This is for anyone who is still interrested in this story. Thank you for reading.
They were soaking wet. Water was dripping from the both of them as they made their way to Kahlan's room in the Palace. Richard was holding Cassie, the little girl was still wrapped in the blanket to protect her from the rain.
"I won Seeker." Kahlan teased, bumping their shoulders playfully.
"I don't believe that it was a fair race, Mother Confessor." He chuckled back.
"I don't know what you are talking about." She said innocently.
"Fine. What should be my punition?" He asked, smiling at her and they both stopped walking to look at each other.
"I thought that maybe… You could… huh… maybe… spend the night with me… I mean with us. Cassie and I." She proposed shyly and unsure of her words.
"That's not really a punition." He told her.
"Who knows, maybe I'll ask you to scrub the floor, Lord Rahl." She teased him, trying to erase her uneasiness.
Richard shook his head lightly and smiled.
"Is that a yes?" She asked, biting her lower lip.
"Yes." He replied with a smile.
"Mother Confessor." Sylvia interrupted them.
Kahlan and Richard turned to face her and the maid continued: "The water is ready for Cassie's bath as usual."
"Thank you Sylvia." Kahlan replied with a smile.
"Food will be brought to you for dinner in a short while." Sylvia said.
"Thank you." Kahlan said once again.
"Now go get dry, we don't want either of you to catch a terrible cold." The maid said sternly.
They both nodded and walked to Kahlan's room quickly.
"Get her to the bathroom and I'll get her nightclothes." Kahlan said to Richard who nodded and did as he was told.
When Kahlan joined him, he was pulling the blanket from Cassie and said: "It doesn't seem like the rain got to her."
"Let's get her in the bath before she freezes." Kahlan said, grabbing a towel and setting it on the floor next to Cassie's nightclothes and the bathtub.
Once the little girl's clothes were removed and that she was in the tub, happily splashing water everywhere, Richard looked at Kahlan, she was kneeling next to the tub and he noticed that her lips were purple.
"Got get changed, I'll keep an eye on her." He told her softly.
"It's alright, I'm fine." She said quickly.
"Kahlan… you're freezing." He warned her softly.
She turned to face him and said: "It's the first time we're bathing her together, I want to stay with you."
"Alright." He said, understanding her. He got up and took more towels and kneeled back next to her. Taking a towel, he moved to kneel behind her. He did his best to gently wring out the water from her hair. Once he was done, he pressed his chest against her back, he kissed her behind the ear and said: "You should take off your dress."
He waited for her to reply but she continued to wash Cassie as if she hadn't heard him.
He slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder, looking down at their daughter who was trying to catch the soap and keep it in her small hands.
"I love you. Both of you." He whispered, he felt so at peace right now, so good, even if he was shaking from the cold, he never wanted this moment to end.
"We love you too." Kahlan replied with a smile.
He felt her body shaking from the cold and her teeth shattered. Slowly, his hands moved up and he untied the laces of her Confessor dress while she continued to bath Cassie. She bit her lower lips to suppress a moan when his fingers grassed at the top of her breasts. He slowly slid down the sticking dress from her shoulders and she took her arms off of it. He dried her skin with the towel, knowing better than to remove the rest of her clothing.
"Thank you." She told him, turning her head to kiss his cheek.
"You're welcome." He replied, kissing her shoulder.
Kahlan finished to rinse the soap in Cassie's hair and said: "Come on baby, we're all done here."
The little girl got up in the tub and Kahlan grabbed a towel and quickly wrapped it around her daughter. Picked her up, she turned to set her on the floor between herself and Richard. Taking a towel, Kahlan handed it to Richard and said: "Would you dry her hair?"
Richard nodded with a smile. Noticing that he was still wearing his damp shirt and shivering from the cold, Kahlan pulled his clothing out of his pants and over his head and tossed it on the floor. She then grabbed a towel and dried his skin just like he did before for her while he kept drying their daughter's hair.
He thanked her with a smile and she dressed Cassie with her nightclothes.
"Go get change now." Richard gently instructed her, the sight of her only wearing her corset and her dress falling at her waist was making it almost impossible for him to concentrate.
"Can you get her your shirt in her bed?" Kahlan asked.
"Yes, and I'll start a fire too. Now go." He replied, taking Cassie in his arms and getting up. Kahlan smiled at him before getting up as well and walked to her closet to retrieve dry clothes.
When Richard walked back from Cassie's room, the little girl had her thumb stuck in her mouth and was holding her father's shirt tightly as she usually did. Her eyes were heavy with sleep and her head was resting against Richard's bare chest.
Setting her down on the couch in front of the fireplace, Richard gave his daughter a kiss on the head before turning to start the fire.
Cassie protested loudly, stretching her arms at her father for him to hold her again.
Once the fire was burning, he kneeled in front of her daughter and smiled at her.
"Are you tired Princess?" He asked her.
The little girl nodded and Richard added: "We're going to have dinner soon and then you'll go to bed."
"Here." Kahlan told him when she joined him, handing him his night pants.
"Thank you." He told her before getting up and looking at her. She was breathtaking in her nightdress and her hair in a ponytail.
It was his turn to change while Kahlan brushed her daughter's hair. Thanks to the fire, the air was much warmer now.
Dinner was served to them and they ate together, enjoying their meal while they made small talk. They had decided to stay close to the fireplace and had dinner on the small table while sitting on the floor.
His back resting against the couch, Richard was holding Kahlan in his arms as her back was pressed against his bare muscular chest, while Cassie was in her mother's arms.
