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i_read_whatLast time, Donal learned that the girl who got sent to live with her evil sorceress mom who likes to alter minds may have had her mind magically altered. We are all shocked. Really.
Anyway, after keeling over at the end of chapter six, Donal's in bad shape. He's in bed, writhing in pain and flashing back to a dialogue with Carillon. Most of this chapter is in italics, which annoys me on general principle.
Anyway, Carillon asks after "Sorcha and Ian":
“Ian has a fever,” he told Carillon. “A childhood thing, they tell me—but he is better. Sorcha is well.” He paused. “My jehana says the child will be born in four weeks. I would like to be with her when the pain comes upon her.”
Carillon sipped idly at his wine. But his eyes, half hidden beneath creased eyelids, were bright and shrewd. “Provided you are returned, I have no quarrel with that.”
Shrewd my fucking ass.
Anyway, this is when Carillon orders Donal to go to the Crystal Isle. Donal asks if he's being exiled for displeasing Carillon (jokingly, not serious), but Carillon, seriously, tells him that he pleases him well enough, "for a prince who has more interest in Cheysuli things than Homanan.”
...well, yeah, Carillon. That's what happens when you name someone from another culture as your heir. He points out that Donal is Homanan too, and while that's true biologically, it doesn't change that Donal was raised pretty much entirely Cheysuli.
Now, we can argue whether or not that was a good idea, given that he's got to become the King of all of Homana, but that's what you get, Carillon.
Carillon, by the way, is in bad physical shape. He's taken to wearing leather bracers, not to hide his old shackle scars but to keep strength in his arms. Donal points out that he has responsibilities to his lir, his uncle, his mother and his mistress, and that he can't turn his back on his heritage or tahlmorra. Carillon points out that Donal's heritage is what puts him in line for the throne, and his destiny is to inherit it.
Carillon then accuses Donal of neglecting Aislinn. Um, dude, YOU sent her to Electra. Which Donal points out. Now Donal's being sent to get her. After he brings Aislinn back, he'll have leave to be with Sorcha when the baby is born. He does however think it's time that Donal thinks of wedding Aislinn.
Dude, Aislinn is sixteen, can't this wait? And to his credit, Donal says the same thing:
Donal tried to smile. “I have thought of it. Many times. But Aislinn is still very young—”
“Not so young. Old enough to be wedded and bedded.” Carillon’s tone did not soften. “And was not Sorcha but sixteen when she bore your first child?”
The first child died, by the way. And she had a rough time with Ian. Donal is afraid.
So here we are. The part of the story that Donal hasn't told Aislinn and that she really should know:
Donal has a mistress: Sorcha. He has a son: Ian. And another child on the way. By Cheysuli standards, this is fine and normal. (Well, sort of. Sorcha may well have her own opinion, and to give Roberson credit, unlike poor Malina in Shapechangers, Sorcha is actually allowed to express it.) But Aislinn is Homanan. She's also sixteen and frightened, she's not going to understand this.
Anyway, there is a reason for Carillon's haste. He thinks it's time Donal gets an heir.
Donal gestured. “You are only forty. Hardly ancient, no matter what Tynstar’s Ihlini arts have done to you. I doubt you will die any time soon. Give Aislinn a few more years—”
“No.” Carillon said it softly. “I cannot. Look again upon me, Donal, and do not mouth such nonsense. Tynstar’s sorcery took away twenty years from me and—for all I feel but forty in my heart—I cannot hide the truth forever. Not from you or anyone else.” He stretched out his twisted hands. “You see these. Each day they worsen. So do my knees, my spine, my shoulders. A crippled man is not the Mujhar for Homana.”
...I'm not fond of the ableism here. There's nothing wrong with Carillon's mind. Well. Okay, aside from sending Aislinn to Electra. But he can rule even with his illnesses.
But he doesn't really think he has that long. He's also a bit of a dick here:
“Then do it.” For a moment, Carillon smiled. “Aislinn is spoiled, as I have spoiled her, but she is also a warm and giving girl. I think you will find it no chore to wed my daughter.”
But Donal could not reconcile the loss of Cheysuli freedom with the Homanan title the Mujhar promised.
Carillon is supposed to be some kind of doting father, but I think his actions belie that. I could wish he was more sensitive to Aislinn's likely feelings about the Sorcha matter. He has to realize that this will be hard for her.
