The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy

“[Aurienne is] a Haelan. She’d sooner walk into the Thames than help you. Perhaps we can equip you with a plan B. And a plan C.”

The author uses this dialogue to introduce the main source of conflict between the novel’s protagonists, establishing the social obstacles to their burgeoning romance. Although their banter indicates that they enjoy each other’s personalities, on some level, they are nonetheless separated by their opposing functions in society and the ethical dilemma involved in any sort of accord between a killer and a healer.

“[Aurienne] and her Order were literally ensconced in ivory towers.”

In this quote, Knightley highlights the potential biases in her characters, as Osric openly judges Aurienne for her rarified existence and her focus on research, both of which contrast with his skill for completing morally questionable jobs with much confidence and very little remorse. At this early point, he is incapable of seeing her as an individual; he merely condemns her for showing signs of the stereotypes for which he derides all Haelans. While Aurienne’s “ivory tower” is removed from the dark underbelly of the world, she is nevertheless at the forefront of every epidemic endured by the citizens of Danelaw, and she is nowhere near as naïve as Osric first assumes her to be.

“Osric positioned his hood so that his face was in shadow ([resolving] look sinister while he did it) and settled into his chair to wait.”

This passage emphasizes Osric’s penchant for needless theatrics. Despite his deadly occupation, Osric indulges his childish side, seeking to create fear through smoke and mirrors rather than terrifying others with a brief mention of his Order or a display of his tācn. These habits mark him as a trickster and a rogue, setting the stage for his eventual development into an antihero with greater depth.

“It was a bit forward to ask to link tācn. It was something reserved for friends and family so that their deofol—seith familiars—could travel from one tācn to another to deliver messages. Fairhrim, however, was looking at Osric as though he had suggested the most foul of depravities.”

In this passage, Knightley outlines one of the intricacies of her world-building. Similar to the daemons in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, the deofol are manifestations of their master and offer a reflection of their personality and soul. To link them as Osric proposes is therefore an act of intimacy that initially repulses Aurienne but eventually comes to feel natural as their feelings for each other grow.

“It was hard being perfect in an imperfect world, but Aurienne managed. If she had a flaw, it was that she was the Best, and she knew she was the Best. Some called it arrogance. She called it competence untainted by performative humility.”

In this instance, Knightley demonstrates that both protagonists suffer from an overabundance of arrogance. Just as Osric takes great pride in his abilities as an assassin, Aurienne, although she is less pompous, takes equal pride in her superior capacity to heal others. Their matching temperaments ironically indicate that they are well-suited for each other, as they clearly share an unmitigated appreciation for their own brilliance.

“The scarring was something. The man was branded by years of fights. She could confirm that he had never been worked on by a Haelan.”

While this quote highlights the hardships Osric has endured, his complete lack of contact with Haelans also hints at the intense trauma and deprivation of his childhood. Although the abuse that he endured from his father will only be later revealed in the narrative, this quote insinuates that even when he was a child, he never received proper medical care. His body is therefore a map of medical negligence as much as a testament to his resilience.

“A person of moderate intelligence would say no in response to this dire assessment. An imbecile would say yes. ‘Yes,’ said Mordaunt.”

Here, Knightley showcases the limitations of her complicit third-person narrator. The disdainful tone employed in this scene emphasizes Aurienne’s contemptuous assessment of Osric. Neither Aurienne nor the narrator acknowledges Osric’s desperate desire to live despite the impossible odds against his cure.

“ [Osric’s] gestures were oddly elegant, the movements of a sophisticate, rather than a murderer. Everything about him was polished, actually—his clothes, his mannerisms, his speech. And then there were the scars—and the profession—marring it all. Strange contradictions.”

While Aurienne currently views Osric’s rugged, scarred appearance as an innate facet of his personality, the broader narrative suggests that this facet was hard-earned. Given the childhood abuse and poverty he endured, the demeanor of a “sophisticate” is something that he only learned after killing his father and assuming the mantle of the only remaining Mordaunt heir.

“It was one thing for people to approach him when they didn’t know that he was a Fyren […] but when they did know what he was, they stayed well clear. There was no brushing of arms. Except from Fairhrim, who, apparently, feared nothing.”

Here, Knightley examines the sense of the isolation and loneliness that pursues those who adhere to the Fyren Order. Treated as the boogeymen of society, Fyrens lack any true social contact beyond their colleagues, and they never form ties with individuals who would be inclined to challenge their amoral stance. Though Osric still loathes Aurienne at this stage in the narrative, she represents a rare opportunity for him to expand his worldview.

“How had she gone from her lab’s rigorous science to this? She must take care not to injure herself due to methodological whiplash.”

This self-reflective passage highlights the cloistering effect of the medical academy. Here, Knightley implies that adhering to the methodological habits of the academy quells curiosity in its members, stunting their innovative tendencies and limiting them to confined paths that bypass world-changing discoveries. Though Aurienne laments the rigor of her usual workplace, she knows that conducting experiments in the field will eventually prove to be more beneficial than the time she is forced to spend doing administrative work.

“As far as I’m concerned, [the Dreors are] functionally extinct. I’ve always said they’re too selective as an Order.”

In this passage, Tristane’s words foreshadow the great danger that will plague the main characters across the duology. Though the rise of the Dreors spells chaos and destruction, Tristane’s opinion, which is here presented as if it were advice she’d given in the past, suggests that she will be part of their uprising and will become an enemy in her own right.

“All levity aside, watching Noldo’s corpse burn was a sober reminder of the Fyren Order’s ruthless willingness to cull those who no longer served its purposes.”

