Song of Homana - Part Two - Chapter Five
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i_read_whatSo last time, Carillon's chickens came home to roost when the woman he forced into marriage teamed up with her old boyfriend to try to kill him.
You know, like every single character warned him she'd probably do.
I'm not going to lie, it was pretty fucking satisfying.
We rejoin Carillon as he's waking up. He's in bed, but not alone. Cai is there. Carillon waxes eloquently about him: Afraid I would see nothing and yet needing to see, I opened my eyes. I saw. The hawk perched on the chair back, hooked beak gleaming in the sunlight and his bright eyes full of wisdom. And patience, endless patience. Cai was nothing if not a patient bird.
Duncan is there too, of course. Ugh. Interestingly, Duncan seems afraid of something. Carillon asks if Duncan knows what happened. He knows what Rowan told him. This confuses Carillon, because Rowan wasn't there.
But actually Rowan arrived just in time. He's the reason why Carillon's still alive. That and the magic that Carillon managed to access. Very briefly, he was able to touch Cheysuli magic. It wouldn't have held Tynstar off for long, but it bought a moment for Rowan to arrive. And Rowan, even without a lir, is Cheysuli enough that the blocking effect works. Tynstar fled...but not before he touched him.
I rather like that. Last chapter was all about Carillon's mistakes and misdeeds coming home to roost. But Carillon's done good things too, not in the least of which being the end of the qu'mahlin in general and his support of Rowan in particular. There's a certain poetry in the fact that Rowan is the one who saved him.
So anyway, Tynstar's gone. Electra was left behind. Damnit. She's under guard in her chambers. Per Duncan, she's got a measure of her own power, and they're not taking chances.
I still think it sounds better to be an Ihlini's mistress than a Cheysuli one. You get powers out of the deal. Though apparently, your boyfriend also ditches you when the assassination goes afoul.
Carillon realizes that he feels stiff and sore, far more than he did after a battle. His arrow wound is gone. They healed him...?
Well, yes and no. They could heal the arrow wound, but Tynstar had done something else. Remember how Electra is supposed to be over forty? Remember Finn's gray hair? Tynstar can take age away and he can bestow it too. Carillon doesn't realize it, but he has noticed something:
It was then I saw my fingers. The knuckles were enlarged hugely, the flesh stretched thin over brittle bones. I saw how the calluses had begun to soften, shedding the toughness I needed against the use of a sword. I saw how the fingers were vaguely twisted away from my thumb. And I ached. Even in the sunlight, I ached with a bone-deep pain.
Apparently Carillon had spent two months comatose. Which is interesting. Who the heck ruled Homana in the meantime?
Carillon goes to the mirror and sees his own face twenty years older:
“It is my father,” I said in shock, recalling the time-worn face. The tawny-dark hair was frosted with gray with the beard showing equal amounts. Creases fanned out from my eyes and bracketed nose and mouth, though most were hidden by the beard. And set deeply into the still-blue eyes was the knowledge of constant pain.
Okay, hold on a second. Carillon's not THAT old. He was twenty-two at the start of the book. He's twenty-five now. So twenty years later, he's only forty-five. As a kid, I didn't notice this, of course. But I'm thirty-seven now. Forty-five isn't far away and it's not that bad!
But to be fair, Carillon's got some disadvantages. If you recall, Carillon's mother had what looked like very severe arthritis. Carillon's got it too. Twisted hands, brittle bones, swollen joints. Ouch.
Carillon asks if Duncan can heal him. He can live with the extra age, but the arthritis is going to be really bad. Duncan can't, though he does point out that some of Carillon's stiffness is from the two months in bed. He's older now, but not old. He's got many years left.
I hate to say it, but I agree with Duncan here.
I thought of Finn. I recalled the silver in his hair and the hard gauntness of his face. I recalled what he had said of Tynstar: “He put his hand on me.”
