Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth - Chapter 13: Revenge

[brontefanatic]

Title: Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth
Pairing: Darken/Kahlan with references to past Darken/Cara and RIchard/Kahlan
Length: 2000
Rating: T
Spoilers: Set in the "Reckoning" AU with additional facts learned in "Eternity
Summary: A husband and wife reunion

Comments

[dorothydeath]

The girl didn’t need to know everything.

Only enough to play her part.

So horrible and so sick!

Her next words lodged in her throat as someone else entered the room. Not with the clatter of hard-soled boots, but silently.
That was the most perfect entrance ever!

“I seem to have disturbed your rest. I see you so rarely. I do not know what hours you keep.”
Love how he plays her.

“I can see you don’t agree. I can’t tell you how much that saddens me.”
This line is so Darken! I can hear him saying that.

You would never have crawled into my bed in exchange for a few hospitals and orphanages if you believed Richard was still alive. Only a whore would have done that.
Good point.

“You really have no loyalty to anyone at all, do you, Kahlan? Not to Richard, not to me, not to Alice. Not even to your own child.”
And that's the terrible truth.

He would not allow pity or weakness to interfere with this moment of victory.Scary

[brontefanatic]

Thanks!

I was very worried about writing Darken and Kahlan - it's the first time they really interact in my story and I was afraid I wouldn't get it right.

I do think Darken would have enjoyed toying with Kahlan before confronting her with his knowledge, and that he would relish revealing his relationship with Richard.

I believe Darken really cared for Kahlan in the early years of their marriage and made a genuine effort to gain her affection. But - the whole situation, his own selfishness and emotional limitations, and Kahlan's loyalty to Richard above everything else - made it impossible from the beginning.

I always appreciate your comments.

[dorothydeath]

I was afraid I wouldn't get it right.
Oh, you got it!

I do think Darken would have enjoyed toying with Kahlan before confronting her with his knowledge, and that he would relish revealing his relationship with Richard.
Yeah, I too think he would have found a perverse pleasure in this overall very painful situation.

I believe Darken really cared for Kahlan in the early years of their marriage and made a genuine effort to gain her affection.
I believe so, too.

made it impossible from the beginning.
True. And that's making me so sad. It all could have been so different if they would just... ah, all those what ifs...

Thank you! ^_^

[meridian_rose]

Very intense. I was very scared for Alice, as Kahlan must have been. Darken's approach is very in character, the toying with Kahlan's emotions in particular. Yet he's hurt by her betrayal, and some of his anger is understandable.

[brontefanatic]

Thanks!

(For some reason I'm not getting e-mail notifications of lj comments - don't know what's going on!)

"Yet he's hurt by her betrayal, and some of his anger is understandable." Yes, and what better way to retaliate than by taunting her about being disloyal to Richard by sleeping with his enemy (and brother)?

I'm not so sure Kahlan is as concerned about Alice as she should be - given Alice's loyalty to her.

It was hard trying to get into the minds of both Darken and Kahlan, and I was concerned that their encounter wouldn't ring true.

[vorquellyn]

I like the way you show Kahlan's thought processes. And I think that you're right in that while Darken has a lot of hurt, hate, and rage locked up inside, it's directed at only a few specific people. Everything else gets blasted because it's between him and his target.

Really, neither of them deserve Rachel.

[brontefanatic]

"Really, neither of them deserve Rachel." - No, they don't.

"Everything else gets blasted because it's between him and his target." - Including his own child.

Thanks for reading!

[dorothydeath]

Including his own child.
OMG! No, no, no! That just cannot happen! It's too cruel!
He loves her. Despite everything he loves her. OMG! OMG! OMG!

"Really, neither of them deserve Rachel." - No, they don't.
Let us not forget that in any relationship between two people the responsibility lies upon both sides in equal measure.
You can't say that what's happening between Kahlan and Rachel or Darken and Rachel is not her fault at all. Her fault is exactly 50%. As say basic psychology and the third Newton's law.

Sorry for the intrusion.
Couldn't keep my mouth shut. x_x

[brontefanatic]

"Including his own child." - I was referring to what Darken already did to Rachel in the previous chapter.

[hrhrionastar]

Ooh, so creepy! I like how Darken taunts Kahlan - once again, one feels she hasn't thought the whole thing through. Did she ever have a plan for what to do if Darken found out?

“You really have no loyalty to anyone at all, do you, Kahlan? Not to Richard, not to me, not to Alice. Not even to your own child.” Sad, but true - in Denna, Shota said the one in white would betray Richard, so Kahlan left him to the clutches of the Mord'Sith - meaning to protect him, but betraying him anyway. And she does the same in Reckoning - by agreeing to marry Darken, and probably most of all by plotting to erase her own child from history. (I still think Richard would never go back in time if he met Rachel and thought she was a good ruler. With Nicholas, there was destruction everywhere and the apocalypse seemed around the corner - hopefully, Rachel won't let that happen.)

Darken turned away, almost overcome by a wave of self-loathing. I like how you show him as conflicted. He really does love Rachel, but for him hatred is stronger - hatred of Panis

[brontefanatic]

Thanks for reading - I always enjoy your thoughtful reactions. I was very worried about writing Darken/Kahlan

[dorothydeath]

Please don't hate me... again I can't shut up...

he cannot understand how Rachel could possibly want to protect a person who betrayed her so deeply - as deeply as his father betrayed him.
Darken did forgive his father in Vengeance. And admitted to Jennsen that he wanted to be loved in Fever. And to Richard - that it was nice being in the company of one's family in Extinction.

Don't you think you give him a little bit too little credit in the emotional department?

Of course, Darken is absolutely in character here and in the previous chapters.

I'm just so worried about what happens next and I try to find as many excuses for him not hurting Rachel further as possible.

Sorry.
I don't know how you can stand me. I can't stand me.
Shutting up now at last.

[hrhrionastar]

Darken did forgive his father in Vengeance. And admitted to Jennsen that he wanted to be loved in Fever. And to Richard - that it was nice being in the company of one's family in Extinction. Darken said he forgave his father. And although I think he meant it, you have to admit he doesn't always tell the truth. But that was after killing Panis, living many years without him, dying, having to serve the Keeper, who, let's face it, is much eviler than any mortal person could be - or at least is portrayed that way on the show... Remember, the Keeper betrayed Darken too, fooling him into becoming a baneling without giving him any actual power, and probably even telling him about the Boxes of Orden, only to say, once Darken gets to the Underworld, your death opened a rift, which was my plan all along, Mwah-hah-hah...

And then, admitting he wanted to be loved isn't the same as trying to protect Jennsen after she betrays him...what would've happened if/when they saw each other again? (Alas for no season 3

[pristineungift]

Aaaaiieeeee, this chapter is so intense. I want to keep reading, but I'm about to faceplant on my desk. @_@

More coherent review tomorrow!