Daughter of the Lion - Chapter Nine
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i_read_whatSo last time, Keely aggravated me, Ian actually called her out, and we learned Rory might well be telling the truth.
Oops.
So we start the chapter with Keely trying to visit Aileen. And being denied:
With an excess of civility—and more than a trace of reluctance—three of Aileen's ladies turned me away from her bedchamber door in the morning, saying the Princess of Homana still slept, requiring uninterrupted rest. I knew all of the ladies well enough— they had come with her from Erinn—and they knew me; clearly, they were afraid I would show them the edge of my tongue.
Which meant, I thought, someone had ordered them to keep me out.
a) You'd think a character who is supposedly warm and empathetic, and not malicious, would note the fact that her social inferiors are afraid of her temper and maybe take that into account...
b) Gosh, Keely, it's almost like a woman whose just suffered a miscarriage and has just learned that she may not be able to have children anymore might not want a casual visit from the obnoxious sister-in-law that makes everything about her.
I mean, look at this:
"Then let me see Brennan," I said flatly, neglecting his title and not particularly bothered by it. "He is here, is he not?—with Aileen?"
They exchanged glances, the three of them, showing me dismay, regret, hesitation. And, at last, denial.
"Lady, no," one of them—Duana—said. "He has given orders not to be disturbed by anyone."
Because god forbid her brother want to be alone with his WIFE during a very traumatic and emotional time! Obviously this sort of thing is worse for Aileen, who is physically suffering the effects and ramifications, but they were his children too.
Maybe the guy wants to grieve with his wife.
Keely, of course, decides that this is the right time for a tantrum. And Brennan comes out to say the fucking obvious.
Something akin to desperation welled up inside, stripping diplomacy from my tongue. "By the gods, she is my kinswoman! Have you gone mad? What right have you to turn me away?"
"Such rights as they are accustomed to, being in service to the Princess—and therefore the Prince—of Homana." It was Brennan, of course, pulling the door more widely open and dismissing the ladies with a nod. Then he turned to face me squarely, one hand on the edge of the door. "Aye, it is true—I did tell them you were not to be admitted. You in particular."
It robbed me of breath. "Why?"
"Because Aileen needs time to rest, to recover, without listening to your babble about being forced this way and that, molded into a broodmare for my convenience." There were deep-etched shadows beneath his eyes. The rims themselves were red; clearly, he had sat up with Aileen all night, forgoing sleep entirely. Weariness and worry undermined the customary courtesy in his tone, leaving it raw in sound as well as words. "I know what you will do, Keely— you will come in here with words of sympathy on your tongue, and then it will alter itself into a sword and cut her, whether you mean it to or not."
We have seen nothing in nine chapters to indicate that he's wrong about any of this. Brennan also states that Aileen needs time to understand that her place is secure, even if she can't have more children. And that's a very important factor to keep in mind.
Aileen and Brennan aren't a love match, they're an arranged marriage. And while it does seem, even with Keely's intentionally unreliable narration, to be a reasonably happy one, these sorts of marriages are generally first and foremost about CHILDREN. This is a sexist society and the Cheysuli are all about bloodlines. We know that Aileen, for all her passion, is also about duty. She very well MIGHT be afraid about this.
Divorce doesn't seem to be an option for Homanans (though it's notable that Carillon wanted to be tied to Electra, and Gisella, for all her faults, was fertile enough to bear four kids - Aileen is not, and may not have that protection) but Brennan could set her aside the way that Niall did Gisella. And while there is a stigma against illegitimacy, it's not entirely fool proof.
So anyway, Brennan wants to reassure his wife, and he doesn't think she'll be reassured with Keely "jabbering in her ear about her loss of freedom, her lack of value", and again, we have seen NOTHING to indicate he's wrong.
Keely points out that if not for her, Brennan wouldn't have known Aileen was in danger. Which is true, and he thanks her. I notice though that at no point does Keely offer to just keep her mouth shut for once. Of course not, she's the Action Girl Feminist (tm).
