yves and eparch have a complicated relationship but i do think its built on begrudging respect for each other because 1. yves recognizes that eparch and his people have a lot of power over humans in general from their ability to influence emotions and memory and 2. eparch recognizes that yves is one of the strongest (living, non-immortal) mages in tyria and being able to raise hell in nayos after being transported there alone for multiple days before getting captured is indicative of that. both of them are also wielding abaddon's magic which makes yves willing to hear eparch out instead of just blowing him up because there's so few people in tyria who know about abaddon and even fewer who are willing to talk about him. ultimately though they're both just manipulating each other as a means to an end and anything romantic that happens between them is part of that game