...that sounds kind of wrong. But also, well, you probably should have tried to listen better? But then again, Carillon's basically doomed to constant agony for the rest of his life, so I suppose I can lay off him a little.
Carillon thinks that when his daughter is older, she'll have a grandfather for a father. And seriously dude? Men have kids at forty-something all the time. Relax.
Duncan, again being sensible and dare I say likable, reassures him that he doubts Aislinn will love him less for that.
Carillon realizes he has to deal with Electra. Do you? You raped her. She tried to assassinate you. I mean, you probably do have to imprison her or something but I feel like that's decent grounds for divorce. Carillon admits that he should have listened to Duncan, or Finn, or pretty much anyone.
Duncan offers a platitude, claiming the marriage brought peace to Homana and Solinde. Did it? I mean, look at where things stand now. Carillon imprisons or executes Electra, and is sole ruler of both realms. How is that different from a scenario where Carillon never married her at all?
“—but I wed a woman who intended my death from the first moment she ever saw me.” The pain curled deeply within my loins. “Gods—I should have known by looking at her. She claims more than forty years—I should have known Tynstar could give those years as well as take them.” I rubbed at my age-lined face and felt the twinges in my fingers. “I should have known Tynstar’s arts would prevail when I had no Cheysuli by me. No liege man.”
I feel like you could also blame yourself for forcing a woman into marriage.
Anyway, Duncan explains it all for us:
“They planned well, Tynstar and Electra,” Duncan agreed. “First the trap-link, which might have slain Finn and rid them of him sooner. Then, when that did not work, they used it to draw him into a second trap. Finn, I do not doubt, walked in on Tynstar and Electra when he meant only to confront her. He could not touch Tynstar, but Tynstar touched him, then took his leave and Finn had only Electra. And yet when he told you Tynstar had been present, you thought of the trap-link instead.” Duncan shook his head and the earring glittered in the sunlight. “They played with us all, Carillon…and nearly won the game.”
Carillon thinks they have won. He's only got a daughter, and Homana needs an heir. Oh, well, here's a thought. Why don't you make your daughter your heir? I mean, sure, there are people who might not accept, but you have about fifteen years or so to get them used to the idea. You got rid of the qu'mahlin, maybe you can change other minds.
There's an obvious subtext here, which Duncan responds to. His fingers are shaking as he points out that Carillon could get another wife.
I looked at his back, so rigid and unmoving. “You know Homanan custom. You were at the wedding ceremony; do you not recall the vows? Homanans do not set wives aside. It is a point of law, as well as being custom. Surely you, with all your adherence to Cheysuli custom, can understand the constraints that places on me. Even a Mujhar.”
“Is the custom so important when the wife attempts to slay the husband?”
I heard the irony in his tone. “No. But she did not succeed, and I know what Council will say. Set her aside, perhaps, but do not break the vows. It would be breaking Homanan law. The Council would never permit it.”
Of all the stupid-ass...
You said yourself, you need an heir, you fuckhead. If you're not going to empower your daughter, then force the fucking issue. If they don't want a goddamn civil war, they'd follow you.
Hell, have a bastard. (Heck, mild spoiler, apparently at some point Carillon WILL have a bastard, and there's at least one faction willing to put that guy on the throne instead.) I'm pretty sure someone can find an excuse to legitimize the kid later.
Carillon continues on this idiocy:
Do you not see?” I threw back. “It has been taken from my hands. Had Tourmaline not gone with Finn, wedding with Lachlan instead, I could have sought my heir from her. Had she wed any prince, Homana would have an heir. But she did not. She went with Finn and took that chance from me.”
...so why can't you choose Tourmaline's baby now? I ask only because Carillon's actual solution doesn't seem any better.
“Set her aside,” he said urgently. “You are Mujhar—you can do anything you wish.”
