Daughter of the Lion - Part Three - Chapter Six

[kalinara]

So last time, we had a genuinely nice moment with Corin, when his ship comes to Keely's rescue. Unfortunately, though, we left off with a cliffhanger that it's not actually CORIN's ship that is carrying them, but SEAN's.

Oops.



So, Sean's kind of been a weird shadow person in this book so far. He's Keely's betrothed, but we really don't know that much about him. Even the bit we thought we did know, the curt message that brought Keely to Hondarth, was a masquerade by Strahan. I'd wondered initially if Strahan had somehow infiltrated the real Sean's crew, and the real Sean was held captive somewhere, but nope. Apparently not.

I don't mind this twist, but it does seem really contrived that we're two (and a half, maybe?) thirds of the way through this book, and the only thing we know about him is that he and Rory fought and Rory had thought he killed him.

It just doesn't make sense. We have Sean's SISTER as a member of the main cast. Why hasn't she talked about him? Aileen knows what Keely is afraid of, presumably she knows her brother, and given how a) no-nonsense Aileen tends to be and b) that Aileen was left in charge at least a few times by Liam, we can guess that Sean probably would be fairly accepting of a less passive spouse.

And they're betrothed from birth, from families that are friendly. Deirdre is Niall's partner! Why has she never gone home to visit? Why has she never taken the kids for a visit? Does SHE ever write to her brother? Why not make Brennan and Keely write to their betrotheds and have Sean and Aileen write back?!

It wouldn't have solved everything, of course. Keely doesn't want to get forced into marriage, period, and doesn't like the idea of having children, and doesn't like that this is her societal role. Fair enough. I'd feel the same way.

But they could have at least made Sean a person instead of a terrifying concept to her. MAYBE if she'd been able to talk to Sean, as children, he'd understand her fear and be able to reassure her. And if he's an asshole, she could have had proof to show her parents and maybe break the engagement. Niall's not a monster and the alliance with Erinn is pretty secure regardless.

Of course now, things are very different for Keely. Even if she wants the engagement, she's got a genuine and understandable fear that her current circumstances would make it impossible. And while that might solve one problem, it doesn't really make anything better.

So we rejoin Keely in the midst of an italicized dream of flashback - happily, not a traumatic one. It involves Rory and Keely talking about her love for the blade, and Rory being about to teach her a new trick to use against Brennan.

It's very cute and as much as I'm not a big Rory fan, I'm glad Keely has some good memories to comfort her right now.

She wakes up, alone. No Kiri this time, and we're told she'd requested it. I don't blame her. We learn a bit more: the ship is actually anchored off of Hondarth, and the men (including Corin and Kiri) have gone ashore.

Keely muses about the city and thinks about how she'd spent the entire summer in captivity. But then...

I heard a sound and turned sharply, wishing I had my knife. A single step some distance behind me, not so close as to offer threat. A tall, quiet man, unperturbed by my awkward stiffness. He hitched one hip against the rail and leaned there, waiting in silence.

Oh, perhaps, this is the man we've been waiting for?

Anyway, understandably, Keely is frightened. And then she's angry at being frightened. Since of course, this is Sean.

Wind ruffled his hair. Blond, as I expected, though lighter than Deirdre's or Rory's. Aileen had said there was red in his hair, though only a tinge of it, but the voyage had bleached it fair. It curled* too, as she had said, tangling against wide shoulders and falling into his eyes, brown eyes; Rory's, too, his eyes, and long-lashed like a woman's.

He wore no beard at all, which bared a strong, firm jaw too prominent for beauty. Big of bone and squarely built, with power in his posture. The House of Eagles .is very strong; her men are often giants.

Keely, being Keely, snaps at him. Sean's response is interesting though:

Still he leaned against the rail, idly hipshot, riding the ship easily. The breeze combed hair from his face. "Lass," he said finally, "there's no secret to what became of you, so I'm not blaming you for the hostility ... but what have I done to you save come out to share the day?"

Even the voices were similar, though his a trifle deeper. He did not have quite the same air of casual negligence, or Rory's quickness of laughter; although, as he had pointed out, I had given him little reason to laugh.

Anyway, Keely's pretty defensive. Again, understandably so. She's been hurt, traumatized, and humiliated. And she knows that he knows what happened to her, because he was present when she'd blurted it out.

I drew breath so deep as to make me light-headed and turned to face him squarely, planting feet on wooden planking. "Our business is finished, I think. The sooner I leave, the better, so you may go back to Erinn."

"And court another lass?" He folded heavy forearms, bared by the length of his tunic sleeves, dark green, which barely touched his elbows. He wore thick copper armlets twined like snakes around his wrists, and a matching torque at his throat, shining in the sun. Sean was, I thought, more bear than man, though lacking the hair, bigger of bone than the men of my race. We have the height, but not the weight. Aileen had warned me he was large, but this was unexpected. "You're quick to settle my future, lass, when you're supposed to be part of it."

And he confirms he knows what happened to her: he shows her the scratch across his hand, which she'd given him during the rescue.

"I know," he said quietly. "Lass, there's no need for explaining. I have eyes; I saw what happened. I have ears; I heard what you said. And I also have understanding: Strahan took you captive. Should I be blaming you for that, when you had no choice in it?"

"Men would," I said bitterly. "Why not you?"

He spat over the rail. "I'm not much like other men, being born to the Aerie of Erinn."

I'm maybe showing a few many excerpts here, but I find this very interesting. Roberson's doing a very good job of setting up Sean's character here. He's strong and empathetic and understanding. He's got a lot of dialogue, but there's a sense of quiet about him too.

He is capable of challenging back though:

He spat again over the rail. "You were a frightened, half-drowned pup of a girl, bruised and scratched and bloody. What was there to fear?"