Donal protests that Aislinn is like a sister, and:
He felt the sudden desperation well up in his soul. “But I would rather wed with Sorcha!” he shouted aloud. “I will not lie to you—it is Sorcha who should be cheysula instead of meijha—”
“That I do not doubt.” Carillon sounded more compassionate. “I question nothing of her honor or her worth, Donal, as I think you know. But Homana requires all manner of sacrifices, and this one is yours to make.”
“So, you would have me play the stud to Aislinn’s mare, merely to get a colt.” He said it clearly into the room at the White Hart Inn. “Yet even the Cheysuli, who have had more cause than most, cannot sanction their women to be treated as mere broodmares.”
1. Um. I read Shapechangers, so BULLSHIT.
2. I know that Donal's in a difficult situation, but he's known since he was EIGHT that he'll marry Aislinn, so grow the fuck up.
3. It's not just about the heir, you moron. This is about protecting your own people! Remember the PURGE that happened a generation ago?! Remember the racism you encountered last chapter?! As a king, you might be able to DO something about that.
For all his faults, Carillon has been clear and consistent in his conviction to stop the qu'mahlin. Carillon explains his point of view:
“I have cause,” Carillon retorted gently. “I have cause, I have reason, I have more than justification, though kings rarely have need of anything more than whim. Oh, aye, I have all the cause in the world.” He turned his back on the firepit. “I have a kingdom to rule as well as I possibly can. I have people to husband. Heirs to beget.” He smiled, but without humor. “but then we know I failed at that task, do we not? There is only Aislinn, only a daughter from my loins.” The smile fell away. “Do you not wed Aislinn, she will go to a foreign prince. And then we run the risk of losing Homana, into the hands of another realm. The Cheysuli, so odd and eerie in their magic, may become little more than game, once again. Hunted, branded demons…slain. It happened once, Donal. Can you tell me it will never happen again?”
He's not wrong about a lot of this. Of course, you could avoid it by not having Aislinn marry at all. Or by having her marry someone who isn't a prince. But it's true that, given a rival claimant, many people won't accept Donal as Mujhar.
Donal whines a bit more, and Carillon has another good line:
“I do not do it to you.” Carillon’s tone was ragged. Gone was the strength of his rank, replaced with the need of the man. “I do it for Homana.”
He does agree to give Donal eight weeks of freedom when he returns, to spend with his real family. Poor Aislinn.
Carillon has a weird moment:
Carillon watched him with a hunger and sadness Donal could not comprehend. It sent a chill coursing down his spine. He stared back at the Mujhar, not knowing his own face reflected the very expression that had conjured Carillon’s pain. “I have lost you,” the Mujhar said quietly. “I am bound as cruelly by my royal heritage as you are by your tahlmorra, and I have lost you because of it.”
“My lord?” Donal’s tone was soft.
Carillon sighed and waved a twisted hand. “It is nothing. Only memories of the man whose face you wear.” He smiled faintly. “Your father lives in you, Donal…you have all of Duncan’s pride and arrogance and convictions. I did not fully understand him and I do not understand you. I only know that by pressing for this marriage, I have lost what little of you I once had.”
...
I'm fairly sure that I'm supposed to read this part as being about Duncan. And it's true that Duncan and Carillon had an interesting dynamic. But Carillon didn't lose Duncan because of his royal heritage. But I can think of someone he DID lose, because he was obsessed with marrying a princess and consolidating his rule of two kingdoms.
Yep, I'm choosing to read that as being about someone else entirely and you can't stop me.
Anyway, Donal sits upright out of bed. Two sets of small hands, one tough, one delicate, try to hold him. It's Sef and Aislinn.
Damn. How much of his ramblings did she hear? Poor thing.
Anyway, Aislinn urges him to lie down. He starts to accuse her but she denies it. She admits to cutting his fingers, but claims she knew nothing of the poison. She believes that was Electra. She says she's sorry and begs him not to die.
Donal is struck by her "cool, pale eyes", which he associates with Electra. Aislinn tells him that Sef told her what she did and that Donal had found something in her mind. She's pretty horrified by the whole thing and asks if there's a way to gainsay the compulsion. He thinks that she won't want to do it, but she promises to, because how else can she prove her innocence?