As an afterthought, Brennan does ask about the colt. Heh. Keely lies that he's in the stall. I don't entirely blame her for that, since it's clear he has bigger things on his mind. But it is something she could, MAYBE, feel a bit guilty about?
Brennan's colt. Gods, I was beginning to hate him!
Actually, I'm not being fair because she follows that up immediately by noting that, as angry as she is at him, he's still her brother and she wants to relieve him of some worry. So she's decided to go after the colt. She fetches bow, knife (Rory's - she intends to force a trade back for her own) and arrows.
...you know Rory's got like a bunch of trained, armed men, right? Even if you don't want to tell BRENNAN about what happened, you could probably tell NIALL and bring some people WITH you.
Also, given that she spent all of last chapter accusing her brother of being an abusive rapist, I'm a little fascinated to see what she'd say or do once she does actually hate him.
I WANT to like Keely in this book. It's not just a matter of being #TeamBrennan in the Keely vs. Brennan conflict. Not entirely anyway. I just really have a hard time dealing with a protagonist that's this self-absorbed, casually cruel, and fucking stupid.
She's not always like that, admittedly, but we're nine chapters in and I don't think I can I think of ONE chapter where she hasn't shown one of those three qualities in abundance. And while I do think that some of these flaws are intentional. I don't think they're supposed to be quite as extreme as they are here.
Or maybe I just don't find Keely's positive traits enough of a balance. Hard to say.
Anyway, Keely's bringing one of her own horses this time. It's a nice horse, though she admits that the difference in quality is obvious, but she's hoping to trade it for the colt.
Okay, this is a bit better. I do like Keely here. The loss of the colt really wasn't her fault, after all. She was captured and the horse taken. I appreciate that she's trying to make up for it. If we could have skipped the entire last chapter and first part of this one, I'd be a lot less annoyed with her.
Anyway, Keely's now on the hunt for Rory's brigand. She knows that they've moved and if she took the form of a bird, she'd find them easily. But she can't do that because of the horse.
...I'm not entirely sure why she couldn't have flown out, located the camp, and then come BACK for the horse. But to be fair, that's backseat strategizing. Keely's got a lot of shit going on and it probably didn't occur to her. I sympathize.
She does figure they'll be somewhere along the road to Ellas, and while she doesn't look like a rich merchant or princess, she thinks they might recognize her on sight. She thinks Rory might enjoy "surprising" her as a "good jest".
I mean, given the chemistry we've seen so far, she might be right.
Her thoughts end up going to Teirnan. She's pretty disgusted by him. She thinks it would have been best if Niall had brought him to Homana-Mujhar after Isolde died, to be raised with the princes. But Ceinn was still alive, and it's Cheysuli custom that children, "regardless of sex, remain with their parents".
I appreciate the sentiment, but that's very weirdly stated. Anyway, though, the Cheysuli don't do fosterage unless a child is orphaned.
It makes sense, I suppose. Ceinn had attacked Niall in the past, but that was before his marriage and the public acceptance of Niall in the lir-bonding ceremony. Niall probably didn't have justification to take the baby way.
Gosh, it's almost like Donal having an entire separate family when he knew he was betrothed to the eventual Queen of Homana was a bad idea!
So anyway, Keely notes that Teirnan's blood tie, and being "of the House", means that he does have a legitimate claim - only if Niall and the boys are dead though.
I mean, does he? His tie comes from his MOTHER. His ILLEGITIMATE MOTHER. Both of those things should disqualify him pretty clearly. Though I suppose Roberson's done enough intertwining of the family tree that there really aren't any other possible male claimants. Unless maybe Meghan and Evan had any male descendants.
Oh, there's a moment where Keely thinks about Maeve and ISN'T being a bitch. For once!
