Chapter 14 - Traitor
Kahlan's breath caught in her throat, eyes widening in horror and disbelief as Rachel was brought into the room. The girl's face was bruised and swollen.
What had happened to her daughter?
Briefly, the mother overwhelmed the Confessor.
Someone had hurt her child.
But what was Rachel even doing here?
Her mind still reeling from shock, Kahlan looked over at her husband. The mute accusation on her face shook him to the core.
But his smile never wavered.
Darken would not permit this faithless creature – this traitor he had once called wife – to question his actions.
To blame him.
The guilt was hers.
And the shame.
She had hurt Rachel far more than he ever had.
Darken held Kahlan's gaze with his own, refusing to acknowledge the twisting in his gut. For an endless moment, the unspoken longing and despair of seventeen years vibrated between husband and wife.
"Egremont," Darken turned abruptly to the Captain, relieved for an excuse to escape those accusing eyes, "You and the others wait outside. I'll summon you when necessary."
"Yes, My Lord," the young man bowed and motioned for Mistress Theta to leave with him.
Alone with his wife and daughter, Darken closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He had been so cold – so sure - when he came to Kahlan's rooms this night.
He needed to hold on to that feeling.
That control.
"Why is Rachel here?" Kahlan asked, regaining her self-possession, "If you have something you need to discuss with me, she should be allowed to leave. It's clear that she needs to be attended to."
"That's not for you to decide!" he snapped. It was a little late for her to be playing the loving parent. "Kahlan, our daughter came to me tonight with a burden she has carried for too long. A secret you forced her to keep. She's told me everything, so there is no point in continuing this farce."
Now it was Darken's turn to accuse.
As it should be.
"Tell me, Wife, how could you have ever believed Rachel would carry out your mad scheme to send Richard back to destroy me? " Despite his determination to remain calm, Darken felt the familiar surge of rage running through his body.
"No," Kahlan shook her head, "there was no plan. I don't know why you keep talking about a plan. I trained Rachel to use her abilities, nothing more." She lowered her head, studying her fisted hands, and whispered, "Richard died seventeen years ago. I've learned to accept that."
Darken felt the heat rush into his face.
How stupid did she think he was?
"Whatever wild story Rachel told you was forced out of her," Kahlan continued, once again glaring at him, but now with a slight note of hysteria creeping into her voice. "Look at her! She's been beaten. What have you done to her to make her lie?"
Totally absorbed in their battle of wills, neither parent had yet spoken a word to their daughter, who had taken refuge on the other side of the room, trying to cover the side of her battered face with shaking hands.
But now, crossing over to Rachel, Darken gently placed his arms around the girl's frail shoulders. Something close to grief stabbed him as her body stiffened at his touch. "There's nothing to be afraid of, Rachel," he crooned softly, "she can't hurt you any longer."
His daughter looked at him for the first time since entering the room. "I'm not afraid of her, father."
Although stung by the quiet rebuke, Darken kept her in his embrace.
"See," Kahlan cried, grabbing at the slightest advantage," even your precious daughter fears you now. She would say anything to keep you from beating her again."
Darken wanted to snarl back at his wife, but the partial truth of her words stopped him. Rachel had no fear of telling the truth, but he had, regretfully, given her reason to fear him.
Looking at Rachel steadily, he willed her to understand his remorse, his need for her support, "Rachel, tell your mother the truth. Did I force you to tell me anything about Shota, or Richard Cypher, or the Prophecy?"
Rachel leveled a stare at both of her parents.
"No, father, " her voice was barely audible.
"Did you make up any of the things you told me this night?" he asked quietly.
"No, father," Rachel answered, unable to hold his gaze any longer. Despite the tension in the room , Darken felt absurdly grateful when her body relaxed slightly under his touch.
The gratitude turned to cold triumph as he strode back to Kahlan. "Look into your daughter's eyes, Confessor. Even with the rada'han around your neck, you know she's telling the truth," Darken's voice dripped with bitterness.
"Monster!" Kahlan spat back at him.
"Kahlan, your hypocrisy is astounding!" he rounded on her," What kind of mother toys with her own child for sixteen years while plotting her destruction? "
The self-righteous bitch!
Did she really believe she bore no responsibility for any of this?
"Perhaps the true monster is the one you see in your mirror. But then neither you nor my brother were ever honest about your own moral shortcomings."