He wants Finn to test her. He's the clan-leader and has experience with trap-links. Then, before he passes out again, he tells Sef to watch Aislinn for him.
Donal thinks of it as cruelty, but it's reasonable. She DID stab him, and was the vehicle for him to be poisoned. I feel sorry for her, but I think he's right to be cautious and he's not really being unkind either.
So Donal recovers enough that they can head to Mujhara in the morning. We get a fairly nice description of Aislinn here:
The light from the lantern was gentle on her face. It set up brilliant highlights in her hair and painted her face quite fair, gold instead of silver, though—save for her bright hair—she had the fairness of her mother. She had changed from plain brown gown and cloak to equally plain moss-green, save for the copper stitching at collar and cuffs. An overtunic of darker green hid much of her femininity, though no man would name her boy. Her features were too delicate.
One day, she may rival her jehana’s beauty, though it be a different sort. Brighter, warmer, less cold and seductive as Electra’s—well, if I must take her as my cheysula, better a pretty one than a plain. Then he smiled inwardly, knowing the irony in his statement. Already you think of making her the cheysula Carillon wants, when she may be plotting against your life. Fool.
Here's a dark question, what happens if Aislinn is doing this willingly? What happens to her? Does she get sent back to Electra to be used as a pawn against Carillon? Or...
Donal realizes he's filthy and sends Sef for a cask for bathing, and we get an idea of the status of things:
Aislinn, still sitting silently on the stool, colored, clenching her hands in her lap. “You will send me out, of course.”
“Have you not had your own room?”
“You are in it,” she said softly. “When you fell, the most we could do was drag you into my bed. Sef would allow no one near you, not even the innkeeper’s wife. And so we tended you.” She shrugged. “We have been together here with you…Sef, you see, would not allow me to be alone.”
He frowned. “Not at all?”
Her gaze lifted to meet his. “But you said he must watch me,” she said simply. “I have begun to think of him as my jailer—or, perhaps, your third lir.” She did not smile. “He is—obdurate. You chose him well, Donal. I do not doubt he will serve you as well as General Rowan serves my father.”
Donal apologizes for any inconvenience, noting that Sef isn't used to royalty. He realizes he's lost weight in the ten days that he's been recovering.
Okay, if it has been ten days, then Aislinn has been a remarkably good sport about all of this. I mean, she did cause his injury, but it wasn't of her volition. And it sounds like it's been a pretty miserable time for her.
Donal tells Aislinn that she doesn't have to be frightened of him, since he doesn't "take retribution" on the woman he must wed. Aislinn immediately notes the word choice and states that her father had taken the choice from him.
Donal is distracted from the discussion by his physical weakness and has a brief freak out that Aislinn might have taken his youth like Electra and Tynstar did to Carillon. And if you think about it, Donal is only about two years younger than Carillon was when it happened. Weird. He seems so much younger than Carillon did in Song.
Donal demands to know if Aislinn made him "like the Mujhar" and rather amusingly, Aislinn interprets that the wrong way entirely:
Aislinn made a rude, banishing gesture. “You can only hope to be like my father…no man can match him, Donal. Do not try.”
...honey, you deserve better parents.
Anyway, Donal notices his hands and realizes that they're still young and smooth. Meanwhile, Aislinn has something she wants:
She rose. The stool scraped against the pegged wood of the uneven floor. “I want to know who she is.”
For a moment he could only stare. “Who do you mean?”
“Sorcha.” She was pale and very stiff in her movements. And every inch the princess. Donal, who had intended to ask her what had caused her change in manner, suddenly understood it very clearly.
Good, you need to have this discussion.
So Donal explains that Sorcha is his meijha, which he translates as "light woman" and corrects Aislinn when she assumes that means "whore". He says the usual trope: that meijhas hold as much honor as cheysulas.
And I still question that. If that's the case, why is Donal angsting about how he really wants to marry Sorcha instead of Aislinn.
Aislinn has a nice moment here:
Color stood high in Aislinn’s fair face. “You see? There are many Cheysuli customs I do not know.” An accusation; he did not run from the guilt. “Then it is so: because we are betrothed—and because my father would never allow it, having no other male heir—you cannot wed your meijha. You must wed me instead.” Aislinn stood rigidly before him: a small, almost fragile young woman, yet suddenly towering in her pride. “Do I have the right of it?”
