i_read_what | Daughter of the Lion - Part Two

So last chapter was genuinely good. Like not just Roberson good, but GENUINELY really good.

Let's see if she can keep it up.

So we rejoin our heroes. Keely is pretty much out of it. Though not out of it enough that she can't bitch about her brother:

"Keely."

It took a very long time for me to make sense of the word. Or what it portended. Or might.

"Keely."

Aye, of course: my name. But who—? Oh, aye, Brennan; of course, Brennan, who else? It was always Brennan hag-riding me to death . . . no, no, it was Corin who would be hag-ridden—

Another more insistent repeat of her name, and she realizes it's actually Hart saying her name, which reminds her that Hart is here with Ilsa and his baby.

This of course leads to some drunken kvetching about babies and wives from Keely. And then, oh, shit.

"Everyone having babies." I shook my head in despair. "You, Hart, Maeve—gods, it will be Corin next, or me—"

Brennan went very still. "What do you mean, 'Maeve'?"

"—such a fool, such a lackwit! You would think she had learned her lesson after what Teirnan did ... but no, he claps his hands and she runs to him, like a dog-—like a bitch, offering herself to the hound—"

God, will you fucking shut UP, Keely?!

You'll bend over backwards to defend your sister-in-law from non-existent abuse from a husband that she's repeatedly demonstrated that she's comfortable and content with, but you refuse to acknowledge an actual abusive situation in front of your goddamn face!

What kind of sister ARE you?!

And yes, it's possible that this is another example of Keely being an unreliable and self-centered narrator like we had last chapter, but you know what the difference is?

Brennan is HERE. He gets to talk for himself! Aileen gets to talk for him! He had a third of a book to let us get to know the real man, and thus we can see that Keely is full of shit.

Maeve has had NOTHING. Almost no page time, and the few mentions she has are getting shit on. This is not the same situation!

At least Brennan has some awareness of Maeve's situation.

Brennan's hand came down on mine, pinning it to the table. "Keely, that is enough. It is the usca talking, not you—but .you are, it seems, the one with all the secrets. What is this of Maeve and Teirnan—and a baby?"

"She went to him," I said plainly, over the usca-blur in my head. "She went to him, lay with him, and now she will bear his child."

Brennan's eyes were startled. "Is that why—"

I overrode him rudely. "Aye, of course it is—why do you think?" I scowled at him blackly. "That is why she keeps herself to Clankeep. She is ashamed. Afraid. She thinks jehan will be angry."

How can someone who is supposedly so empathetic, as we've been told Keely is, utter the words "she is ashamed. Afraid." and have no fucking feeling toward her sister but scorn?

Why is the "sexist adversary" brother the one expressing concern?

Actually, to be fair, Hart seems concerned too. He asks if Teir is still with the a'saii.

But this actually somewhat makes me happy:

I grunted. "With them, of them, leading them . . . he has founded a new clan, and he is the clan-leader." I sat more upright on my stool. The usca-haze remained, mixing with candlelight to fuddle my eyes, but I knew what I was saying. "And I am not entirely certain what he claims is false."

Brennan made a sound of disgust and shoved the jug at me. "Have more usca, Keely ... it improves your imagination."

"Is it my imagination that we risk losing the lir?" Aye, that got their attention. "Teir has pointed out that if the Firstborn come again, there will be little need for us. Or even the Ihlini. Both will be redundant. And since the Firstborn shall have all the power, why not let them have all the fir?"

"Because it makes no sense," Brennan retorted. "We have always had the lir—why would we lose them? What reason for the gods to take them from us?"

Thank you, Brennan. It DOES make no sense. Thus far, as I have endlessly ranted, there has been no actual SOURCE for this theory. And why would it even happen. IF the firstborn is a result of all this machination, we're talking about ONE child. Maybe some additional siblings. You don't even know if the children will be male. And women with the old blood can communicate with lir, but they don't TAKE them.

Keely manages to turn this into some sort of bullshit rant about favoritism:

I leaned forward intently. "Because the Firstborn are their favorites. You should understand that, being favored yourself—" I smiled without amusement "—and generally reaping the rewards, you and Maeve both—" But I cut it off with a chop of my hand. "It does not matter, none of it, only that I wonder again if Teirnan has the right of it ... he said the Ihlini fight us the way they do because they understand what it means . . . they understand that if the prophecy comes to fruition, they will be destroyed." I swallowed heavily, tasting sour liquor. "Perhaps we will suffer the same fate, being discarded like soiled wrappings ..." I put my hands over my eyes. "Gods, it is too bright in here—I swear, I will go blind—"

So Keely's made herself sick. The boys decide to take her outside to be sick, then take her home so she can be put to bed.

But don't worry, she still has more secrets she can spill:

I doubt she can keep a horse." Brennan's, tone was bitter. "I entrusted her with my fleetest colt, and she lost him—she lost him . . . she let thieves take him from her, and then was too frightened to lead me to where they stole him. I did not require her to come with me, only to tell me where—"

I stopped dead and jerked my arms from their grasps. "I know where," I told him. "I know where, and who, and how to go about it ... and I am not afraid! Not of him. Not of Rory. He would never harm me." I swung my head from side to side. "Not Rory Redbeard."

I feel Brennan's frustration here. Meanwhile, Brennan, not being a fucking idiot, says pointedly that she'd revealed they were Erinnish but not that she knew them.

But Keely's now about to throw up. And be weirdly racist.

"Let her go." Brennan's tone was less friendly. Most distinctly lacking compassion. "She drank all of it without our assistance ... let her be quit of it that way, too."

An alley ... I caught a wall, tried to hang on, felt it spill out from under me. On my knees I paid homage to the darkness, as well as to all the usca.