Slowly I shook my head. “If I begin to make my own rules, I become a despot. I become Shaine, who desired to destroy the Cheysuli race. No, Duncan. Electra remains my wife, though I doubt I will keep her here. I have no wish to see her or the bastard she carries.”
Really, Carillon? REALLY? NOW you're worried about being a despot? NOW?
I feel like, in the end, Carillon's still trying to claim some kind of ownership over Electra.
Anyway, Carillon knows what he wants to do. And Duncan is not on board:
I was tired. The ache had settled deeply in my bones. I felt bruised from the knowledge of what I faced. And yet I could not avoid it. “There is no need to fear me,” I said quietly.
“Is there not?” Duncan’s eyes were bleak. “I know what you will do.”
“I have no other choice.”
“He is my son—”
“—and Alix’s, and Alix is my cousin.” I stopped, seeing the pain in the face Alix loved. “How long have you known it would come to this?”
Duncan laughed, but it had a hollow, desperate sound. “All my life, it seems. When I came to know my tahlmorra.” He shook his head and sat down upon the stool. His shoulders slumped and he stared blankly at the floor. “I have always been afraid. Of you…of the past and future…of what I knew was held within the prophecy for any son of mine. Did you think I wanted Alix only out of desire?” Anguish leached his face of the solemnity I knew. “Alix was a part of my own tahlmorra. I knew, if I took her and got a son upon her, I would have to give up that son. I knew. And so I hoped, when she conceived again, there would at least be another for us…but the Ihlini took even that from us.” He sighed. “I had no choice. No choice at all.”
...okay, there is so much fucking bullshit here. Let's unpack.
1) Why exactly is Alix's child with Duncan a better choice than Tourmaline's with Finn? You could call Tourmaline and Finn back here right now. Even if the child is a girl, maybe they'd have more children?
2) This is completely idiotic when we take Shapechangers into consideration. If Duncan knew all his life, then what was that bullshit with Malina? Why did we not see any of this conflict?
When I read Song, before reading Shapechangers, I thought this was something that might come up in their origin story. I thought we might get to see Duncan torn between the possibility of later pain while following tahlmorra versus what he knows is right.
Yet again, the Shapechangers in my head was an infinitely better story.
There's some back and forth about tahlmorra and changing one's fate. What it comes down to, in the end, is that Donal will be the Prince of Homana, a Cheysuli Mujhar on the lion throne. Of course, the Homanans will not accept him. And we get a bit of a glitch:
Duncan shook his head. “It has been less than eight years since Shaine’s qu’mahlin ended because of you. It is too soon. Such things are not easily done.”
Three years, actually. It's eight years since Shaine's death, three years since Carillon's return and declaration of the end of the qu'mahlin. I'm not judging Roberson for this, but her editor should have caught it.
Anyway, Carillon knows of a way to make this easier on Donal. He wants to marry him to Aislinn. Wow. Dude. Wow.
Duncan is appalled, and I'd sympathize more if I hadn't read Shapechangers. As it is, it's pretty rich to be worried about consent here, you fucknut. But Carillon's also pretty appalling here:
“Now, aye, but children become adults.” I did not care to see the startled, angry expression on his face, but I had no choice. “A long betrothal, Duncan, such as royal Houses do. In fifteen years, Donal will be—twenty-three? Aislinn nearly sixteen: old enough to wed. And then I will name him my heir.”
You want to marry your FIFTEEN YEAR OLD DAUGHTER to a grown fucking man?! If you're going to arbitrarily pick a date, why not go twenty years in the future. She'll be twenty, he'll be twenty eight. Then, you know, she'll at least be vaguely adult-ish.
Duncan acquiesces, and Carillon makes plans to tell Alix and Donal. He has one more task for Duncan. He also apologizes for usurping Duncan's son. Duncan's happy to get out of the castle, he finds the walls chafing.
This surprises Carillon since the Cheysuli BUILT the palace. Yeah, Duncan says essentially, and then they left. Donal, on the other hand, will be well caged.