I love how unflinching she is about all of this.
Though she does pale when she learns that Ian is Donal's son. She calls him a bastard, and Donal defends him:
“My son.” He pushed himself out of the cot. “Aislinn—I know you only echo what words you have heard before…but I will allow neither my meijha nor my children to be abused.”
I'm glad that they're having this discussion. And I'm glad that Donal is defending Ian and Sorcha too. This is rough on Aislinn but they're innocent in all of this
Aislinn doesn't miss much, she hears children and realizes why Donal talked about going back to the Keep. And Donal agrees: “Aye,” he told her gently. “I want to go home to my family.”
Poor Aislinn.
She stared up at him, clearly stunned as well as hurt. He saw how her mouth trembled, though she fought to keep it steady. “Then—there is no hope for me. I am bound to a loveless marriage…and all because of the throne—”
“Aye,” he said softly. “You have begun to feel its weight—the weight we must share.”
“Then I do not want it.” Aislinn’s hands rose to cover her mouth. She looked directly at him. “I will have this betrothal broken.” The words were muffled, but he understood them.
Donal knows she won't be successful. She's approaching this from the perspective of a naive young girl whose father denies her nothing. But I love that she intends to try.
And I'll give Roberson credit. In many ways, Legacy of the Sword feels like backsliding. The plot's contrived. Everyone's stuck with the idiot ball. And we see a return of the annoying non-sequiturs. But in terms of the portrayal of WOMEN, this book is leaps and bounds over its predecessors.
Aislinn feels like a PERSON. She's not a sexy lamp or an object for the men to fixate on. She's got her own thoughts and feelings, which the narrative actually treats as legitimate. She's strong and dignified and stands up for herself. I love her.
Now, I'm not going to like everything she does in this story. And I'm not going to like everything about the direction of her storyline. But that's for another day.
Anyway, Donal's response is internal and both admiring and patronizing:
Donal admired her brave attempt at confidence, even though it failed. But inwardly, he knew the truth. He will not agree to this, my determined Homanan princess. Not when realm and prophecy depend so much upon it.
But he had no heart to tell her.
...it probably would be good to tell her about that part, actually. But here, the chapter ends.
Anyway, after keeling over at the end of chapter six, Donal's in bad shape. He's in bed, writhing in pain and flashing back to a dialogue with Carillon. Most of this chapter is in italics, which annoys me on general principle.
Anyway, Carillon asks after "Sorcha and Ian":
“Ian has a fever,” he told Carillon. “A childhood thing, they tell me—but he is better. Sorcha is well.” He paused. “My jehana says the child will be born in four weeks. I would like to be with her when the pain comes upon her.”
Carillon sipped idly at his wine. But his eyes, half hidden beneath creased eyelids, were bright and shrewd. “Provided you are returned, I have no quarrel with that.”
Shrewd my fucking ass.
Anyway, this is when Carillon orders Donal to go to the Crystal Isle. Donal asks if he's being exiled for displeasing Carillon (jokingly, not serious), but Carillon, seriously, tells him that he pleases him well enough, "for a prince who has more interest in Cheysuli things than Homanan.”
...well, yeah, Carillon. That's what happens when you name someone from another culture as your heir. He points out that Donal is Homanan too, and while that's true biologically, it doesn't change that Donal was raised pretty much entirely Cheysuli.
Now, we can argue whether or not that was a good idea, given that he's got to become the King of all of Homana, but that's what you get, Carillon.
Carillon, by the way, is in bad physical shape. He's taken to wearing leather bracers, not to hide his old shackle scars but to keep strength in his arms. Donal points out that he has responsibilities to his lir, his uncle, his mother and his mistress, and that he can't turn his back on his heritage or tahlmorra. Carillon points out that Donal's heritage is what puts him in line for the throne, and his destiny is to inherit it.
Carillon then accuses Donal of neglecting Aislinn. Um, dude, YOU sent her to Electra. Which Donal points out. Now Donal's being sent to get her. After he brings Aislinn back, he'll have leave to be with Sorcha when the baby is born. He does however think it's time that Donal thinks of wedding Aislinn.
