A/N: Hey. Sorry about the delay. My husky died almost a month ago and that fucked me up. Still fucked up. Anyway, here's the next part. I'll probably work on the next part tomorrow I hope.


"How is there no trace anymore, Zedd? How?"

He sighed, long and heavy. Looking into blue eyes, he knew her rising voice wasn't directed at him. Her eyes were cold and her face was neutral, but there was an absolute storm within her that raged so intensely that anyone within ten feet of her felt uncomfortable. "My guess is magic, my dear. I actually think some of the tracks we've been following were fabricated. We can only guess where they took Cara."

Kahlan's jaw clenched. Her eye twitched.

When her fingers curled into a fist, Zedd expected her to punch the tree next to them. She was realizing, or already had realized, something he'd begun noticing some time ago. He loved her as dearly as Richard, so he always feared the outcome of when this truth came to light.

Except affairs of the heart tended to become absolutely clear in exceptional circumstances.

Blue eyes closed, but her fist remained tense. "She didn't even want to see if it was true that her son lived. She walked into this trap because I pressed her. I put two lives at risk and Creator knows however many else as a result."

Richard approached, talking as he did. "This isn't your fault, Kahlan. Cara and I had no chance."

Zedd's shoulders sank as Kahlan whipped around to face him.

"Yet here you stand."

Richard stopped short. His hand fell to his sword, a frown tugging at his mouth. "There was nothing I could do."

"Except run away."

"Cara yelled at me to!" He jabbed a finger toward her. Open anger mixed with something else to darken his expression. "I tried, Kahlan, I did. The compass was broken and I was nearly killed. My friend hurled her agiel into my face and threw herself into three Mord'Sith, screaming for me to run. You think it was fun for me?"

As Kahlan's eyes darted to a tear leaking out of his eye, she placed the other emotion on his face. Pain. He had said something else, but she hadn't heard it. She could only focus on the unforgiving, endless ache within her chest. She could only focus on the fact the world no longer held color. "What do you know of pain?" she whispered.

Richard jerked back, surprised and angered by her words. "My friend could be dead, Kahlan. Dead. Dead to make sure I lived. To make sure someone would stand by you and—"

Her hand struck his shoulder. "It should be her!"

In the silence, in the surge of her storm, they stared at each other.

Richard's hand slipped from his sword. His face twisted. "You love her."

Blue eyes drifted away.

He grabbed her shoulders, tears freely leaving his eyes. "Do you? Do you love her?"

Zedd sighed.

It was obvious from his tone he hoped she would deny it. Maybe embrace him and tell him that no, she loved him. That she only worried deeply for her friend.

She didn't look at him. "I don't know when I stopped loving you."

His fingers gripped her dress as though he might drown without her. "Kahlan. Please. Kahlan." He choked on a sob.

Kahlan touched her fingers to her own chest. "I only know this. I only know I don't care if the Keeper wins or not. I only know that if she's not here, I don't care about anything. There isn't a point."

Unintentionally, he shook her lightly, desperately. "How long?"

"I can't tell you what I don't know."

He fell to his knees at her feet. His forehead rested against her as he cried, open and broken.

Kahlan ran her fingers through his hair on instinct, the only consolation she could offer.

A few minutes after he had stilled, he spoke quietly against her hip. "We have to find her, but I don't know how. We've been looking for over a week. I don't know what to do."

Kahlan's fingers stopped in his hair. "You would continue?"

"I love you," he said sadly. "Through everything, you are my dearest friend."

"But you can't speak for when this is over." She knew the answer before his lips moved.

"No."

There they all remained, each lost within themselves. Zedd stared at them, a distinct sadness in his eyes and a heavy weariness in his bones. Richard's forehead still rested against Kahlan, but his shoulders no longer shook. Kahlan's hand lingered in his hair as she stared past the clearing, absolutely certain something was coming. Or someone. The feeling sang in her blood and she couldn't figure out if it was the woman or the Confessor in her that sensed it.

Eventually, Kahlan spoke. "I'm not confident we can take an entire Temple and Darken Rahl. Even without magic, he's masterful with a sword."

"I believe he's swayed a few Sisters of the Dark to his cause as well," Zedd muttered, possibly only to himself.

"I'll cut them all down."

Richard's misplaced anger was no surprise to any of them, but it made Kahlan at last distance herself from him. When he looked up, she offered her hand and helped him to his feet. They both looked away sharply.

After a pained silence, Richard asked, "What's our move?"

"Theirs," said a smooth voice beyond the trees.

Of all people to show themselves, Denna emerged with half a dozen Mord'Sith flanking her. She smiled, something glittering in her eyes. "I've been looking for you the past few days. We have a common goal, Kahlan Amnell."

Kahlan stopped Richard's hand from going to his sword. She stepped away from him and Zedd as the blonde left her fellow Mord'Sith to meet Kahlan halfway. "What goal is that?"

"To pull someone I genuinely respect from the maw of an animal that needs to be put down."

Kahlan placed the emotion in Denna's eyes, mirroring her own.

Hate.

She thought she knew it well, as a Confessor, as someone who'd had nearly everything taken from her. But upon finding out Cara was gone, upon the black rage that screamed within the cage of control she had constructed around her power, upon the violent pain that tore through her… She realized she had known nothing of hate. Now, it encased her and leaked out in a way that she wasn't entirely convinced the Con Dar didn't hold her. It mixed with rage, and anguish. It clawed through her chest and up her throat. It even lashed out at her for being too naïve to comprehend her feelings before the chance was taken from her, for maybe never having the chance to explore them.

Slowly, she touched her fist to her chest, and Denna returned the salute, a bitter smile twisting her lips.

Today, they were twin swimmers in the waters of pain, of justice.

Today, Kahlan Amnell promised herself to learn what truly lurked in the darkness of hatred.