TRUE ENDING TRUE ENDING

You are so real

Damn straight, lol. Story should've ended there, or it should've gotten canceled sooner imo.

You got so much energy tarnishing the reputation of a man who saved Maxi, instead of directing that energy to the abusive father. Maxi wouldn’t have realized her power or become the kick ass mage if she has not met Riftan. Guess you prefer her being stuck in her dad’s castle constantly abused. I wonder who he would’ve sold her to if Riftan has not come along??? Elaborate on why you think Riftan is abusive….

What?? How has riftan been abusive??

I'm targeting Riftan because Maxi doesn't live with her *father* anymore. At least, not until Riftan made the big brain move to send her away with Agnes, which left her vulnerable to her father's clutches, and was subsequently kidnapped by him. Ultimately, who has Maxi spent most of the story with? Yes, Riftan. And during that time, instead of providing a safe and protective environment for his wife, REGARDLESS IF HE WAS AWARE OF HER ABUSE OR NOT, all I've seen is a turbulent marriage between an emotionally volatile and immature asshole and traumatized woman who adapts to her husband's aggression and intensity. Be it through emotional or sexual intimacy, she hardly had much agency of her own, and still doesn't because everything she does is for her inconsiderate husband, even if it comes at the cost of her sense of self. Take their wedding night for example. I had to confirm this myself because of the spoilers I read here and yes, Riftan does in fact rape Maxi on their wedding night. The worst part is that this sexual aggression and coercion continues well into season 3, when Maxi has been conditioned and fully adapted to Riftan's sexuality, but without getting to explore her own sexuality first without Riftan's influence. Add in the constant verbal assaults, the rough grabbing of her shoulders whenever they're arguing, or tossing her around when he's bitching at her, like a father scolding his daughter—temper tantrums and silent treatments abound, how is this not a volatile relationship lol? How is this NOT abuse?

Adding to what the other user mentioned, one thing that I feel needs to be clearly said is this:

Repeated pressure or forceful persistence for sexual intimacy—despite hesitation from the partner—is sexual coercion. Sexual coercion is rape and, in romantic or marital relationships, is a form of sexual abuse. Coercion means no consent, and no consent means rape. This was exactly the extent of Maxi and Riftan's sexual intimacy from seasons 1-3; Riftan coercing Maxi into sleeping with him until she eventually—hesitantly—complied, under weak excuses such as that she had "seduced him."

I said this in another comment of mine, but I'll say it again here. Maxi and Riftan’s relationship is not healthy and stays unhealthy for the rest of the story. There isn’t a healthy, mutual foundation there. What you have instead is two people trying to fill emotional voids through each other:

Riftan channels his insecurities, trauma, and need for control into possessiveness and sexual intensity. Maxi then interprets that intensity as "affection" because it makes her feel seen and wanted in a way she’s never experienced before.

That is not love; that's codependency.

I get why you see it that way, but comparing him to the Duke is a stretch. The Duke hurt her to break her, Riftan is a man who literally doesn’t know how to handle his own intensity or his fear of losing her. About the wedding night, reading it as gRape ignores the actual narrative. It was a messy, high tension night between two strangers in a forced marriage, but the story shows them building actual desire later. He’s volatile, yeah but he’s also the only person who actually values her life. You’re acting like he’s a villain, but he’s a traumatized person who was never taught how to be a husband. If you actually read and understood the novel, Maxi's internal monologue shows her fear is of the unknown and her own inadequacy, rather than Riftan intentionally forcing her. Riftan sent her with Agnes specifically to protect her from the political fallout and the Duke, not to throw her to the wolves. It was a tactical error, not a malicious one. Riftan really loves Maxi, he will not put her in harm’s way. He’s a commander of knights whos constantly in life or death situations. Yes he’s rough around the edges, but he’s consistently shown that loves and he will die for Maxi. Maxi is the one who eventually leaves him to go to the World Tower to become a if Riftan was as abusive as you say, she never would’ve had the spine to do that and return to him, still wanting to be with him.

First of all, you are applying modern therapeutic standards to a dark medieval fantasy. Maxi and Riftan both start as deeply broken people. If they had a healthy, mutual foundation from chapter one, there wouldn’t be a story. The coercion you’re describing is often written as a high tension trope common in this genre, it’s about their lack of communication skills, not a lack of love. They are learning how to be human through each other because they were both treated like objects by everyone else. It’s not abuse and if it’s abuse as you want to claim, that ignores the fact that they are actively trying to outgrow these toxic cycles throughout the series. If this was truly a cycle of abuse and zero consent, Maxi never would have left for the World Tower. She chose her own path and her own education over Riftan’s direct pleas for her to stay. That is the moment the codependency breaks. She goes away for three years to become her own person specifically so she can stand on equal footing with him. You’re judging their rest of the story based on their lowest points, but the whole second half of the novel is about them deconstructing those exact unhealthy habits you’re pointing out.

Because all we get ARE their lowest points in the story. Riftan pleading Maxi to stay also does not mark anything because he never takes accountability for what he did to her, both before and after she left him. I'm not gonna argue about this topic because I keep seeing I keep seeing the same weak excuse of "modern sensibilities" being tossed around, even though that alone should not prevent Riftan from reflecting and adjusting his attitude towards the woman he's allegedly "loved" since childhood, especially when other male characters have treated Maxi with far more respect.

The other guys around treats Maxi with more respect because none of them are in a high stakes, traumatized marriage with her. For example, it’s easier for Ruth to be respectful when he’s not blinded by the same obsessive fear Riftan has. Riftan definitely has a long way to go with self reflection, but that slow painful growth is why a lot of people including me stick with the novel. It’s all good. This story is definitely not for everyone. I just see it as a gritty depiction of two people who don’t know how to love properly yet. We’re clearly looking at it through different lenses, so we’ll just have to leave it there. Thanks for the discussion and your feedback of this story.

Intent doesn't erase impact, and he's fucked up with Maxi MULTIPLE TIMES, and never properly apologizes or takes accountability for what he does to her. Ever. Like Rabbitmage said, him breaking down and groveling for Maxi not to leave him again doesn't even come close to taking accountability for stonewalling her for basically the entire first half of Book 2 and then ultimately "reconciling" ON HIS TERMS after having locked her in a room with him and SA'd her for a whole fucking week. Also, you could still be abusive and grant freedom to the person you are harming so as long as the "freedom" is on the person's terms. And even still, you're forgetting the pity party he was throwing himself (which felt a lot like emotional manipulation for Maxi not to leave him) the night Maxi made her decision to leave. He "let her leave," but only after emotionally breaking her, tf? So all of that emotional manipulation, gaslighting, and borderline sexual abuse after telling her years before she left him that her actions were self-serving and essentially telling her she was selfish and not leaving for his sake, just to spare himself of his emotions while completely disregarding how his cruel words would harm Maxi, never even fucking care one bit considering her never apologizes for what he said. The guy's an asshole, and honestly irredeemable. He crossed the line when he raped her, and there are no other ways to see what he did as anything but rape. He could've gone about what he did in multiple other ways, such as faking the act entirely the moment Maxi began to cry for him to stop, but even with him being clearly aware of Maxi’s discomfort (Yes, I read his stupid POV story and it does not justify his shitty behavior), he continued his assault on her, and I don't fuck with that. He was forced into marriage, not sex. He raped her, plain and simple. If you need to start talking about nuance for a scene that depicts explicit sexual assault, that's when you need to start questioning what you're really defending and why.

I don’t want to engage in an extended argument over a fictional story written by someone. We can continue going back and forth but in the end, we will still have different opinions. We can just agree to disagree. Thanks for your responses.