“You are afraid to accept that you have been allowed to live, and must do something with that grace.” 

Martinian’s words to his friend and business partner, Crispin, address Crispin’s guilt over surviving when his wife and daughters died of plague. Martinian challenges Crispin to “do something with that grace” by accepting the invitation to Sarantium, which puts the plot in motion.

“Time passing did complex things, to deepen a wound or to heal it. Even, sometimes, to overlay it with another that had felt as if it would kill.” 

Crispin considers that he cannot remember his father’s face because he died when Crispin was a boy. This description of how the pain of loss changes highlights the motivation of grief and the concept of moving on in spite of it, which is a prevalent theme in the book.

“The world was a place of grief, Kasia had understood, beyond tears, after the first two nights journeying south with shackles on her wrists. Man was born to sorrow, and women knew more of it.” 

Kasia’s reflection on her first nights of enslavement are a reflection on the general turmoil of a difficult life and the effects of gender-based violence. This reflection shows how Kasia’s rape changes her worldview.