#I could write an essay about dark romance tropes because the meta around it is FASCINATING

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I really appreciate that in your dark romance storyline with König it’s not confused with abuse. I feel like so many people confuse the dark romance trope with just straight up abusive situations and it’s rather upsetting, you do a very good job of allowing that dark and mysterious kinda forbidden attraction without harming Maus and you should be proud of that. To me dark romance is about the morality of if you should be attracted to someone, not the mortality of manipulation and harm. The way you write him in this story is mysterious, mischievous, dangerous and enticing, while still keeping him a caring and empathetic guy. I appreciate that a lot.

Oh this ask makes me happy. I had to take some time to figure out a proper answer to this but!

This is something I've tried very hard to accomplish with Little Maus. I've read a lot of 'Beauty and the Beast', Stockholm syndrome, and 'dark romances' during my years, and one thing that always rubs me the wrong way is when the dark romance love interest is manipulative, and takes agency away from the hero. You're right, so much of that runs into abusive/manipulative territory, and it is definitely not the model for a healthy relationship at all.

My favorite trope will always be when the dark, scary, handsome villain offers their hand through the smoke and flames to the hero, and tells them "Join me." In that seductive, sumptuous purr. Then the hero chooses to go willingly, but doesn't sacrifice their morals or friends, and instead surrenders as a tactic for victory, and then emerges at the end hand in hand with the villain. That trope is my ultimate favorite and I try so hard to embody it in Little Maus.

It's the defiant act of loving the villain, but also as the author there's a responsibility to make sure that the villain either properly atones for whatever grievances they've done, is punished for them, or is redeemable enough to eventually play good with the good guys.

Yes, König has injured Maus's friends, he abducted her too, but these were matters of circumstance. They are, in fact, enemies, which is part of the reason the story is so compelling. There's things that can't be done inside this story to keep it from verging too dangerously into this realm of 'Bad Dark Romance'. König never hurts Maus purposefully, he never kills her friends, he finds ways to keep her trust despite their opposing circumstances. Without these invisible rules, König becomes less of a love interest and more of an irredeemable villain. So the conflict becomes not falling in love with a man who poses imminent harm to the main character, but falling in love with a man who is still somehow good, if not scary and dangerous and mysterious. You are completely right, it's the morality of falling in love with an enemy, not an abuser.