fic: through this night - part six
Title: Through This Night
Author: Morgen
Summary: When life and love hang in the balance.
Disclaimer: I don't own LOTS or profit from it in any way. Just worship it from afar.
Rating: PG
They crept as quietly as they could down a long stone corridor. It was dim, and here and there a long the way torches flickered in iron brackets. Richard had no sense of where to go, or how to begin searching for Kahlan, Cara and Zedd. He felt lost without his sword, and he couldn’t shake the disconcerting feeling of having Nicci walk beside him in Kahlan’s body. He expected her to see immediately to her own escape and take off through a window with the aid of her Han, or to at least begin scouring the castle for Darken Rahl. Instead, she kept on beside him as he found a twisting narrow stairway leading down, and took the steps two at a time.
“Are you helping me search for my friends?” he asked at last, his tone hushed and incredulous.
She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I could kill you, Seeker, with no more effort than it takes you to lift your little finger. I’m still deciding if I will.”
Richard sighed. “Your life doesn’t have to be this way,” he said. “I know you’re used to killing. It was your life when you served the Keeper, but there are other things in life besides murder and power.”
Nicci shot him a dark, glowering look. “Spare me the talk of your precious love.”
“Why? Someone could love you, Nicci. There’s good in you. You spared my life.”
She said nothing. For a moment, she held his gaze in silence. Then she brushed past him, ducking into a corridor on her right. “The dungeons are this way,” she said.
“How do you know?” he asked, hurrying after her.
“I spent my time down here the past week,” said Nicci in a flat, emotionless voice. She shouldered her way through a half-open door, and a man in a D’Haran uniform looked up. Before he could even let out a shout, there was a flash of light from Nicci’s palm, and the guard fell dead, a look of surprise etched across his face. She stepped forward, and yanked a set of keys from the man’s belt, thrusting them at Richard. “Find your precious friends,” she said in a voice of bitter sarcasm. “I have a score to settle with Darken Rahl.”
“He’s here?”
“He likes to watch his Mord-Sith train,” said Nicci, and then she was gone, racing down the narrow stone hall, silent as a shadow on bare feet, her blue gown fluttering around her.
Richard gripped the iron circle heavy with old and rusted keys. It seemed an impossible task. The corridor was long and winding, and more soldiers and Mord-Sith could appear at any moment. He had no idea where to even begin his search. His heart longed to cry out for Kahlan, but he stifled the urge. That would only bring soldiers to him all the swifter.
He began to creep along the hall, sticking to the shadows. He passed empty cell after empty cell. It seemed that Darken Rahl, having only recently returned, had not yet accumulated an abundance of prisoners. His steps were just beginning to grow bolder when he heard someone whimper. Richard froze; the voice was soft and feminine, so very much like Kahlan’s. His heart began to race and he inched closer, and then he heard a man’s voice. A voice he knew all too well.
“Kahlan, try and understand,” said Rahl. “Richard is Nicci’s now. You will never see him again. You agreed to as much yourself. Surely you want children of your own. You would make D’Hara a lovely queen. Consider how it sounds. Queen Kahlan Rahl.”
Kahlan’s voice was laced with venom, “I will never be your queen.”
Richard shook with anger. As silently as he could, he began to search through the keys he held, desperate to get to her. He stayed in the shadows, struggling to stay out of Rahl’s sight, while still keeping an eye on Kahlan. She was pressed against a slimy, grime-streaked wall, her hands in thick iron cuffs chained above her head. Rahl stood far too close; Richard sorted faster through the keys.
“You may not know this, Mother Confessor, but your consent is not necessary for marriage in D’Hara. I can simply make you my queen.” He leaned closer, fingers biting into her waist, “Stake my claim in you.”
Richard saw red, nearly dropping the keys in his fury. “You’re like a spoiled child,’ hissed Kahlan. “All you will ever have is what you take. No one will ever love you freely, least of all me.”
Rahl hummed a thoughtful sound, trailing his fingers idly up her side. A shiver ran through her. “You do want Richard kept alive and well, don’t you?” he asked.
She paled visibly. “You need him alive,” she said in a thin, desperate voice. “You said as much yourself!”
“Only until Nicci gives me his son. After that…” Rahl trailed off with a shrug. He leaned close, his voice a harsh whisper in her ear that carried far in the stone dungeon. “You could buy him his freedom so easily, Kahlan.”
