I commend your bravery for posting this...but naw lmao.
Gjord hiding his magic is probably just a difference in perspective. The magic they use is considered witchcraft in Khallak. But it's not. Just different, better magic. Ishimon couldn't give a fuck, but it's obvious Gjord would rather Sylhan not think him too harshly.
Gjord taking advantage of Sylhan doesn't really line up with the way other characters react to their relationship. The only person who is negative about it is Lister. Even early on, the servants seem to key in on it (when they tell him that Gjord is "sick," so he can't leave before Winter settles in).
And in that chapter with Lister and Sylhan as teenagers...Lister literally expresses how he's jealous of the attention Sylhan is giving to Gjord, yanks his hair to steal a piece of it, and says that he's "not sorry." His character is a school bully who picks on girls because it gets them to pay attention to him. He revels in knowing that Sylhan is scared of him. The kid mentioning what he did is probably an implication that he's trying to force Sylhan’s hand now that he's had a taste, so to speak...
Gjord is not a man of high morals. Thing is, I don't think Sylhan is either. He's not constantly considering what's going on in politics because they're just neat little facts. He used to be involved in all of this scheming and betrayal, even if he can't remember it now.
I want to share my opinion about the story so far.
I understand that many many people want Lister to die but what if it's not the bad guy of the story?
Spoiler ahead about the content we have seen until the beginning.
We know that Lister is not a good guy at the beginning. I will pass on all the bad things he did to Sylan.
What if he is not the bad guy? I've read again the story two weeks ago. I do that when I love a story and I did it often to be able to see some hint that I missed at the beginning.
It's help me to see :
About Gjord :
- That Gjord is clearly not a good guy. Whenever he is with Sylan, sometime he make serious/spooky straight face like he is hiding something.
- That Gjord has a ultra bad power that can be used to teleport himself. The same blue-purple blurred thing that the dragon or the sorcerer has. Seems too suspicious to me.
- That Gjord hide is power to Sylan and why he did that? If the sorcerer can do that and Gjord is not guilty of anything, why does he hide it to Sylan/his lover? Sylan doesn't seems to be aware that he use his power to pop up in front of the fountain but... He began to question himself about that in the last chapter.
- That Gjord hide too much to Sylan (secret reunion with the sorcerer (bird form) etc)
About Lister :
- That Lister is/were bestfriend with Sylan in the past/childhood. In the Lister's memories, he was unbraiding Sylan' hair and wanted to touch him, be with him. Was riding a horse with him in there childhood.
- That Lister seems to have feeling for Sylan. You can see that sometime he blush and can't contain his emotion (I don't talk about bad emotion) but he seems to have difficulties to understand his own feeling about Sylan.
- That Lister and Lisbet may be worried about the memories that goes back. I know some people think they may be plotted the murder of Sylan' father but what if they just want to protect him from Gjord?
Maybe Gjord has hypnotized or brainwashed Sylan in the past when they were a couple to plot the murder ? The sorcerer said to Sylan that he has drawn the map himself and the red hair head guy said to Sylan that all the things Gjord do is for him....
Remember when Lister was trying to say something about the murder to Sylan and he was interrupted by Sylan. Like he wanted to explain or clear a misunderstanding. I love when the author do that. It can indicate that something happened but the main character was not in fault etc...
- Sylan has said to himself that maybe one day he will forgive Lister about the bad thing he does. (When they were all at the table with Lisbet'kid). When an author pop up a information out of nowhere like that, he want to open a door of a possibilities of Sylan/Lister forgiveness, etc.
- Again, the author has put another rumor that began in the 3-4 last chapters. The rumor that the kid servant said to Sylan about the wedding between Lister and Sylan. Why an author would do that if the main couple was happy together? To let the main character get a reflection on his own situation. To let Sylan make his own conclusion about Gjord implication on Stravin' death, etc...
The future will tell us !
For the moment, i'm more troubled by Gjord action than Lister bad move...