julien is one of my favorite pcs so far and i Really appreciated that matt leaned into the feudalism of it all. i'm reminded of what brennan said about his pc cass greene on wbnpod's HINT! — there's something to the relationship between a prince and his playmate, who grows up beside him and is his best friend but as he grows older must grapple with the fact that they cannot be equals and never have been. davinos is a vassal house to royce; lady aranessa is referred to as julien's childhood best friend, but how true can that really be? he holds her hand and dabs her tears away, but he doesn't refer to her by her first name. i have to imagine it irked him that thjazi fang married her like it was nothing and then stood against her noble house. he overstepped, and so julien unhorses him and brings him to heel (beautifully homoerotic phrasing, brennan, thank youuu) and sees him executed. and yet in the carriage on the way to the wake aranessa wonders if she should have run away with him after all. damn. that's rough buddy <3