As a plot device, Noldo’s death visually reaffirms the threat that hangs over the secretly ailing Osric, for he knows that if his seith rot were discovered, his Order would dispose of him just as readily, despite his long years of service to their cause. Even as he makes light of his former colleague’s death, Osric is reminded that his colleagues hold no loyalty to him, and this harsh reality fuels his hidden desperation for a cure.

“There was lovely irony to their respective wayfinding: her light created a blind spot for him, and his shadows were inscrutable darkness to her; opposite topographies guided them up the same path.”

This description marks the contrasts between Aurienne and Osric’s seith manifestation and deliberately invokes the imagery of a yin and yang symbol. As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that the dance of contrasts stands as the very foundation of their contentious but increasingly affectionate relationship. In the end, their differences meld together, making the characters into a united whole, wherein that which is inaccessible to one person is open to the other.

“You lot are never able to cross [through the Veil]. […] You can’t even see […] You look and you behold nothing.”

In this dialogue, the young Hedgewitch addresses Osric and Aurienne, and her words allude to a historical shift in Danelaw’s past. Though Aurienne loosely refers to the mysterious “Old Ways” of using seith, the Hedgewitch explicitly confirms the disconnect between modern seith usage and these alleged Old Ways. The passage therefore implies that the modernizations are a devolution of magic use, not an improvement.

“Osric wanted to laugh, but he didn’t want to laugh with Fairhrim, because that would be chummy, and they weren’t chums.”

In this quote, Knightley shows the first signs of Osric’s growing affection for Aurienne, although he still tries to resist the urge. Though it isn’t clear whether Osric has friends of any sort, his intentional resistance to the idea of appearing “chummy” with Aurienne paradoxically highlights his natural desire for greater closeness and connection with her.

“Like Woden, did you give your right eye so your left could See?”

In this passage, Widdershins addresses Osric and makes an allusion to Woden, a figure who is also known as Odin and the Allfather in Norse mythology. Woden once sacrificed an eye in exchange for foreknowledge of the end of the world, and this scene uses the reference as a metaphor for the ruinous sacrifice that Osric made to achieve his own ambitions as a child.

“You’d think that, with ten bloody kings and queens jostling for supremacy round here, there would be at least one for whom noblesse would oblige?”

Xanthe’s contemptuous comment indicates her steadfast determination to succeed at Charting a Course through Opposing Political Agendas. By outlining the political intrigue that drives the narrative’s plot, this scene also emphasizes the Haelan Order’s moral code to bring healing to whomever they can. Clearly, this broader mission conflicts with the selfish concerns of the nobles and other more powerful members of society, who see no reason to help end an epidemic that does not directly affect them.

“Part of [Aurienne] wished Xanthe had sent the letters, warts and all.”

Here, Knightley marks Aurienne’s shift to a more rebellious attitude toward the indifferent nobles who blithely ignore the Pox epidemic. While she largely remains a rule-follower, her recent exposure to Osric and her eagerness to test her decade-old hypothesis compel her to make new moral compromises that she would once have shunned. She is also forced to consider the world from a more nuanced angle as she is faced with the harsh reality that countless children are needlessly dying of a deadly disease.

“She clutched at his gloved fingers; his thumb pressed hers. The maelstrom whirled overhead. They were the only fixed point in the universe; everything else spun around it.”

This passage indicates the birth of a newfound trust between the protagonists as they take their first steps toward a more intimate relationship, but the “maelstrom” also symbolizes the destruction and chaos that lie in their future. As Tristane and others work to resurrect the deadly Dreor Order and certain unethical nobles engage in this political plot, Osric and Aurienne will be forced to rely heavily on each other to face the oncoming metaphorical “storm.”

“‘You [Osric] can’t play god and accelerate [the death of the bandits].’ […]

 ‘Tss. You play god and slow it down; how’s that different?’

 ‘Because it’s for Good.’

 ‘They aren’t Good.’”

In this heated exchange between Osric and Aurienne, the author exposes one of the unresolved dilemmas in The Blurred Line between Good and Evil. Both Aurienne and Osric have the power to extend or to end the lives of others: Aurienne by healing them and Osric by either abstaining from murder or intentionally killing someone to save others (as he killed Brythe to protect Aurienne). While both protagonists can either end or preserve life, the context of their actions is the only qualifier that justifies whether or not they have embodied society’s definitions of “good” or “evil.”

“[Aurienne] was not beautiful. All there was to see here was an annoyingly unafraid gaze and a maddening mouth that alternately spouted nonsense and overly sharp sense at random intervals. She was pretty at best. Just pretty.”

Here, Knightley exposes Osric’s resistance to his attraction to Aurienne. Ironically, the repetition of the word “pretty” combines with the extensive use of adjectives to indicate that despite his show of indifference, Osric has dedicated a considerable amount of time to contemplating the physical appearance of a woman he pretends to disdain. Thus, even the characters’ inner thoughts highlight the theme of Conflict as a Catalyst for Romance.

“‘I’m just a Point of Leverage, am I?’

 ‘I’m just a Means to an End, aren’t I?’”

In this passage, Osric speaks first, and Aurienne delivers a stinging retort. The parallel rhetorical questions emphasize the characters’ habit of engaging in barbed verbal sparring matches: a key aspect of conflict as a catalyst to romance. The exchange also indicates their shared discomfort at the prospect of meaning more to one another than a “point of leverage” or a “means to an end.” Stated like taunts, these phrases nonetheless imply the characters’ unexpressed desire to be proven wrong and for the other to admit that their interactions hold a deeper meaning.

“And yet, what massacre might the other Fyren have wrought at Swanstone? How many people had Mordaunt saved?”

Aurienne’s private contemplations in this passage reveal that she is allowing her rigid views on morality to gain new layers of complexity. While she has previously implied that murder of any kind is an evil act, she now earnestly grapples with the reality that Osric’s murder of Brythe has had beneficial implications for the safety of the Haelans.