Power Dynamics and Submission in Kiss the Villain

Thematic Claim

In Kiss the Villain, Rina Kent transforms the enemies-to-lovers arc into a study of reciprocal power surrender. The relationship between golden‑boy‑turned‑obsessive Gareth Carson and criminal‑law‑professor Kayden Lockwood is not a simple dominant‑submissive binary. Instead, the novel argues that true intimacy requires both partners to voluntarily yield control — not as a defeat, but as the only path to breaking the isolation each character has built around their darkest impulses. Every scene of force, punishment, and ownership is counterbalanced by moments where the seemingly dominant Kayden must also let go of his need to control.

How Power Shifts Across the Plot

1. The Archery Field: Testing the Boundaries of Control

The first face‑to‑face encounter after the drugged night establishes the power struggle. Gareth, dressed in archery gear, shoots Kayden with rubber arrows — a violent rejection. But Kayden leans into the threat, pushing his chest against a real arrow and taunting: “Go ahead. Shoot. … Prove me right.” (Chapter 11).

Here Kayden weaponizes his own vulnerability. He reads Gareth’s violent urges and frames them as a weakness — the very thing Gareth hides behind his golden‑boy mask. By refusing to flinch, Kayden seizes psychological dominance. Yet Gareth does not kill him; he hesitates. That hesitation is the first crack in Gareth’s control. Kayden later notes: “He gets really offended when I insult him … but maybe it’s that he doesn’t like me to say them?” — exposing Gareth’s unexpected need for Kayden’s approval.

This scene establishes that power is not held by the one who holds a weapon, but by the one who understands the opponent’s hidden desire. Kayden sees the submissive person Gareth refuses to see in himself.

2. Forced Submission and the Reddit Reckoning

The kitchen/bedroom scene in Chapters 15‑16 is the novel’s clearest BDSM enactment. Kayden ties Gareth to the bed, forces his mouth onto his cock, and declares: “You are mine. I can play with you, hurt you, even let you hurt me, but you belong to me and no one else.” Gareth cries, yet he is also aroused — “Why does the pain he inflicts make me so horny?”

This moment goes beyond physical submission. Kayden’s command — “You can only be my slut” — strips Gareth of his carefully maintained identity as the dominant heir. The humiliation is deliberate, but so is the revelation: Gareth admits to himself that he hates “putting in the effort” during sex, that he enjoys being devoured.

The thematic turning point occurs afterward in Chapter 17, when Gareth posts on Reddit under “TooPrettyForThisMess”. He wrestles with confusion over his sexuality and the meaning of submission. One commenter writes: “It sounds like you’re in a confusing place … your feelings toward this guy might not even be about sexuality but could stem from power dynamics.” Gareth’s online search mirrors the reader’s invitation to examine power as a separate axis from gender or orientation. The chaos he feels is the necessary confusion before acceptance.

3. The Obsessive Edge and Mutual Surrender

By Chapter 29, the power dynamic appears to have stabilised — Kayden controls the tempo, rewarding good behavior and punishing “bratty” defiance. But Gareth’s obsessive texts and frantic need to know where Kayden is reveal a dangerous imbalance. Kayden observes: “He’s more obsessive, somewhat anxious about my absence … He’s also sniffing me more than usual.”

Instead of exploiting this, Kayden takes a teaching role rather than a purely punitive one. He leaves texts unread on purpose to force Gareth to regulate his own emotions. When Gareth threatens him in the alley — “I’d rather you die than be with someone else” — Kayden responds by twisting his wrist and declaring: “You believe you have power in this relationship just because you’re capable of killing? … You will never hurt me. You’re too obsessed.”

This is not a reversal of dominance; it is a redefinition. Kayden acknowledges Gareth’s power — the power to consume, to obsess, to threaten — but insists that the relationship must be governed by restraint. True dominance, Kayden implies, is the ability to hold back and protect the other from one’s own darkness.

The journey ends in the epilogues. Gareth’s new tattoo — a skull and snake with “My Villain K.D.” — is carved over his old scars, symbolising that he has integrated his violent and submissive selves. Kayden proposes with a ring engraved with both their names, and they plan to take the name Mr. and Mr. Davenport. The possession is now mutual: “I will no longer be separated from Gareth.” Power has become a shared language, not a weapon.