His arrogance was astonishing. "I was a mountain cat," I said pointedly. "Did that mean nothing to you?"

He grinned, tugging an ear. There was copper in it as well, and shining on his belt. "It meant something, aye: it earned me a new sort of battle scar, and the sort, I'm thinking, few other men can claim."

Even back in Shapechangers, Roberson has always been good at painting a vivid impression of her characters right out of the gate. She hasn't lost that quality. I like Sean immediately.

But I also, immediately, think that he's not going to suit Keely's taste. He's too calm and quiet. Too much like Brennan maybe.

Speaking of Rory. Some light banter about shapechanging, in which Sean notes gravely that he'll have to watch his place with her or end up a scratching tree, leads to Keely muttering that he's as bad "as he is."

THAT gets a reaction:

He stood off the rail at once, solidly braced against wind and sea. His thighs were hidden in trews, the calves in drooping boots, but neither wool nor leather hid anything of the size. "Rory," he echoed. "Rory Redbeard is here?"

"He was afraid he had killed you."

Sean stared past me, toward the shore, brown eyes oddly transfixed. His hand rose to his head, pushed back hair from his face, fingered the hairline. "No," he said distantly, "all I did was bleed. And not enough to be dying; he didn't break my head."

"He thought so. He feared it. And he feared Liam's retribution."

He swung toward the rail slowly, ponderously, gripping it with both hands. It creaked beneath his weight. "Liam loves us both. There'd have been no retribution."

Aw. I'd actually love to see more of their brotherly dynamic, I think.

Keely notes that Rory had clearly believed otherwise.

"More like he feared he'd be named in my place, if my head proved broken." His smile was a trifle twisted. "Rory Redbeard is not a man who cherishes the throne, being content with what he has."

"A captaincy in the prince's royal guard?"

He heard the irony in my lone and swung abruptly to face me again. "Aye. Bastards have known worse. 'Tis enough for Rory. He's said so, lass."

Okay, I have to stop with the excerpts now before I start skirting fair use laws. (I know of at least one chapter coming up that's going to have SO MANY. But that's later.) But we've made it 2/3 of the way through this book before meeting this man, so it's hard not to share the stuff that reinforce my impression of him.

Like I said, I like him a lot. I don't think he'll appeal to Keely though. I think she goes for more passionate.

...it does show how immensely out of character that letter from "Sean" was. It's a shame she didn't bother to show it to Aileen.

Sean does ask her a fairly armor-piercing question here.

He shrugged, folding his arms, setting his weight on the rail again. I waited for it to snap. "I've no doubt Liam expected to have more boys. He got me, and Aileen—nothing more. Rory, so far as we're knowing, is his only bastard son, which makes it likely, I'm thinking, he'd stand to take my place. If there was a need." His expression was oddly masked. "Why, lass? Is it what you wished? Rory in my place?"

So yeah. Keely's pretty speechless. Sean asks if Rory's stolen away her affection. He notes that he'd thought it impossible as "tis said [she] cannot love."

Keely's taken aback that there's apparently stories and rumors about her. She assumes that it's because she's Cheysuli, but Sean notes that they're more assumptions about what's in her heart. He recognizes that they were lies.

He turns the conversation, rather smoothly, back to their engagement:

"So," he said again, "you're thinking it's done between us, that no marriage can made. Because of Strahan, then ... or is it because of Rory?"

"After what has happened, even Rory would not take me."

"D'ye want to be taken, lass? I'd heard you wanted no man."

"No man," I agreed. "Needed, or necessary."

He sighed heavily, stripping hair out of his eyes with large, blunt fingers. "Lass, I'm no woman, and I can't be knowing what you feel, but I'm thinking we're not so many of us much like the Ihlini."

Honestly, I think he's doing better at this conversation than Brennan did talking to Aileen at the end of Pride of Princes. Brennan was just getting off of a major traumatic experience, to be fair. And given his issues, the bluntness and honesty were good things.

But I like how gentle Sean is about this.

Keely asks if Corin told him about Strahan. Sean notes that he'd heard the name, since Strahan's brother to Lillith - Alaric being their enemy and Lillith being his woman. He has a great line here:

He watched me with quiet sympathy. "Aye, I know a little, and a little is all that's needed. A man like that should be butchered."

Keely tells him how she killed him, declaring that she's herself and has no need for a man to tell her otherwise.

Sean, we're told, tries not to smile but then grins, noting that "any man who tries is more than half a fool."

I like this exchange:

"You?" I smiled back, not meaning it. "How much of a fool are you?"

"Half, I think," he said. "But no more than half, I'm thinking . . . because I'm too wise to try."

"You bold, arrogant ku'reshtin."

He grinned. "No different from Rory, lass."

So anyway, in case it's not clear, Sean spells out that their family tends toward willful women: Deirdre, sleeping with the Prince of Homana and then going to him even though she lacks any kind of rank here. Aileen, in love with the wrong prince. He tells her that he won't ask her to change or ways or be something that she's not.

Honestly, he sounds perfect. And again, absolutely not the kind of man who Keely's actually attracted to. I'd take him though, and I'm aroace!

Keely's got a different reason to say no:

I drew in a long breath and spilled it out between us.- "Strahan took me to bed. Again and again and again, for three very long months." I paused. "Need I be any plainer?"

The humor ran out of his eyes. Slowly he shook his head. "No, lass, no plainer. I'm thinking you've said enough."

So the chapter ends here.

Comments

[pangolin20]

I'm quite relieved that Sean turns out to be so decent and empathetic!

[kalinara]

The male love interests have definitely improved lately, but I wasn't impressed by Rory. Sean, on the other hand, I really like.