A pity this was abandoned, I'd have loved to read more of this!

part of the ship, part of the crew... on of their own. I love everything about this 🥰 and about time she realizes it too

Thank you for your well wishes. All went well and my little girl just turned 8 weeks last weekend... Since I got time to read when I'm nursing her, I am starting this up slowly now .. I hope there are enough chapters to get to a good part for Maxi again. :) I hope you are well and life treats you good. 😁

Thank you for this, this massively helps my anxiety and stress too ❤️ I'll probably go on hiatus until after my baby is born (38th week now, so all stress Gould be reduced) and hope to be coming back to the less heart wrenching chapters until then.

I would appreciate it too, to be honest... and I don't think it is much of a problem if you mark it as spoilers ahead, then everyone can decide themselves whether they want to read on or not.

You are totally right about that. Of course it would have hurt her pretty bad, but then again what good will it do if she falls apart again right after she physically healed? It should be Riftan telling her. But he should also tell her that he bloody loves her and not treat her like a misbehaving child. To be fair, Maxi did not like leaving Eth Lene, but she did, because she promised him. They did not stand a chance out there though, and that was not her fault. The only thing she asked for is that they let her try to help one last time, before they got attacked even more. I do not count that as not doing what Riftan told her, but trying to bloody survive. That is not something she should be faulted for, and yet she is. That is highly unfair, because if she had done nothing, they would all be dead anyway, and what would be then? And I am still so mad at Riftan not seeing that he hurts her with his distance and giving her the feeling that she did something wrong, when she is not. And she will wait for the punishment for this. Honestly, the day that man finds out that she only tries to be good enough so that he won't send her back to her father (when he tires of her, which WE know he won't, but SHE doesn't, because he never bloody tells her!) again I hope he will be the day he realizes just how awful he behaved to her sometimes. I realize he has never been the best at communicating, but sometimes I feel like he is not even trying anymore. He claims to love her but constantly treats her like either a trophy or a child, and for that I want to sincerely kick his ass. I hope so so much that this dynamic will change, and soon, because my heart has a really hard time to bloody take this. And yes, Maxi is not without fault either. Of course not. But it is constantly only her that doesn't get to have a choice. She has to fight for every Millimeter of a step she makes and that is bloody exhausting, too. She had to fight to learn magic at all, and I think we all remember how that turned out with Riftan blowing a whole Tantrum about it instead of having her back or at least giving her the freedom to try. He might not know what abuse looks like, but doesn't her behaviour ring at least some bells? He had always talked her obvious signs to be either non-existent or irrelevant, and that is not how this bloody works. In his POV he noticed her looking lonely and sad and only thought "Nah, I gotta be wrong." Sorry for the rant, these chapters just frustrate me to no end. Still on the fence if I will spoiler myself or not, too. I feel like this waiting game is not good for my mental health...

But since when does he care what others think? I believe his problem is something else than public perception. I do not understand why no one told her though. She should have been the very first to know, no matter what.

and hoping for her to run into her father is messed up in all their own rights.. but hopefully things do happen and those two finally HAVE TO BLOODY TALK TO EACH OTHER!

First of all, why is no one talking to her? If she miscarried she needs to know. And Riftan being this way to her... sending her away like THAT. All she wants at that moment is a hug from him and he won't even touch her our really look at her .. I can almost feel her doubt of the whole relationship again. It is not as of she is not waiting for him to send her away and tell her he doesn't want her as a wife anymore - not that he would, but she still expects it, and dreads it and is terrified of it. Good gods those two hurt my heart. Also, is Hebaron alright???

Like the end of their whole story or of Book 2??

Respect!

I accidently dropped my phone die to this 😂 hysterical, but sooo true!

Same here 😅😂😖

I mean, falling asleep next on partially on someone is a huge admission of trust... though his libido won't be happy and rational about that ^^

I only knew because I read the story on Manta, which is basically a comic, and there she gets healed immediately when her father hits her in the beginning. I never noticed it is not mentioned here yet... I am on a reread now, and don't remember if it was explicitly said yet.

Well actually... Riftans POV gave a bit more insight in this, but it seems to have been taken down, so please be aware that this might be a spoiler: Riftan grew up around Croyso Castle and saw her when she was a child and even saved her life once. He left the town when he was 12 to become a mercenary, but through his adventures and becoming a knight had to come back regularly. The memory of young Maxi laughing and being at peace in the outer gardens have been his respite and only peace he granted himself for decades. He even had Ruth cast hallucinations with her in it for a while. He saw her repeatedly as they grew older and she was the only woman who ever held any of his attention. He was lost to her since he was too young to even comprehend it, and he yearned for her, though he never expected to ever really get close to her. He once tried to ask her father if he could bestow his Knightly pledge on her, and that bastard laughed in Riftans face and out of the door because he was just a "lowly knight". But that was why the Duke knew how to make the deal extremely sweet for Riftan when he offered her to him in marriage to get out of the dragon campaign. The first offer was refused by Riftan out of honour to his own knights, who then would have had to go to war, and also because he refused to give the Duke anything ever again. He accepted only after the Duke kidnaped his step father, who still lived around the castle, and threatened to have him hanged for a crime he didn't do. I am not sure, but I think he also threw in that he would marry Maxi to the next best knight coming along too. Riftan never really had the chance to talk to her before, because she was super shy and distanced herself from people in fear of "shaming the family name" and her father always kept her away due to her "impediment", and that is why it was widely assumed she is as proud and cruel as her father. In reality she was terrified to misstep in public and getting a beating for it. So, long story short: he loved her for almost as long as he can remember, but it was a love through the distance. He doesn't know her yet and therefore assumes she is as the rumors say.. he has her completely on a pedestal and since she is the only woman ever for him, he is actually terrified of her rejection and has absolutely no clue on how to act about all that. He's never been a man of words.

yes, same! that scares me, to be honest .. I hope they all make it out alive.

you didn't xD

this, and also: many of the extreme looking silhouettes were achieved by a mix of corsets and padding. It was an illusion in most cases.

I'm just about to jump in here and treat you as you deserve, you piece of crap!!