58 pages • 1 hour read
Hannah Nicole MaehrerAssistant to the Villain
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A 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 13-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary
Trystan’s history with Malcolm is characterized by violent interactions and disagreements. This time, his temper gets the better of him, and he almost kills Malcolm before Evie suggests that he not do so in front of a room full of witnesses. Malcolm leads them to a back room while Evie yells at Trystan for not telling her that he has a brother. The ensuing banter makes Trystan laugh and feel as though a spell of intimacy has been cast between them.
Chapter 14 Summary
Malcolm claims to know nothing about the bomb, but Trystan doesn’t believe him. Instead of intimidating Malcolm, Evie appeals to his humanity, explaining the bomb would have killed her and left her family with no provider. Last week, a man talked Malcolm into selling one of his bomb timer clocks while Malcolm was drunk, and the only thing he remembers is the glowing blue ink on the man’s hands. Evie realizes that whoever tried to kill Trystan was willing to use his brother to do it. That night, she lies awake and wonders whether the unknown assailant would try to use her to strike at Trystan.
Chapter 15 Summary
The next workday, Evie arrives very early and finds Trystan watching the sunrise from a balcony. After getting his morning brew, she goes outside to chat with Blade, who asks her to retrieve a book from his quarters. Evie does so, finding a missive from the king, but before she can think too much, a hand clamps over her mouth, and Blade says, “Please don’t scream” (109).
Chapter 16 Summary
Evie learns that Blade lied when he first came to work for Trystan. He didn’t find his dragon while hiking; instead, he stole it from the king and went into hiding to keep the dragon safe. Evie urges him to tell Trystan the truth because the lie makes him look guilty. As she leaves, she wonders “if continuing to trust her friends would be the thing that doomed them all” (113).
Chapter 17 Summary
The ink that Malcolm saw is only made by Trystan’s sister; Tatianna had a relationship with her years ago. Evie, Trystan, and Tatianna now visit Trystan’s sister, who informs them that one of the king’s guards bought the ink. Years ago, Trystan worked for the king but broke away to become the Villain and actively oppose him. Feeling left in the dark, Evie storms away, realizing that her ignorance of the full picture is preventing her from finding a way to protect Trystan.
Chapter 18 Summary
Trystan goes after Evie, astonished to find that he cares about how she feels. He also notes that despite her anger, she is beautiful. He wants to tell her about his past but doesn’t know how to begin. Evie understands, but when Trystan asks if they have a truce, Evie says, “Now where would the fun in that be?” (124).
Chapter 19 Summary
Back at the office, Evie realizes that the ventilation shaft in Trystan’s office links directly to the breakroom, allowing them to hear everything said there. Evie climbs up onto Trystan’s desk to accomplish the task but then falls, landing atop Trystan. They’re interrupted by Becky, who hands over the employment letter that Evie took from Blade; Trystan believes that it belongs to Evie. In a rush, Evie realizes that he doesn’t trust her, and she quits, fleeing the office even though the terms of her employment bargain mean that she “may have just signed her own death warrant” (131).
Chapter 20 Summary
Evie doesn’t come to work the next day, and the office is a mess of disorganization and employee squabbles. Blade confesses that the letter was his, not Evie’s, and Trystan struggles to cope with the swell of emotions that rush through him, with guilt and sorrow over Evie’s absence figuring most prominently. Against his better judgment, Trystan lets Blade keep his job. Blade asks Trystan what should be done about Evie, but Trystan has no good answer despite his preoccupation with the issue.
Chapter 21 Summary
At home, Evie tries not to think about her employment situation. Her father suggests that she just reconcile with her boss, but Evie knows that just like her family history, doing so is not so simple. When Evie was little, her mother’s magic awakened, giving her power over starlight. As a result, her mother accidentally killed Evie’s brother and then left, leaving Evie’s family broken in many ways. Something within Trystan feels similarly broken, and Evie is tired of constantly fighting to find a place for herself. The only place she ever felt like who she’d been before the tragedy was with Trystan. She reflects that “it was ironic that a man who dealt with so much death seemed to have brought her back to life” (143).
Chapter 22 Summary
The following day at the office is no more organized or calm than the previous one. Even Becky implies that Trystan needs to fix things with Evie and bring her back. While he sees the logic in this, he doubts that it is possible because he believes himself to be more talented at destruction than reconciliation.
