Violetta is Adelina’s younger sister by two years. For much of the novel, subtle envy tempers Adelina’s love for her sister since Violetta is not a malfetto and therefore receives coddling and kind words from their father. Adelina feels she and Violetta have grown apart since their mother’s death and the blood fever; she believes Violetta would never run away from her prim and proper (and pampered) life, for example, so she flees alone. Violetta is the lynchpin that keeps Adelina under Teren’s control when he wants her to spy on the Elites for him; Adelina must do as Teren commands, or he will hurt Violetta. This raises the stakes for Adelina throughout the rising action and increases tension in the narrative.

A significant plot twist occurs with the revelation that Violetta is both a malfetto (but unmarked) and a Young Elite; her ability to “pull back” any other Elite’s powers gives her more command than any of them, but she weakens quickly when she exerts it. Though Adelina used to think of herself as looking out for Violetta, it is Violetta who offers to tame Adelina’s dark spirit by cutting off Adelina’s powers permanently near the end of the novel. Adelina refuses this offer and the two plan to leave Estenzia in exile. This leaves their relationship dynamic altered and uncertain. Violetta is a dynamic, round character whose complexities are not revealed until near the end of the story. She wants to be an archetypal ally to her sister, but Adelina may be too dark moving forward for kind-spirited allies like Violetta.

Enzo leads the Dagger Society and is the prince of Kenettra. His throne was unlawfully taken from him when he became a malfetto after the blood fever epidemic. He wants to use Adelina’s illusion powers to attack his sister Giulietta’s army of Inquisitors and regain the throne. Adelina sees a dark and bitter spirit in Enzo like her own and tries hard to earn his respect by getting control of her powers. Enzo once loved a fiancé, Daphne, so Adelina is uncertain if her fleeting moments of passionate kisses with Enzo are sincere. Adelina is bitter when she grasps the extent to which he is using her, and this hampers her control.

Adelina contributes to Enzo’s death by accidentally weakening him with her powers. Deeply shamed and grieving, Adelina suggests a Young Elite with powers to raise the dead be sought to bring Enzo back, but the novel ends without a defined plan in this direction. Enzo’s passion for Adelina deepens over the story, but his goals and motivations in seeking the throne do not change.

Raffaele is a handsome consort (sex worker) at the brothel where Enzo hides Adelina as she trains. He confides to Adelina that he would like to escape the life of a consort. Raffaele is a malfetto and Young Elite; his power is reading others’ energy in a way that he can learn their location and motivations. He is known as the Messenger. He takes on a kind of mentor role in testing and training Adelina, but his wariness of her reckless, dark emotions prevents him from wholly supporting her. 

Ironically, Adelina feels she has a sincere connection with Raffaele; she finds out late in the story that he recommended to Enzo that she be put to death after his first test. This betrayal rocks Adelina, and this sentiment in part prompts her to declare she will form her own society. Raffaele’s position in the Dagger Society changes to the leader when Enzo dies, but otherwise, he is a static character with consistent traits.

Teren is the novel’s antagonist. He is the Lead Inquisitor in Kenettra and runs public executions. He once was Enzo’s sparring partner of Enzo in their childhood. He has a deep-seated disgust for malfetto flaws, including his own. He practices flagellation with a knife-tipped whip to punish himself for being a malfetto, though with this wound and his skin simply heals itself. This regenerative power marks him as a Young Elite, but he refuses to accept this fate and instead sets the goal of killing all the other Elites. As Giulietta’s lover, he is poised to fulfill this duty.

Teren blackmails Adelina for Elite information but loses her and Violetta when Violetta “pulls” his powers in the Inquisition Tower. He manages to kill Enzo in the final duel only because Adelina inadvertently helps him by wounding Enzo. Adelina sets vengeance against Teren as her goal at the end of the novel. Teren is a complex but static archetypal shadow who complicates and opposes Adelina’s goals.