Richard finally reached a key that looked like it might fit, and tried to slip it silently into the door. He could see Kahlan trembling in her chains, with no means to push Rahl away from her. “Lord Rahl,” she pleaded. Richard prayed she wouldn’t feel the need to agree for his sake; he didn’t know how he would bear the guilt. “If I lie with you,” she began, and Richard felt sick. He tried to force the key into the lock, but it was an ill fit, and he couldn’t get it in. Rahl drew closer still, clearly excited by the progress he was making, when Kahlan brought her knee up hard to connect with his manhood. She spat at him as he crumpled to the ground, clutching himself and cursing her through his howls of pain.
Richard began rifling through the keys again. As soon as Rahl rose, he would be furious, and Kahlan defenseless. He had to get to her before that happened. In his haste, a key clanged against the bars on the cell door. Rahl looked up, and though Richard stood in shadows, he knew Rahl saw him. Still grimacing in pain, Rahl staggered to his feet, a hard look in his eyes. Staring straight at Richard, he whipped his arm out, backhanding Kahlan across the cheek. Her head thudded against the stone wall from the force of the blow. She didn’t cry out, just hissed in a short, pained gasp, but a bruise blossomed instantly on her beautiful face.
Richard felt his very blood boil. Even the ground beneath his feet seemed to heat. The rada’han burned so hot around his neck that he thought his skin should fry. In a haze, he flung out his arm, thinking only of his need to get to Kahlan. Instantly, the gate broke, iron bars flying as if they’d been hit by a blast. The explosion swept Rahl along with it, smashing him against the far wall. He collapsed lifeless to the ground, blood trickling from his ears. Kahlan looked up, half weeping his name. “Richard, you’re alive.” He hurried towards her as she let out a ragged sob, “I thought I’d never see you again.”
He began to rifle through the keys once more, picking a small one that looked like it might match the lock on her manacles. “It’s all right,” he promised. “I’m here.”
This time, the key slid in on the first try, and in the next moment, Kahlan was in his arms, peppering his face with kisses and tears. “My love,” she wept. He could feel her shaking, her fingers clawing at him like he might disappear.
“I’m here,” he said again and again. “I’m here, love. I’m here.” When she finally quieted, he reached up and gingerly cupped her bruised cheek in his hand. “Did he hurt you?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Just the bruise, and that’ll mend.” She tightened her grip on him, fresh tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Richard. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t let you die. Did Nicci hurt you? How did you get away?”
“Later,” he promised. He needed more time than they now had to explain what had happened with Nicci in that great, big bed.
She nodded, and then looked towards the gaping hole that had been a door. “How did you break down the door?”
“I have no idea,” he admitted. “I just had to get to you.”
“Richard, your rada’han…” He touched his neck instinctively, but it was bare. Bewildered, he looked down to find the ring of metal lying in pieces at his feet. “You’re using your gift,” said Kahlan in a wondering voice.
“I don’t understand,” he said again. “It… I can’t do it again.”
“That’s all right,” Kahlan reassured him. “Come on. We have to find Cara and Zedd.”
“They’re here?”
“Spirits, I hope so,” she said and grabbed his hand.
They had no sooner stepped out into the hall, then they heard the sound of thundering footsteps. Six D’Haran soldiers rounded the corner, weapons drawn, no doubt alerted by the sound of the blasted door. Before Richard could begin to feel fear at his and Kahlan’s own weaponless state, a now familiar sensation raced through him, that of his very blood heating. As if in response to his need, his palm began to tingle. “Get behind me,” he told Kahlan in a low voice.
She did as he said just as he thrust his hand out towards the soldiers, the skin on his palm now burning and tingling. Lighting burst from his hand like a storm in a bottle, leaping down the narrow hall with a bone splitting crack and a flash of blinding light. It filled the dungeon corridor and consumed the men. Together, he and Kahlan watched them fall.
“By the spirits, my boy. Not even I can do that.”
Richard whirled around. “Zedd,” he cried. His grandfather leaned against the wall, looking altogether too bruised and beaten, but his wrinkled face split in a proud grin. Richard raced down the hallway, tugging Kahlan by the hand. “Are you badly hurt?” he asked as he reached the old wizard.
“Nothing that can’t be fixed by a good night’s sleep,” said Zedd with a wink. “Cara took marvelous care of me.”
Richard stepped inside the open cell to find Cara standing over the body of a Mord-Sith, plucking an Agiel from the dead woman’s hand. She straightened up, sliding it into the holster at her hip. Four other deceased Mord-Sith littered the room.