...okay, dude. I sympathize with a point. But the guy's going to be the fucking KING here. There's a certain measure of power in the whole deal.
So now, Carillon goes to see Electra. She's still wearing the black cloak, and she's even more pregnant. Carillon asks if leaving her behind was a measure of Tynstar's regard. It gets a reaction, but Electra just says that unless Carillon kills her, she'll still be Tynstar's.
Electra is pretty good at bluffing:
“But you do not think I will slay you.”
She smiled. “I am Aislinn’s mother and the Queen of Homana. There is nothing you can do.”
“And if I said you were a witch?”
“Say it,” she countered. “Have me executed, then, and see how Solinde responds.”
Are you SURE that's a threat? So far, Solinde hasn't seemed to care much about what Carillon did to you. A better threat is Tynstar himself. Carillon points out that while he is aged, he's still the Mujhar, and Solinde is a vassal state.
Electra tries to taunt him, claiming that he's forty-five now, in five or ten years, he'll be old.
Will he? Fifty's not that bad. Hell, Bellam was leading troops into battle. If Electra is forty, then Bellam's got to be at least sixty. Hale was apparently fifty-something when he ran off with Lindir. Shaine himself was no spring chicken either.
People assume that the life expectancy in medieval times was so low because people didn't live as long. And that's not really how it worked. The number was that low because of a shit ton of infant mortality. And admittedly, issues with disease and injury that we can treat now but couldn't back then. But if you didn't die as a child, and you didn't contract a disease or get severely injured, you had a decent chance of living to be in your seventies or eighties.
Anyway, Carillon intends to exile Electra. He's sending her to the Crystal Isle, which is in the sea south of Hondarth. It is apparently the birthplace of the Cheysuli (Really?) and protected by the gods. Tynstar shouldn't be able to reach her there.
Obnoxiously, Carillon keeps manhandling her during this conversation, grabbing her wrist. Threading his fingers through her braid. KNOCK IT OFF.
Anyway, Electra will have servants, fine clothing, good food and wine. Everything except freedom. She'll grow old and die there, with her child. Electra points out that a journey might make her lose the child. She's apparently a month away from giving birth. Carillon doesn't really give a shit about that. She'll be sent off with Duncan and the Cheysuli.
And now this is interesting:
I saw the movement deep in her eyes and felt the touch of her power. Color returned to her face. She smiled faintly, knowing what I knew, and the long-lidded eyes drew me in. As ever. She would always be my bane.
I let go of her wrist, her braid, and cupped her head with both hands. I kissed her as a drowning man clings to wood. Gods, but she could move me still…she could still reach into my soul—
—and twist it.
I set her away from me with careful deliberation and saw the shock of realization in her face. “It is done, Electra. You must pay the price of your folly.”
I think, as a kid, I assumed that this meant that Carillon's bad behavior through the book was because of Electra's magic. I'm not sure whether I wish that or not now. On one hand, it'd be a lot easier to like Carillon if this isn't his fault. But on the other, I don't like symbolic blame shifting. Making her the perpetrator would do that. Whatever else Electra is, she's Carillon's victim. And well, the tragedy wouldn't work if Carillon didn't have a fatal flaw to exploit.
But anyway, that ends the chapter. You'd think Carillon would realize that with Electra gone, he could bring back Tourmaline and Finn. Even if people do care about Electra's exile, they won't link it to him. But, sadly, it won't happen. Sometimes you lose something that you can't ever get back.
You know, like every single character warned him she'd probably do.
I'm not going to lie, it was pretty fucking satisfying.
We rejoin Carillon as he's waking up. He's in bed, but not alone. Cai is there. Carillon waxes eloquently about him: Afraid I would see nothing and yet needing to see, I opened my eyes. I saw. The hawk perched on the chair back, hooked beak gleaming in the sunlight and his bright eyes full of wisdom. And patience, endless patience. Cai was nothing if not a patient bird.
