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“No, Lord Rahl. She was a… a woman who… she accepted money in return for…”
“If you’re trying to say she was a whore, general,” Kahlan said, “I’ve heard the word before. I won’t faint if I hear it again.”
“Yes, Mother Confessor.” He turned his attention back to Richard. “She was found dead this morning.”
“What happened to her? How was she killed?”
The general was looking more uncomfortable by the moment. “Lord Rahl, I’ve been looking at dead people a lot of years. I can’t remember the last time I vomited when I saw one.”
Richard rested a hand on one of the leather pouches on his wide belt. “What was done to her?”
The general glanced to Kahlan as if to beg her indulgence as he put an arm around Richard’s shoulder and pulled him aside. Kahlan couldn’t hear the whispered words, but the look on Richard’s face told her she didn’t want to know.
Richard went to the hearth and stood staring into the flames.
“I’m sorry. But you must have men who can look into it. Why are you bringing this to me?”
The general grimaced and cleared his throat. “Ah, well, you see, Lord Rahl, it was, well, it was your brother who found her.”
Richard turned with a dark frown. “What was Drefan doing at a house of prostitution?”
“Ah, well, I asked him that myself, Lord Rahl. He doesn’t seem to me a man who would have any trouble”—the general wiped a hand across his face—“I asked him, and he said that it was his business, not mine, if he wanted to go to whorehouses.”
Kahlan could see the tightly controlled anger etched in Richard’s expression. He abruptly snatched his gold cloak from a chair.
“Let’s go. Take me there. Take me where Drefan goes. I want to talk to the people there.”
Kahlan and General Kerson rushed after Richard as he swept out the door. She caught his sleeve and glanced to the general.
“General, could you give us a moment, please?”
After he moved down the hall, Kahlan pulled Richard in the other direction, away from Cara, Raina, Ulic, and Egan. She didn’t think that Richard was in any mood at the moment to be looking into such a thing. Besides, she had come to him for a reason.
“Richard, there are representatives waiting to meet with us. They’ve been waiting days.”
“Drefan is my brother.”
“He’s also a grown man.”
Richard rubbed his eyes. “I need to see about this, and I have a lot of other things on my mind. Would you mind talking to the representatives? Tell them that I was called away on important matters, and that they can just as easily give their land’s surrender to you and then all the arrangements of command can begin to be coordinated?”
“I can. I know that some of them would be just as happy to talk to me and not have to face you, even in surrender; they’re terrified of you.”
“I wouldn’t hurt them,” Richard objected.
“Richard, you frightened the wits out of them, before, when you demanded their surrender. You promised to annihilate them if they dared join with the Imperial Order.
“They fear you might do it anyway, on a whim. The reputation of the Master of D’Hara precedes you, and you fed their fears. You can’t expect that they’ll suddenly be at ease around you just because they agree to your terms.”
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Well, just tell them how lovable I am.”
“I can tell them that you look forward to working with them for our mutual peace and prosperity,” she said with a smile. “They trust me, and will listen.
“But Tristan Bashkar, the Jarian minister, is here, along with a pair from the royal house in Grennidon. These three are the important ones, the ones with huge standing armies. They’re expecting to meet with you. It is they who may not be satisfied to surrender to me. They will want to discuss terms.”
“Make them satisfied.”
“Tristan Bashkar is not an affable man but a tough negotiator, as are Leonora and Walter Cholbane, from Grennidon.”
“That’s one reason I ended the Midlands alliance: too many wish to argue and posture. Arguing and posturing are over. The terms of surrender are unconditional.” Richard hooked a thumb behind his wide leather belt. His expression hardened. “The terms are fair to all, the same for all, and are not subject to discussion. They’re either with us or against us.”
Kahlan dragged a finger down the black sleeve of his shirt, over the rise and fall of his muscles. He’d been busy with the journal. It had been too long since she’d been in those arms.