Dude, Aislinn is sixteen, can't this wait? And to his credit, Donal says the same thing:
Donal tried to smile. “I have thought of it. Many times. But Aislinn is still very young—”
“Not so young. Old enough to be wedded and bedded.” Carillon’s tone did not soften. “And was not Sorcha but sixteen when she bore your first child?”
The first child died, by the way. And she had a rough time with Ian. Donal is afraid.
So here we are. The part of the story that Donal hasn't told Aislinn and that she really should know:
Donal has a mistress: Sorcha. He has a son: Ian. And another child on the way. By Cheysuli standards, this is fine and normal. (Well, sort of. Sorcha may well have her own opinion, and to give Roberson credit, unlike poor Malina in Shapechangers, Sorcha is actually allowed to express it.) But Aislinn is Homanan. She's also sixteen and frightened, she's not going to understand this.
Anyway, there is a reason for Carillon's haste. He thinks it's time Donal gets an heir.
Donal gestured. “You are only forty. Hardly ancient, no matter what Tynstar’s Ihlini arts have done to you. I doubt you will die any time soon. Give Aislinn a few more years—”
“No.” Carillon said it softly. “I cannot. Look again upon me, Donal, and do not mouth such nonsense. Tynstar’s sorcery took away twenty years from me and—for all I feel but forty in my heart—I cannot hide the truth forever. Not from you or anyone else.” He stretched out his twisted hands. “You see these. Each day they worsen. So do my knees, my spine, my shoulders. A crippled man is not the Mujhar for Homana.”
...I'm not fond of the ableism here. There's nothing wrong with Carillon's mind. Well. Okay, aside from sending Aislinn to Electra. But he can rule even with his illnesses.
But he doesn't really think he has that long. He's also a bit of a dick here:
“Then do it.” For a moment, Carillon smiled. “Aislinn is spoiled, as I have spoiled her, but she is also a warm and giving girl. I think you will find it no chore to wed my daughter.”
But Donal could not reconcile the loss of Cheysuli freedom with the Homanan title the Mujhar promised.
Carillon is supposed to be some kind of doting father, but I think his actions belie that. I could wish he was more sensitive to Aislinn's likely feelings about the Sorcha matter. He has to realize that this will be hard for her.
Donal protests that Aislinn is like a sister, and:
He felt the sudden desperation well up in his soul. “But I would rather wed with Sorcha!” he shouted aloud. “I will not lie to you—it is Sorcha who should be cheysula instead of meijha—”
“That I do not doubt.” Carillon sounded more compassionate. “I question nothing of her honor or her worth, Donal, as I think you know. But Homana requires all manner of sacrifices, and this one is yours to make.”
“So, you would have me play the stud to Aislinn’s mare, merely to get a colt.” He said it clearly into the room at the White Hart Inn. “Yet even the Cheysuli, who have had more cause than most, cannot sanction their women to be treated as mere broodmares.”
1. Um. I read Shapechangers, so BULLSHIT.
2. I know that Donal's in a difficult situation, but he's known since he was EIGHT that he'll marry Aislinn, so grow the fuck up.
3. It's not just about the heir, you moron. This is about protecting your own people! Remember the PURGE that happened a generation ago?! Remember the racism you encountered last chapter?! As a king, you might be able to DO something about that.
For all his faults, Carillon has been clear and consistent in his conviction to stop the qu'mahlin. Carillon explains his point of view:
“I have cause,” Carillon retorted gently. “I have cause, I have reason, I have more than justification, though kings rarely have need of anything more than whim. Oh, aye, I have all the cause in the world.” He turned his back on the firepit. “I have a kingdom to rule as well as I possibly can. I have people to husband. Heirs to beget.” He smiled, but without humor. “but then we know I failed at that task, do we not? There is only Aislinn, only a daughter from my loins.” The smile fell away. “Do you not wed Aislinn, she will go to a foreign prince. And then we run the risk of losing Homana, into the hands of another realm. The Cheysuli, so odd and eerie in their magic, may become little more than game, once again. Hunted, branded demons…slain. It happened once, Donal. Can you tell me it will never happen again?”
He's not wrong about a lot of this. Of course, you could avoid it by not having Aislinn marry at all. Or by having her marry someone who isn't a prince. But it's true that, given a rival claimant, many people won't accept Donal as Mujhar.
Donal whines a bit more, and Carillon has another good line:
“I do not do it to you.” Carillon’s tone was ragged. Gone was the strength of his rank, replaced with the need of the man. “I do it for Homana.”
