Marguerite de Boche

Marguerite de Boche is a character from To Sleep With Evil. In universe, Marguerite is a Darkonian who resided in Malanuv (a village near Nartok). Before the start of the book, she and her family have arranged for to marry Lord Milos Donskoy. Most of the story of To Sleep With Evil focuses on Marguerite's attempts to learn about Donskoy's mysterious past and then escape him.

Biography

Marguerite quickly wishes to get out of Darkon to avoid submission to the undead she fears is quickly taking over there. Brought to Donskoy's land by Arturi, she is received and taken to Donskoy's keep, where she meets Yelena and Zosia, Donskoy's servants.

Donskoy himself is at the beginning loving and caring but become a harsher, more controlling abuser as time goes on. He restricts where she goes and what she does until it gets to the point where he control her entire day and locks her in her room at night. When they fail to produce a child, Donskoy begins to make threats, even going so far as to threaten to sell Marguerite into slavery. At the same time, Donskoy becomes less faithful, starting to hold dalliances with his "associate" Jacqueline Montarri, now his mistress. Marguerite later discovers that Donskoy and his men along with Montarri murder travelers lost in the Mists once per month.

Frightened about her life, Marguerite attempts to escape twice, but she fails both times. Ultimately, Marguerite becomes a pawn in a scheme by Ramus and Sozia to destroy Lord Donskoy. Obeying the advice of Sozia and getting help fro Ramus, Margureite at last becomes pregnant. However, when the baby arrives, it is not a human child but rather a snake of shadow. Sozia reveals she has enacted Veleska's curse (see above). The serpent and Donskoy do battle, and he throws it from the top of a tower. However, when it hits the ground, he falls into a heap, his body bent unnaturally. Sozia then exclaims, "“The old lord is dead... And the new lord has come.”

Following Donskoy's demise, Zosia hires Arturi to return Marguerite back into Darkon. Arturi only takes her to just past Darkon's border, as he says there are dark matters afoot further in the domain. Having lost all feeling of control over her life, this does not bother Marguerite as she is just happy to return to any place within Darkon.According to the book, she will form a new identity in Darkon as her old memories fade. A problem exists here though, in that she is seemingly a native Darkonian and would thus be immune to the memory distortion effects of that domain. (That she is a native Darkonian can be concluded in that another identity never formed from her leaving Darkon in the first place, which is what would happen if she was not a native Darkonian).