Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

At first surprised to find Kahlan there, Nicci realized that it only made sense. Sister Armina had been one of the Sisters who had captured Kahlan and ignited the Chainfire spell. Sister Tovi had told Nicci that they had managed to evade Jagang by using the bond to Richard. While she supposed that Jagang might have somehow managed to get past that bond, Nicci thought that it made more sense that the bond had never actually protected them in the first place.

If Jagang had captured Sister Armina he would have Sisters Ulicia and Cecilia as well. That had to be why Kahlan was there; she had been held by those Sisters so she, too, would have been swept up in Jagang's net.

Nicci saw that Jillian was there as well. The girl's copper-colored eyes blinked in surprise to see Nicci standing there before her. While it made sense for Kahlan to be there, Nicci couldn't fathom why Jillian was.

Jillian leaned in close to Kahlan, cupped a hand to her ear, and whispered something-undoubtedly Nicci's name. Kahlan responded only with a slight nod, but her eyes revealed a great deal more. She had heard Nicci's name before.

When Jagang tossed the book he was studying on a bedside table, Nicci quickly pointed with two fingers between Kahlan's eyes and her own, then used one to cross her lips, urging silence. Nicci didn't want Jagang knowing that she could see Kahlan, or even that she knew Jillian. The less he knew, the safer those two would be-if being a captive of Emperor Jagang could in any sense be said to be safe. Without waiting for confirmation, Nicci looked away from Kahlan and Jillian to face Jagang.

When he turned around, fixing his black gaze on her, Nicci thought she might faint. It was one thing to remember him, quite another to be standing there before him.

To once again find herself under the scrutiny of those nightmare eyes crushed her courage.

She knew what lay ahead for her.

"Well, well," Jagang said as he made his way around the bed, his gaze fixed on her. "Look who has returned at long last." He smiled broadly. "You are as beautiful as every dream I've had of you since you were last here with me."

Nicci wasn't surprised by the approach he'd taken, nor did it indicate anything meaningful. Never knowing how he would react kept those around him in a state of constant dread. His anger could be sparked at any time by the smallest thing, or nothing at all. Nicci had seen him strangle a slave to death for dropping a breadboard, and yet on another occasion she'd seen him pick up a dropped plate of lamb and casually hand it back to the servant who had dropped it without missing a beat in his conversation.

In no small sense, this capricious quality in the emperor only reflected the same irrational, unpredictable, incomprehensible behavior of the Order itself. The virtue-the very adequacy-of one's self-sacrifice for the cause was measured against unseen, inscrutable, unknowable standards. Fortune or misfortune always seemed to hang on a whim. For a population, that perpetual gnawing doubt was debilitating. The deadweight of constant tension left people ready to accuse anyone of sedition-even friends or family-if only it would keep the talons of fate at bay.

Like any number of other men, Jagang also thought he could win Nicci's affection with a little empty flattery. He liked to imagine that he could be charming. The form his praise took, though, revealed more about his values than hers.

Nicci did not bow. She was acutely aware of the metal collar around her neck that prevented her from using her gift. While she had no defense against this man, she wasn't going to pretend respect by bowing, nor would she fawn at his finely framed lust.

In the past, despite her ability to use her Han, her real safety had always been her indifference to what he might do to her. During those times when he had been able to enter her mind, and she'd had no collar around her neck, her abilities as a sorceress had been of no help to her, just as his other captive Sisters were now helpless despite the fact that none of them wore a collar.

Her protection had always been in her attitude, not her gift.

Before, Nicci simply hadn't cared if he hurt her, or even if he might at any time decide to kill her. She thought she deserved any suffering he might inflict and she didn't care if she died. That left her indifferent to the ever-present possibility that the whim of murder might strike him.

Even though all of that had changed because of Richard, she couldn't allow Jagang to know how much it had changed. Her only chance, her only defense, was to make him think that nothing had changed in her attitude, that she cared no more about what might happen to her now than she had in the past.

Death's Mistress would not care if she could use her power or not. To Death's Mistress a collar meant nothing.