Cara slinked towards them like a contended cat. “I was always the most talented of my sisters.”
“Cara, I could hug you right now,” said Richard.
She stopped short, a look of alarm crossing her face. “I prefer to accept your gratitude from afar.”
Richard laughed, hugging Kahlan another time instead. “I know.” He smiled his relief at his loved ones. “We should get out of here.” His hand reached instinctively for his sword, only to be reminded that it was gone when he grabbed nothing but air. “What about the sword,” he asked, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Did Rahl get it?”
“Not at all,” said Zedd, his eyes twinkling. He reached into the folds of his robes, pulling the sword out of thin air as surely as he had that very first time in Hartland. “Just a bit of wizard’s magic I did as a precaution. Perhaps it’s a trick I’ll now be teaching you.”
Richard said nothing, just reached for the sword. It felt almost as if his arm had been missing, and now he had it back. He led the way out into the hall, only to come face to face with Darken Rahl, this time with a Mord-Sith at his side.
“Surprised to see me?” asked Rahl. He rested his hand on the leather-clad shoulder of the young woman. “Celesia here brought me back.”
“Don’t use your magic, Richard,” warned Zedd. “Not in front of a Mord-Sith.”
Richard nodded. Even if he’d thought it would be a good strategy, he hadn’t the slightest idea how.
“This is how you repay me, brother?” asked Rahl. “With death and destruction? I saved your life.”
“You locked my friends in dungeons,” growled Richard. “You threatened Kahlan.” Whatever favor Rahl might’ve earned had disappeared the moment he laid a hand to Kahlan.
Rahl raised an eyebrow, stroking his fingers down his chin. “Are you so sure they’re your friends? Kahlan was quick to give you to the bed of another.”
He could see Kahlan’s shoulders tense out of the corner of his eye, and knew she felt guilt. “She did what she thought was best. There is nothing you could say that would ever make me doubt her.” She’d plunged a knife into his chest, and still he had not doubted her.
Rahl opened his mouth to respond when a blade erupted right where his heart beat, sputtering and spewing red. He sunk to his knees, revealing another Kahlan standing behind him in a flimsy blue gown. She smirked at Rahl and wrenched the blade; he died with a moan and a whimper. “Never used one of those before,” she said, dusting off her hands.
Before the Mord-Sith could reach for her Agiel, Cara was there, taking down her sister, her own Agiels singing pain and swift death. But Kahlan’s eyes were trained on the woman who resembled her exactly. “Is that Nicci?” she said in a quiet, hollow voice.
Richard nodded. “I’m afraid it is.”
“Should we finish what we started?” asked Nicci in a seductive tone, running a finger along the low, open collar of the blue gown. She smiled at Kahlan. “He very nearly bed me before we were interrupted.”
He held his hands up, “Kahlan, I stopped as soon as I realized. I swear.”
“I could have told you it wasn’t me right away,” said Kahlan, now glowering at Nicci. “I never would’ve worn such a frilly, insipid dressing gown.”
Richard felt his cheeks burn. “Change back, Nicci. You’ve had your revenge.”
She shrugged, and as she did, Kahlan seemed to dissolve, leaving a blonde haired woman in her place, her blue gown now the blackest black. “So you prefer blondes, Richard?”
He ignored the comment. “You’ve had your revenge. Rahl is dead. You’re free to leave this place.”
“Maybe I’m still trying to decide if I’ll kill you,” said Nicci.
“Lay one hand on him, and it will be I who kills you,” said Kahlan fiercely.
He laid a gentle hand on Kahlan’s arm. “She helped me escape. I never would have found you without her help.” Kahlan still looked as angry as he’d ever seen her outside of the Con Dar, but she said nothing. “You’re outnumbered,” he said as he looked back at Nicci, deliberately pulling Kahlan closer. “There’s nothing for you here, Nicci. Go.”
She looked into his eyes a long time, her face expressionless. “One day you will tire of daughters,” she said at last. “Come to me then, and I will give you the son you deserve.” She raised her arm, and in the next moment, she was gone in a rush of wind.
Richard turned to Kahlan at once. “I will never tire of daughters.”
She gave him a teary-eyed smile, and looped her arms around his neck. “Are you cross with me for giving you to Nicci?”
“I could never be cross with you. Are you cross with me for falling for her ploy as long as I did?”
She shook her head, but before she could speak, Cara chimed in, “Drag this reunion on any longer, and I’ll be cross enough for you both.”
Richard laughed and kissed Kahlan anyway, long and deep.
