Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth - Chapter 16: Future
Title: Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth
Pairing: Darken/Kahlan. with references to past Darken/Cara and Richard/Kahlan
Length: 2300~
Rating: T
Spoilers: Set in the "Reckoning" AU with facts learned in "Eternity"
Summary: Rachel doesn't like her choices
Future
Rachel’s mother stood on the brink of a steep cliff, her white dress smudged and torn. She sobbed, reaching out toward the young man on the other side of the deep chasm.
He was calling to her, “I’ll find a way, Kahlan! Just wait for me. I’m coming to you.”
“Richard, it’s no use,” her was voice raw with tears, “there was only one hope and now it’s gone. I tried so hard to be strong. But I failed. It’s so dark here, and I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. ”
“Kahlan, there’s always hope. Don’t give up,” Richard entreated.
At that moment, Mother turned and spotted Rachel. glaring at her daughter, Kahlan’s expression changed from sorrow to rage, “It wasn’t my fault, Richard. It was her! She betrayed us.”
Rachel defended herself, “I didn’t want to hurt you. I just wanted to live.” She sought to embrace her mother, but was flung away.
“Go back to your father. You’re no child of mine.“
Then, without warning, the rocky ground under Kahlan’s feet melted into a viscous mixture of dirt, sand and water. Unable to free herself, she began to sink into the mire.
“Kahlan, don’t give up. I’m coming, I promise, “Richard was still shouting - louder now.
Rachel knelt and grabbed her mother’s arms, trying to pull her to safety, but she didn’t have enough strength .
Father appeared beside her, looking down at both women with an expression of cool bemusement. Turning to him, Rachel begged, “Father, please. She’s going to die. You can’t leave her here.”
He didn’t respond. Turning his back on her, he strode away, red robes unfurling behind him.
Rachel chased after him, but fell further behind with each step. It seemed as if she was trudging through deep sand. Glancing behind, she saw that her mother was gone. The ground on which Kahlan had stood was solid once more.
It was as if she had never existed.
Knowing that it was too late to save her mother, Rachel continued to pursue Father. But the heavy sand was up to her knees, then to her thighs.
She couldn’t move.
“Wait for me, Father. Don’t leave me! Please -!”
Father didn’t slow his pace.
And he was no longer alone.
A small child walked at his side.
A little boy.
The two figures were disappearing into the distance.
Abandoning her.
Rachel awoke clawing at the bedclothes, still trying to catch up with her father. Glancing around her room, she tried to comfort herself with the familiar surroundings.
It had just been another dream.
She was in her own bed, Once again emerging from the visions that afflicted her nights since she had last seen her mother.
Since her words had condemned her mother to a living death.
At first, Rachel had been so grateful for her father’s clemency, but now she wondered if the swift, sure blow of the executioner’s axe wouldn’t have been a more merciful fate for her mother.
Her father’s decision had not been an act of charity.
At least Rachel no longer woke screaming.
Lying back against her pillow, Rachel wondered if her mother screamed in the night.
+++
“You’re very quiet this evening,” Darken observed. Rachel was seated across from him at the formal dining table, the torchlight accentuating the soft contours of her face. She had spent the last hour pushing food around her plate and taking occasional sips of the red wine she was now permitted to drink.
After all, next month was her seventeenth birthday.
The sixteenth had been painful enough. This year there was nothing to celebrate.
Rachel had requested that there be no public observance of the event. Surprisingly, her father had agreed, proclaiming that the event would be observed quietly, citing the queen’s unfortunate illness.
Since Kahlan had become almost a recluse over the past few years, nobody questioned the change in plans. Most in the palace had suspected for years that the woman was not quite right in the head. There were strange rumors circulating about, but few cared enough to inquire into the matter. Queen Kahlan had never been particularly popular or well-liked with the staff or with any members of the Court.
Rachel pushed her plate away impatiently.
Why they were eating here?
She hated this room, this table. It reminded her of too many meals taken in cold silence over the years, sitting between parents who barely acknowledged one another.
A fire roared in the hearth at the far end of the room, but it gave off little heat. Even though the first hint of spring was in the air, the night was cold.
“I just spoke to you, Rachel. Maybe you didn’t hear me,” her father added with deceptive mildness.
“I’m just tired, “she muttered, refusing to meet his eyes. “ I haven’t been sleeping very well. Maybe I’m catching a cold.”
“Perhaps,” he said quietly, watching her keenly. “Come over by the fire. We need to talk.”
Expressionless, Rachel followed him, slouching down in one of the overstuffed chairs placed before the hearth. At least it was warmer over here. She began nibbling at a fingernail, a childhood habit she had resumed.
Her father settled himself in the chair facing hers, making it almost impossible to avoid his gaze without being openly disrespectful.
She knew he was going to start lecturing her again.
“I know that your life has been difficult during these past few weeks,” he began, “ and I have tried to be patient, but it’s time that you started to fulfill the obligations and duties of your position. You need to begin - “
With an impatient glower, Darken reached over and pulled Rachel’s hand away from her mouth, “Stop that! It’s annoying. Straighten up, look me in the eyes, and stop trying to pretend that I’m not in the room. ”
His face softened slightly,” What’s wrong with you? We need to plan for your future, but you’ve been acting like a sullen child.” Almost wistfully he added, “You used to talk to me about your troubles.”
Unfortunately for Kahlan, that was true.
How could Rachel tell her father that the pretense of living a normal life over the last two months was exhausting her?
That she hadn’t slept through the night in weeks?
That her mother’s anguish haunted her dreams?
That she dreaded the inevitability of a loveless marriage to a mindless slave?
That she feared his anger even as her own resentment simmered beneath the surface?
