Teres

Further, why did Isend and Merlion not have Annwin marry Borneheld, given that she is the oldest?

Borneheld should probably have taken it as an insult that he didn't get the eldest daughter (who is therefore the heiress, not Faraday), given that he's the highest ranking noble in the country and also the heir to the throne. Mind you, it's already ludicrous enough that he THIRTY and still has no wife or kids. Screw the royal succession I guess.

Now it just looks like Isend and Merlion had Faraday as a favourite for some reason

It sort of is implied that she was the favourite, though damned if I know why.

Why could Annwin not send out people, or Osmary (if she is already married to him)?

What a truly ridiculous name.

So naturally she also wrote quite some books explicitly set in historical settings.

It gets better. As an academic she would have had access to an entire library of scholarly research and commentary on medieval history, for free. And yet she apparently saw fit to do no research whatsoever.

He allegedly sexually assaulted Azhure quite often, if I remember right.

I don't remember that ever coming up. I do remember Axis sexually assaulting her an awful lot, mind you. I also don't find it plausible that anyone would have the spine to mess with the daughter of the Plough-Keeper, who basically seems to be in charge of the place.

And he was possessed by Artor, I believe.

After Azhure murders him in the creepiest way possible, yes. She even manages to make it sound sexual while she's doing it, ugh.

I think Douglass wanted to have Azhure be an abuse victim (because that is edgy and mature)

And also a cheap shortcut to make her "likeable" and sympathetic. One bad authors fall back on way too often and usually mishandle in the most offensive ways possible.

while also having her "take no shit" (because that means she is "badass"), and she did not think about how the two mesh. So the end result is... this.

A mess. Later attempts at making her seem traumatised fall so flat it's insulting.

Never mind that Shra should already be dead, either...

Just how long have they been imprisoned that they managed to get into the sorry state we'll see later on anyway? And no, Shra should absolutely not have survived that level of starvation and abuse.