Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

He was somewhat disoriented to find himself holding Cara in his arms, to find her holding him so tenderly in hers, to realize they were locked in such an intimate embrace. He could feel the entire length of her pressed against him. But then, nothing could be more intimate than what they had shared in that dark place as they together faced the evil that had taken her.

He ran his tongue across his cracked lips and tasted salty tears.

"Cara.»

She nodded against the side of his face. "Shh," she soothed again. "It's all right. I'm with you. I won't leave you."

He drew away just enough to look into her eyes. They were blue and clear, revealing a depth he had never seen before. She studied his face with a kind of caring, knowing sympathy.

At that moment, he clearly saw in her eyes that this was Cara and no more. In that moment, he saw that the appellation of Mord-Sith had been stripped away down to her soul. In that moment, it was Cara, the woman, the individual, and nothing else.

It was as revealing and profound a view of her as he had ever had. It was startlingly beautiful.

"You are a very rare person, Richard Rahl."

The soft breath of her words against his face soothed some of the lingering pain as seductively as did her arms, as did her eyes, as did her words, as did the living, breathing warmth of her.

Even so, the agony he had lifted from her still coursed through him, seeking to pull him back toward darkness and death. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he fought it with his love of life, and with his joy that Cara was alive.

"I am a wizard," he whispered back.

She stared up into his eyes as she slowly shook her head in wonder.

"There has never been a Lord Rahl like you before. I swear, there never has."

With her arms around his neck, she pulled his head closer and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Lord Rahl, for bringing me back. Thank you for saving me. You made me see again that I want to live. It is I who is supposed to be protecting your life, and you are the one to risk yours to save me."

She again searched his eyes with leisurely satisfaction. It was completely unlike the way a Mord-Sith had of gazing through a person, of seeing all the way into their soul. This was an emotion of regard born of her appreciation for his value to her. In the purest sense, it was love. She showed absolutely no reticence in him seeing her feelings laid bare.

He supposed that, after what they had just shared, any such modesty would be pointless. He knew, though, that this was more, that this was Cara; sincere, unafraid, and unashamed.

"There has never been a Lord Rahl like you."

"Cara, you don't know how glad I am to have you back with me."

She held his head in both her hands and kissed his forehead. "Oh, but I do know. I know what you suffered for me this night. I know very well how much you wanted me back. I know very well what you did for me." She slipped her arms around his neck again and hugged him tight. "I have never been afraid like that, not even when I was first.»

He touched his fingers to her lips to silence what she had been about to say for fear that it would break the spell, that it would too soon bring the armor of Mord-Sith back into her beautiful blue eyes. He knew what she had been about to say. He knew that madness.

"Thank you, Lord Rahl," she whispered in wonder when he took his lingers away. "Thank you for everything, and for not letting me say what I had been about to say." With a twitch of her brow, pain ghosted across her face. "That is why there has never been a Lord Rahl like you before. They all created Mord-Sith. They all brought the pain. You ended it."

Richard couldn't force any words past the lump in his throat, so he simply brushed her blond hair from her forehead and smiled at her. He was so happy to have her back that he couldn't put it into words.

He gazed around the room, then, trying to judge how late it was.

"I don't know how long it took you to heal me," she said as she watched him surveying the curtains for any sign of the approach of dawn. "But after you did, you were so exhausted that you seemed to collapse into sleep. I couldn't wake you — I didn't want to wake you." Her arms still loosely around his neck, she gazed up at him with a blissful smile, looking as if she never wanted to move. "I was so weak that I fell asleep as well."

"Cara, we have to get out of here."

"What do you mean?"

Richard pushed himself up, the urgency of the situation becoming all too clear. His head spun sickeningly. "I used magic to heal you."

She nodded, looking uncharacteristically content at the mention of magic and her in the same breath. This had been magic that had shown her the wonder of life.

What he was getting at abruptly became clear to her. She sat up in a rush, but had to put a hand back to steady herself.