What were the other possibile endings you were thinking of?
I'd considered Merena handing the child over to Kelsey and skipping off with Imoen to find Keldorn and the nymphs, but leaving her daughter was at odds with her earlier talking with Nalia. There was also a 'it was all a setup' idea, where a spurned would-be lover was plotting revenge, but it *really* defeated the purpose of Bad Kelsey, even more than a squishy, kiss-kiss ending. I also considered Merena just flat out leaving him with a little sermon about being a bad, bad, Kelsey, but by then I'd thought of making it a challenge, and I wanted to leave that possibility open. Jason also had a more farcical "too much of a good thing" ending.
I guess the question comes down to, do we want to believe that Kelsey could REALLY be bad?
That's the clincher. I considered having Kelsey act more like a jerk and wimped out. He does have potential flaws, between the flirting, jealousy in the Anomen situation, stubbornness related to thieves, and hangups related to his own power and his family. Any of these could be amplified (Which I did in the case of the flirting. In
"The Sweetest Day," Domi goes more the route of Kelsey putting his foot down about the thieves' stronghold, where a strong offense makes the best defense.), making Kelsey more of a villain or cad. It's kind of hard when you like the guy, though.