2.5 - Yeahhh I do nawwtt like the cold, unemotional love interests I am finding... For me, actions speak louder than words, and yes, I do believe Castien cared for Eridan to a certain extent, but he really put that poor boy through the wringer in this book and did not do enough groveling at the end to make up for it.
My last straw with him was when he

Spoiler

blocked Eridan's throwback part of his brain and then erased all memories Eridan had of him. Like I know Eridan was the one who asked him to, but given their dynamic and the state of mind Eridan was in at the time, I wish that had been the moment Castien had stepped in and told Eridan it was the wrong move. I just feel like that is soooo extreme having all his memories erased like that and with all the things that could go wrong with blocking his throwback gene

like I was not impressed with Castien at the moment it was just too much.

And I thought Ksar was an emotionless asshole whose love interest deserved better but, whew, Castien definitely takes the cake on that one.

Also, reading Once Upon a Time right before this did not help Castien's case at all. I felt like I got whiplash from reading Rohan's pov full of warmth and simping for Jamil to Castien's cold and non-existent pov. Like go girl give us nothing