He had not succeeded, if he had tried, in reshaping Maeve's opinions to suit his own. He had, however, succeeded in separating her from her beloved father, something Teir in particular would find pleasing. In the time since he had voluntarily renounced the prophecy, his clan-rights and privileges, thereby renouncing his very soul, he had done his best to fracture the clans themselves. By pitting those Cheysuli more dedicated to the old ways against a more liberal faction, he had managed to divide Clan Council more than once, as well as win warriors to his cause. And by stirring up of d Cheysuli quarrels—or starting new ones—he quietly diverted Niall's attention from Homana to the Cheysuli. In the Homanan Council there were already mutters of the Mujhar's inattention to matters almost strictly Homanan in nature. Homana's need, they said, was greater; to them, it is not a Cheysuli nation but Homanan, no matter that the gods put us here first.
That's ALMOST acknowledgement that Maeve is a victim here.
But also, the Council is fucking stupid. The Cheysuli are PART OF THE KINGDOM. And they're a significant portion of Homana's military at this point. Especially important considering the propensity of the IHLINI for kidnapping and raping members of the royal family!
This weirdly transitions into Keely musing about her own heritage and how she's of the oldest blood, and "Halfling, [she] may be, or worse", she still has more power than others, even Teirnan. She could use it to put him in his place.
...okay, so here's the thing. Teirnan also has the old blood. Not as much though, because of the lack of cousin fucking. Teirnan is an abusive asshole and a race supremacist, but this whole "more Cheysuli than thou" bit feels fucking uncomfortable when it comes from a woman who, as we've heard constantly and can tell from the cover, is blond and very white looking.
And it touches on a fairly uncomfortable aspect of the whole breeding prophecy stuff. This is more relevant later and there will be some vague spoilers here that I will to keep very general. But basically, through this entire saga, the only infusion of Cheysuli blood comes from Alix, Duncan, and eventually Sorcha.
Every marriage or intermarriage that we see in this series is with a white person from a foreign culture, or someone, like Gisella, whose Cheysuli heritage is recursive. The cousin fucking part basically.
And this is probably not my place to say, but I have to side eye how this series is all about breeding up a Cheysuli savior/chosen one, who, in the end, isn't all that ethnically Cheysuli anymore. And given how the "old blood" somehow comes from Alix's white heritage anyway...it's very...SOMETHING.
But that said, leaving this uncomfortable shit aside, I would like to see Keely take on Teirnan and beat the shit out of him. A LOT will be forgiven, Keely, if you can defend your sister's honor.
Anyway, Keely's horse is pretty well trained in its own right and she's able to tell, through him, when they're not alone. And indeed. It's the Erinnish bandits. Keely makes a good showing here:
I laughed aloud, drawing as I raised the bow, and chose my target. Suggesting, in gutter Erinnish, the man give himself up; what would it do to his pride to be pinned to a tree by a woman?
Too much damage, apparently; he slid out of a shadowed copse of elm to stand quietly some ten paces from my gelding, who snorted in noisy alarm but held his ground, thank the gods.
"Aye," I told the man, "you. But then it was not you I was aiming at, but the other man over there—" I loosed, sent the arrow thwacking into a trunk, plucked, and nocked a second. "Now, as for him—"
The second man comes out, presenting the arrow like a flower. She insists they lead her to "Redbeard". They do.
I suppose my suggestion that Keely take actual soldiers isn't really fair, since she doesn't have any reason to think they'll harm her.
Rory's here with sight other men, all closed faced and wearing the look of men who "hid a secret, disdaining to show their pain."
Rory's still pretty charming though and he and Keely banter a bit about his circumstances. She notes that she can pass word to him of Sean's death or recovery. He asks why she'd do that. Her rationale is interesting actually. It's because they're exiles, and she thinks about how hard exile had been for the Cheysuli.
See, I do like THIS Keely. I do think she has the capability of empathizing with other people. It's just very hard to like her when she's so busy focusing on her own issues and causing pain to the people around her.
I will give Roberson credit that I think it's intentional. I have some hope that Keely will develop past it. But it's pretty hard to take until then.
We do, again, see another example of Roberson forgetting the family tree:
I pushed the gelding's intrusive muzzle away from my ear. "If Sean is dead, word will come soon enough. The Mujhar will have to be told—"
"—as well as Keely herself." Rory nodded. "No doubt Niall will be looking elsewhere for a husband in order to make an alliance."