Character and Symbol Connections

Gareth embodies the struggle between control and surrender. His golden‑boy persona is a performance; his submissive desires are a threat to that performance. Submission, for him, is terrifying because it requires trusting another person with his brokenness.
Kayden appears the ultimate dominant — a trained killer, a professor who commands a classroom — yet his control is brittle. He needs Gareth’s obsession to feel real and admits he will “protect him at all costs.” His own vulnerability emerges in the moment he lets Gareth wound him and in his softening when Gareth asks for praise.
Moka the kitten (the white kitten Gareth acquires) becomes a symbol of domestic softness that both characters learn to care for. The kitten demands gentleness — a counterpoint to their violent power exchanges — and represents the vulnerability of care.
The white room in Kayden’s house is the space where the power dynamics are enacted — a neutral arena for consensual control. Its blankness suggests that power is not fixed but painted anew each time.
The void that Gareth speaks of (his inner emptiness) is what he tries to fill with control. By submitting, he does not fill the void but learns to sit inside it with Kayden.
The snake tattoo appears at the end, coiling with a skull and the words “My Villain”. The snake is a symbol of transformation and rebirth — Gareth sheds his old identity and accepts that his darkness and submission are one piece.

Complexity and Contradiction

The novel complicates any simple reading of dominance/submission. Both characters are villains in their own way; both are capable of violence and care. The power dynamic is asymmetrical on the surface — Kayden ties, punishes, and commands — but Gareth’s psychological hold over Kayden is just as strong. Kayden admits he doesn’t like hurting Gareth outside of sex and that Gareth’s texts unsettle him. The submission path is not linear: Gareth fights, Tasers, and argues for the top role even as he craves bottoming.

Furthermore, the novel explicitly addresses the consent question. The author’s note lists consensual non‑con as a theme. Inside the narrative, Gareth repeatedly says “stop” but is also shown to be physically capable of resistance and verbally able to safeword (he does not, even when he could). Kayden’s reading of Gareth’s arousal — “You’re rock fucking hard. Stop lying” — frames the submission as something Gareth wants but cannot yet name. The text leaves room for critique: does this justify coercion? Or does it depict a realistic, messy negotiation of kink where power is continually re‑negotiated?

Ultimately, the novel suggests that total control is impossible. Gareth cannot control his desire; Kayden cannot control Gareth’s obsession. The only stable ground is mutual surrender: each hands over a piece of themselves to the other, and from that vulnerability grows a bond strong enough to survive family dinners, gunshot wounds, and the chaos of their shared darkness.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does Gareth’s Reddit post (Chapter 17) complicate the reader’s understanding of his submission?
Answer: The post shows that Gareth is not simply “forced” into submission; he is actively trying to understand his desires. He seeks advice, reads about asexuality, and even considers trying other men — all before rejecting the idea. This intellectual wrestling proves his submission is not a passive collapse but a conscious journey toward accepting a part of himself he fears.

2. In the archery scene (Chapter 11), who actually holds the power — Gareth with the arrow or Kayden with his words?
Answer: Kayden holds the greater power because he uses Gareth’s own violence as a mirror. By daring Gareth to shoot and accusing him of being unable to rise above his urges, Kayden forces Gareth to hesitate. That hesitation shows Gareth is already emotionally invested in Kayden’s opinion — a vulnerability Kayden exploits to take control without touching a weapon.

3. What role does Moka the kitten play in the power dynamics of the relationship?
Answer: Moka introduces a non‑sexual, domestic form of care. When Gareth brings the kitten home, he is forced to be gentle and nurturing — traits that contradict his violent persona. Kayden also interacts with Moka, showing a softer side. The kitten becomes a symbol that power exchange can coexist with tenderness and that submission includes caring for something vulnerable.

4. How does Kayden’s control slip or evolve across the novel? Provide one specific example.
Answer: Kayden’s control slips in the alley scene (Chapter 29) when Gareth’s obsessive threats shake him. Kayden’s internal monologue reveals he “truly doesn’t like causing him pain” outside of sex, and he recognises that Gareth’s “unhealthy behavior” needs addressing. Instead of punishing, Kayden sets a boundary by leaving texts unread to teach emotional regulation — a shift from pure dominance to mentorship.

5. The novel ends with both men adopting each other’s last names. What does this gesture say about the final power balance?
Answer: Taking the same surname (“Mr. and Mr. Davenport”) symbolises equal union rather than one person owning the other. The earlier “my villain” tattoo claimed possession, but the joint name suggests mutual belonging. Power is no longer one‑sided; both have surrendered enough to become a single unit, dissolving the dominance‑submission binary into partnership.