So last time, Keely was making her escape from the Crystal Isle, when she started falling into the ocean. That can't be good.



So anyway, Keely's having the unfortunate realization that Strahan's robe is wool. And wet wool in water is not a great thing at all. She's very close to drowning, and wonders if she, and her unwanted child, will die this way after all.

She ends up pulled out of the water. It's actually a very good sequence, tight and disorienting. A forearm pulls her head out of the water, a rope is wrapped around her, and she's pulled up to the boat.

One thing that annoys me slightly is that there's specific mention of the knot rolling beneath and pinching her breasts. It reminds me of the reference earlier to her nipples chafing. And I mean, these are all realistic sensory experiences to have, I suppose, but it also feels like Roberson is unnecessarily sexualizing her main character even after her unnecessarily detailed rape sequence.

I might not be being fair, but I don't remember anything about Niall, Ian or Brennan's nipples after their experiences.

Anyway, she realizes that she's on a ship, being lifted by many hands. She can hear men talking, shouting and laughing. One of the men puts his hands on her belt, as if he meant to strip her. She gets her power back and manages to take cat form and claw someone's hand.

Good for you!

Anyway, the men are pretty quick to back off. She smells blood, fear, shock and "man-smell", which she describes as "the musk of an animal equally as deadly as [herself]". They all just share.

But then:

I saw the man, my rescuer, climb over the rail and drop to the deck. Wet wool stuck to his body and hair to his face. Water pooled on wood, running down to taint my paws. He flung back head and hair and showed me eyes I knew. Eyes as blue as my own, in a face, except for the beard, almost too familiar.

In shock, I banished Lir-shape, still crouching on the deck. "Rujho," I blurted hoarsely, "when did you learn to swim?"

Hey! Corin is in this book! I'd forgotten!

So anyway, Keely's overjoyed to see Corin but also understandably freaked out to have a man touching her at the moment. Then she starts freaking out a little.

"Get it off," I said thickly, "get it off—" I clawed at the belt, at the robe, trying to tear it from my body. "Corin—get it off-—throw it into the sea . . . better yet, burn it, so the taint is gone from the world ... gods, oh, gods, take it—take it off me, Corin—"

"Keely. Keely, stop."

"Corin—Corin do it—do it now ..." I saw the men staring, eyes shining in the moonlight. "Do you think I care?" I cried. "Do you think I care about them? Let them see, let them see ... after Strahan does it matter? Do you think I care anymore? Do you think modesty worth the trouble when I have been in Strahan's bed—?"

So Corin grabs her wrists, "like shackles", which I'm not really a fan of. She stops fighting and tells Corin that he should have let her drown. Aw.

Corin's learned some sensitivity along the way, it looks like. He actually keeps his mouth shut and carries her down below to a private cabin, helps her strip and washes her. He gets her into a nightshirt, with a blanket. It's very comforting and nice.

He asked nothing of me, which I was prepared to give. In silence we sat on the bunk, side by side, sharing nothing of what we thought and felt because it was not necessary. Born of the same labor, we often require no words.

I shivered with a sudden chill and he put an arm around me, pulling me close against his side. And then as the shivers deepened into convulsive shuddering, he wrapped me up in both arms and pressed my head against his shoulder, rocking me back and forth.

"Shansu," he said, "shansu. I am here for you. I promise, unless you ask it, you will not be left alone."

Aww.

He reminds her that there's no dishonor in tears and tells her to drown him if she likes, because he's learned how to swim. It really is an incredibly sweet scene. And Keely appreciates it, though she thinks that there's something she can't tell him, no matter who he is to her.

The child, I guess? She's already said what happened with Strahan.

Anyway, Keely appreciates how Corin's changed. He's got a "manifest gentleness" that she'd never seen before, "so often given to intolerance born of a powerful impatience." She thinks that Atvia's changed him, taking her brother from her and returning a different man. And then she sleeps.

She wakes up with Kiri, Corin's lir. And maybe she wasn't talking about the child before? Because Kiri seems to know about it. Keely is upset to hear that she's still pregnant - the child has taken root and "will not be easily dislodged" at least not without risk.

Actually, this is interesting, because they're basically discussing abortion here. I'm not sure how I feel about Kiri's tone here:

You will do what you will do; it is your perpetual habit. But you should consider carefully what the attempt might do to you.

I mean, I DO think it's good for Keely to consider the possible consequences. Keely's already willing to risk death, and doesn't see barrenness as an issue because "no man will have me now". Ouch.

I don't like the "You will do what you will do" part though. It sounds way too much like the way they react when Keely's going to run amuck, go drinking, learn the sword or whatever. But she's talking about her own personal autonomy. That's absolutely not the same as being a wild child making bad decisions.

Anyway, Kiri thinks she should consider her choices carefully first, and she's not really wrong there.

Corin comes in, and we get to appreciate his changes more now that Keely's recovered a bit:

It was more than just the beard, which I had forgotten he wore. He was taller, broader, harder, more significantly a man. There was no boy left in him, and I found I missed my Corin.

He grinned at me, reading my expression. Teeth split the beard, reminding me of Rory. Equally tall, equally broad, equally thick of hair, though his was darker than Rory's and the beard blond in place of red.

So that's an interesting note about Corin's height and size. I'm not sure if that's a retcon or not. Rory's specifically described as a big man, while Corin was noted as being smaller and slimmer than either of his brothers. I suppose, since Corin was twenty or so in Pride of Princes, and it's been a year or two now, he could have had a late growth spurt.

Honestly, I think the only reason Corin didn't inherit Niall's size is that Roberson didn't want Keely built like Brienne of Tarth, which is a shame.

