And there's nobody to help him. The other girl he grew close with was planning on making him "fall" in a similar way.
For all my misgivings about the work (the leveraging of Christian motifs is inconsistent in quality, and despite his appearance being recent, Mikhail managed to become Exhibits A and B of this issue), it excels in its characters, general plot, and anticipation buildup/release-- and I think Priest's character and his conflicts are the best example I have of that.