Thanks for sharing too!🤗💓

Agreed💯 the whole debate on who’s right and who’s wrong can get ugly and makes you split hairs, until you realize that neither of them were really right through most of this🤷🏽‍♀️ just because one person is wrong, doesn’t mean the other person is automatically right. I think the situation here is that one of them (usually Riftan😅) *looked* bad while being wrong, which subsequently made Maxi *look* right because she didn’t have a huge emotional outburst or breakdow. But when you look at the situation and their actions, a lot of times her actions were also wrong, she just didn’t have off putting behavior to accompany it. But I too am glad they figured things out and didn’t give up on each other so easily. Being stubborn individuals paid off for them in the end😂 I wish we had gotten to see more of their time together, happy and comfortable, being who they really are with each other😭💓💓 hopefully KSJ will load up the side stories with fluff🙏🤞🕯

YES💯 this exactly. I agree with all of this and feel the same. I think Riftan has far more often been expected to be the bigger person and shoulder the responsibility of his actions more than Maxi has been expected to… and he has often also had to shoulder the responsibility of her actions as well. And none of that is fair or equal, like readers claim they want their relationship to be… I also really understood him in b1 and knew before even reading his povs that there was something more to him. And I think all it takes is some compassion and a little imagination, and it’s not so hard to feel for him just as much as we feel for Maxi… it was painful, but I completely understood why he acted so cold and distant throughout the beginning of book2. And I think if most people put themselves in his shoes, they wouldn’t act so differently than he did. Maxi leaving was the right thing, but it still hurt Riftan, the rightness of her actions doesn’t invalidate his pain. And the way they reunited also hurt him terribly, to find her about to be bludgeoned to death, and then her ask how he had been, so casually as if nothing bad had happened before she left… Riftan deserved a lot more compassion and understanding, and he deserved that without us having a direct look into his povs. He did not deserve the absolute hate he got💔 he wasn’t perfect, but he held himself together in a way that is incomprehensible. How he didn’t absolutely break beyond repair, I can’t even understand😔…his love for Maxi is just that profound I guess❤️

SAME💯 I am so grateful for what we have gotten, but the die hard fan in me can’t help being greedy and wanting more😆 I wish we had gotten a little more from him with this pov too, in regards to their baby and how he felt about it. Here he doesn’t even acknowledge or seem able to grasp that she was pregnant and miscarried. He only understands that she’s bleeding to death😢 it must have really hit him later, because we know from what he says later in b1, and his behavior/actions in the beginning of b2 with Rosetta and her son, that he definitely thought about their baby and is hurting from the loss😔💔

Like this but a thousand times worse😩😭😭💔

“…fighting against those trying to separate him from her.”😭😭😭 he’s always fighting someone trying to separate him from Maxi💔💔 and the fact he thinks he hears some beast wailing, when it’s himself🥺

“… his mind taking a few seconds to recognize the person before him.” He’s finally coming out of his episode😭😭💔💔💔

Reading this again because why not hurt myself with a fictional character’s trauma over and over again?🥲 anyways, this definitely sounds like he’s in a psychosis😣 he stopped realizing who everyone is besides Maxi. Everyone is just a “pairs of hands” or “strong arms” trying to pin him down. He doesn’t even realize it’s Hebby holding him down and yelling at him right here😭😭💔 his voice is distinguished only for us readers😢

Absolutely agree💯💯💯 it bugged me that people tried to make this story into something that it’s not, whether it be something “better” or actually worse😏 I’ve seen some extreme theories, about Maxi and Riftan, and while some of them make sense, it’s just not it🤷🏽‍♀️ like you said, not that kind of story lol😄 I’m not sure if KSJ wrote the whole side story at once or parts of it throughout, but I do remember her writing/finishing it days after book2 concluded. She released it in celebration for Wave Whales (iirc it was them) releasing their Maxi and Riftan perfumes. I think she definitely intended to write it either way too, iirc some people asked about it in the Q&As. I would also love an entire book 1 &2 in Riftan’s pov😩 or at least a condensed version/the major parts of it in his pov😭😭 like I want his pov of when he took her from Croyso the first time and brought her to Anatol, and how he felt just finally having her in his home!!😭😭 he waited so long for that🥲💗