“Richard, you depend on me for advice. I know these lands. Just having them agree is not the only aim. There will be need for sacrifice. We need their full cooperation in this war.
“You are Lord Rahl, the Master of D’Hara. You made the demands. You said that surrender, while unconditional, will be handled with respect for their people. I know these representatives. They will expect to see you, as a matter of your respect for them.”
“You are the Mother Confessor. We are one, in this as in everything else. You led these people long before I came along. You have no less standing than I. You have had their respect a good long time. Remind them of that.”
Richard directed a brief gaze up the hall to the waiting general, and the others. He looked back into her eyes.
“It may not be any of General Kerson’s business, as far as Drefan is concerned, but it is mine; I’ll not be deceived by another brother. From what you’ve said, and others have told me, he already has women in the palace fawning over him. If he catches something from those whores and then gives it to the young women here… that’s my business.
“I’ll not have it be my brother bringing diseases to innocent women here who trust him because he’s my brother.”
Sarah, the woman who had been bringing tea to Richard, was young and trusting. She was one of the women captivated by Drefan.
Kahlan rubbed his back. “I understand. If you promise you will get some sleep, I’ll go talk with the representatives. When you have time to talk to them, then you will talk to them. They have no choice but to wait. You are the Lord Rahl.”
Richard bent and kissed her cheek. “I love you.”
“Then marry me.”
“Soon. We’ll go wake the sliph soon.”
“Richard, you be careful. Marlin said that the Sister of the Dark—I don’t remember her name—left Aydindril and returned to Jagang, but he may be lying. She could still be out there.”
“Sister Amelia. You know, I remember her. When I first went to the Palace of the Prophets, she was one of Verna’s friends who met us: Sisters Phoebe, Janet, and Amelia. I remember Amelia’s tears of joy at seeing Verna after all thos
e years.”
“Jagang has her now.”
He nodded. “Verna must be heartbroken that her friend is in Jagang’s hands, and worse, that she’s a Sister of the Dark. If Verna even knows.”
“You be careful. Despite what Jagang says, she may still be lurking in Aydindril.”
“I doubt it, but I’ll be careful.”
He turned and signaled to Cara. She sprinted up the hall.
“Cara, I’d like you to go with Kahlan. Let Berdine get some rest. I’ll take Raina, Ulic, and Egan with me.”
“Yes, Lord Rahl. I will keep her safe.”
Richard smiled. “I know you will, Cara, but that’s not going to get you out of your punishment.”
She betrayed no emotion. “Yes, Lord Rahl.”
“What punishment?” Kahlan asked when they were out of earshot.
“An unjust one, Mother Confessor.”
“That bad. What is it?”
“I am to feed seeds to his chipmunks.”
Kahlan suppressed a smile. “That doesn’t sound so bad, Cara.”
Cara flipped her Agiel up into her fist. “That is why it is unjust, Mother Confessor.”
26
Kahlan sat alone in the ornate chair of the Mother Confessor, the tallest one behind the semicircular dais, under the ornate fresco of Magda Searus, the first Mother Confessor, and her wizard, Merritt. They were painted onto the dome that capped the enormous council chambers. Kahlan watched the representatives approaching across the expanse of marble before her.
From her place of honor overhead, Magda Searus had witnessed the long history that was the Midlands alliance. She had witnessed, too, Richard ending it. Kahlan prayed that Magda Searus’s spirit would understand and approve of his reasons; they were benevolent, despite what it must seem to some.
Cara stood behind Kahlan’s right shoulder. Kahlan had hastily gathered a number of administrators to handle matters of state, such as the signing of documents of surrender and trade instructions, and several D’Haran officers to oversee matters of command. They all waited silently behind her left shoulder.
Kahlan tried to focus her mind on the things she must say and do, but Richard’s words about the Temple of the Winds made it hard to think of anything else. He thought the Temple of the Winds was sentient. The winds were hunting Richard. The Temple of the Winds was hunting him. That threat lurked in every dark corner of her mind.
