Forever obsessed with the Maven line "No, my darling. I just know you better than anyone else." because it's the only time he's ever used a pet name with her and it's so perfectly calculated for maximum discomfort. It's not just "darling", it's "MY darling", and the sentence itself is possessive and isolating. It's intimacy as performance, because at the end of the day, he doesn't actually know her as well as he thinks he does. But he NEEDS to believe it's true, because Mare might actually be the one who knows HIM more than anyone else. And if that's not mutual . . . what does that mean for him?

something i love about maven's character is how conflicted he is both externally and internally.. wants to be in control but constantly controlled by someone else throughout his life. yearns for approval and love but alienating others away from him. feeling guilty for what he's done but not guilty enough to stop. adores his mother but being haunted rather than comforted by her voice. the most powerful person in norta but powerless when it comes to his feelings. thinks his brother would be inadequate as a ruler yet constantly feeling inferior to him. throws lavish parties for fellow silvers but feels empty and hollow inside. unable to dream, but often losing himself in memories and fantasies imagining what could have been. he cares, but it's never enough to save him; loves, but it's never hidden enough to escape his mother's marring; lives, but it's never bright or good enough to feel accepted and adored