"Aye, although he needs Erinnish blood badly—" I broke it off, not wanting to say more than the arms-master's daughter should know. Although I could afford to speak of things other people could not;
...does he?
a) Erinnish blood is already in the mix. We've mentioned that. But even if somehow that's not enough. Brennan and Aileen do have one child. Keely's marriage to Sean, while diplomatically advantageous, wouldn't add blood to HOMANA's royal line. Not without more cousin fucking anyway.
Actually, though, to be fair, Rory just pointed out the same thing. But Keely FINALLY thinks about Aileen here:
I thought of Aileen, sequestered in her bedchamber with Brennan as her watchdog; of Aidan, their sickly son, who might not live to see another year. And no more sons to come after.
...I suppose that's almost sympathy. Baby steps.
Rory notes that Liam only had one son. Well, one legitimate son. Rory counts, but he's not in line, even if Sean died. Keely tries to determine if Rory is like Teirnan - all bitter ambition, and asks if that matters. Rory actually does think about it, which Keely thinks is to his credit and I would agree with her there. But in the end, Rory accepts.
THIS is interesting though.
"And you have no ambition? Not one hint of curiosity about what it would be like to rule?"
He looked at me intently. "Would you want to rule, lass?"
But I will, I answered silently. Aloud, I said, "Depending."
Will you? I suppose Aileen was able to basically act as regent with Sean and Liam away.
Keely clarifies: women don't rule by their own right - at least not in Homana or Solinde. She thinks it's not fair that a woman be required to marry to govern the realm she was born to when a man isn't.
I mean, fair.
Rory does point out that a prince or king is required to marry in order to get legitimate sons to inherit though. He points out that this isn't that different. Sean didn't have any more choice than Keely after all.
And that's also a good point.
For me, the feminist reader, the unequal part of it isn't the marriage. It's not even childbirth, though admittedly, that is a physical risk that a cis man does not have to deal with. For ME, the real issue here is that a woman doesn't get to rule in these settings unless her husband allows her.
And it's not clear in this series that we've seen ANY example of a Queen who gets to rule beside her husband. Maybe Aislinn. There was at least a strong indication during White Wolf that Aislinn was ruling alongside Donal. But Elektra was a would-be regicide, Gisella is mentally ill, and Deirdre is a mistress not a Queen.
Bronwyn, we know, absolutely was NOT a co-ruler to her spouse.
So THAT's the issue I would have, if I were Keely in this argument. I did note earlier that Aileen, in Pride of Princes, did seem to have some authority to act without Sean or Liam present, Keely has no way to know if Sean will allow the same.
Anyway, Rory is happy to be free and not bound by royal whim or prophecy.
Keely's reaction is...ordd.
For all of our lives Corin and I had held conversations concerning the privileges of rank, of race, of heritage, so certain of our own. We had discussed the requirements of that rank, the dictates of our tahlmorras, what we could offer to the world because of our heritage. We had been insular, arrogant, too certain of our power, believing no one other than a Cheysuli could understand what we felt, because they were lirless and therefore unblessed, trapped in a lifespan lacking the magic of the fir-gifts, the power of our heritage.
Now, listening to Rory, I realized it had nothing to do with race. Men are born with eyes and ears; few of them know how to use them.
What on earth does THAT mean? Is she agreeing or disagreeing with Rory here?
Anyway, leaving that aside, Keely brings up the possibility of trade. Rory isn't interested. He's also not interested in swapping the knives back, even when Keely offers her warbow in exchange. Um. Couldn't you get in trouble for that?
Keely's offended at his lack of interest in her warbow, pointing out that the only non-Cheysuli man who has ever owned a warbow is Carillon. Rory, amusingly, vaguely recognizes the name. He's not Homanan after all. But he's got a better argument. Why trade, when he can just take it all? He IS a thief, after all.
Yep. Keely's an idiot.
That said, she's competent enough to swing up into her saddle and get away. But she doesn't intend to go far. She intends to wait, in hiding, and steal the colt back when there's a chance.
But we get a new cliffhanger to end the chapter:
An arm locked around my throat. A hand plucked my knife free of sheath. Quietly, a familiar voice said, "I want to talk with you."
