...
Just before the wedding an event; or series of events, created by (fill in the blank bad guy), push Harry and Lara to their limits. They both end up selflessly risking their lives for each other and both somehow survive. After this, Lara's plan succeeds and Harry is no longer protected by Murphy's love, but on their wedding night she is still burned when touching Harry because Harry and Lara truly love each other.
It's exactly the kind of thing Jim would do. Harry remains sexually frustrated. Lara can't afford to let anyone in the White Court know that she can't feed on Harry. Harry's closest friends, allies and enemies; plus the White Council, will be absolutely convinced that Harry is completely under Lara's control. On top of that, to protect Lara from a potential White Court revolt, Harry would play along that Lara controls him; at least while other White Court vamps are around ...
That is terrible. And you're right, it
is the kind of thing Jim would do to Harry!
But...
... I really don't know that it works with the characters as they are. Both are a little to jaded, and there are parts of Lara that I genuinely don't think Harry could ever accept. She's a pretty human monster, but she's still a monster.
I think this is correct. Lara is too accepting of her monstrosity, Harry is still fighting too much against monsters.
But, turnabout again... we know Lara does have really good elements in her -- love of family, personal honor, etc. I suspect she wistfully
wishes she weren't a monster; I think she enjoys vicariously that Thomas experiences True Love, and has found a way to feed without murdering; I think she admires Harry's
Fighting the Good Fight choices. She just thinks they are hopelessly naive. She thinks that the only way they even survive is because she is in charge of the Whamps, with her "soft power" policies and protection of them.
IF it turned out that Harry could show her a way to operate at highest whamp levels of personal power/magic/energy
and at top-tier of Whamp politics (yet still following the moral path that Thomas and Harry forged)... she might be made a genuine "good guy(gal)" instead of being just an "enemy of my enemy."
It would kind of echo the Harry-redeems-Lash story-arc, however, and I don't know Jim would do that.
... Now I know there is the three-way solution that Justine and Thomas used and I suppose that could work for Lara and Harry, but knowing Harry something would go wrong with that plan.
I'm also pretty sure Jim isn't going to suddenly give Harry an incredible overload of hot sex with multiple partners. That... isn't quite Jim's M.O. when dealing with Harry!