YMMV / Kingmaker, Kingbreaker

• Strangled by the Red String: Asher's feelings for Dathne in The Innocent Mage sorta come out of nowhere. The book jumps ahead a year after the execution of Timon Spake and he develops a crush on Dathne offscreen, but there doesn't seem much to it beyond she's the only female main character her interacts with frequently. On Dathne's end it becomes even murkier because Asher is the eponymous Innocent Mage and she knows he has a great destiny, so it can seem to some that she doesn't really care about Asher for himself, but because he is the subject of Prophecy and even dismisses the fact his father died because far more people will die if Asher rejects his destiny. Overall her attitude towards him is pretty manipulative, even if she truly believes it to be for the greater good.