Mildly obsessed with the fact that both Serenoa and Frederica's mothers were betrayed/abandoned by their biological fathers, and their lives were made more precarious than they otherwise would have been by their biological fathers’ actions.
Zigmunt hands Orlaea back over to Hyzante and suddenly, Frederica isn’t just the daughter of a Rosellan concubine—she’s the daughter of a concubine whose lord willingly sent her to be worked to death as a slave in a salt mine, she’s fair game for anyone who wants to target her, because obviously her father won’t protect her! Look at what he did to her mother!
Regna makes Destra promises he knows damn well he can never keep, and paints a massive target on her back to any noble who might be in the business of cutting down “uppity” commoners. Makes sure there’s proof that Serenoa is his son and makes him a target to anyone who might want to use him as a pawn or eliminate him in their own struggle for the throne.
Just the way their experiences are and are not shaped by having fathers at the top of corrupt systems of power and mothers who get fucked over—figuratively and literally—by corrupt systems. Orlaea is a Rosellan refugee. She has no ability to meaningfully consent to becoming the archduke of Aesfrost’s concubine. If she doesn’t agree, he can just rape her and force her to be his concubine, and there’s nothing she can do about it . Destra is a commoner. She has no ability to meaningfully consent to becoming the king of Glenbrook's mistress. If she refuses, he can just rape her, and there's nothing she can do about it. Similarly, Destra has no ability to meaningfully consent to becoming Symon's wife. Once Regna and Symon agree on it, it's happening, whether she likes it or not.
Frederica's life up until traveling to Glenbrook is defined by her status as the daughter of a dead, discarded Rosellan concubine. She can't escape it. Her status as daughter of the archduke can only protect her so much, and she is afforded scorn even by her own siblings. Only after she leaves Aesfrost behind does it stop dominating the way others treat her.
Serenoa spends his life up until war breaks out with his status as the natural son of Glenbrook's king by a common woman not really mattering at all. He's completely unaware of it, and lives out his life as the son of one of Glenbrook's lords, safe and sheltered, insulated from the danger of being known as the king's natural son in the cutthroat world of the Glenbrook nobility. Only once the war begins does the truth of his parentage come out, and he may find himself used as a pawn, driven into conflict with his best friend, his own half-brother.
Frederica can become a revolutionary, just like her mother. Serenoa can become a pawn, just like his mother. Each can rule over a corrupt system without healing it, like their biological fathers. Symon tells them that their fate is to be political pawns, ever hovering on the precipice of ruin, subject to the whims of their nations. But he's wrong. Together, they can find the path that none of their parents ever could, and truly be free.
