“Must have been a hard life.”
Drefan turned his back on them and seemed to stare into the candles for a time before he went on.
“It was life. The only life I knew. But I do know that I was woefully tired of living each day in fear that he might come.”
“He’s dead,” Richard said. “You no longer have to fear him.”
“That is why I’m here. When I felt the bond break, and it was later confirmed that he was dead, I decided that I would end my private terror. I’ve been guarded since the moment I arrived. I knew I wasn’t free to leave this room. I know the reputation of the guards you surround yourself with. That was all part of the chance I took to come here.
“I didn’t know if the new Lord Rahl would want me eliminated, too, but I decided to end the constant death sentence hanging over my head. I’ve come to offer my services to the Master of D’Hara if he will have me; or, if it is his will, that my life be forfeit for my crime of birth.
“Either way, it will be over. I want it over.”
Drefan, his eyes watering, turned to face Richard.
“There you have it, Lord Rahl. Either forgive me, or kill me. I don’t know that I much care which anymore, but I beg you to end it—one way or the other.”
His chest rose and fell with labored breaths.
Richard appraised his half brother in the dragging silence. Kahlan could only imagine what Richard must be thinking, at the emotions of those deliberations, at the painful shadows of the past, and the light of hope for what might be.
At last, he held his hand out.
“I’m Richard, Drefan. Welcome to the new D’Hara, a D’Hara that fights for freedom from terror. We fight that none have to live in fear, as you have done.”
The two men clasped wrists. Their big, powerful hands were the same size.
“Thank you,” Drefan whispered. “Richard.”
18
“I heard that you saved Cara’s life,” Richard said. “I want to thank you. It must have been hard, knowing that she was one of my guards who might end up harming you… if things didn’t go right for you.”
“I’m a healer. It’s what I do—Richard. I’m afraid I may have trouble calling you anything but Lord Rahl—for a time, anyway. I feel the bond to you, to you as the Lord Rahl.”
Richard shrugged self-consciously. “I’m still having trouble getting used to people calling me Lord Rahl.” He stroked a finger along his lower lip. “Do we… do you know if we… have any other half brothers, or sisters?”
“I’m sure we must. Some must have survived. I’ve heard a rumor that we have a younger sister, at least.”
“Sister?” Richard grinned. “Really? A sister? Where do you think she is? Do you know her name?”
“I’m sorry Lord… Richard, but all I know is the name: Lindie. The words passed on to me said that if she is still alive, she would be perhaps as much as fourteen years. The person who told me her name said that all he knew was her first name, Lindie, and that she was born in D’Hara, to the southwest of the People’s Palace.”
“Anything else?”
“I’m afraid not. You have now heard everything I know.” Drefan turned to Kahlan. “How are you feeling? Did the herb woman, what was her name, stitch you up properly?”
“Yes,” Kahlan said, “Nadine did fine. It hurts some, and I have a headache, I guess from everything that’s happened. I didn’t sleep well last night with the ache of my shoulder, but that’s to be expected. I’m fine.”
He moved toward her, and before she knew it, he had her arm in his hand. He lifted it, twisted it, and pulled it, asking each time where it hurt. When he had satisfied himself, he moved around behind her and gripped her collarbone with his fingers while pressing his thumbs to the base of her neck. Pain shot up her spine. The room swam.
He pressed under her arm, and at the back of her shoulder. “There. How’s that?”
Kahlan rotated her arm, finding the pain greatly diminished. “Much better. Thank you.”
“Just be careful with it; I’ve numbed some of the pain, but it still must heal before you put it to heavy use. Do you still have the headache?” Kahlan nodded. “Let me see what I can do for that.”
He pulled her by the hand back toward the table and sat her in a chair. He towered over her, blocking her view of Richard.
Drefan pulled her arms out toward himself, squeezing and manipulating the webs between her first fingers and thumbs. His hands made hers seem so small. He had hands like Richard: big, and powerful, though less callused. He was hurting her, he was pressing so hard, but she didn’t voice a complaint, thinking he must know what he was doing.
With him standing right in front of her, she had to turn her eyes up lest she be forced to stare at his tight trousers. Kahlan watched his hands kneading hers—his fingers working over her flesh. She remembered his hand on Cara. She vividly recalled those strong fingers working their way down under Cara’s red leather and between her legs. Working into her.
