Ahhahahahaaaa, Oh wow am I now finally motivated to get the last two books in this series. After I read Foundation and Intrigues I was kind of burned out, because omfg emotional torture porn. I felt so bad I had to reread Magic's Pawn to cheer myself up. (For a long time Vanyel was my gold standard for fucked up Mary Sues. No longer.)

Valdemar really has gone to hell since the Owl trilogy, hasn't it? I would say ML just needs to stop, but I'm in it for the lulz at this point.