Dun dun dun.
Oops.
So we start the chapter with Keely trying to visit Aileen. And being denied:
With an excess of civility—and more than a trace of reluctance—three of Aileen's ladies turned me away from her bedchamber door in the morning, saying the Princess of Homana still slept, requiring uninterrupted rest. I knew all of the ladies well enough— they had come with her from Erinn—and they knew me; clearly, they were afraid I would show them the edge of my tongue.
Which meant, I thought, someone had ordered them to keep me out.
a) You'd think a character who is supposedly warm and empathetic, and not malicious, would note the fact that her social inferiors are afraid of her temper and maybe take that into account...
b) Gosh, Keely, it's almost like a woman whose just suffered a miscarriage and has just learned that she may not be able to have children anymore might not want a casual visit from the obnoxious sister-in-law that makes everything about her.
I mean, look at this:
"Then let me see Brennan," I said flatly, neglecting his title and not particularly bothered by it. "He is here, is he not?—with Aileen?"
They exchanged glances, the three of them, showing me dismay, regret, hesitation. And, at last, denial.
"Lady, no," one of them—Duana—said. "He has given orders not to be disturbed by anyone."
Because god forbid her brother want to be alone with his WIFE during a very traumatic and emotional time! Obviously this sort of thing is worse for Aileen, who is physically suffering the effects and ramifications, but they were his children too.
Maybe the guy wants to grieve with his wife.
Keely, of course, decides that this is the right time for a tantrum. And Brennan comes out to say the fucking obvious.
Something akin to desperation welled up inside, stripping diplomacy from my tongue. "By the gods, she is my kinswoman! Have you gone mad? What right have you to turn me away?"
"Such rights as they are accustomed to, being in service to the Princess—and therefore the Prince—of Homana." It was Brennan, of course, pulling the door more widely open and dismissing the ladies with a nod. Then he turned to face me squarely, one hand on the edge of the door. "Aye, it is true—I did tell them you were not to be admitted. You in particular."
It robbed me of breath. "Why?"
"Because Aileen needs time to rest, to recover, without listening to your babble about being forced this way and that, molded into a broodmare for my convenience." There were deep-etched shadows beneath his eyes. The rims themselves were red; clearly, he had sat up with Aileen all night, forgoing sleep entirely. Weariness and worry undermined the customary courtesy in his tone, leaving it raw in sound as well as words. "I know what you will do, Keely— you will come in here with words of sympathy on your tongue, and then it will alter itself into a sword and cut her, whether you mean it to or not."
We have seen nothing in nine chapters to indicate that he's wrong about any of this. Brennan also states that Aileen needs time to understand that her place is secure, even if she can't have more children. And that's a very important factor to keep in mind.
Aileen and Brennan aren't a love match, they're an arranged marriage. And while it does seem, even with Keely's intentionally unreliable narration, to be a reasonably happy one, these sorts of marriages are generally first and foremost about CHILDREN. This is a sexist society and the Cheysuli are all about bloodlines. We know that Aileen, for all her passion, is also about duty. She very well MIGHT be afraid about this.
Divorce doesn't seem to be an option for Homanans (though it's notable that Carillon wanted to be tied to Electra, and Gisella, for all her faults, was fertile enough to bear four kids - Aileen is not, and may not have that protection) but Brennan could set her aside the way that Niall did Gisella. And while there is a stigma against illegitimacy, it's not entirely fool proof.
So anyway, Brennan wants to reassure his wife, and he doesn't think she'll be reassured with Keely "jabbering in her ear about her loss of freedom, her lack of value", and again, we have seen NOTHING to indicate he's wrong.
Keely points out that if not for her, Brennan wouldn't have known Aileen was in danger. Which is true, and he thanks her. I notice though that at no point does Keely offer to just keep her mouth shut for once. Of course not, she's the Action Girl Feminist (tm).
As an afterthought, Brennan does ask about the colt. Heh. Keely lies that he's in the stall. I don't entirely blame her for that, since it's clear he has bigger things on his mind. But it is something she could, MAYBE, feel a bit guilty about?