Kahlan abruptly jerked her hands away.
“Thank you, that’s much better,” she lied.
He smiled down at her with a penetrating, hawklike, blue-eyed, Rahl gaze. “I’ve never healed a headache so quickly. Are you sure it’s better?”
“Yes. It was just a little headache. It’s gone now. Thank you.”
“Glad to help,” he said. He watched her for a long moment, the little smile still on his lips. Finally, he turned to Richard.
“I was told that you are to be wedded to the Mother Confessor, here. You are a very different sort of Lord Rahl from our father; Darken Rahl would never have considered marriage for himself. Of course, he probably was never tempted into marriage by one so beautiful as your betrothed. May I offer my congratulations? When’s the wedding?”
“Soon,” Kahlan interjected as she moved to Richard’s side.
“That’s right,” Richard said. “Soon. We don’t know the exact date, yet. We… have a few things to work out.
“Look, Drefan, I could use your help. We have a number of wounded men, and some of them are in grave condition. They were wounded by the same man who hurt Cara. I’d really appreciate it if you’d see what you could do to help them.”
Drefan retrieved his knives, slipping them away without having to look at what he was doing. “That’s what I’m here for: to help.” He headed for the door.
Richard caught his arm. “You’d better let me go first. Until I change the orders, you will die if you step out of a room before me. We don’t want that.”
As Richard took Kahlan’s arm and turned toward the door, she met Cara’s eyes for an instant. Her hearing wasn’t affected, Drefan had said. She could hear everything, even though she couldn’t react. She had to have heard Kahlan warn him not to put his hand on her there again. She had to have known what Drefan had been doing, but she had been unable to do anything stop him. Kahlan’s face heated at the memory.
She turned and hugged Richard’s waist as they went through the door.
Richard looked up and down the quiet hall, and when he saw no one, he backed her to the paneled wall outside her rooms and pressed a kiss to her lips. She was glad that Drefan had eased the pain in her arm earlier in the day; it hardly hurt to circle both arms around Richard’s neck.
She moaned against his mouth. She was tired from the long day, and her arm did still hurt just a bit, but it wasn’t weariness or discomfort that drove out the moan—it was longing.
He drew her into his arms and turned so that he was leaning his back against the wall instead. His powerful arms crushed her to him, almost lifting her toes from the floor as his kiss became more insistent. She returned it in kind. She pulled his lower lip through her teeth and then backed away for a breath.
“I can’t believe Nancy or one of her women isn’t here, waiting for us,” Richard said.
He had left their guards farther up the hall, around the corner. They were at last alone—a rare luxury. Even though she had grown up with p
eople always around, she now found their constant presence wearing. There was great value in simply being alone.
Kahlan gave his lips a quick lick and a kiss. “I don’t think Nancy will be bothering us.”
“Really?” Richard asked with a sly grin. “Why, Mother Confessor, who will protect your virtue?”
Her lips brushed his. “Dear spirits, no one, I pray.”
He surprised her with an abrupt change of topic. “What do you think of Drefan?”
That was a question she was not prepared to answer. “What do you think of him?”
“I’d like to have a brother I could trust and believe in. He’s a healer. The surgeon was impressed with the way he helped some of those men. He said that at least one of them will live only because of what Drefan did for him. Nadine was more than a little curious about some of the compounds he carries in the leather pouches at his belt. I’d like to think that I have a brother who helps people. Nothing seems so noble as that.”
“Do you think he has magic?”
“I didn’t see any trace of it in his eyes. I’m sure I would have been able to tell. I can’t explain how I can sense magic, now, how I can see it sometimes sparkle in the air about a person, or show in their eyes, but I didn’t see any of that with Drefan. I think that he is simply a talented healer.
“I’m grateful that he saved Cara. At least he said he saved her. What if she had recovered on her own after Marlin was dead and her link with him was broken?”
Kahlan hadn’t thought of that. “So, you don’t trust him?”
“I don’t know. I still don’t believe in coincidence.” He sighed in frustration. “Kahlan, I need you to be honest, and not let me be blinded because he’s my brother and I want to trust him. I haven’t proven a very good judge of brothers. If you have any reason to doubt him, I want to hear about it.”
“All right. That seems fair.”
He tipped his head toward her. “For example, you can tell me why you lied to him.”
Kahlan frowned. “What do you mean?”