Hello, is there anyone here? New chapter is up, I hope you'll enjoy it. Please let me know what you think!
They awoke by the sound of several louds knocks at the door. Kahlan groaned and pressed her body against Richard's.
"Make them go away." She mumbled, placing a small kiss on his neck.
"It's your room, Mother Confessor." Richard replied, kissing her on the top of the head and tightening his hold on her.
"Open this door or I'll burst it open." They heard Cara yell.
"It's your Mord'Sith." Kahlan said.
Richard groaned and reluctantly got up to open the door of the room.
"What is it Cara?" He abruptly asked.
"The prisoner has requested to see the Mother Confessor." The Mord'Sith explained. Hearing her name, Kahlan sat up in her bed.
"And it couldn't wait a little while longer why?" Richard asked, not pleased that Cara had waken them both.
"It's almost time for lunch and I really wanted to know if you were in here wasting time sleeping or being busy with more interesting things." She replied with a wicked smile.
Richard sighed and Cara added: "But you and the Mother Confessor being fully dressed is attesting of major boredom."
"That will be all, thank you Cara." Richard said and closed the door before she had time to add anything else.
Walking back toward the bed, he gave a smile at Kahlan and she asked: "The prisoner?"
Richard cleared his throat and sat on the bed next to her before replying: "Prince Travis. When you… when you died, he got free from confession. He tried to kill me and he used his powers on you, that makes him a traitor. He's been in a cell ever since, he went there willingly, ashamed of what he did to us."
"Oh…" Was all Kahlan could say.
"I think he prefers to be here in a cell than to go back to Tractan where he'll be executed." Richard stated.
Kahlan looked down, thinking again about the latest events. Noticing the change in her attitude Richard said: "Hey, let's not think about it."
She nodded and he added: "What do you want to do today? We could start with breakfast."
"Cara said it was already lunch time." She told him with a smile.
"Well, we overslept a little, but we could still sneak in the kitchens." He replied with a shrug.
"Actually… I was thinking about having a bath and then asking for food to be brought here." Kaklan told him.
"It seems very good to me. Let me get Sylvia." Richard replied. He was about to leave but she stopped him by grabbing his arm.
"They're going to want to see me." She almost whispered.
"Who?" He asked.
"The Council. They will ask about my mate, they will want to know what happened." She said.
"Let's worry about this later my love. I just want you to have a day to yourself, to rest and feel good. When you are ready, we will deal with the Council and Travis." He told her, looking straight in her eyes and brushing her cheek with his thumb.
He gave her a kiss on the forehead and tried to get up but she stopped him once again, hugging him tight. She rested her head on his shoulder and told him: "I love you."
"I love you too." He replied, hugging her with the same force but being careful not to crush her. He ran softly his a hand in her hair and said: "Now, if you let me go, I'll find Sylvia and ask her for hot water and food. I won't be gone for long, I promise."
"It feels good in your arms." She mumbled.
Richard chuckled and said: "I know. But I can't let us starve."
He loved those moments with her, the moments she was just Kahlan, when she needed him, when she wasn't afraid to appear weak, crazy or in love, when she would smile at him for no reason or tease him. He hoped it could last forever, being just together, enclosed in her room or in any room. But soon, the rest of the world would sneak back between them, the Council, Prince Travis, the Keeper, Zedd, Cara… But he was determined to make the best of the time they had just for the two of them.
Pulling away from her, he gave her a warm smile and said: "I'll be right back."
She nodded and quickly lied down under the covers until Richard came back in the room. Although he wasn't gone for very long, it felt like an eternity. She smiled when she heard the door open without a knock, knowing it could only be him.
"Hot water will be here soon, and I asked for both breakfast and lunch so you can choose what you want to eat." He told her as he walked quickly over the bed and lied on top of her, careful not to crush her.
"Thank you." She said as she looked deep into his eyes before kissing him passionately.
When they pulled away for much needed air, she smiled and told him: "You better get off me before Sylvia comes in."
"It could be worst… we could be completely naked, sweaty, breathless…" He said as he punctuated each word with kisses, tasting the skin of her neck.
She moaned and whispered his name.
He continued the exploration of her neck for a while before adding: "Besides, she's the one who led me to your room on my first night here, I don't think she would mind finding me on top of you."
Kahlan let out of soft sigh when he teased her with his tongue. "Richard… I… huh…" She mumbled as she held him tighter and ran her hands through his hair.
She groaned when she felt him shift away from her. "I'll add wood to the fire so you won't be cold after your bath." He told her, chuckling at her disappointed reaction.