Author: Morgen
Summary: When life and love hang in the balance.
Disclaimer: I don't own LOTS or profit from it in any way. Just worship it from afar.
Rating: PG
They crept as quietly as they could down a long stone corridor. It was dim, and here and there a long the way torches flickered in iron brackets. Richard had no sense of where to go, or how to begin searching for Kahlan, Cara and Zedd. He felt lost without his sword, and he couldn’t shake the disconcerting feeling of having Nicci walk beside him in Kahlan’s body. He expected her to see immediately to her own escape and take off through a window with the aid of her Han, or to at least begin scouring the castle for Darken Rahl. Instead, she kept on beside him as he found a twisting narrow stairway leading down, and took the steps two at a time.
“Are you helping me search for my friends?” he asked at last, his tone hushed and incredulous.
She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I could kill you, Seeker, with no more effort than it takes you to lift your little finger. I’m still deciding if I will.”
Richard sighed. “Your life doesn’t have to be this way,” he said. “I know you’re used to killing. It was your life when you served the Keeper, but there are other things in life besides murder and power.”
Nicci shot him a dark, glowering look. “Spare me the talk of your precious love.”
“Why? Someone could love you, Nicci. There’s good in you. You spared my life.”
She said nothing. For a moment, she held his gaze in silence. Then she brushed past him, ducking into a corridor on her right. “The dungeons are this way,” she said.
“How do you know?” he asked, hurrying after her.
“I spent my time down here the past week,” said Nicci in a flat, emotionless voice. She shouldered her way through a half-open door, and a man in a D’Haran uniform looked up. Before he could even let out a shout, there was a flash of light from Nicci’s palm, and the guard fell dead, a look of surprise etched across his face. She stepped forward, and yanked a set of keys from the man’s belt, thrusting them at Richard. “Find your precious friends,” she said in a voice of bitter sarcasm. “I have a score to settle with Darken Rahl.”
“He’s here?”
“He likes to watch his Mord-Sith train,” said Nicci, and then she was gone, racing down the narrow stone hall, silent as a shadow on bare feet, her blue gown fluttering around her.
Richard gripped the iron circle heavy with old and rusted keys. It seemed an impossible task. The corridor was long and winding, and more soldiers and Mord-Sith could appear at any moment. He had no idea where to even begin his search. His heart longed to cry out for Kahlan, but he stifled the urge. That would only bring soldiers to him all the swifter.
He began to creep along the hall, sticking to the shadows. He passed empty cell after empty cell. It seemed that Darken Rahl, having only recently returned, had not yet accumulated an abundance of prisoners. His steps were just beginning to grow bolder when he heard someone whimper. Richard froze; the voice was soft and feminine, so very much like Kahlan’s. His heart began to race and he inched closer, and then he heard a man’s voice. A voice he knew all too well.
“Kahlan, try and understand,” said Rahl. “Richard is Nicci’s now. You will never see him again. You agreed to as much yourself. Surely you want children of your own. You would make D’Hara a lovely queen. Consider how it sounds. Queen Kahlan Rahl.”
Kahlan’s voice was laced with venom, “I will never be your queen.”
Richard shook with anger. As silently as he could, he began to search through the keys he held, desperate to get to her. He stayed in the shadows, struggling to stay out of Rahl’s sight, while still keeping an eye on Kahlan. She was pressed against a slimy, grime-streaked wall, her hands in thick iron cuffs chained above her head. Rahl stood far too close; Richard sorted faster through the keys.
“You may not know this, Mother Confessor, but your consent is not necessary for marriage in D’Hara. I can simply make you my queen.” He leaned closer, fingers biting into her waist, “Stake my claim in you.”
Richard saw red, nearly dropping the keys in his fury. “You’re like a spoiled child,’ hissed Kahlan. “All you will ever have is what you take. No one will ever love you freely, least of all me.”
Rahl hummed a thoughtful sound, trailing his fingers idly up her side. A shiver ran through her. “You do want Richard kept alive and well, don’t you?” he asked.
She paled visibly. “You need him alive,” she said in a thin, desperate voice. “You said as much yourself!”
“Only until Nicci gives me his son. After that…” Rahl trailed off with a shrug. He leaned close, his voice a harsh whisper in her ear that carried far in the stone dungeon. “You could buy him his freedom so easily, Kahlan.”
