The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy

Aurienne Fairhrim, one of the novel’s protagonists, is a healer of the Haelan Order and Osric’s eventual love interest. She is the daughter of Radia and Rosbert Fairhrim, both of whom have acquired a nouveau riche status due to Radia’s recent invention. Though Radia had initially hoped that her daughter would follow in her footsteps and become an engineer, Aurienne has opted to become a skilled healer.

Before the beginning of the novel, she was coerced into becoming Swanstone’s director of the Centre for Seith Research. Considered a “phenomenon” in her field, Aurienne is Xanthe’s protégé because she specializes in the seith (magic) system and is the only Haelan capable of removing seith emboli (clots) without surgery. Her deofol (familiar), Cíele, often mirrors Aurienne’s acerbic treatment of anyone she does not love—especially Osric. Aurienne once entertained the idea of studying and incorporating the Old Ways of healing into modern treatments in order to cure some of the supposedly untreatable diseases, such as Osric’s seith rot. After 10 years, she has largely abandoned this line of inquiry, opting instead to devote herself to modern science and methods of seith usage. Aurienne initially presents herself as a rule-follower who keeps herself emotionally distanced from her patients, compartmentalizing her feelings.