Читаем Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3 полностью

Jagang lightly drew the long braided hair growing under his lower lip between his finger and thumb. His gaze took in the length of her. He let out a deep breath, as if considering what he would do with her first.

She didn't have long to wait.

He abruptly backhanded her hard enough to send her flying. When she landed her head hit the floor but, fortunately, the thick carpets cushioned the impact. It felt as if the muscles of her jaw had been ripped and the bone shattered. The shock of the blow stunned her senseless.

Even though the room seemed to be spinning and tilting, she was determined to make herself return to her feet. Death's Mistress did not cower. Death's Mistress faced death indifferently.

Once up on her knees, she wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with the Inside of a wrist as she worked to find her balance. Her jaw, despite the pain, seemed to be intact. She struggled to get her feet under her.

Before she managed to stand, Jillian rushed up between Nicci and Jagang.

"You leave her be!"

As Jagang planted his fists on his hips, glaring at the girl, Nicci stole a glance at Kahlan. Nicci recognized the glaze of pain in the woman's eyes. By the way her fingers trembled, Nicci knew exactly what kind of pain Jagang was giving her through the collar. Such preemptive agony was meant to keep her where she was, keep her from interfering.

Nicci judged it to be, from Jagang's perspective, a wise decision.

As far back as she could remember, Nicci had been able to appraise people and to do so quickly. It had become a valuable talent, since survival in violent encounters often depended on the accurate evaluation of those she faced. Nicci could tell just by looking at Kahlan that she was a dangerous woman, a woman who was used to interfering.

Jagang snatched Jillian by the back of her neck and lifted her like a troublesome kitten. She squealed-more in fright than pain-as he held her aloft and marched her across the room. She clawed at his big hands to no effect. Her feet kicked at empty air. Jagang lifted aside the heavy, padded wool hanging covering the opening into his bedchamber and tossed Jillian out.

"Armina! Watch the child. I want to be alone with my queen."

Nicci could just see Sister Armina corral Jillian in her arms and draw her back into the darkness. A quick glance revealed Kahlan still in the same place on the rug, her whole body trembling slightly. A tear of agony ran down across her cheek. Nicci wondered if Jagang was even aware of how much pain he was giving Kahlan. He didn't know his own strength- in more ways than one. His unchecked anger tended to be universal, encompassing not just his muscle, but his mental ability as well.

In the past he'd frequently beat Nicci more severely than he'd intended or, in a blind rage, used his ability as a dream walker to inflict what could easily have been a lethal dose of pain. Later, after he realized how close he'd come to killing her, he would apologize but eventually end up by saying that it had been her own fault for making him so angry.

As Jagang dropped the hanging, closing off his bedchamber, Kahlan's tense muscles suddenly slackened. She sagged, panting in relief, looking hardly able to move after the silent ordeal.

"So," Jagang said as he turned back to Nicci, "do you love him?"

Nicci blinked. "What?"

His face went red with rage as he closed on her. "What do you mean, what! You heard me!" He seized a fistful of her hair as he leaned to within inches of her. "Don't try to pretend you didn't understand me or I'll rip your head off!"

Nicci smiled, lifting her chin as best she could, exposing her throat to him. "Please do. It will save us both a great deal of trouble."

He glared a moment before releasing her hair. He smoothed it down, back into place, before he turned and moved off a few paces.

"Is that what you want? To die?" He turned back. "To abandon your duty to the Creator and the Order? To abandon your duty to me?"

Nicci shrugged indifferently. "Doesn't matter much what I want, now, does it?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know very well what it means. Since when has it mattered to you in the least what I want? You're going to do what you want regardless of what I might have to say about it. After all, I am just a subject of the Order, am I not? I'd say that what you want is what you've always wanted- to finally kill me."

"Kill you?" He spread his arms. "What makes you think I want to kill you?"

"Your self-indulgent actions."

"Self-indulgent?" He glared at her askance. "I am hardly self-indulgent. I am Jagang the Just."

"Are you forgetting that it was I who gave you that title? I did so not because it reflected any truth, but to counter the truth-to create an image that would serve the purposes of the Order. I am the one who created that image for you, knowing that unthinking people would believe it simply because we proclaimed it. You wouldn't know how to fill the role if your life depended on it."

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