Richard finally reached a key that looked like it might fit, and tried to slip it silently into the door. He could see Kahlan trembling in her chains, with no means to push Rahl away from her. “Lord Rahl,” she pleaded. Richard prayed she wouldn’t feel the need to agree for his sake; he didn’t know how he would bear the guilt. “If I lie with you,” she began, and Richard felt sick. He tried to force the key into the lock, but it was an ill fit, and he couldn’t get it in. Rahl drew closer still, clearly excited by the progress he was making, when Kahlan brought her knee up hard to connect with his manhood. She spat at him as he crumpled to the ground, clutching himself and cursing her through his howls of pain.
Richard began rifling through the keys again. As soon as Rahl rose, he would be furious, and Kahlan defenseless. He had to get to her before that happened. In his haste, a key clanged against the bars on the cell door. Rahl looked up, and though Richard stood in shadows, he knew Rahl saw him. Still grimacing in pain, Rahl staggered to his feet, a hard look in his eyes. Staring straight at Richard, he whipped his arm out, backhanding Kahlan across the cheek. Her head thudded against the stone wall from the force of the blow. She didn’t cry out, just hissed in a short, pained gasp, but a bruise blossomed instantly on her beautiful face.
Richard felt his very blood boil. Even the ground beneath his feet seemed to heat. The rada’han burned so hot around his neck that he thought his skin should fry. In a haze, he flung out his arm, thinking only of his need to get to Kahlan. Instantly, the gate broke, iron bars flying as if they’d been hit by a blast. The explosion swept Rahl along with it, smashing him against the far wall. He collapsed lifeless to the ground, blood trickling from his ears. Kahlan looked up, half weeping his name. “Richard, you’re alive.” He hurried towards her as she let out a ragged sob, “I thought I’d never see you again.”
He began to rifle through the keys once more, picking a small one that looked like it might match the lock on her manacles. “It’s all right,” he promised. “I’m here.”
This time, the key slid in on the first try, and in the next moment, Kahlan was in his arms, peppering his face with kisses and tears. “My love,” she wept. He could feel her shaking, her fingers clawing at him like he might disappear.
“I’m here,” he said again and again. “I’m here, love. I’m here.” When she finally quieted, he reached up and gingerly cupped her bruised cheek in his hand. “Did he hurt you?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Just the bruise, and that’ll mend.” She tightened her grip on him, fresh tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Richard. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t let you die. Did Nicci hurt you? How did you get away?”
“Later,” he promised. He needed more time than they now had to explain what had happened with Nicci in that great, big bed.
She nodded, and then looked towards the gaping hole that had been a door. “How did you break down the door?”
“I have no idea,” he admitted. “I just had to get to you.”
“Richard, your rada’han…” He touched his neck instinctively, but it was bare. Bewildered, he looked down to find the ring of metal lying in pieces at his feet. “You’re using your gift,” said Kahlan in a wondering voice.
“I don’t understand,” he said again. “It… I can’t do it again.”
“That’s all right,” Kahlan reassured him. “Come on. We have to find Cara and Zedd.”
“They’re here?”
“Spirits, I hope so,” she said and grabbed his hand.
They had no sooner stepped out into the hall, then they heard the sound of thundering footsteps. Six D’Haran soldiers rounded the corner, weapons drawn, no doubt alerted by the sound of the blasted door. Before Richard could begin to feel fear at his and Kahlan’s own weaponless state, a now familiar sensation raced through him, that of his very blood heating. As if in response to his need, his palm began to tingle. “Get behind me,” he told Kahlan in a low voice.
She did as he said just as he thrust his hand out towards the soldiers, the skin on his palm now burning and tingling. Lighting burst from his hand like a storm in a bottle, leaping down the narrow hall with a bone splitting crack and a flash of blinding light. It filled the dungeon corridor and consumed the men. Together, he and Kahlan watched them fall.
“By the spirits, my boy. Not even I can do that.”
Richard whirled around. “Zedd,” he cried. His grandfather leaned against the wall, looking altogether too bruised and beaten, but his wrinkled face split in a proud grin. Richard raced down the hallway, tugging Kahlan by the hand. “Are you badly hurt?” he asked as he reached the old wizard.
“Nothing that can’t be fixed by a good night’s sleep,” said Zedd with a wink. “Cara took marvelous care of me.”
Richard stepped inside the open cell to find Cara standing over the body of a Mord-Sith, plucking an Agiel from the dead woman’s hand. She straightened up, sliding it into the holster at her hip. Four other deceased Mord-Sith littered the room.