Anyway, Corin's brought clothes - underthings, a tunic and a skirt. Keely's pretty dry-humored at that, and Corin just grins saying he couldn't buy her Cheysuli leathers. Which is true, but he could have bought her trousers. Young boys need clothes too, after all.

He tells her that they're anchored just off Hondarth.

I'm not sure what to make of this either:

I examined the tunic and skirt, holding each up. Nubby, soft-combed wool, summerweight; the weave was russet and cream. Also a belt, and thin leather slippers. "No boots, then?"

His tone was firm. "These will do."

Why can't she have boots? Why can't she have pants?

Look, I've complained about Keely's action girl feminism before, but if you know your sister has just been through a terrible experience, and you know she's more comfortable in a specific type of clothing, you could just help her with that, dude.

Keely decides to deal with her hair first.

Corin asks how Strahan caught her, and Keely responds "with cunning, guile, and patience." And while I hate to be mean to Keely, when she's been through so much, that's not how I remember it.

I remember it as Keely raced south to tell Sean off for his crappy letter, and then started chatting with someone she (understandably) had thought was his underling, and that guy turned out to be Strahan. It didn't take long nor was it particularly subtle.

Corin's not judging though, he remembers his own capture and how Strahan had tried to lure him to the dark side. I still think the Strahan in this book was an idiot, because it's possible that if he'd tried to lure Keely the way he had Corin, he might well have succeeded. Keely had as much dissatisfaction with things as Corin, without nearly as much reassurance of her own place, AND had the added fears planted by Teirnan.

But nope, he has to be the object lesson in Keely's life and just rape her and impregnate her.

I think I've realized why the plot annoys me so much in this book, and I think it's because it feels like a reprimand to Keely. A "Hah, you were afraid of being a wife and broodmare, so now you're going to end up in the clutches of a villain who will show you what that's really like!"

And that's frustrating because while I'm not particularly fond of Keely, my issue with her has never been her fear of marriage. Just her self-centeredness and habit of projecting said fears on others. Being afraid of Sean, marriage, and a loss of autonomy is completely understandable.

And really, just because Strahan is a monster, that doesn't make Sean necessarily a good guy. We'd like to think he is, because we've known Shea and Liam, and they were good people. But we don't KNOW.

I'm very frustrated because I wanted Keely to learn to be more empathetic and treat people better, I didn't want her punished for a very understandable, human fear.

So now it's time for Keely to fill him in, and actually, the way she explains it, it DOES sound pretty clever:

"He came out of Valgaard," I explained, "first. And then, with seeming intent, he began killing those who did not serve him. Ihlini, only Ihlini, but creeping closer to Homana." I drew in a breath, took up another section of hair. "He killed Caro, but not Taliesin, because he knew what the harper would do: go straight to the Mujhar." I tightened sore lips, then wished I had not. "Because, of course, it would draw jehan's attention all the way north, leaving the south to Strahan." I tore mats out of my hair with more violence than was needed. "And it worked. Jehan sent patrols across the Bluetooth. Hart sent Solindish troops. All of us thought of the northern borders, not of Hondarth, or of the Crystal Isle, though he has used it before."

She explains that he'd lured her to Hondarth, captured, and took her south. She tells him about Taliesin's death, which makes Corin sad. He starts cursing Strahan. And this does make me happy.

Corin stared hard at the floor. Beneath tawny hair his brow was deeply furrowed, reflecting the grief he fought so hard to keep from showing. "Again," he muttered, "again! How many lives does he take? How many more will he—"

"None," I said flatly. "I have always said, if given no choice, I could kill a man."

Corin's mouth opened. "Strahan is dead?"

The reviewer of this series who is my unknowing nemesis really liked this book for the fact that Keely is the one who killed Strahan when all three of the boys together could not. I kind of get that. It does make me happy that Keely gets to have a triumph here. But I also think, to make it work, Strahan had to be utterly nerfed as a villain.

Unfortunately, Keely's not very comforted, because while Strahan's dead, she's still pregnant with his child.

I like this bit though:

He paced back and forth, rubbing upper arms as if he was cold. "Keely—oh, gods, Keely—do you know? Do you have any idea—" He broke off, staring at me. "No more Strahan ... no more proxy for the Seker .. . gods, I think we are free!"

Amusement disappeared. "The House of Darkness still stands."

It stopped him with a jerk. "What?"

"The House of Darkness," I repeated. "There is Lillith, and Rhiannon, and Brennan's bastard on her." I drew in a steadying breath. "Also a child by Sidra, who bears Strahan's blood." I shook my head. "Tynstar left us Strahan as his heir. Strahan left one as well."

THIS maybe is the most feminist moment in the book for me. Because of course Corin thinks it's over because his male adversary is dead. Which ignores that, when it comes to accomplishing their goals, the female Ihlini have been far more effective.

I wonder what DID happen to Sidra. Strahan probably moved her off of Atvia, since Corin has taken charge. (We are told that he sent Lillith packing.)

Keely asks why Corin's here, and that's where things get dramatic. Because he's here for Keely and it has to do with Sean.

The wording is very clumsy here. "It has to do with Sean" is a phrase that's clearly designed just to fake out Keely. She asks if Sean is dead and if Corin is bringing word from Liam.

This bewilders Corin a bit, which is interesting. Because you'd think an injury of the kind Rory described would be something he'd know about, even if Sean isn't dead. But anyway, Sean is alive.

And the ship they're on: is Sean's ship. And not only is Sean HERE, but the man who pulled her on the deck (Keely, understandably, can't remember anything specific from that) was Sean himself.

...which means that he very likely has already heard what happened. The chapter ends with a humiliated Keely telling Corin to tell Sean to go home.