YES! This!!! I feel like none of them acknowledge neither how badly the duke treated him before (shaming him, rape/non-con, leaving bruises) or how he was drugged and abused by the other guys. I mean, Jace is dumb, no question about it, but the duke is stupid too, believing Jace would want to jump into a relationship with him after all that.
Sometimes it feels like they show the effect of assault like when Jace, in pain and disheveled, told the kid they could go to the circus, or when he was trembling from fear and shame when feeling the effect of the aphrodisiac and told the duke he wasn't promiscuous (obviously traumatised from when the duke assaulted him saying it was okay since he would do it with anyone). But then in other instances it's like none of the trauma ever happened.
I didn't have a problem with the duke helping him when he was drugged at first, since it felt like he was doing it for Jace's sake, but it felt kinda disingenuous when he took advantage of the situation to get some dick action himself. Would have liked it more if he only focused on pleasing and helping Jace.
yea i agree with everything you said!! it’s understandable the duke helped him bc of the drug, but sex was not the way to go, given what JUST happened. sexual abuse shouldn’t push two characters to suddenly be together. like why did the duke go from disrespecting jace and having minor interest in him, to suddenly having romantic feelings and wanting to date him??
did they really just pass over the fact that jace was drugged and raped?? the author drew those scenes to explicitly show how scary that scene was. so it does not make sense at all how they brushed off what happened... and the fact that the duke/jace had sex literally one scene after he was sexually abused does not sit right with me. i understand if they did it for the sake of jace feeling relieved from the aphrodisiac, but the duke was not catering to jace’s needs and the timing of them getting together was so insensitive. plus jace did not acknowledge what happened after he woke up from his short coma, which im also confused about because of how traumatic it was.