He does agree to give Donal eight weeks of freedom when he returns, to spend with his real family. Poor Aislinn.
Carillon has a weird moment:
Carillon watched him with a hunger and sadness Donal could not comprehend. It sent a chill coursing down his spine. He stared back at the Mujhar, not knowing his own face reflected the very expression that had conjured Carillon’s pain. “I have lost you,” the Mujhar said quietly. “I am bound as cruelly by my royal heritage as you are by your tahlmorra, and I have lost you because of it.”
“My lord?” Donal’s tone was soft.
Carillon sighed and waved a twisted hand. “It is nothing. Only memories of the man whose face you wear.” He smiled faintly. “Your father lives in you, Donal…you have all of Duncan’s pride and arrogance and convictions. I did not fully understand him and I do not understand you. I only know that by pressing for this marriage, I have lost what little of you I once had.”
...
I'm fairly sure that I'm supposed to read this part as being about Duncan. And it's true that Duncan and Carillon had an interesting dynamic. But Carillon didn't lose Duncan because of his royal heritage. But I can think of someone he DID lose, because he was obsessed with marrying a princess and consolidating his rule of two kingdoms.
Yep, I'm choosing to read that as being about someone else entirely and you can't stop me.
Anyway, Donal sits upright out of bed. Two sets of small hands, one tough, one delicate, try to hold him. It's Sef and Aislinn.
Damn. How much of his ramblings did she hear? Poor thing.
Anyway, Aislinn urges him to lie down. He starts to accuse her but she denies it. She admits to cutting his fingers, but claims she knew nothing of the poison. She believes that was Electra. She says she's sorry and begs him not to die.
Donal is struck by her "cool, pale eyes", which he associates with Electra. Aislinn tells him that Sef told her what she did and that Donal had found something in her mind. She's pretty horrified by the whole thing and asks if there's a way to gainsay the compulsion. He thinks that she won't want to do it, but she promises to, because how else can she prove her innocence?
He wants Finn to test her. He's the clan-leader and has experience with trap-links. Then, before he passes out again, he tells Sef to watch Aislinn for him.
Donal thinks of it as cruelty, but it's reasonable. She DID stab him, and was the vehicle for him to be poisoned. I feel sorry for her, but I think he's right to be cautious and he's not really being unkind either.
So Donal recovers enough that they can head to Mujhara in the morning. We get a fairly nice description of Aislinn here:
The light from the lantern was gentle on her face. It set up brilliant highlights in her hair and painted her face quite fair, gold instead of silver, though—save for her bright hair—she had the fairness of her mother. She had changed from plain brown gown and cloak to equally plain moss-green, save for the copper stitching at collar and cuffs. An overtunic of darker green hid much of her femininity, though no man would name her boy. Her features were too delicate.
One day, she may rival her jehana’s beauty, though it be a different sort. Brighter, warmer, less cold and seductive as Electra’s—well, if I must take her as my cheysula, better a pretty one than a plain. Then he smiled inwardly, knowing the irony in his statement. Already you think of making her the cheysula Carillon wants, when she may be plotting against your life. Fool.
Here's a dark question, what happens if Aislinn is doing this willingly? What happens to her? Does she get sent back to Electra to be used as a pawn against Carillon? Or...
Donal realizes he's filthy and sends Sef for a cask for bathing, and we get an idea of the status of things:
Aislinn, still sitting silently on the stool, colored, clenching her hands in her lap. “You will send me out, of course.”
“Have you not had your own room?”
“You are in it,” she said softly. “When you fell, the most we could do was drag you into my bed. Sef would allow no one near you, not even the innkeeper’s wife. And so we tended you.” She shrugged. “We have been together here with you…Sef, you see, would not allow me to be alone.”
He frowned. “Not at all?”
Her gaze lifted to meet his. “But you said he must watch me,” she said simply. “I have begun to think of him as my jailer—or, perhaps, your third lir.” She did not smile. “He is—obdurate. You chose him well, Donal. I do not doubt he will serve you as well as General Rowan serves my father.”
Donal apologizes for any inconvenience, noting that Sef isn't used to royalty. He realizes he's lost weight in the ten days that he's been recovering.
