... I can't even say I'm cautiously optimistic that the series will be done in less than 20 years even with the recent developments (Butcher already tracking progress of Mirror, Mirror; his statements that he plans to be done with MM before touring on Twelve Months).  And no matter what I can't envision he'd ever get back to a Dresden novel every 18-24 months ...

I'm "cautiously optimistic" for just a hair under 20 years, presuming his health holds up (he's pretty fit, but no longer a youngling) and he doesn't suffer life-disrupting tragedies or logistical obstacles.

I'm figuring a 15-18 month per novel pace; alternating DresdenFiles with CinderSpires (as he says is his plan on an ongoing basis), that'd be 30-36 months before we're all abuzz with "Fight Night tracking on Butcher's Official Site".  I don't think faster than that is at all likely; but I'd be thrilled to be proven wrong!

FN (or whatever the title is) will be vol.19 of the DF; then 20, 21, & 22; by my estimate (above) taking 120-144mo = 10-12 years to wrap up "the Dresden Files" proper.

Then the BigApocalypticTrilogy, which (at one point) Jim said he saw as one big story, and planned to write as one big push, not alternating other books; figuring the "same" per-novel-pace for 3-in-a-row, and presuming his "palate cleanser" novel between the DF proper and the BAT, that'd be another 60-72 months = 5-6 years.

So 15-18 years, if my Jim'stimates are right and I did my math right (and RL doesn't strike).

Or Mab is secretly hoping that Lara will kill Harry.

No, Mab has been spending a lot of her time and energy on building up Harry.

Remember, Mab is the commander-in-chief of the armies of the Outer Gates, and has been for most of 1000 years; the wheels are turning and the cycles coming 'round, and a Big Apocalyptic event with Outsiders is coming.  And there's nobody in the mortal realm ("mortal" being a necessity for the WK role) who can do the whole "Outsider fighting" gig like a Starborn.

Mab needs to forge Harry to be as good a weapon as possible, and she's harsh with him because she sees that harshness as the best way to weaponize him.

... That might be their plan, but I doubt that it will be that simple or that Mab will be fooled by it ...

Of course it won't be easy, and of course it won't fool Mab!
But IMO Mab doesn't want the marriage to go through:  she wants things that she expects to happen during the engagement.

So long as they show no overt disrespect to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Mab will be 100% satisfied with them not getting married.

I'm sure she has contingencies for if the marriage does take place, too.

... It may be another of her not all that transparent plans to take either or both Harry and Lara down at least a peg.  You can bet that Mab has a plan, and it isn't what she claims, a stronger alliance between the Winter Court and the White Court.

I'm pretty sure that Mab is pretty sure that there is some locus of Nemfection in the White Court, and that she intends to hit it with a "patented Harry Dresden anarchygasm" boosted by Winterknight steroids.

Incidentally, she forces Harry (yet again) to operate with an uncomfortable ally, to do diplomatic & social things, etc -- weaknesses of Harry's, that Mab is working to strengthen.

Also, Papa Raith has a substantial library around the Starborn cycle & current iteration of the apocalyptic Outsider invasion, and I'm sure Mab has more than an inkling of that... and that getting access to it for her Starborn Winterknight will substantially bolster his Outsider-fighting ability.

If they do get married, I expect the consummation to turn violent (and Harry will kill Lara):  WoJ has stated that Whampire-Mojo and the Winterknight-mantle interact in explosive and uncontrollable ways.

Mab will put success on any of these fronts into her "Win" column, and I 110% expect that she has other agendas I haven't spotted.

I expect the Winter-knight X Whamp-princess engagement to bring Harry & Lara closer together...

Not because either of them want it, but because they need a closer alliance to figure out how to wiggle out from under Mab's edict.

How that all plays with PTSD-Harry, I'm unclear.

... The White Court feeds on emotion, is also burned by it, Harry's searing grief may make their relationship impossible ...

Each Whamp has particular hunger/weakness pairing, and they don't really interact with other emotions.
Raith hungers for Lust, but is burned by Love.

So far as we know, Skavis(despair/hope) & Malvora(fear/courage) get nothing from Lust, nor do they suffer from Love.

None, so far as I know, interact directly with grief... though maybe in the Dresden'verse grief has "despair-adjacent" qualities?

I seem to remember reading here I think, this was before Butters became a Holy Knight that Jim had eventually was going to make Marcone a Holy Knight.  Actually if you follow the first few books up until Changes, the way Marcone would aid Harry, that seemed like a real possibility.  Butters was also meant to be a one or two book character, but that changed with fan response to the character.   So Jim decided to keep Marcone the hardened mob boss that he is, and Butters went on to become a Holy Knight.  Now that Marcone has taken up Namshield's coin and as a result become a powerful wizard, all bets are off.  Marcone did save Harry's life at the end of Battleground, but considering that he is now host to one of the Fallen, could turn out to be very misleading as far as thinking that Marcone will now repent.  I doubt it, or if he does it won't be because he has moral qualms about hosting one of the Fallen, it will be because in my opinion he hates to be subservient to anyone.  Oddly for very much the same reasons Harry resisted Lasciel's coin. 

We also had Sanya, who went from Denarian Knight to being one of the Cross.
So it's possible.

I agree Marcone isn't ready right now.

But also recall that his fundamental core drive revolves around the little girl who was shot instead of him; which is not the fundamental core drive of an amoral mobster.

I could argue that the rest of his life has been devoted to making that kind of tragedy less likely; yes, he's a ruthless crime boss... but remember to include:  he's ruthless about suppressing that kind of violence.

But if he wasn't being most of what makes a "ruthless crime boss," someone would supplant him; someone more ruthless, more amoral.  And the little kids would begin catching more bullets again.

It may be a very, very short flip of a switch for Marcone to go from Coin to Sword.

... keep on track, as in finish one series before he starts writing the next ...

Jim has said that he often uses one series as a "break" from the other series; by the time he's finished one of the DF novels, he's kind of sick of writing Harry.  But if he writes in another universe, he comes back to the DF enthusiastic about it.

Exactly, and this time Jim nailed it, at least for the first chapter. 

I think so, too.

OTOH, it's noteworthy how many people -- in this thread! -- are reading the chapter and seeing "sloppy writing" as their first (or at least equally-likely) explanation.

I suspect the "general DF reading population" will have a similar experience.

I agree that merely taking up a coin wouldn't change Johnnie enough to allow another soul daze with Harry.  Now maybe giving up the coin and deciding to live for the sole benefit of others would be a more fundamental change,  but so far Marcone is still serving Marcone.

MerlinHarry is the custodian of ExcaliburAmoracchius, and WartMarcone is still growing into being ready...  but he's already the Baron of Chicago (sovereign of the region).

The main reason I don't think this is very likely is that the alignment of people is just so clear... makes it look to me like Jim is dropping a big fat Melvillian-scale red herring.