Temple of the Winds

Kahlan laughed with him. "But this is wonderful. Mistress Wellington made all this for you?"

"Well, not all of it. I told her what I wanted, and she and the other seamstresses went to work. I think she did a fine job."

"I will give her my compliments. If not a hug." Kahlan tested the cape between a finger and thumb. "She made this? I've never seen anything like it. I can't believe she made this."

"Well, no," Richard admitted. "That, and some of the other things came from the Wizard's Keep."

"The Keep! What were you doing up there?"

"When I was there before, I came across these rooms where the wizards used to stay. I went back and had a better look at some of the things that belonged to them."

"When did you do this?"

"A few days ago. When you were busy meeting with some of the officials from our new allies."

Kahlan's brow tightened as she appraised the outfit. "The wizards of that time wore this? I thought wizards always wore simple robes."

"Most of them did. One wore some of this."

"What kind of wizard wore an outfit like this?"

"A war wizard."

"A war wizard," she whispered in astonishment. Though he largely didn't know how to use his gift, Richard was the first war wizard to have been born in nearly three thousand years.

Kahlan was about to launch into a raft of questions, but remembered that there were more consequential matters at the moment. Her mood sank. "Richard"-she looked away from his eyes-"there is someone here to see you…"

She heard the bedroom door squeak.

"Richard?" Nadine, standing in the doorway, expectantly twisted her kerchief in her fingers. "I heard Richard's voice."

"Nadine?"

Nadine's eyes went as big as Sanderian gold crowns. "Richard."

Richard smiled politely. "Nadine." His mouth smiled, anyway.

His eyes, though, held no hint of a smile. It was as discordant a look as Kahlan had ever seen on his face. Kahlan had seen Richard angry, she had seen him in the lethal rage from magic of the Sword of Truth, when the magic danced dangerously in his eyes, and she had seen him with the deadly calm countenance invoked when he turned the blade white. In the fury of commitment and determination, Richard was capable of looking frightening.

But no look she had ever seen on his face was as terrifying to Kahlan as the one she saw now.

This wasn't a deadly rage that gripped his eyes, or a lethal commitment. This was somehow worse. The depth of disinterest in that empty smile, in his eyes, was frightening.

The only way Kahlan could imagine it being worse would be if such a gaze were directed her way. That look, so devoid of fervor, if directed at her, would have broken her heart.

Nadine apparently didn't know him as well as did Kahlan; she didn't see anything but the smile on his lips.

"Oh, Richard!"

Nadine dashed across the room and threw her arms around his neck. She seemed ready to throw her legs around Richard too. Kahlan shot an arm out to stop Cara before the Mord-Sith could take more than a step.

Kahlan had to force herself to stand her ground and hold her tongue. Despite everything she and Richard meant to each other, she knew that this was something beyond her say. This was Richard's past, and as well as she knew him, some of that past-his romantic past, anyway-was largely unknown territory. Up until that moment it had seemed unimportant.

Fearing to say the wrong thing, Kahlan said nothing. Her fate was in Richard's hands, and those of a beautiful woman who at that moment had hers around his neck-but worse, her fate seemed once again in Shota's hands.

Nadine began planting kisses all over Richard's neck even as he tried to hold his head away from her. He placed his hands on her waist and pushed her away.

"Nadine, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, silly," she said in a breathless voice. "Everyone's been puzzled-worried-since you disappeared last autumn. My father missed you- I've missed you. None of us knew what happened to you. Zedd's missing, too. The boundary came down and then you came up missing, and Zedd, and your brother. I know you were upset when your father was murdered, but we didn't expect you to run away." Her words were running together in breathless excitement.

"Well, it's a long story, and one I'm sure you wouldn't be interested in."

True to Richard's words, she didn't seem to hear a bit of it, and simply rambled on.

"I had so much to take care of, first. I had to get Lindy Hamilton to promise to get the winter roots for Pa. He's been beside himself without you to bring him some of the special plants he needs that only you can seem to find. I've done my best, but I don't know the woods like you. He's hoping Lindy will be able to fill in until I can get you home. Then I had to think what to take, and how to find my way. I've been looking so long. I came to speak with somebody named Lord Rahl, hoping he could help me find you. I never in all the world dreamed I'd find you before I even talked to him."

"I am Lord Rahl."