Brennan's colt. Gods, I was beginning to hate him!
Actually, I'm not being fair because she follows that up immediately by noting that, as angry as she is at him, he's still her brother and she wants to relieve him of some worry. So she's decided to go after the colt. She fetches bow, knife (Rory's - she intends to force a trade back for her own) and arrows.
...you know Rory's got like a bunch of trained, armed men, right? Even if you don't want to tell BRENNAN about what happened, you could probably tell NIALL and bring some people WITH you.
Also, given that she spent all of last chapter accusing her brother of being an abusive rapist, I'm a little fascinated to see what she'd say or do once she does actually hate him.
I WANT to like Keely in this book. It's not just a matter of being #TeamBrennan in the Keely vs. Brennan conflict. Not entirely anyway. I just really have a hard time dealing with a protagonist that's this self-absorbed, casually cruel, and fucking stupid.
She's not always like that, admittedly, but we're nine chapters in and I don't think I can I think of ONE chapter where she hasn't shown one of those three qualities in abundance. And while I do think that some of these flaws are intentional. I don't think they're supposed to be quite as extreme as they are here.
Or maybe I just don't find Keely's positive traits enough of a balance. Hard to say.
Anyway, Keely's bringing one of her own horses this time. It's a nice horse, though she admits that the difference in quality is obvious, but she's hoping to trade it for the colt.
Okay, this is a bit better. I do like Keely here. The loss of the colt really wasn't her fault, after all. She was captured and the horse taken. I appreciate that she's trying to make up for it. If we could have skipped the entire last chapter and first part of this one, I'd be a lot less annoyed with her.
Anyway, Keely's now on the hunt for Rory's brigand. She knows that they've moved and if she took the form of a bird, she'd find them easily. But she can't do that because of the horse.
...I'm not entirely sure why she couldn't have flown out, located the camp, and then come BACK for the horse. But to be fair, that's backseat strategizing. Keely's got a lot of shit going on and it probably didn't occur to her. I sympathize.
She does figure they'll be somewhere along the road to Ellas, and while she doesn't look like a rich merchant or princess, she thinks they might recognize her on sight. She thinks Rory might enjoy "surprising" her as a "good jest".
I mean, given the chemistry we've seen so far, she might be right.
Her thoughts end up going to Teirnan. She's pretty disgusted by him. She thinks it would have been best if Niall had brought him to Homana-Mujhar after Isolde died, to be raised with the princes. But Ceinn was still alive, and it's Cheysuli custom that children, "regardless of sex, remain with their parents".
I appreciate the sentiment, but that's very weirdly stated. Anyway, though, the Cheysuli don't do fosterage unless a child is orphaned.
It makes sense, I suppose. Ceinn had attacked Niall in the past, but that was before his marriage and the public acceptance of Niall in the lir-bonding ceremony. Niall probably didn't have justification to take the baby way.
Gosh, it's almost like Donal having an entire separate family when he knew he was betrothed to the eventual Queen of Homana was a bad idea!
So anyway, Keely notes that Teirnan's blood tie, and being "of the House", means that he does have a legitimate claim - only if Niall and the boys are dead though.
I mean, does he? His tie comes from his MOTHER. His ILLEGITIMATE MOTHER. Both of those things should disqualify him pretty clearly. Though I suppose Roberson's done enough intertwining of the family tree that there really aren't any other possible male claimants. Unless maybe Meghan and Evan had any male descendants.
Oh, there's a moment where Keely thinks about Maeve and ISN'T being a bitch. For once!
He had not succeeded, if he had tried, in reshaping Maeve's opinions to suit his own. He had, however, succeeded in separating her from her beloved father, something Teir in particular would find pleasing. In the time since he had voluntarily renounced the prophecy, his clan-rights and privileges, thereby renouncing his very soul, he had done his best to fracture the clans themselves. By pitting those Cheysuli more dedicated to the old ways against a more liberal faction, he had managed to divide Clan Council more than once, as well as win warriors to his cause. And by stirring up of d Cheysuli quarrels—or starting new ones—he quietly diverted Niall's attention from Homana to the Cheysuli. In the Homanan Council there were already mutters of the Mujhar's inattention to matters almost strictly Homanan in nature. Homana's need, they said, was greater; to them, it is not a Cheysuli nation but Homanan, no matter that the gods put us here first.