Duncan is there too, of course. Ugh. Interestingly, Duncan seems afraid of something. Carillon asks if Duncan knows what happened. He knows what Rowan told him. This confuses Carillon, because Rowan wasn't there.
But actually Rowan arrived just in time. He's the reason why Carillon's still alive. That and the magic that Carillon managed to access. Very briefly, he was able to touch Cheysuli magic. It wouldn't have held Tynstar off for long, but it bought a moment for Rowan to arrive. And Rowan, even without a lir, is Cheysuli enough that the blocking effect works. Tynstar fled...but not before he touched him.
I rather like that. Last chapter was all about Carillon's mistakes and misdeeds coming home to roost. But Carillon's done good things too, not in the least of which being the end of the qu'mahlin in general and his support of Rowan in particular. There's a certain poetry in the fact that Rowan is the one who saved him.
So anyway, Tynstar's gone. Electra was left behind. Damnit. She's under guard in her chambers. Per Duncan, she's got a measure of her own power, and they're not taking chances.
I still think it sounds better to be an Ihlini's mistress than a Cheysuli one. You get powers out of the deal. Though apparently, your boyfriend also ditches you when the assassination goes afoul.
Carillon realizes that he feels stiff and sore, far more than he did after a battle. His arrow wound is gone. They healed him...?
Well, yes and no. They could heal the arrow wound, but Tynstar had done something else. Remember how Electra is supposed to be over forty? Remember Finn's gray hair? Tynstar can take age away and he can bestow it too. Carillon doesn't realize it, but he has noticed something:
It was then I saw my fingers. The knuckles were enlarged hugely, the flesh stretched thin over brittle bones. I saw how the calluses had begun to soften, shedding the toughness I needed against the use of a sword. I saw how the fingers were vaguely twisted away from my thumb. And I ached. Even in the sunlight, I ached with a bone-deep pain.
Apparently Carillon had spent two months comatose. Which is interesting. Who the heck ruled Homana in the meantime?
Carillon goes to the mirror and sees his own face twenty years older:
“It is my father,” I said in shock, recalling the time-worn face. The tawny-dark hair was frosted with gray with the beard showing equal amounts. Creases fanned out from my eyes and bracketed nose and mouth, though most were hidden by the beard. And set deeply into the still-blue eyes was the knowledge of constant pain.
Okay, hold on a second. Carillon's not THAT old. He was twenty-two at the start of the book. He's twenty-five now. So twenty years later, he's only forty-five. As a kid, I didn't notice this, of course. But I'm thirty-seven now. Forty-five isn't far away and it's not that bad!
But to be fair, Carillon's got some disadvantages. If you recall, Carillon's mother had what looked like very severe arthritis. Carillon's got it too. Twisted hands, brittle bones, swollen joints. Ouch.
Carillon asks if Duncan can heal him. He can live with the extra age, but the arthritis is going to be really bad. Duncan can't, though he does point out that some of Carillon's stiffness is from the two months in bed. He's older now, but not old. He's got many years left.
I hate to say it, but I agree with Duncan here.
I thought of Finn. I recalled the silver in his hair and the hard gauntness of his face. I recalled what he had said of Tynstar: “He put his hand on me.”
...that sounds kind of wrong. But also, well, you probably should have tried to listen better? But then again, Carillon's basically doomed to constant agony for the rest of his life, so I suppose I can lay off him a little.
Carillon thinks that when his daughter is older, she'll have a grandfather for a father. And seriously dude? Men have kids at forty-something all the time. Relax.
Duncan, again being sensible and dare I say likable, reassures him that he doubts Aislinn will love him less for that.
Carillon realizes he has to deal with Electra. Do you? You raped her. She tried to assassinate you. I mean, you probably do have to imprison her or something but I feel like that's decent grounds for divorce. Carillon admits that he should have listened to Duncan, or Finn, or pretty much anyone.