Rachel felt so incoherent when she tried to explain herself to her father.
Enfolding her slender hand in his, Darken noted the fingernails bitten to the quick. The girl was a bundle of nerves.
He was more perceptive than she gave him credit for.
Leaning in closer, he tried to reason with her, “It’s foolish to waste time in regret. Your mother has only herself to blame for her fate. She has everything she needs, more than she deserves.”
He continued more sternly, “it’s time to forget her, and take your place at my side. You are the Mother Confessor now, in all ways. Your duty is to help me, and to make sure that the line of Confessors does not end with you.”
Her father’s calm, matter-of-fact tone of voice made it all seem so reasonable. From his point of view, she supposed it was. He had simply erased Kahlan from his life, and it was clear he expected her to do the same.
Rachel had learned over the past weeks that no amount of arguing, pleading or bargaining could move him where her mother was concerned. True to his promise, Darken had never again been physically violent toward his daughter. In fact, he was once more the loving attentive parent. But she now knew there were limits to his indulgence.
“Have you read through the list of candidates I gave you yesterday?” Darken seemed eager to proceed to the next problem to be dealt with. “Surely one of these men can meet your exacting standards for a husband.”
Rachel nodded glumly, “Yes, I looked at the names. Baron Donel is old enough to be my father, Lord Vito poisoned his first two wives to gain their property, and Captain Brandon is - despicable. I hate him. The others are almost as bad - they would kill their own families for advancement.”
She was horrified. The last words had flown out of her mouth too fast to catch them.
Although his name was never spoken, everyone knew how Darken’s father had met his end.
Choosing to ignore the lapse, her father’s response was curt, “The Baron is a brave and canny warrior, as are all of the others - strong, ambitious, clever and cunning. All very desirable qualities in a husband, and for the father of your children.”
“Father, “Rachel ventured, “I want a man who is brave and intelligent, too, but why can’t it be somebody that I at least - like?”
“I would be more than happy to oblige, Rachel, “Darken retorted, “yet I have never heard you mention anybody. You are always telling me who is not acceptable.”
She hesitated briefly, then, drawing a deep breath, plunged ahead, “Captain Egremont. I’ve known him and his family my entire life. He actually reads books and thinks about things, he makes me laugh, I can talk to him and he’s always been kind to me,” she hurried on, wanting to finish before her father could interrupt, “And he wouldn’t have to be confessed. I know my mother’s rada’han is not the only one in your possession. Why wouldn’t I be able to be with a man I cared about without confessing him?”
Darken stared at his daughter in surprise. She had never mentioned Egremont before, although he knew she was fond of the man in a casual way, and that the Captain had been protective of her since she was a young girl.
He allowed himself a brief moment of compassion.
What she wanted was impossible.
While nobody could replace General Egremont in Darken's esteem, his son was a worthy successor, and had a brlliant future ahead of him. Darken depended on him, and for that reason, could never permit him to be confessed.
“I’m sorry, Rachel, I can’t allow that to happen,” her visible disappointment pained him more that he wanted to admit, “Egremont’s primary loyalty has to be to me. Of course he is charged with protecting my family, but he must be willing to obey my orders without question, and that would not be the case if he were confessed. He would only care about pleasing you.”
“But if I wore- “
Darken stopped her, it was best to settle this matter once and for all. “You husband must be confessed. A man intelligent and ambitious enough to be your mate could be a danger to my throne, and to your own children, if he is not totally under your power.”
Although he did not express it aloud, the king worried that if anything happened to him, Rachel might not be strong enough to stand up to a forceful man hungry for power. Chaos would result, unraveling all the years of peace that he had so carefully maintained. Such a man would seek to use her children for his own selfish purposes.
Cupping her face in his hands, Darken tried to cheer his unhappy daughter, “Rachel, you are lucky in so many ways. Most daughters of noble families are sent away at a very young age to husbands they have never met. That’s exactly what happened to my mother. She died nine years after her marriage without ever seeing her parents or her home again.”
“That will never happen with you,“ he declared. “You will never leave me.”
A little annoyed by Rachel’s lack of appreciation, Darken dismissed her with a brief embrace and a formal kiss on the forehead.
As she left the room, tired and disconsolate, he called after her, “Rachel, before you return to your chambers for the evening, instruct Mistress Theta to attend me. I have need of her services.”
+++
Rachel had hardly stepped out of the room before she was accosted by Mistress Theta . Striding up to the princess, the young Mord’Sith, beautiful, imperious and intrusive, remarked that perhaps it was not safe to roam the halls so late at night.
Outraged at the woman’s insolence, Rachel was momentarily speechless. It was humiliating enough that her father used her to summon his bedmate for the evening, she certainly wasn’t going to be told when and where she could move about in her own home.
“My father wishes to see you,” she gritted out between clenched teeth.
If only she had her father’s way with scathing insults.
The blonde smirked, “I imagine he is bored by now, and ready for more stimulating companionship.”
Rachel was not in the habit of using her rank to intimidate others, but couldn’t let this pass. “Don’t flatter yourself. You’re no more important to him than any other whore he’s used over the years. He won’t even remember your name in a few months,” Rachel was shaking, both with anger and indignity.
How she hated this woman!
“Oh, little mouse, he’ll do more than remember me a year from now, or ten years from now for that matter. Very soon, I will have a place of honor at his side you can only dream of.” Theta was so close that Rachel felt the woman’s hot breath on her cheek. “The son I carry here,“ the woman splayed her hand over her belly, “will put you in your place - Confessor.”
Without another word, the Mord’Sith turned her back on the stunned girl and strolled toward the entrance to the dining room, already carrying herself like a conqueror.