Question

[shaylee-ann.livejournal.com]

Hello. :-)  I just finished reading Queen of Attolia and King of Attolia for the first time.  They was recommended to me and I finally got around to reading them.  I enjoyed them very much (I read The Thief a while ago) and am planning on rereading them as soon as I can.  But there's something that bothers me, and I wanted to get the opinions of people that were more familiar with the series, and my friend rosaleeluann suggested I post here.  This is my question (it is a spoiler, in case that matters, but I'm assuming everybody here has read the books):

To be short and to the point, it seems very unbelievable (in my opinion) that Gen is so in love with Attolia especially seeing as she cut off his hand.  I cannot understand why he wants to marry her.  She's not (again, imo) even a likable character until King of Attolia (or the very very end of Queen).  Why did he love her?  Why would he love someone that cut off his hand?  He didn't even know that much about her before he was caught, if I understand correctly.  The only things he knew about her came from reports or spying her, which wouldn't be the same as talking to her and getting to know her.  Can someone please explain this to me?

Thanks!