 Possessing a love for Italian culture , Chase decided to make her male protagonist , Dain , a " mongrel English aristocrat " and half @-@ Italian . By giving Dain Italian ancestry through his mother , Chase was able to develop his character and justify his motivations . She explains , " Having Dain be half @-@ Italian fit so many aspects of his story : his background as well as his behavior , which does get operatic at times " . Chase adds that Dain 's difficult childhood stemmed from his parents ' inability to accept each other 's cultures , which then " warps him and makes him a misfit . In a loving household , he would have grown up with a better self @-@ image , and would have dealt with bullying at school in a different way , and thus would have grown up into someone altogether different from the man Jessica meets in that antique shop " . 