Protecting her means protecting their commander😭😭

Even without context/his pov, it really shouldn’t have been that hard to have sympathy for him and view things from his perspective. I mean, we all read exactly what happened to her as it happened to her, we knew she was in a very serious condition without knowing what happened in the tent. It’s not so hard to imagine that a husband who cherishes his wife is going to have a hard time watching and processing everything. Especially when she promised him💔 it’s probably an unpopular opinion, but I think Riftan handled it better than most people would or give him credit for. It wasn’t perfect, that’s impossible, and his reasoning wasn’t good, but he held it together better than most😏 but like you said Maxi went through it physically, albeit unconsciously. And Riftan went through it mentally/emotionally, I would even say in a physical sense as well since he was frantic and tried to stop the bleeding… the scar was for sure left on him though💔 even though Maxi feels a sense of loss sometimes, it’s naturally hard for her to feel as utterly devastated since she was unaware. Iirc she says she usually remembers the pain of feeling unwanted by Riftan more than anything, but she sometimes feels pain when wondering who they child would’ve been, resembled, etc💔 But it’s just wild to me… everyone had strict compassion for Maxi, while she just brushed off what happened to her, and that’s not wrong. But people couldn’t have any compassion for Riftan, KNOWING, he witnessed her bleeding to death? He only ever got criticized for not handling it “better.” That’s crazy to me.

Yeah, he would’ve been worse than when he was a mercenary… after finding Maxi again, he said she was his sole reason for his existence. No Maxi… no Riftan💔

Unfortunately no🙄 he was supposed to get/is getting the title of “count/earl.” A duke is a couple ranks above count/earl, and the highest rank under royalty I believe... maybe one day🤞

One thing that’s come to irk me when talking about Maxi’s save of Eth Lene is just about any time Riftan’s feelings and what he went through are brought up, there’s always a “but she saved everyone… everyone would’ve died if not for her… she’s a hero.” And while that’s all true, it also serves to invalidate Riftan’s feelings and experience, it serves invalidates his reality of the situation and his trauma from it. Whether or not people mean it that way… that’s essentially what saying those things does… This is another situation in which two things can be true at once. 1. Maxi saved Eth Lene, without her hundreds would have died, Eth Lene would have fallen and the war would’ve dragged on. And 2. Her reckless actions also killed a part of Riftan. It gave him trauma on par with finding/carrying his dead mother, and it put an ugly scar on him that he will likely carry forever. And he blames himself for all of it… (I’ll leave out their unborn baby💔)

KSJ👇 to everyone to who trashed Riftan for handling the situation and aftermath “horribly.” This man has legitimate trauma that no one helped him with and his wife woke up and just brushed off, and continued to brush off his “needless” worries… maybe it’s a crummy thing to say, but Riftan is the one who went through this miscarriage and had to try and heal from it💔

This isn’t the time Ruth😐

It makes even more sense why Riftan didn’t want her to become a mage and be by his side on the battlefield. He’s lived a life filled with hardship and pain, and he didn’t choose that. He’s always been tired, unable to rest peacefully without comfort. So when his most beloved, whom he offered comfort, luxury, and peace, decided she wanted hardship and pain, of course he would be confused and try to disuade her. Because why would anyone in their right mind willingly choose something like that? Choose something that he so desperately didn’t want even for himself, much less for the person he treasured the most? It’s like when you make a huge mistake and you see someone else about to do the same, most people try and stop them, advise them, warn them not to follow the same path… Oh this hurts😔💔

Only Maxi could break this man down to his knees and have him fall into prayer💔… under any other circumstances it would be endearing, but not like this💔

Him apologizing😭💔💔💔

Reminds me of his chapter 44 pov, when he’s under the monster’s illusion spell. He sees Maxi, and is confused why she’s there in the frozen mountains… because she didn’t belong there💔