It was Hart, eventually, who helped me up and held me, making certain I could stand. Brennan was a shadow in the darkness, silhouetted against lantern light, muttering something beneath his breath. I saw gold on his arms and in his eyes; in Hart's I saw compassion. But his were blue, after all... not fierce Cheysuli yellow.

What the fuck is this, Roberson?

Keely identifies very strongly with her Cheysuli side. She's raised culturally Cheysuli, and while yes, Niall doesn't have the features, she spends a lot of time in Clankeep, so what the fuck is this "his were blue, after all" when it comes to showing compassion?!

I mean, look, I'm biased of course. But we read Pride of Princes, and Brennan struck me at least as by far the most compassionate of the siblings who actually get any focus. (God knows about poor Maeve.) And given the shit Keely's thrown at him this entire book, especially with this new nonsense, I don't for one moment blame him for losing patience.

(It does remind me of that reviewer who claimed that Brennan was the least sympathetic to Keely's issues. I wonder if she ONLY read this fucking scene and not any of the multiple times he DOES sympathize with her. But I digress.)

I do really like Hart in this scene though:

"Hush," Hart said gently. "No more, Keely—not now. Now is the time for you to be still, be silent .. . usca is not always a boon companion."

I looked past him. "Neither is he."

Hart smiled a little. "Aye, well, you and Brennan have always played grinding wheel to the other's steel." He sighed, smoothing tangled hair from my face. "One day, perhaps, the grinding wheel will stop turning and allow the steel to be put away."

I think this might be another way that Hart is the character who suffered most from the split story structure in Pride of Princes. Because this is the Hart that seemed to be implied or hinted at, that we never got to see because he was too busy being a fucking useless waste in Solinde.

The Hart who is laid back and easy going enough to run interference on his stressed and wounded brother and his desperate and frightened sister, that's a Hart that I would have liked to see more of in that book.

Keely, drunkenly weeps at his lack of hand, which hurts him a bit, but he just keeps comforting her.

She wishes Corin were here, and Hart agrees, which surprises her since he has Ilsa and the baby. But Hart points out that he can love more people than just his wife and kid. It's a nice beat.

And he's able to reach his brother too.

"Corin," I said again, as Brennan came into the alley. "Corin—and jehana."

Brennan, annoyed, sighed. "Oh, Keely—"

But Hart cut him off. "She is sick," he said. "Drunk and sick and unhappy. Have you been none of those?"

Something moved in Brennan's face. "All of them," he answered at last. "All of them, and worse." And then he came to me, to step in beside me and curve one arm around my back as Hart did much the same.

A brother on either side. But neither of them was Corin.

I still don't blame Brennan one bit for not being able to offer the comfort that Hart does. He's basically been under attack this entire book.

We skip scenes to Keely in bed. Deirdre's fussing over her, helping her throw up. She offers to send for hot broth but Keely's distracted, because apparently Deirdre has just told her that the boys have gone after the colt.

I mean, why not?

Keely again proves bizarrely clueless as she asks if they went in lir form.

"No." She was frowning, plainly troubled. "No, not with Hart lacking a hand—he says it makes flying distances too difficult. They rode."

I'd like to think Deirdre is troubled by the fact that Keely's too stupid to realize that Hart can't fly without a part of his wing.

Keely wants to fly after them, but Deirdre insists she's too sick to hold lir shape. She wants her to keep low to the ground at least.

It doesn't sound like Keely intends to listen.

Deirdre has another question though:

"Keely," she said as I reached it, "why did you say nothing of Rory Redbeard?"

I stopped short of the door and turned. "You know?"

"Brennan said you mentioned the name." Deirdre’s tone was intent. "Is it truly Rory Redbeard, or a stranger using the name?"

"He is Erinnish," I answered, "and he named himself Liam's bastard."

Blankly, she shook her head. "Why is he here?" she asked. "Without Sean? In secret? Stealing Brennan’s horse?"

So this is kind of interesting, because Rory is Deirdre's nephew. He's supposed to be a few years older than Sean, so she would have known him. Sean seemed to be about three or four when Niall was in Erinn, and Deirdre had been eighteen. If Rory was seven or eight, she might have fairly strong memories of him. I wonder if they correspond.

Well, probably not in this world, where even betrothed at birth kids don't bother to write letters.

Keely ignores her step-mother's very reasonable questions and decides to go after the boys.

...why?

I mean, I guess it makes sense if she's trying to protect Rory. But he's got a whole band of Erinnishmen, and much as I love Brennan and am growing fonder of Hart, I think Rory's got the advantage. But Rory isn't a bad guy, by all accounts. Sean's injury or death was an accident. There's no reason for Rory to hurt the Princes of Homana or Solinde.

(For one, Brennan is his brother-in-law. Aileen is ALSO Rory's half-sibling.)

Anyway, Keely has one advantage: Brennan and Hart won't know where Rory's hiding. Hart can send Rael to search, but it will take time. Keely has a chance to catch up.

She tries to shapeshift and fails. We see Lio, the guardsman who was so prominent earlier, come up. He's kind of endearingly conscientious, and if it wasn't very obvious that Rory is supposed to be Keely's pseudo love interest, I'd be interested in seeing something develop here.

"Is—can I help?" Such an earnest tone and face.

I scowled at him, disliking him for his health, his lack of sour spirits. "Unless you can tap the earth magic for me and feed it into my bones, I think not." I rubbed at gritty eyes. "Can you do that, Lio?"

"No. I could try, if you want me to."

Aw.

She rhetorically asks why people drink if it makes them so miserable the next day. Lio suggests it's practice.

Keely decides that instead of flying, she'll try to go as a cat instead. She transforms and the chapter ends.