All the Witchlands couples hit different when you remember Susan Dennard ships Zutara, too 😍😍
Oh it absolutely does--that was honestly one of the selling points of the series by the friend who got me into these books. "The author ships zutara and it shows!!!" and also "Enemies to lovers where they actually try to kill each other!!!" and I was like oh I have to get my hand on these lmfao
What I really love about the main relationships (I am not perceiving any possibility that my ships are not endgame here cough cough) is that there's this duality between them--Safi and Iseult are foils and in that same vein I think Merik and Aeduan are also foils, and their relationships also mirror each other. There's this duality that is a recurring thread (hah, thread) throughout these books, because there have at least been hints that Safi and Iseult are the Cahr Awen, and even if all is not as it seems -stares hard at susan dennard ma'am plEASE- they are still very much two halves of one whole, but they also fit with Merik and Aeduan respectively in very different ways. But what gets me is that I see elements of zutara's essence in both of their relationships.
Safi and Merik have their fire and their passion--they have this fantastic banter and instant connection (which may have been rather grudging at first, but Truthwitch only spanned a few weeks at most, their kiss stole my breath away and I've been aching for them to reunite through TWO BOOKS AND THEIR BRIEF MOMENT IN BLOODWITCH DETROYED ME PLEASE LET THEM MEET BACK UP AGAIN IN WITCHSHADOW I AM BEGGING) and an energy that just draws you in. On the other hand, Iseult and Aeduan have the full enemies to lovers dynamic and I think they are more on the deep intensity side. They get what is so delicious about zutara's potential for a slow burn, feelings buried deep down and growing against all odds when they are trapped together by circumstance and wind up seeing each other in an entirely new (and decidedly inconvenient) light, and Iseult being like from the moment I stabbed this man in the heart, his heart belonged to me and I'll be damned if it stops beating without my fucking permission when she saved his life and saw their heart-thread form like....
Between Safik and Iseduan I have been well fucking fed, now if only they could all be together and nOT SEPARATED FOR ANOTHER ENTIRE BOOK PLEASE LORDT I AM SUFFERING