Duncan offers a platitude, claiming the marriage brought peace to Homana and Solinde. Did it? I mean, look at where things stand now. Carillon imprisons or executes Electra, and is sole ruler of both realms. How is that different from a scenario where Carillon never married her at all?
“—but I wed a woman who intended my death from the first moment she ever saw me.” The pain curled deeply within my loins. “Gods—I should have known by looking at her. She claims more than forty years—I should have known Tynstar could give those years as well as take them.” I rubbed at my age-lined face and felt the twinges in my fingers. “I should have known Tynstar’s arts would prevail when I had no Cheysuli by me. No liege man.”
I feel like you could also blame yourself for forcing a woman into marriage.
Anyway, Duncan explains it all for us:
“They planned well, Tynstar and Electra,” Duncan agreed. “First the trap-link, which might have slain Finn and rid them of him sooner. Then, when that did not work, they used it to draw him into a second trap. Finn, I do not doubt, walked in on Tynstar and Electra when he meant only to confront her. He could not touch Tynstar, but Tynstar touched him, then took his leave and Finn had only Electra. And yet when he told you Tynstar had been present, you thought of the trap-link instead.” Duncan shook his head and the earring glittered in the sunlight. “They played with us all, Carillon…and nearly won the game.”
Carillon thinks they have won. He's only got a daughter, and Homana needs an heir. Oh, well, here's a thought. Why don't you make your daughter your heir? I mean, sure, there are people who might not accept, but you have about fifteen years or so to get them used to the idea. You got rid of the qu'mahlin, maybe you can change other minds.
There's an obvious subtext here, which Duncan responds to. His fingers are shaking as he points out that Carillon could get another wife.
I looked at his back, so rigid and unmoving. “You know Homanan custom. You were at the wedding ceremony; do you not recall the vows? Homanans do not set wives aside. It is a point of law, as well as being custom. Surely you, with all your adherence to Cheysuli custom, can understand the constraints that places on me. Even a Mujhar.”
“Is the custom so important when the wife attempts to slay the husband?”
I heard the irony in his tone. “No. But she did not succeed, and I know what Council will say. Set her aside, perhaps, but do not break the vows. It would be breaking Homanan law. The Council would never permit it.”
Of all the stupid-ass...
You said yourself, you need an heir, you fuckhead. If you're not going to empower your daughter, then force the fucking issue. If they don't want a goddamn civil war, they'd follow you.
Hell, have a bastard. (Heck, mild spoiler, apparently at some point Carillon WILL have a bastard, and there's at least one faction willing to put that guy on the throne instead.) I'm pretty sure someone can find an excuse to legitimize the kid later.
Carillon continues on this idiocy:
Do you not see?” I threw back. “It has been taken from my hands. Had Tourmaline not gone with Finn, wedding with Lachlan instead, I could have sought my heir from her. Had she wed any prince, Homana would have an heir. But she did not. She went with Finn and took that chance from me.”
...so why can't you choose Tourmaline's baby now? I ask only because Carillon's actual solution doesn't seem any better.
“Set her aside,” he said urgently. “You are Mujhar—you can do anything you wish.”
Slowly I shook my head. “If I begin to make my own rules, I become a despot. I become Shaine, who desired to destroy the Cheysuli race. No, Duncan. Electra remains my wife, though I doubt I will keep her here. I have no wish to see her or the bastard she carries.”
Really, Carillon? REALLY? NOW you're worried about being a despot? NOW?
I feel like, in the end, Carillon's still trying to claim some kind of ownership over Electra.
Anyway, Carillon knows what he wants to do. And Duncan is not on board:
I was tired. The ache had settled deeply in my bones. I felt bruised from the knowledge of what I faced. And yet I could not avoid it. “There is no need to fear me,” I said quietly.
“Is there not?” Duncan’s eyes were bleak. “I know what you will do.”
“I have no other choice.”