That's ALMOST acknowledgement that Maeve is a victim here.
But also, the Council is fucking stupid. The Cheysuli are PART OF THE KINGDOM. And they're a significant portion of Homana's military at this point. Especially important considering the propensity of the IHLINI for kidnapping and raping members of the royal family!
This weirdly transitions into Keely musing about her own heritage and how she's of the oldest blood, and "Halfling, [she] may be, or worse", she still has more power than others, even Teirnan. She could use it to put him in his place.
...okay, so here's the thing. Teirnan also has the old blood. Not as much though, because of the lack of cousin fucking. Teirnan is an abusive asshole and a race supremacist, but this whole "more Cheysuli than thou" bit feels fucking uncomfortable when it comes from a woman who, as we've heard constantly and can tell from the cover, is blond and very white looking.
And it touches on a fairly uncomfortable aspect of the whole breeding prophecy stuff. This is more relevant later and there will be some vague spoilers here that I will to keep very general. But basically, through this entire saga, the only infusion of Cheysuli blood comes from Alix, Duncan, and eventually Sorcha.
Every marriage or intermarriage that we see in this series is with a white person from a foreign culture, or someone, like Gisella, whose Cheysuli heritage is recursive. The cousin fucking part basically.
And this is probably not my place to say, but I have to side eye how this series is all about breeding up a Cheysuli savior/chosen one, who, in the end, isn't all that ethnically Cheysuli anymore. And given how the "old blood" somehow comes from Alix's white heritage anyway...it's very...SOMETHING.
But that said, leaving this uncomfortable shit aside, I would like to see Keely take on Teirnan and beat the shit out of him. A LOT will be forgiven, Keely, if you can defend your sister's honor.
Anyway, Keely's horse is pretty well trained in its own right and she's able to tell, through him, when they're not alone. And indeed. It's the Erinnish bandits. Keely makes a good showing here:
I laughed aloud, drawing as I raised the bow, and chose my target. Suggesting, in gutter Erinnish, the man give himself up; what would it do to his pride to be pinned to a tree by a woman?
Too much damage, apparently; he slid out of a shadowed copse of elm to stand quietly some ten paces from my gelding, who snorted in noisy alarm but held his ground, thank the gods.
"Aye," I told the man, "you. But then it was not you I was aiming at, but the other man over there—" I loosed, sent the arrow thwacking into a trunk, plucked, and nocked a second. "Now, as for him—"
The second man comes out, presenting the arrow like a flower. She insists they lead her to "Redbeard". They do.
I suppose my suggestion that Keely take actual soldiers isn't really fair, since she doesn't have any reason to think they'll harm her.
Rory's here with sight other men, all closed faced and wearing the look of men who "hid a secret, disdaining to show their pain."
Rory's still pretty charming though and he and Keely banter a bit about his circumstances. She notes that she can pass word to him of Sean's death or recovery. He asks why she'd do that. Her rationale is interesting actually. It's because they're exiles, and she thinks about how hard exile had been for the Cheysuli.
See, I do like THIS Keely. I do think she has the capability of empathizing with other people. It's just very hard to like her when she's so busy focusing on her own issues and causing pain to the people around her.
I will give Roberson credit that I think it's intentional. I have some hope that Keely will develop past it. But it's pretty hard to take until then.
We do, again, see another example of Roberson forgetting the family tree:
I pushed the gelding's intrusive muzzle away from my ear. "If Sean is dead, word will come soon enough. The Mujhar will have to be told—"
"—as well as Keely herself." Rory nodded. "No doubt Niall will be looking elsewhere for a husband in order to make an alliance."
