Byx is a dairne, a dog-like creature with opposable thumbs and the innate ability to tell truth from lies. She is the smallest member of her family, and she therefore sees herself as weak and less competent than her siblings. As a result, her confidence is crippled by an inferiority complex that leads her to doubt herself in every situation that allows her enough time to overthink things. However, when Byx finds herself making moment-to-moment decisions, she always makes the braver choice. This sense of inferiority follows Byx throughout the novel, causing her to doubt her choices at every step. However, with the support of her new group of friends, Byx begins to find a new confidence in herself, and these self-doubts begin to disappear.

When her family is killed by the soldiers of the Murdano, the human king, Byx is devastated, and her confidence is further undermined by the memory of a conversation she overheard her parents having, in which her father expressed fear of Byx one day being the last dairne left alive. When she realizes that she is indeed the last of the dairnes, her father’s words haunt her and make her feel unworthy of her species’ legacy.