Eve asked Sebastien de Castell:

Hi! First of all, I just wanted to say that I absolutely loved the Greatcoats series and it definitely has a place among my all-time favourite series! Second, I was curious about how you interpret Kest's feelings about Falcio - whether you see them as platonic, brotherly, romantic, or something else, and to what extent they influence Kest’s actions throughout the book? Thank you for all your wonderful writing!

Sebastien de Castell Hi Eve,

Thanks for the kind words about the Greatcoats!

I try to avoid offering up the "author's intent" on the books I write because whatever isn't explicitly delineated in the text should belong to the reader's imagination. It's not that I don't have an interpretation of my own, but rather that I don't ever want supplemental commentary from me to become a sort of codicil to the book. Furthermore, an author's interpretation of their own work changes over time and with every fresh reading just as the reader's does.

What I will say is this: none of the forms of love you mention in your list are mutually exclusive, and in a relationship as deep and yet fractured as theirs, it's easy to imagine that every one of those forms of love is part of that whole.

Best,

Sebastien

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