Oversight or a bit twisted?

[RobReece]

I know that Jim has had Harry jump through some somewhat twisted hoops before, If I remember correctly, part of Harry's tryst with Susan was because someone bet Jim that he couldn't make a S&M scene a significant plot point...
But in Cold Days, we eventually find out that Maeve and Sarissa are sisters, but in the first part of the book, when Maeve tries to seduce Harry at his Birthday Party, she makes the following comment about Sarissa

She dropped her head back and laughed. “Bring her,” she said, her eyes both dancing and wild. Her eyes shifted to Sarissa, who took a short breath and went stiff beside me. “She’s gorgeous, and I would love to . . . get to know her better.”

Now I can understand her withholding information from Harry who Sarissa really was, but this goes a bit beyond that into twisted... 

Do you think Jim was caught up in the moment and wasn't thinking about them being sisters at the moment?  or was it deliberate?

[JTass]

It's been a while since I've re-read Cold Days, but off the cuff, I'd guess that Maeve pretending not to know Sarissa was part of her effort to conceal or obfuscate their relationship.

[Mira]

  Actually I wouldn't put it past Maeve to have such twisted thoughts and to telegraph them, just to mess with Sarissa's mind..  Lets not forget she was also heavily infested with Nemesis at that time which would magnify any perverted thought she may have had in her head.

[morriswalters]

I'll state the obvious.  The mantle would have eaten him well before Sarrissa would have come into play.  She had murder on her mind.

[Mira]

I'll state the obvious.  The mantle would have eaten him well before Sarrissa would have come into play.  She had murder on her mind.

Huh? I see it more of a replay of what happened in Maeve's Court in Summer Knight I believe it was, or an attempt at a replay.  Maeve thought that Harry would react like Slate did and be controllable.

[g33k]

I don't think just one thing was going on, here.  Overall, though, I'm with @Mira on this, and @JTass.

I expect Mab had given orders to keep Harry ignorant for a bit longer, and Maeve "had to" obey (Nemfection would let her disobey, but she's still pretending to be "undercover" and hiding her freedom from Winter edicts).

So, Maeve was "obediently" feigning that she had little or no knowledge of Sarisssa; but also leaning-in on the "crazed nympho slut" image she likes to portray (insinuating all sorts of erotic delights on offer); plus (from Sarissa's obvious reaction) making it into a threat; and (as another layer hidden from Harry) playing an incestuous head-game with Sarissa.

It's all kind of... petty and trivial.  But it's part and parcel with Maeve's self-image as a major player in Winter's layers-upon-layers of misdirection / multiply-redundant planning & goals, whereas she's actually kind of bad at all that (Winter Lady's Mantle gives her a lot of power & faerie glamour, but the mind directing all that power is... well... petty and trivial).

[morriswalters]

Maeve turned to her mother and sipped at her blue champagne. She said nothing, and her features were entirely smooth and relaxed, but you could just smell the way she was smirking on the inside..

And only then did I really get it. Maeve’s first attempt to get me to start a fight at court had been a distraction, then. She’d wanted me to focus on her, to unnerve me with her high-voltage psychic sex moves. That way I wouldn’t be thinking clearly enough to avoid it when the Redcap sprang his surprise.

Mab stared down at the Winter Lady for another silent minute. Then she smiled and bowed her head very slightly toward her daughter, the gesture one of acknowledgment. “Well played,” Mab murmured. She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t have to. The ice rang with it.

Butcher, Jim. Cold Days (The Dresden Files, Book 14) (pp. 50-51). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[Mira]

Maeve turned to her mother and sipped at her blue champagne. She said nothing, and her features were entirely smooth and relaxed, but you could just smell the way she was smirking on the inside..

And only then did I really get it. Maeve’s first attempt to get me to start a fight at court had been a distraction, then. She’d wanted me to focus on her, to unnerve me with her high-voltage psychic sex moves. That way I wouldn’t be thinking clearly enough to avoid it when the Redcap sprang his surprise.

Mab stared down at the Winter Lady for another silent minute. Then she smiled and bowed her head very slightly toward her daughter, the gesture one of acknowledgment. “Well played,” Mab murmured. She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t have to. The ice rang with it.

Butcher, Jim. Cold Days (The Dresden Files, Book 14) (pp. 50-51). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

However we find out later from Molly, in either Peace Talks or Battle Ground that at that point Mab already knew that Maeve was infected.  However it was in essence the same moves that Maeve did in the Chicago underground with Ginny Greenteeth.  But it didn't work, Harry isn't Slate, the mantle didn't eat him alive.

[g33k]

Then she smiled and bowed her head very slightly toward her daughter, the gesture one of acknowledgment. “Well played,” Mab murmured.

[/quote
Mab at this point knew her daughter was Nemfected.
It was only a few minutes later that she ordered Harry to kill the Winter Lady.

I think Mab knew for a long time... specifically, the scene with Grimalkin speaking for Mab, and later Mab's own voice injuring Harry... that was Mab's rage at discovering the 2-in-1 corruption of the Winter Lady and her own daughter.

That scene you quoted -- where Mab "acknowledged" Maeve's success -- was Mab making a minor/momentary sacrifice to advance her long-term gambit.  Specifically, I think she was feeding Maeve on a diet of overconfidence, leading Maeve to believe she was playing on Mab's level.

[Mira]

[/quote
Mab at this point knew her daughter was Nemfected.
It was only a few minutes later that she ordered Harry to kill the Winter Lady.

I think Mab knew for a long time... specifically, the scene with Grimalkin speaking for Mab, and later Mab's own voice injuring Harry... that was Mab's rage at discovering the 2-in-1 corruption of the Winter Lady and her own daughter.

That scene you quoted -- where Mab "acknowledged" Maeve's success -- was Mab making a minor/momentary sacrifice to advance her long-term gambit.  Specifically, I think she was feeding Maeve on a diet of overconfidence, leading Maeve to believe she was playing on Mab's level.

Exactly, using Maeve's pre-infection perverted nature against her, very Mab..