oooo what a good question. if we drop the theory that they’re mates — no, i think she knew tamlin could never love her, and that was the exact issue. she wanted to punish him for that and what his defiance signaled to everyone else. he became a fixation, a knee that refused to bend, a representation of all she could not have: true control, true power, true loyalty, true respect, true love. and she could not handle not having any of that, so she would take him by force. she would show him (and all of prythian) that it did not matter if he was willing; she could possess him anyway, the same way she made prythian accept her as its high queen. she could force him to bend the knee — like she had to force everything else in her life up to that point. she could have him the same way she had rhysand*, as a pet, as a plaything, as a slave to her pleasure. she could even pretend that could be enough for her. that the disgust in his eyes would not wound her. that his inability to love her would not gouge at something in her chest she did not know still existed. she would punish him for that, for showing her that she could not be loved, that she could not ever really have anything she wants, not unless she forced it accept her.

And then, when the months pass and he’s had a better opportunity to become familiar with them, when he sees the way they open up and smile and chat with everyone else, he realizes that they never treat him the same way, and it stings, even though it’s his own fault. He ruined things between them before they even had a chance, and now he’s falling in love with them.

In my mind they end up happy together because I’m a softy and I want him to get that HEA, but. The drama.

i’m assuming a few other things to be true here: they are not mates if it was arranged, and the love is not there (or is but is not being perceived as such) for her to want to seek lovers elsewhere. generally speaking in this scenario, i think he would definitely not be okay with this happening, but he’s likely to let it anyway.

the first thing that happens is that this subconsciously confirms his deep sense of unlovability, even if he doesn't love her. (she is so unwilling to even try to know and love him that she is outsourcing it; on some level, this must be because she knows he is incapable of love, being loved, fulfilling her needs, etc.) the second thing that happens is that he consciously thinks to any offspring, especially if he doesn't yet have an heir. even if he does have an heir, he does not want to risk a bastard, does not want the uncertainty of whether his children are his own, does not want the constant, living, breathing reminder around him if one is not. not to mention the sheer embarrassment of something like this getting out, of one of the lovers talking. there are too many risks.

the no is on his tongue.

and then his blood chills right through. because he has finally escaped beron, but this makes him beron all over again. she has made him beron all over again. he is beron preventing his wife's happiness, and his wife is his mother suffering for it, and any children of his own are him and his brothers suffering for that, and this prospective bastard is lucien, the only thing to make his mother truly happy.

so he lets it happen, through his teeth. because he cannot be his father. and he would rather it happen in front of his face, where he can see the truth of it, than in secret, where he has no control over it at all. but he would not be pleasant or kind about it. if he has no children then it's once you provide me an heir, i do not care what it is you do with yourself. just do not allow yourself to fall pregnant. and if he does have children then it's you have already served your purpose. what does it matter to me who warms your bed now? just do not allow yourself to fall pregnant. if he doesn't love her, he just ignores her as much as he can. if he loves her, he is terribly, unforgivingly cold to her. if he loves her enough to want to punish her for hurting him, her lovers probably meet terrible, awful fates. no matter what, he's in control of her contraceptives from now on. it's all very torrid and toxic and terrible. i'm foaming at the mouth.