"Aye, although he needs Erinnish blood badly—" I broke it off, not wanting to say more than the arms-master's daughter should know. Although I could afford to speak of things other people could not;
...does he?
a) Erinnish blood is already in the mix. We've mentioned that. But even if somehow that's not enough. Brennan and Aileen do have one child. Keely's marriage to Sean, while diplomatically advantageous, wouldn't add blood to HOMANA's royal line. Not without more cousin fucking anyway.
Actually, though, to be fair, Rory just pointed out the same thing. But Keely FINALLY thinks about Aileen here:
I thought of Aileen, sequestered in her bedchamber with Brennan as her watchdog; of Aidan, their sickly son, who might not live to see another year. And no more sons to come after.
...I suppose that's almost sympathy. Baby steps.
Rory notes that Liam only had one son. Well, one legitimate son. Rory counts, but he's not in line, even if Sean died. Keely tries to determine if Rory is like Teirnan - all bitter ambition, and asks if that matters. Rory actually does think about it, which Keely thinks is to his credit and I would agree with her there. But in the end, Rory accepts.
THIS is interesting though.
"And you have no ambition? Not one hint of curiosity about what it would be like to rule?"
He looked at me intently. "Would you want to rule, lass?"
But I will, I answered silently. Aloud, I said, "Depending."
Will you? I suppose Aileen was able to basically act as regent with Sean and Liam away.
Keely clarifies: women don't rule by their own right - at least not in Homana or Solinde. She thinks it's not fair that a woman be required to marry to govern the realm she was born to when a man isn't.
I mean, fair.
Rory does point out that a prince or king is required to marry in order to get legitimate sons to inherit though. He points out that this isn't that different. Sean didn't have any more choice than Keely after all.
And that's also a good point.
For me, the feminist reader, the unequal part of it isn't the marriage. It's not even childbirth, though admittedly, that is a physical risk that a cis man does not have to deal with. For ME, the real issue here is that a woman doesn't get to rule in these settings unless her husband allows her.
And it's not clear in this series that we've seen ANY example of a Queen who gets to rule beside her husband. Maybe Aislinn. There was at least a strong indication during White Wolf that Aislinn was ruling alongside Donal. But Elektra was a would-be regicide, Gisella is mentally ill, and Deirdre is a mistress not a Queen.
Bronwyn, we know, absolutely was NOT a co-ruler to her spouse.
So THAT's the issue I would have, if I were Keely in this argument. I did note earlier that Aileen, in Pride of Princes, did seem to have some authority to act without Sean or Liam present, Keely has no way to know if Sean will allow the same.
Anyway, Rory is happy to be free and not bound by royal whim or prophecy.
Keely's reaction is...ordd.
For all of our lives Corin and I had held conversations concerning the privileges of rank, of race, of heritage, so certain of our own. We had discussed the requirements of that rank, the dictates of our tahlmorras, what we could offer to the world because of our heritage. We had been insular, arrogant, too certain of our power, believing no one other than a Cheysuli could understand what we felt, because they were lirless and therefore unblessed, trapped in a lifespan lacking the magic of the fir-gifts, the power of our heritage.
Now, listening to Rory, I realized it had nothing to do with race. Men are born with eyes and ears; few of them know how to use them.
What on earth does THAT mean? Is she agreeing or disagreeing with Rory here?
Anyway, leaving that aside, Keely brings up the possibility of trade. Rory isn't interested. He's also not interested in swapping the knives back, even when Keely offers her warbow in exchange. Um. Couldn't you get in trouble for that?
Keely's offended at his lack of interest in her warbow, pointing out that the only non-Cheysuli man who has ever owned a warbow is Carillon. Rory, amusingly, vaguely recognizes the name. He's not Homanan after all. But he's got a better argument. Why trade, when he can just take it all? He IS a thief, after all.
Yep. Keely's an idiot.
That said, she's competent enough to swing up into her saddle and get away. But she doesn't intend to go far. She intends to wait, in hiding, and steal the colt back when there's a chance.
But we get a new cliffhanger to end the chapter:
An arm locked around my throat. A hand plucked my knife free of sheath. Quietly, a familiar voice said, "I want to talk with you."
Dun dun dun.