“He is my son—”
“—and Alix’s, and Alix is my cousin.” I stopped, seeing the pain in the face Alix loved. “How long have you known it would come to this?”
Duncan laughed, but it had a hollow, desperate sound. “All my life, it seems. When I came to know my tahlmorra.” He shook his head and sat down upon the stool. His shoulders slumped and he stared blankly at the floor. “I have always been afraid. Of you…of the past and future…of what I knew was held within the prophecy for any son of mine. Did you think I wanted Alix only out of desire?” Anguish leached his face of the solemnity I knew. “Alix was a part of my own tahlmorra. I knew, if I took her and got a son upon her, I would have to give up that son. I knew. And so I hoped, when she conceived again, there would at least be another for us…but the Ihlini took even that from us.” He sighed. “I had no choice. No choice at all.”
...okay, there is so much fucking bullshit here. Let's unpack.
1) Why exactly is Alix's child with Duncan a better choice than Tourmaline's with Finn? You could call Tourmaline and Finn back here right now. Even if the child is a girl, maybe they'd have more children?
2) This is completely idiotic when we take Shapechangers into consideration. If Duncan knew all his life, then what was that bullshit with Malina? Why did we not see any of this conflict?
When I read Song, before reading Shapechangers, I thought this was something that might come up in their origin story. I thought we might get to see Duncan torn between the possibility of later pain while following tahlmorra versus what he knows is right.
Yet again, the Shapechangers in my head was an infinitely better story.
There's some back and forth about tahlmorra and changing one's fate. What it comes down to, in the end, is that Donal will be the Prince of Homana, a Cheysuli Mujhar on the lion throne. Of course, the Homanans will not accept him. And we get a bit of a glitch:
Duncan shook his head. “It has been less than eight years since Shaine’s qu’mahlin ended because of you. It is too soon. Such things are not easily done.”
Three years, actually. It's eight years since Shaine's death, three years since Carillon's return and declaration of the end of the qu'mahlin. I'm not judging Roberson for this, but her editor should have caught it.
Anyway, Carillon knows of a way to make this easier on Donal. He wants to marry him to Aislinn. Wow. Dude. Wow.
Duncan is appalled, and I'd sympathize more if I hadn't read Shapechangers. As it is, it's pretty rich to be worried about consent here, you fucknut. But Carillon's also pretty appalling here:
“Now, aye, but children become adults.” I did not care to see the startled, angry expression on his face, but I had no choice. “A long betrothal, Duncan, such as royal Houses do. In fifteen years, Donal will be—twenty-three? Aislinn nearly sixteen: old enough to wed. And then I will name him my heir.”
You want to marry your FIFTEEN YEAR OLD DAUGHTER to a grown fucking man?! If you're going to arbitrarily pick a date, why not go twenty years in the future. She'll be twenty, he'll be twenty eight. Then, you know, she'll at least be vaguely adult-ish.
Duncan acquiesces, and Carillon makes plans to tell Alix and Donal. He has one more task for Duncan. He also apologizes for usurping Duncan's son. Duncan's happy to get out of the castle, he finds the walls chafing.
This surprises Carillon since the Cheysuli BUILT the palace. Yeah, Duncan says essentially, and then they left. Donal, on the other hand, will be well caged.
...okay, dude. I sympathize with a point. But the guy's going to be the fucking KING here. There's a certain measure of power in the whole deal.
So now, Carillon goes to see Electra. She's still wearing the black cloak, and she's even more pregnant. Carillon asks if leaving her behind was a measure of Tynstar's regard. It gets a reaction, but Electra just says that unless Carillon kills her, she'll still be Tynstar's.
Electra is pretty good at bluffing:
“But you do not think I will slay you.”
She smiled. “I am Aislinn’s mother and the Queen of Homana. There is nothing you can do.”
“And if I said you were a witch?”
“Say it,” she countered. “Have me executed, then, and see how Solinde responds.”
