Baby Brother

"He's beautiful," Darken whispered. In his arms he held his son. He could scarcely believe it. If Darken had known it would be like this, being a father…For the first time, he wished he had let Cara's son live.

"Let me kill him," Kahlan said hoarsely, from the bed. She looked too weak to harm the child, but even so, Darken tensed. "You know he will be a monster. He is a male Confessor—he will destroy you."

Darken looked at her, considering, and decided subterfuge was the best course of action. He pinched his son's soft skin, and the baby immediately started crying. "He wants his mother," Darken said, pretending alarm. "Kahlan, please…"

Kahlan tried to look away, not to care about the child. But Darken watched her, and saw the moment she gave in. She turned and reached desperately, unwillingly, for the child, and Darken handed him over.

Unconsciously, Kahlan crooned to the baby, rocking him against her breast. Darken watched, emotions he couldn't name stirring in his heart. "What shall we call him?" Darken asked at last, softly.

Kahlan looked up at him in surprise. "You want me to name him?" she asked, confused.

Darken nodded, reflecting that this might be the crucial step in overcoming Kahlan's resistance. How could she not care for the child she herself named? "You are his mother," he said, not quite an explanation.

Kahlan still looked doubtful, but she stroked the baby's head, and thought. And at last she said, "Nicholas."

Kahlan was still cradling Nicholas in her arms when two-year-old Nila burst into the room. "Mama, mama!" she cried, leaping onto the bed and cuddling next to Kahlan, her dark hair tickling Nicholas as she bent over him.

"Who's that?" she asked, in tones of distaste.

"That, my dear, is your little brother, Nicholas," Darken said, picking Nila up and pulling her away from Kahlan. Kahlan couldn't tell if he was worried she might be overwhelmed by two children, or if he wanted to keep Nila away from her influence, even at such a time.

"I don't want a brother," Nila pouted. Kahlan sympathized; surely it was Nila's Confessor instincts that made her disapprove of Nicholas. But with her son in her arms, Kahlan couldn't bring herself to feel the same way. He was a beautiful baby; surely something good could still come from this child?

"That's what I always said," Darken murmured, almost as if he had forgotten Kahlan was there. Kahlan blinked, not aware that Darken had had any siblings.

"Would you like to see him?" Kahlan asked, smiling with an effort. "Come, Nila." Nila squirmed out of Darken's arms and clambered up on the bed again.

She looked down into Nicholas's eyes—they were the same color as Kahlan's, and as Nila's, though Kahlan knew that might change in the next few days. Kahlan glanced at Darken—he was looking at Nila and Nicholas, too, and, for a moment, Kahlan wondered if, all against her will, they were turning into a real family after all.

Then Nila looked up at something or someone behind Darken, and screamed. Darken whirled and caught the knife before it could sink into his chest, and Kahlan's eyes widened.

"Guards!" Darken yelled, clearly furious. But Kahlan only had eyes for the woman in Darken's grip. She had long red hair—a tear trembled in the corner of her eye as Darken twisted her wrist brutally, to make her let go of the knife. But she was staring straight back at Kahlan, and her eyes were cold.

"Jennsen?" Kahlan asked in disbelief.