"She's falling asleep." Richard whispered, looking down at his daughter who was sucking her thumb, her head against her mother's chest, clearly losing her battle against sleep.
"Is it alright to stay here a while longer?" She asked him. She knew she asked him to spend the night but a part of her was afraid that he would leave… She was always afraid that he would leave and she hated herself for it.
"Of course." He replied, tightening his hold around her waist.
She let the back of her head slowly rest on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
"You're falling asleep." He whispered after a while.
"I know but I don't want to move yet." She mumbled.
"You'll be far more comfortable in your own bed, both of you." He said.
"Alright." She gave up and letting out a long sigh. She knew he was right but she was feeling so comfortable that she didn't want to move.
She finally got up and they both walked to Cassie's room to put her in her bed. The little girl was so exhausted that she didn't even wake up to protest.
"Thank you." Kahlan said as they walked out of the room.
"For what?" He asked.
"For today. It was perfect." She simply replied.
"It was." He told her, taking her hand in his and pulling her to a stop to face him.
He brushed a strand of hair out of her face and kissed her forehead.
"When are you planning on asking me to scrub the floor?" He asked with a chuckle.
"You've done more than enough for me today, I won't ask you to scrub the floor." She replied with a smile.
"Kahlan… There is something I need to talk to you about." He said, suddenly growing serious.
"Y-Yes… Is something wrong? Did I do or say something wrong?" She asked, taking a step back from him her insecurities flooding her mind.
"No. Kahlan no." He said with a sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
"I don't understand." She said, shaking her head. Few minutes ago she was feeling like she was living in one of her many dreams where she and Richard were a family and now, anxiousness was taking the best of her again.
"Hey Kahlan. It's alright. We won't talk if it makes you feel uneasy." He said, making a step in her direction.
"Let's get this over with." She told him before walking on sit on the edge of her bed.
He quickly sat next to her and watched her for a moment, she was looking down at her hands, holding on her breath as she waited for him to speak.
"The Council asked me to go to the dungeons. They trust my good judgment to find out who is guilty and who is not. The cells are too crowded now and they need to take actions. I told them it was the Mother Confessor's duty to find out the truth. They said you wouldn't go to the dungeons to take confessions anymore but they wouldn't say why." He explained.
"You are the Seeker, you will be just fine finding out the truth." She told him, trying her best to smile at him.
"I want to know why you don't go there anymore." He said.
"I know." She simply told him.
"And you're not going to tell me." He said.
"No." She said.
"Why?" He asked, his anger rising.
"Because we agreed that what is in the past must stay in the past." She explained casually.
"I won't let it go Kahlan. Taking confession is a part of your duties and you wouldn't give that up just like that. Something happened and you're keeping it from me." He said.
"If I tell you, you have to promise me that you won't get mad." She told him.
"Alright." He replied.
"Promise." She almost begged.
"Kahlan, I promise I won't get mad." He said with a sigh.
"Before I gave birth, I was locked up in a cell for two months." She said quickly, avoiding looking at him in the eyes.
"It's not possible. No one can force the Mother Confessor to lock herself up." He said, not understanding.
"No one forced me. I went there myself."
"Why?" He asked in a whisper.
"I couldn't contain my magic and Cassie's magic, I confessed too many people and it had to stop." She said.
"So you locked yourself up." He said.
"I did. There was no Rada'Han to be found so I decided to stay away from everyone. Only Sylvia would visit me." She said.
"It's not the whole story. If it was just that you would go back there, it wouldn't stop you." He said, knowing that she was still hiding something, and he knew her too well.
"It was awful. I was the only woman and the prisoners, they kept telling me what they would do to me... That you wouldn't come back to see what I've become. They kept saying that the Seeker wouldn't come back to me after they spread my legs… I was so thankful that they couldn't reach me. I was strong at first but after some time, with the lack of sleep and after releasing my powers so often, I lost it. They saw me at my worst, they saw my weaknesses and their words got to me and they made me less of the person I was." She explained as tears filled her eyes.
"Kahlan." He whispered, wrapping his arms around her.
"I gave birth there." She simply said.
"What?!" He exclaimed, pulling back to look at her.
"I gave birth there." She repeated, drying her tears.
"But we've talked about the day you gave birth..." He said, taken aback.
"We did. I just left out the part of where it happened." She said.
He suddenly got up and ran his hand through his hair, he started walking back and forth in the room.
"You gave birth in a dungeon." He kept repeating.
"You promised you wouldn't get mad." She reminded him.
"I'm not mad… I'm furious." He said.
"Richard please…" She told him.
"I need to get some air." He said, walking to the door.
"Don't you dare!" She yelled, stopping him in his tracks.
"Don't you dare leave me now." She threatened him.
He turned back to face her and took a deep breath to calm himself.
"It's my entire fault." He whispered, shaking his head.
"No." She told him, walking to him.
"I don't want to think about the past anymore. What is done is done. I just want us to be happy, be a family. If it's what you want with me." She explained.
"How will I ever make this up to you?" He asked, shaking his head slowly.
"Make love to me." She told him.
"What? Kahlan no. Not like this… Do you remember the first time we made love? I want it to be like this. I want to do something nice for you, dinner, flowers..." He said.
"You did something nice for me. We went on a horse ride, we had dinner together as a real family. It's more than I could ask for." She told him.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"It's either that or you can scrub the floor." She said with a smile.
He pressed his body against hers, leaving no doubt of what was his answer. He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist. They shared a passionate kiss and he walked them to the bed.
Neither of them would be getting any sleep.