#she's not perfect and that much is obvious but that's not reason enough for Touraine's actions

[panther-of-shadows]

I finished The Faithless (Magic of the Lost #2), and finally I'm saying here what I haven't before. I've been biting my tongue, expecting -and hoping- the book somehow would get better, that Touraine's toxic hypocritical attitude would get better in time. It didn't, it only got worse. And man, bite my head off if Luca doesn't deserve someone acknowledging everything she was, thought and did. Acknowledging her identity. She deserves better than fucking martyr-syndrome Touraine. Aranen told her near the end "you deserve better than her [Luca]" and no, ma'am. No, I can't shup my mouth anymore, because Aranen got it backwards.

I recognize a toxic, abusive relationship when I see one because I've lived through a couple of them myself; however, what I didn't expected in this context was for the slave soldier to get abusive with the princess of the empire that had colonized her country. And it breaks my heart that no one in these stupid books noticed the actual problem behind Touraine and Luca's "relationship". No matter what Luca's intentions are and neither what she does or does not, every action of hers is something suitable that Touraine can wield and does wield to attack her. Their relationship works like this: Touraine puts a weigh on her shoulders and then, looking twice, complains and gets irrationally mad about said weight as if she wasn't the one who placed it there, lashing out at Luca. It. Doesn't. Make. Sense.

I could point out a thousand different moments and evidence to argue my opinion, but I'm deeply tired of the same shit after so many pages. The thing is she stripped Luca of everything she used to have, leaving her with nothing but emptiness, misplaced guilt and sorrow, by making her feel responsible and holding her accountable for every event that has occurred since their first encounter until Luca wouldn't make a decision without Touraine's approval as her confidence evaporated into thin air. What's even sadder: Touraine isn't the only character treating Luca like she's the culprit of all evils - little reminder: her uncle has been on the throne for over 20 years now, and the proletarian people of Balladaire thought fit to blame the princess for their horrid situation so much they even sent a girl to murder, not the duke, but HER.

And this is how you break a person, from the inside, with blame, undervaluing and disregard as your tools. The worst part of it all is that it's not even written on purpose to put the focus on one real issue or to mess with the reader's moral compass (as Tamsyn Muir does in TLT, which is done with so much taste), it's fucking 'romanticized', it's presented as something supposed to be cute and adorable, something to aspire to, the culmination of love, and I just want to vomit your toxicity out of my brain, CL Clark.

Dear writers out there, if you're going to create a character to be a veiled victim in the name of "romantic love", just don't, let them be. They may be fictional, but they deserve better. We deserve better. It's not okay to be beaten emotionally over and over again in the name of love. It is not.

#she's not perfect and that much is obvious but that's not reason enough for Touraine's actions #Luca you're seen and loved in this house #Gil was the one person who stood by her despite everything #so we see and love him too #also Sabine will always be a better match for Luca than egotistical Touraine #luca ancier #magic of the lost #the unbroken #the faithless #and the unpopular opinion no one asked for but you got #cl clark #toxic romance #sky's rants #if you were planning to read this series don't and save yourself the trouble