"Thank you." She told him as she watched him walking to the fireplace. The room was bigger than any room of the Palace, with everything the Mother Confessor could need, a desk, a closet, an additional room, a bathroom, a fireplace, a dining table and even armchairs and a couch. It was like having a small house inside a Palace.
A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts and Sylvia entered the room on Kahlan's permeation.
"Mother Confessor. Richard." She greeted them, bowing her head.
"Good morning Sylvia." Kahlan replied with a smile as she sat up.
"The water for your bath is ready, may we enter to fill your bathtub, Mother Confessor?" She politely asked.
Kahlan nodded her head and Sylvia indicated to the other maids to enter the room, along with water, food was brought in the room and placed on the dining room. Sylvia walked next to the bed where the Mother Confessor was looking down at the bandage on her arm.
She waited until the last maid quitted the room and asked: "How do you feel Kahlan?"
Kahlan looked up at her and smiled: "Very well, thank you Sylvia."
"You scared us so much." Sylvia said at the verge of tears.
"I'm sorry." Kahlan softly and truthfully replied.
"It's alright dear, as long as you are safe and feeling better now, everything is alright." The maid replied.
Kahlan nodded and smiled. As Sylvia left the room, she looked at Richard and said: "Take good care of her."
"You know I will." He said, giving her his best smile.
Sylvia smiled back at him and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Silence filled the room and Richard caught Kahlan looking at her bandage on her left arm. He walked close to the bed and softly called her name.
"Are you alright?" He said, giving her a smile.
She nodded in answer and he told her: "Zedd will heal it, it'll be gone soon, you don't have to worry."
"I don't want him to heal it." She whispered.
"What? Why?" He asked, taken aback by her answer. He sat on the bed close to her, waiting for her answer.
"I want to remember what I did to you, the pain I put you through, so every time I will look at it, I will know that I have to make it up to you." She explained.
"You are punishing yourself. I thought we went through this already, you don't own me anything." He said with an irritated tone.
"It's a scar Richard. My guilt won't go away, neither will this scar." She said sternly.
He sighed and said: "You should take your bath before the water turns cold."
He didn't want to argue with her again, she needed time, he knew it and he was willing to give it to her.
"How can you see the good in all this and act like nothing happened?" She asked in a soft tone.
"Every reminds me of what happened, my scar reminds me that I confessed you, his name reminds me that I let him touch me, the bath reminds me that you washed the blood covering my body…" She explained.
"I see the good in all this because I know that we can have a life together, the life we wanted, the life we dreamt of, together… Without all of this, we still would be torturing ourselves thinking we can never find happiness. Now we now that we can." He replied to her with a bright smile.
"I thought I had lost you." She whispered.
"I know, but you didn't, I'm here." He said, wrapping his arms around her.
"The water is going to be cold now." He said after a moment. She nodded against his chest and reluctantly pulled away from him and walked to the bathroom. Realizing that she needed help with the bandage on her arm, she walked back in the room.
"Can you help me with…" She froze in mid-sentence when she saw Richard clenching the hilt of the Sword of Truth that was resting on an armchair. His back was turned to her and he didn't even notice when she approached him. She felt her heart constricted knowing that the last time he was using the sword to channel his anger was in the garden when she was about to lie down with her mate. It meant only one thing, he was still mad at her for betraying him.
She covered his hand with hers and said: "Maybe I should leave… give you so time to forgive me."
He immediately let go of the sword and wrapped his arms around her, pressing her body against his and giving her a kiss on the top of the head.
"You are still angry." She whispered.
"It has nothing to do with you." He told her.
"Then what is it about?" She asked, pulling out from his embrace to look at him.
"It's nothing." He replied quickly.
"Don't lie to me Richard please… I know that you don't want to upset me but hiding your feelings or your thoughts from me is worse than anything." She said, running her fingers over the skin of his chest through the opening of his shirt.
Richard cleared his throat and told her: "I'm just thinking about Travis and what he wants to say to you. He put you through a lot already and I just want to protect you from him. I hate him. That's why I'm angry, not because of you."
Silence filled the room as she continued to run her fingers over his chest and rested her head on his shoulder. He tried to calm his racing heart and to stop thinking about Travis. He will deal with him later, right now he had to focus on Kahlan. Without a warning, he suddenly swept her off her feet.
"Richard!" She gasped with surprise.
"I believe you have a hot tub waiting for you." He told her as she hooked her arms around his neck.