Helena had assumed Ferron would be like the rest of them. Now she wasn’t sure what he was. He’d been so angry. Angrier than she had ever seen anyone, but he had driven her off. He hadn’t hurt her at all. […] Why not? After all, he didn’t care about the Eternal Flame. So what held him back? It wasn’t as if Ferron was above violence.”

Helena’s internal monologue develops the novel’s thematic explorations of the complications of enemies-to-lovers romance. Helena is beginning to question who Kaine really is—private musings that convey how her heart is changing toward him. At the same time, Helena is terrified to admit that Kaine might not be the villain she thought he was, because that would mean betraying the Eternal Flame. Loving her “enemy” could cost her her friends and her safety.

“Save him or kill him. She stood, staring at the array, gripping her amulet through her shirt, feeling its points prick the scars in her palm. She couldn’t kill him. Not after he’d trusted her. Not after he’d helped them. A month ago, perhaps, but not now. The Resistance needed him. […] She had to save him.”

Helena’s decision to save Kaine conveys her deepening love for him. Throughout the novel thus far, Helena has regarded Kaine as her mortal enemy. This moment offers Helena the chance to defeat Kaine once and for all, but she chooses to save him instead. The decision marks a turning point in Helena’s journey of self-discovery and highlights the power of love as a catalyst for personal growth, as she is acting from her own heart instead of following orders or expectations.

“The stone was a fairy tale. The belief that Sol’s blessing was a physical object was a misinterpretation of the early artistic renderings of Orion Holdfast. The region had been prescientific and illiterate at the time; the imagery was all that many people knew. While the historical records had been corrected, the myths had endured. Helena had believed there was a real stone for years until Luc had awkwardly corrected her.”

Helena’s musings on the Stone of the Heavens foreshadow the coming revelations regarding the Holdfasts’ lies and Morrough’s true aims. The implication that the Stone might be real subverts readerly expectations and infuses the narrative with mystery and tension. This moment also conveys Helena’s progressive and tireless mind. She never stops questioning her world and seeking truth.

“He was gentler than she thought he could be. He looked at her like he saw her. And he was asking. She kissed him. A real kiss this time. The instant her lips met his, he took control. As if she’d sprung something loose in him, his arm was around her waist, drawing her towards him, pulling her close until their bodies pressed together, and she was on his lap.”

Helena and Kaine’s physical relationship deepens their intellectual and emotional connection. Once they start kissing and having sex, Helena feels an even more profound bond with her new lover. The narrator’s use of language enacts the security, excitement, stability, and pleasure the lovers derive from one another. The simile “as if she’d sprung something loose in him” suggests that Kaine’s true self emerges in and through his love for Helena, highlighting the theme of love as a catalyst for personal growth.

“A moratorium was placed on Helena’s lab work, and the next thing she knew, it was not her lab at all but Shiseo’s, and Ilva had Helena passed off as the lab assistant, tasked with running errands and fetching supplies from the wetlands for him. It was all technicalities […] but it still felt like a blow.”

Helena’s isolation within the Resistance compels her into a deeper relationship with Kaine. She loses her privileges at the Institute, the lab, the hospital, and on the Council. She sees less of her friends, and Ilva and Jan Crowther lie about her status in the society. These dynamics alienate Helena, causing her to rely more heavily on Kaine for emotional support. Their forced proximity accelerates their enemies-to-lovers romance.

“Sometimes she wished she’d died in the hospital with her father, to be remembered and mourned for her possibilities, rather than live day by day growing ever lesser. Now it didn’t matter if she’d been an alchemist, or a healer, or anything else. To anyone who ever learned of it, she would only be that one thing.”

Helena’s musings on her past and present contribute to the novel’s theme of reclaiming a fragmented identity. Helena feels alone and insecure in the present. She wishes she were dead, because she feels purposeless and powerless. Without a past, she lacks an identity; without an identity, she lacks the will to live.

“She was always fragile after that. My father always said I had to take care of her. That I was—responsible. He used to make me swear again and again, growing up, that I’d always take care of her. I tried to make her flee. I got it all arranged but—she wouldn’t go. Not without me. Said she couldn’t leave me here.”

Kaine opens up to Helena about his relationship with his late mother, Enid Ferron, bringing the couple closer. Over time, Kaine shares more and more about his fraught childhood and his sorrow over Enid’s death. These emotional outpourings help Helena and Kaine to connect on an emotional level. Their willingness to be honest, open, and vulnerable helps the couple develop genuine love.

“You are not replaceable […] You are not required to make your death convenient. You are allowed to be important to people. The reason I’m here—the reason I’m doing any of this—is to keep you alive. To keep you safe. That was the deal.”

Kaine’s insistent tone in this scene of dialogue conveys his love for Helena. Kaine values Helena’s life and is trying to remind her of her worth. The moment shows how transformative Kaine’s love for Helena is; over time, he offers her a new perspective on herself and gains a deeper understanding of himself in turn, illustrating the theme of love as a catalyst for personal growth.

“The energy, the sensation of it, running through her like an electric current kept coming to mind whenever she tried to imagine channeling through a multiple of three. It made her wonder. If Morrough could trap living souls inside bone, and the first Necromancer placed an entire town of living souls into a Stone, what would happen if someone captured the other form of energy?”

Helena’s musings on Morrough, the Necromancer, and the Stone affect a tense, mysterious narrative mood. Helena is still trying to piece together the truth of who Morrough is and what he wants. Meanwhile, she must ask questions about Paladia’s history, and how the country’s obscured past relates to its fraught political climate in the present.

“Helena’s mouth twisted in a bitter smile. ‘I’m not, though, am I? You said it yourself: I am an exceptional asset. Why else would you and Ilva spend so much time manipulating me? Always been so quick to take advantage of what I can do while treating it like it’s of no use to anyone. By all means, replace me if you can.’”

Helena stands up to Jan, conveying her strength of character. She has been Jan’s pawn throughout the novel; but in this scene, Helena learns to assert herself. She is claiming her voice and owning her personal value. Her assertive tone conveys her desire for agency and autonomy over her identity, circumstances, and future.

“She lay falling into her loss. Pinned by the weight of her grief. How could she get up now? How could she bear it? Kaine. Her eyes snapped open, and she clawed at her throat, trying to push back the sedation, fumes filling her lungs. She’d told him she’d be waiting for him.”

Helena’s love for Kaine helps her to survive. In this scene, Helena has just bombed the West Port Laboratory. Injured and exhausted, Helena nearly gives up hope and lets herself die. However, as soon as she remembers Kaine “her eyes snap open.” The immediacy with which she responds to a mere thought of Kaine underscores the empowering and transformative nature of their love.

“You care about this baby. You worried about her so constantly, you wrecked your heart with fear over what would happen to her. Now you’re so preoccupied trying to save me that you’re letting yourself forget that she is dependent on you. I can’t protect her from you. Endangering yourself to save me risks her.”

Kaine urges Helena to prioritize Enid Rose Ferron’s life over his own because she is a symbol of the future. He urges Helena to remember that if she puts herself in danger, she is endangering their unborn baby. He wants Helena to have a happy, peaceful future and believes the baby will offer her this—with or without him. The moment stresses his self-sacrificing nature. Their debate over whether Helena should risk herself and their unborn child to save Kaine is the final conflict they must overcome before achieving their happy ending.