So, just to add my grain of salt. I personally I'm really disliking Riftan. I haven't been his biggest fan from the beginning, but in the latest chapters, he comes across as controlling.
Yeah, Maxi made a mistake, it was a serious mistake that could have gotten her killed, but at the end of the day, she's still learning and she had just barely dipping her toes in what it means to be, relatively, free to pursue her interests and to start to understand herself. She has a lot of self-esteem issues rooted in the abuse she suffered, and since the beginning, Riftan has treated her as nothing more than a trophy to be encased behind a glass case.
He definitely has an inferiority complex towards her, thinking her to be oh, so much better than he is. Deserving of more than he could ever provide. But the thing is that he barely talks to her, there's no trust between them, he doesn't know her and he hasn't bothered to do so at all. The only intimacy they share is sex and cuddles, but they don't really talk. Riftan really put Maxi on a pedestal and now she's stuck there.
Riftan treats Maxi as an object, really. Like a shiny toy he couldn't stand if it broke. So, instead he cages her.
Maxi also hadn't tried communicating with him, but honestly it has to be really fucking hard even if she tried, given he's never around. And so she just fullfils her duty as a wife and opens her legs pliantly whenever he wants to. She has to ask him for permission before even trying to do anything, otherwise he gets angry and lashes out at her. There's a kinda fucked up power dynamic that comes along with their arranged marriage and the seemingly medieval setting of the story (tho it's fantasy and therefore we can't really assume how the cultural landscape around relationship is like, maybe it's not the norm to be an ass to your wife over there, maybe they're as misogynistic as in real life medieval times, who knows) but anyway.
Fuck Riftan, he has to get his shit together otherwise I'm stealing Maxi away. SHE HAS HAD ENOUGH TRAUMA AS IT IS.
So, just to add my grain of salt. I personally I'm really disliking Riftan. I haven't been his biggest fan from the beginning, but in the latest chapters, he comes across as controlling.
Yeah, Maxi made a mistake, it was a serious mistake that could have gotten her killed, but at the end of the day, she's still learning and she had just barely dipping her toes in what it means to be, relatively, free to pursue her interests and to start to understand herself. She has a lot of self-esteem issues rooted in the abuse she suffered, and since the beginning, Riftan has treated her as nothing more than a trophy to be encased behind a glass case.
He definitely has an inferiority complex towards her, thinking her to be oh, so much better than he is. Deserving of more than he could ever provide. But the thing is that he barely talks to her, there's no trust between them, he doesn't know her and he hasn't bothered to do so at all. The only intimacy they share is sex and cuddles, but they don't really talk. Riftan really put Maxi on a pedestal and now she's stuck there.
Riftan treats Maxi as an object, really. Like a shiny toy he couldn't stand if it broke. So, instead he cages her.
Maxi also hadn't tried communicating with him, but honestly it has to be really fucking hard even if she tried, given he's never around. And so she just fullfils her duty as a wife and opens her legs pliantly whenever he wants to. She has to ask him for permission before even trying to do anything, otherwise he gets angry and lashes out at her. There's a kinda fucked up power dynamic that comes along with their arranged marriage and the seemingly medieval setting of the story (tho it's fantasy and therefore we can't really assume how the cultural landscape around relationship is like, maybe it's not the norm to be an ass to your wife over there, maybe they're as misogynistic as in real life medieval times, who knows) but anyway.
Fuck Riftan, he has to get his shit together otherwise I'm stealing Maxi away. SHE HAS HAD ENOUGH TRAUMA AS IT IS.