Okay, if it has been ten days, then Aislinn has been a remarkably good sport about all of this. I mean, she did cause his injury, but it wasn't of her volition. And it sounds like it's been a pretty miserable time for her.
Donal tells Aislinn that she doesn't have to be frightened of him, since he doesn't "take retribution" on the woman he must wed. Aislinn immediately notes the word choice and states that her father had taken the choice from him.
Donal is distracted from the discussion by his physical weakness and has a brief freak out that Aislinn might have taken his youth like Electra and Tynstar did to Carillon. And if you think about it, Donal is only about two years younger than Carillon was when it happened. Weird. He seems so much younger than Carillon did in Song.
Donal demands to know if Aislinn made him "like the Mujhar" and rather amusingly, Aislinn interprets that the wrong way entirely:
Aislinn made a rude, banishing gesture. “You can only hope to be like my father…no man can match him, Donal. Do not try.”
...honey, you deserve better parents.
Anyway, Donal notices his hands and realizes that they're still young and smooth. Meanwhile, Aislinn has something she wants:
She rose. The stool scraped against the pegged wood of the uneven floor. “I want to know who she is.”
For a moment he could only stare. “Who do you mean?”
“Sorcha.” She was pale and very stiff in her movements. And every inch the princess. Donal, who had intended to ask her what had caused her change in manner, suddenly understood it very clearly.
Good, you need to have this discussion.
So Donal explains that Sorcha is his meijha, which he translates as "light woman" and corrects Aislinn when she assumes that means "whore". He says the usual trope: that meijhas hold as much honor as cheysulas.
And I still question that. If that's the case, why is Donal angsting about how he really wants to marry Sorcha instead of Aislinn.
Aislinn has a nice moment here:
Color stood high in Aislinn’s fair face. “You see? There are many Cheysuli customs I do not know.” An accusation; he did not run from the guilt. “Then it is so: because we are betrothed—and because my father would never allow it, having no other male heir—you cannot wed your meijha. You must wed me instead.” Aislinn stood rigidly before him: a small, almost fragile young woman, yet suddenly towering in her pride. “Do I have the right of it?”
I love how unflinching she is about all of this.
Though she does pale when she learns that Ian is Donal's son. She calls him a bastard, and Donal defends him:
“My son.” He pushed himself out of the cot. “Aislinn—I know you only echo what words you have heard before…but I will allow neither my meijha nor my children to be abused.”
I'm glad that they're having this discussion. And I'm glad that Donal is defending Ian and Sorcha too. This is rough on Aislinn but they're innocent in all of this
Aislinn doesn't miss much, she hears children and realizes why Donal talked about going back to the Keep. And Donal agrees: “Aye,” he told her gently. “I want to go home to my family.”
Poor Aislinn.
She stared up at him, clearly stunned as well as hurt. He saw how her mouth trembled, though she fought to keep it steady. “Then—there is no hope for me. I am bound to a loveless marriage…and all because of the throne—”
“Aye,” he said softly. “You have begun to feel its weight—the weight we must share.”
“Then I do not want it.” Aislinn’s hands rose to cover her mouth. She looked directly at him. “I will have this betrothal broken.” The words were muffled, but he understood them.
Donal knows she won't be successful. She's approaching this from the perspective of a naive young girl whose father denies her nothing. But I love that she intends to try.
And I'll give Roberson credit. In many ways, Legacy of the Sword feels like backsliding. The plot's contrived. Everyone's stuck with the idiot ball. And we see a return of the annoying non-sequiturs. But in terms of the portrayal of WOMEN, this book is leaps and bounds over its predecessors.
Aislinn feels like a PERSON. She's not a sexy lamp or an object for the men to fixate on. She's got her own thoughts and feelings, which the narrative actually treats as legitimate. She's strong and dignified and stands up for herself. I love her.
Now, I'm not going to like everything she does in this story. And I'm not going to like everything about the direction of her storyline. But that's for another day.
Anyway, Donal's response is internal and both admiring and patronizing:
Donal admired her brave attempt at confidence, even though it failed. But inwardly, he knew the truth. He will not agree to this, my determined Homanan princess. Not when realm and prophecy depend so much upon it.
But he had no heart to tell her.
...it probably would be good to tell her about that part, actually. But here, the chapter ends.
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Date: 2021-06-11 01:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-06-11 02:34 am (UTC)