Chapter 23 Summary
At the end of the workday, Evie comes to Trystan’s office, making him feel irrationally relieved and happy. She apologizes for quitting and asks for her job back, acknowledging that she acted without thinking but also stating that Trystan’s actions hurt her. Guilt overwhelms Trystan, and he haltingly apologizes for his actions and gives her back her job. Before she leaves, Trystan asks why she wants his trust, and she replies, “I want to know you” (154).
Chapter 24 Summary
Chapters 13-24 Analysis
Blade’s employment letter from the king jumpstarts much of the tension in the next several chapters and allows the author to explore the deeper dynamics of Evie’s workplace. Prior to working for Trystan, Blade was slated to follow his father’s footsteps as a political advisor. Since Blade has always found people difficult and animals simpler, he sympathized with the dragon that the king captured and stole it, coming to work for Trystan because he believed it a safe place for both himself and the creature. He kept the letter as a reminder of why he made his choices, but despite its harmless status as a sentimental object, the letter becomes a liability in the context of Trystan’s ongoing search for traitors and spies in his midst, thereby highlighting the inverse aspects of The Effectiveness of Trust-Based Relationships. Faced with the possibility that Blade might be the traitor, Evie jumps to conclusions that are not unreasonable, and Blade’s secret further complicates matters when Trystan is led to believe that the ostensibly incriminating letter belongs to Evie. The entire situation therefore stands as an example of the myriad troubles that secrets and lies can cause. However, although Blade’s secret leads to a misunderstanding that upends the office, it also gives Evie the push she needs to start discovering her self-worth. Since the beginning of the book, Evie has defined herself in terms of what she can do for other people, but her time working for Trystan has taught her that she is important and deserves to have what she wants. This realization ultimately leads her to find the courage she needs to confront Trystan directly and get her job back.
The differing approaches that Evie and Trystan take to questioning Malcolm in Chapters 13 and 14 highlight the fact that Evie’s strengths complement Trystan’s own, for she is able to find solutions that his temperament would otherwise render impossible. After a long history of arguments and anger, Trystan and Malcolm no longer have a healthy relationship, and Trystan’s instinctive rage upon seeing his brother prevents him from asking the right questions and believing the answers that Malcolm gives. As an outsider, Evie is unencumbered by Trystan’s biases and can assess Malcolm’s words and reactions with a neutral eye; this allows her to glean more information than Trystan can in his emotional state. In addition, Evie uses the shared experience of humanity and caring to appeal to Malcolm. Unlike Trystan’s vengeful anger, Evie’s approach makes Malcolm want to be truthful. Evie’s approach also shows that evil doesn’t have to manifest in stereotypical ways. She questions Malcolm for Trystan (the Villain), using her emotional empathy to achieve purposes that the kingdom has deemed to be “evil.” Thus, she subverts The True Definition of Evil that dominates fairy tales, for her actions show that good and evil cannot be judged simply on the basis of external appearances or behaviors.
The visit to Trystan’s sister in Chapter 17 unravels more clues about both the spy and Trystan’s past, as well as Tatianna’s involvement in the siblings’ lives. The chapter also serves as a reminder to Evie that she is still very new to her current employment setting, and she does not yet have the full confidence of the people she works with. The history between Tatianna, Trystan, and Trystan’s sister is packed with information about how Trystan came to oppose the king, but Trystan does not share these things with Evie until the final chapters of the book. Without that information, Evie feels useless because she cannot protect Trystan from things she doesn’t understand. Since Evie is still working through her character arc, she adopts this as a personal failing. She still defines her self-worth in terms of what she can do for others, and not being able to help makes her feel useless. Ironically, her despairing belief in her lack of worth is directly contradicted by the disorganized mess that Trystan’s office becomes in her absence; her misconceptions about herself therefore highlight The Damaging Power of Expectations. Evie’s skills for organization and planning make her useful, and while this usefulness does not define her, it shows that she holds far more value and is not limited to the expectations that she places upon herself. She has unique talents that let her accomplish things that no one else can manage, and as she comes to appreciate these strengths within herself, she will grow into the self-assured person she becomes by the end of the book.
