Traitors

"You!" Jennsen shouted at Kahlan. She seemed to be ignoring Darken, which he thought a bit rich since she had just tried to kill him, her venom reserved for Kahlan, who still lay in the bed, exhausted by her labor, Nila and Nicholas in her arms. "You traitor!"

Kahlan went, if possible, paler. Darken twisted his sister's wrist hard enough to leave bruises, stopping just short of breaking it.

Where were those wretched guards? Obviously they had grown fat and complacent with the new peace; he would have to take steps.

"I…" Kahlan was stuttering, helpless against Jennsen's glare.

"You betrayed us all!" Jennsen raged. "How long have you been on his side?" With a violent jerk of her head at Darken. "Did you lead my brother to his death—my grandfather? How could you do this to us, Confessor?" In Jennsen's mouth, the word was a vile insult. "I would just as soon kill you, you heartless witch, as him! I hate you!" Jennsen stormed.

Kahlan was cowering against the bedpost, weeping openly now. Nicholas was crying, and Nila sat staring at Jennsen with those wide blue eyes, thumb in her mouth.

"Just tell me this," Jennsen said, calmer now. Darken hoped savagely that he was hurting her, and wondered how best to get her to shut up. "Did you ever really love Richard? Or was it all just a game to you? Couldn't wait to get back to this tyrant?"

"Of course I—how can you even think—Jennsen, please," Kahlan begged.

At last, at long last, the guards entered. Darken released Jennsen, only to have two guards each grasp one of her arms. "Take her to the dungeon," Darken said. "And send me Mistress Cindi and Mistress Alina." He looked at Kahlan, huddled in the center of the bed, clinging to Nila and Nicholas, crying…"In my study. Send Alice to my wife."

The guards nodded. "Yes, Lord Rahl," they chorused.

"And you," Darken said, turning to Jennsen. She raised her eyes defiantly to his. "My dear sister. Do not ever speak that way to my Queen again. I will make your kitten's fate look merciful."

Only now did Jennsen look close to breaking down. She swallowed. "Mordy?" she asked, in a wobbly voice quite unlike her righteous fury.

Darken gave her a sinister smile, and almost jumped out of his skin when Kahlan said scathingly from behind him, "Mordy? You named your kitten Mordy? Please tell me it wasn't after the Mord'Sith."

Jennsen flushed. "I…" she said hesitantly.

Darken remembered the occasion. With a sudden pang, he recalled that Jennsen had named the kitten after Cara, because Cara had told her she was a Mord'Sith.

"I had amnesia!" Jennsen defended herself. "What's your excuse?"

Darken turned to Kahlan, curious in spite of himself. He knew the terms of the bargain they had struck, but how could he be sure Kahlan was honest with him? And perhaps she saw it in a different way. Jennsen was a symbol of that other time, before the Seeker had disappeared into the ether, taking Cara and the Boxes of Orden with him. What might Kahlan say to one who had been a part of that war?

For answer, Kahlan stroked her daughter's hair, and glared at Jennsen. "You don't understand," she said, and fainted.

When Kahlan woke, Alice was smoothing her brow with a cool cloth. The children were gone, and the room was dark. "Nila and Nicholas?" she demanded at once, fear for them for a moment clouding her reason.

"They are safe, my Lady," Alice said. "Do not worry." But she looked frightened.

"Alice, what is it?" Kahlan demanded. Alice refused to meet her eyes, and Kahlan's voice sharpened with the tone of command. "Tell me."

"Jennsen…" Alice cried. "I knew her, my Lady. From before. She lived in my village until Lord Rahl's men came and captured her. And now she's in the dungeon…" Alice sobbed.

"Oh, Alice, I'm sorry," said Kahlan, gently removing the wet cloth from Alice's trembling fingers. "I know how you must feel." And she did. When Kahlan thought of the accusations Jennsen had leveled at her, her cheeks burned with shame.

Jennsen was right. She, Kahlan, had betrayed the cause of the resistance. Her capitulation to Darken was the last nail in its coffin. They never would have succeeded anyway, she told herself. Not without the Seeker. So many would've been killed, whom she had saved. And yet…

But Jennsen didn't know the battle wasn't over yet. Kahlan was trying to help Richard. And if he succeeded in returning to her at the moment he had put the Boxes of Orden together, everything that had happened would be erased. All he needed was Nila to Confess him while he put the Boxes together and a Mord'Sith touched him with her agiel. And Kahlan doubted there would be a dearth of Mord'Sith even fifty-eight—no, fifty-five years, now—in the future.

The only problem was Nicholas. Male Confessors were always evil; Kahlan had had that lesson drilled into her as a young girl. She bit her lip as she comforted Alice. Was Jennsen right? Had she really betrayed them all? What if Nicholas grew up to kill his sister and enslave the masses? Should she have killed herself before giving Darken a son?

And when had she begun thinking of him by his first name?