Are you SURE that's a threat? So far, Solinde hasn't seemed to care much about what Carillon did to you. A better threat is Tynstar himself. Carillon points out that while he is aged, he's still the Mujhar, and Solinde is a vassal state.
Electra tries to taunt him, claiming that he's forty-five now, in five or ten years, he'll be old.
Will he? Fifty's not that bad. Hell, Bellam was leading troops into battle. If Electra is forty, then Bellam's got to be at least sixty. Hale was apparently fifty-something when he ran off with Lindir. Shaine himself was no spring chicken either.
People assume that the life expectancy in medieval times was so low because people didn't live as long. And that's not really how it worked. The number was that low because of a shit ton of infant mortality. And admittedly, issues with disease and injury that we can treat now but couldn't back then. But if you didn't die as a child, and you didn't contract a disease or get severely injured, you had a decent chance of living to be in your seventies or eighties.
Anyway, Carillon intends to exile Electra. He's sending her to the Crystal Isle, which is in the sea south of Hondarth. It is apparently the birthplace of the Cheysuli (Really?) and protected by the gods. Tynstar shouldn't be able to reach her there.
Obnoxiously, Carillon keeps manhandling her during this conversation, grabbing her wrist. Threading his fingers through her braid. KNOCK IT OFF.
Anyway, Electra will have servants, fine clothing, good food and wine. Everything except freedom. She'll grow old and die there, with her child. Electra points out that a journey might make her lose the child. She's apparently a month away from giving birth. Carillon doesn't really give a shit about that. She'll be sent off with Duncan and the Cheysuli.
And now this is interesting:
I saw the movement deep in her eyes and felt the touch of her power. Color returned to her face. She smiled faintly, knowing what I knew, and the long-lidded eyes drew me in. As ever. She would always be my bane.
I let go of her wrist, her braid, and cupped her head with both hands. I kissed her as a drowning man clings to wood. Gods, but she could move me still…she could still reach into my soul—
—and twist it.
I set her away from me with careful deliberation and saw the shock of realization in her face. “It is done, Electra. You must pay the price of your folly.”
I think, as a kid, I assumed that this meant that Carillon's bad behavior through the book was because of Electra's magic. I'm not sure whether I wish that or not now. On one hand, it'd be a lot easier to like Carillon if this isn't his fault. But on the other, I don't like symbolic blame shifting. Making her the perpetrator would do that. Whatever else Electra is, she's Carillon's victim. And well, the tragedy wouldn't work if Carillon didn't have a fatal flaw to exploit.
But anyway, that ends the chapter. You'd think Carillon would realize that with Electra gone, he could bring back Tourmaline and Finn. Even if people do care about Electra's exile, they won't link it to him. But, sadly, it won't happen. Sometimes you lose something that you can't ever get back.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-18 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-19 02:29 am (UTC)Electra is a villain, but honestly, it's hard to blame her for a lot of what she does. And she is definitely having fun with it now.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 01:45 am (UTC)Probably because Finn and Tourmaline weren't married in an official ceremony recognized by either of their people, so their kid is illegitimate. Donal's also a better choice for reunifying Homana and the Cheysuli, as he's already a Cheysuli prince.
You want to marry your FIFTEEN YEAR OLD DAUGHTER to a grown fucking man?! If you're going to arbitrarily pick a date, why not go twenty years in the future. She'll be twenty, he'll be twenty eight. Then, you know, she'll at least be vaguely adult-ish.
Because he wants Donal to have Aislinn officially in his court and adding her skills to his as soon as possible. Wait, this isn't Crusader Kings... (I mean, this is probably what I'd do in CK2. Lotta setting up your kids with good matches as early as possible. But that's also a game, one that encourages a lot of unethical behavior in the name of min-maxing.)
no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 06:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 07:16 am (UTC)knows itpredicted it however many years ago she wrote this.