Kahlan looked at him with loathing, yet some voice deep inside prodded her with the truth of his words.
She ignored it, turning her attention to Rachel.
Kahlan beseeched her daughter, "Darling, why are you doing this to me? I'm your mother."
The girl choked back a sob of despair.
"Mother, I'm sorry but I couldn't do it anymore. I am so tired of all of the secrets - so tired," she was frantic to make her mother understand. "I couldn't hurt my father, but I never wanted to hurt you. I was angry, upset. I just didn't think."
Kahlan was desperate now. Everything hung in the balance. She had to do this for Richard. "Rachel – you swore a solemn oath to me."
"I'm sorry, Mother, I'm so sorry. I didn't understand what I was promising." For the first time since joining her parents, Rachel raised her own voice, "it was wrong of you not to tell me what it would mean."
Swift as a cat, Kahlan stood up and lashed out with her hand. Darken grabbed her wrist before her palm could strike Rachel's face.
Kahlan's whole body sagged like a broken doll.
It was over.
The long years of planning, teaching and waiting – wasted.
Because of the selfishness of a spoiled child.
Rachel and her father deserved each other.
Kahlan crumpled slowly to the floor on her hands and knees. "Traitor!" she hissed feebly at her daughter. "Do you have any idea what you have done? You've betrayed me, you've betrayed the Seeker, you've betrayed every man, woman and child who have suffered at this demon's hands."
She moaned softly, "You were our only hope, and look at what you've done."
It had all been for nothing.
"Do you honestly believe that this man loves you? That he is even capable of love?" unable to stop herself, swept by both anguish and anger, Kahlan goaded her betrayer.
What did any of it matter now?
"Your father cares about one thing, and one thing only, " Kahlan continued harshly, "he wants power, and will use you in any way possible to maintain that power. You are a fool if you can't understand that."
Richard was never coming back to her. How could she bear it?
She wouldn't have to. She would be dead by morning.
Executed.
Kahlan welcomed death. Finally to escape this hated life that held nothing for her anymore. Someday Richard would join her in the Underworld, and she would be his Confessor once more.
But she would not be led off in defeat before flinging one last weapon at his greatest enemy. The one person who had defeated the Seeker.
It was not Darken Rahl.
"I wish to the Creator you had never been born," Kahlan stared evenly at Rachel. There was no mistaking the truth in her eyes.
"I know you do, Mother," Rachel had retreated to a small corner of her mind, the only escape from the quiet, cold words echoing in the room.
Tonight she had seen the truth in the eyes of both her parents.
Darken motioned to Egremont.
Enough was enough. There was no need to make the girl witness any more.
"Take her back to my rooms and see that she's cared for," he instructed quietly. As Rachel was led from the room, he turned back to his wife.
Kahlan had begun an eerie keening that made his skin crawl. She lay on the floor, curled up on her side.
He looked away in distaste. He found it hard to believe that he had once been so fascinated by this woman. Whatever power she had ever held over him was gone.
She was the traitor, not Rachel, and the penalty for treason was death.
Death was too good for her.
Darken knelt next to his wife. It would be the last time they would ever be this close, and he never wanted her to forget it.
In an intimate voice that only she could hear, he pronounced her sentence:
"Although your treachery merits death, I will be merciful. You will want for nothing, but will live in these two rooms until the day you die. By tomorrow morning every window will be a walled by stone. You'll never see the sun again, or draw a breath of fresh air. You and Alice can spend the rest of your worthless lives knowing that you failed, and I have won."
Darken paused, considering, then continued, " if you die by your own hand, be assured that I will kill every member of Alice's family. I want you to have a very long life. For obvious reasons, I can't extend the same mercy to Shota. She will be dead by the morrow."
He reached over and, for the final time, cupped Kahlan's face in his hand. Gently, he leaned into her so close that his lips brushed her ear.
"Just one more thing, my love. I won't forget about Richard. You may once have prevented me from confessing my little brother, but you will never be able to protect him from your own granddaughter. Once Richard provides her with the Boxes of Orden, nothing can stop our descendants from holding ultimate power."
Darken shook his head regretfully at her lack of response.
"I thought that would make you proud, but apparently, I was wrong. You have no family loyalty, Kahlan."
Darken Rahl kissed his wife softly on the cheek, then walked out of the room without a backward glance, smiling as he closed the door behind him.
His wife would finally get what she had always wanted.
She would never have to look at him again.