49 pages • 1 hour read
The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain descriptions of violent death, child illness, child death, sexual content, sexual harassment, physical abuse, child abuse, and graphic violence.
Chapter 1 Summary: “Irresistible Bastard Meets Immovable Bitch: Osric”
Osric Mordaunt, a seith (magic) user and an assassin of the Fyren Order, looks over a daguerreotype of Aurienne Fairhrim, the only Haelan (healer) who is capable of healing him of seith rot, a deadly illness in which the seith channels in a person’s body degenerate and die. However, Haelans refuse to treat Fyren assassins like Osric on principle, since the two Orders hold ethical systems that are polar opposites. According to the physickers that Osric consulted, he only has a few months left before he loses his seith completely. If this becomes known to the rest of the Fyren Order, they will kill him because they do not tolerate weak members. The physickers leave after unknowingly drinking a draught to forget their encounter.
Osric dispatches his attendant, Mrs. Parson, to find Aurienne’s weakness so that he will have some leverage in the negotiations. Days later, Mrs. Parsons returns with her findings and advises him to donate a large sum to fund the Haelans’ research for a cure for the Platt’s Pox epidemic that is raging across the land. Osric reluctantly agrees.
Because Aurienne is ensconced in Swanstone fortress and protected by Wardens (the Order of paladins) Osric must use his shadow-walking skills to access Aurienne’s empty office undetected.