Cara slinked towards them like a contended cat. “I was always the most talented of my sisters.”
“Cara, I could hug you right now,” said Richard.
She stopped short, a look of alarm crossing her face. “I prefer to accept your gratitude from afar.”
Richard laughed, hugging Kahlan another time instead. “I know.” He smiled his relief at his loved ones. “We should get out of here.” His hand reached instinctively for his sword, only to be reminded that it was gone when he grabbed nothing but air. “What about the sword,” he asked, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Did Rahl get it?”
“Not at all,” said Zedd, his eyes twinkling. He reached into the folds of his robes, pulling the sword out of thin air as surely as he had that very first time in Hartland. “Just a bit of wizard’s magic I did as a precaution. Perhaps it’s a trick I’ll now be teaching you.”
Richard said nothing, just reached for the sword. It felt almost as if his arm had been missing, and now he had it back. He led the way out into the hall, only to come face to face with Darken Rahl, this time with a Mord-Sith at his side.
“Surprised to see me?” asked Rahl. He rested his hand on the leather-clad shoulder of the young woman. “Celesia here brought me back.”
“Don’t use your magic, Richard,” warned Zedd. “Not in front of a Mord-Sith.”
Richard nodded. Even if he’d thought it would be a good strategy, he hadn’t the slightest idea how.
“This is how you repay me, brother?” asked Rahl. “With death and destruction? I saved your life.”
“You locked my friends in dungeons,” growled Richard. “You threatened Kahlan.” Whatever favor Rahl might’ve earned had disappeared the moment he laid a hand to Kahlan.
Rahl raised an eyebrow, stroking his fingers down his chin. “Are you so sure they’re your friends? Kahlan was quick to give you to the bed of another.”
He could see Kahlan’s shoulders tense out of the corner of his eye, and knew she felt guilt. “She did what she thought was best. There is nothing you could say that would ever make me doubt her.” She’d plunged a knife into his chest, and still he had not doubted her.
Rahl opened his mouth to respond when a blade erupted right where his heart beat, sputtering and spewing red. He sunk to his knees, revealing another Kahlan standing behind him in a flimsy blue gown. She smirked at Rahl and wrenched the blade; he died with a moan and a whimper. “Never used one of those before,” she said, dusting off her hands.
Before the Mord-Sith could reach for her Agiel, Cara was there, taking down her sister, her own Agiels singing pain and swift death. But Kahlan’s eyes were trained on the woman who resembled her exactly. “Is that Nicci?” she said in a quiet, hollow voice.
Richard nodded. “I’m afraid it is.”
“Should we finish what we started?” asked Nicci in a seductive tone, running a finger along the low, open collar of the blue gown. She smiled at Kahlan. “He very nearly bed me before we were interrupted.”
He held his hands up, “Kahlan, I stopped as soon as I realized. I swear.”
“I could have told you it wasn’t me right away,” said Kahlan, now glowering at Nicci. “I never would’ve worn such a frilly, insipid dressing gown.”
Richard felt his cheeks burn. “Change back, Nicci. You’ve had your revenge.”
She shrugged, and as she did, Kahlan seemed to dissolve, leaving a blonde haired woman in her place, her blue gown now the blackest black. “So you prefer blondes, Richard?”
He ignored the comment. “You’ve had your revenge. Rahl is dead. You’re free to leave this place.”
“Maybe I’m still trying to decide if I’ll kill you,” said Nicci.
“Lay one hand on him, and it will be I who kills you,” said Kahlan fiercely.
He laid a gentle hand on Kahlan’s arm. “She helped me escape. I never would have found you without her help.” Kahlan still looked as angry as he’d ever seen her outside of the Con Dar, but she said nothing. “You’re outnumbered,” he said as he looked back at Nicci, deliberately pulling Kahlan closer. “There’s nothing for you here, Nicci. Go.”
She looked into his eyes a long time, her face expressionless. “One day you will tire of daughters,” she said at last. “Come to me then, and I will give you the son you deserve.” She raised her arm, and in the next moment, she was gone in a rush of wind.
Richard turned to Kahlan at once. “I will never tire of daughters.”
She gave him a teary-eyed smile, and looped her arms around his neck. “Are you cross with me for giving you to Nicci?”
“I could never be cross with you. Are you cross with me for falling for her ploy as long as I did?”
She shook her head, but before she could speak, Cara chimed in, “Drag this reunion on any longer, and I’ll be cross enough for you both.”
Richard laughed and kissed Kahlan anyway, long and deep.