Temple of the Winds

No look she had ever seen on Richard's face was as terrifying to Kahlan as the one she saw now. There was nothing in his eyes. Not rage, not lethal commitment, not determination, not a deadly calm countenance, not jealousy, not even empty disinterest.

There was no. . soul, in those gray eyes. No heart.

Kahlan covered her mouth with both trembling hands. She backed away until her back smacked into the stone wall.

He had known from the first instant she had come into the room. Richard could tell it was her coming into a room. He had known it was her the whole time-from the first instant Cara had led her in here.

He knew. He had tried to squeeze her hand, to reassure her, to let her know. She had pushed his hand away. He had been as gentle as he could. He had tried to brush her tears away, after. She had pushed his hand away. She hadn't let him show her that it was him.

Kahlan collapsed to the floor with a wail of horror. "No! Dear spirits, no!"

Richard didn't rush to her, didn't speak words of comfort, didn't yell. Instead, he went to where his clothes were lying, near the door, and began getting dressed.

Kahlan scurried to her things nearby. She raced to pull on her underthings, suddenly feeling the humiliation of her nakedness, its reminder of what she had just done.

She scooped up her dress. She paused, tears streaming down her face. She reached around the outside of the doorway and brought the sword and scabbard up before her face. It had a leather handle, just as she remembered seeing, not a wire-wound hilt. It wasn't the Sword of Truth, Richard's sword. It was Drefan's sword.

Kahlan gripped Richard by his wrist as he picked up his pants. "How. . this is Drefan's sword, not yours. It's Drefan's sword!"

Richard took it from her and leaned it against the wall. "They took your power. You have no way to defend yourself. Drefan will be the one near you, now, not me. I gave him the Sword of Truth so that he could protect you." His eyes finally met hers. "I guess this one finds the truth just as well as the other." — Richard stuffed his leg into his pants. Kahlan snatched his arm again. "Richard, don't you see? It was you. It was you in here with me, not Drefan. The spirits mark a distinction-between intent and deed. It wasn't him. it was you all along!"

He pulled his arm away. The spirits might mark a distinction, but he didn't. To Richard, the intent was the same as the deed. "Richard, you don't understand. It wasn't what you think." He shot her a glare of such power that it staggered her back a step. He waited as she stood frozen, unable to find any words to explain. He went back to dressing.

Kahlan pulled on her white Confessor's dress. Outside, the lightning was coming closer. During some of the closer strikes, she could see an immense structure rising up at the edge of the cliff: the Temple of the Winds. When the flash extinguished. the temple vanished again, and she could see the distant mountains beyond, lit by the lightning farther away.

"Richard." she wept as he pulled on a boot, "please, talk to me. Say something. Ask me to explain. Tell me there can be no explanation. Veil at me. Call me a whore. Tell me you hate me. Hit me. Do something! Don't ignore me!"

He turned and picked up his black sleeveless undershirt. As he pulled it on over his head. she scooped up his black shirt and held it to her breast, hoping to halt his dressing. "Richard, please! I love you!"

His gaze again rose to hers. She thought he was going to say something, but instead he turned away and retrieved his belt with the leather packs on it. He snapped on his wristbands.

Kahlan held his shirt to her chest and shook as she watched him hook his belt together. She didn't know what to do. He picked up Drefan's sword and buckled it on.

"Richard, please talk to me. Say something. This is the doing of the spirits. Don't you remember what I told you that grandfather's spirit told me? The winds have decided that you are the path of the price. They did this to us!"

He shot her a look again. The intensity in his eyes extinguished. He saw that she wasn't going to surrender his shirt, so he threw his golden cloak around his shoulders.

As he turned toward the door. Kahlan seized his arm with both her hands and turned him back to her.

"Richard, I love you. You've got to believe me. I'll explain this in here to you later, but for now, you have to believe me. I love you. No other. My heart is yours alone. Dear spirits, please believe me."

Richard gripped her jaw in his hand and wiped a thumb across her lips. He held his thumb up for her to see in the pandemonium of lightning.". . for the one in white, his true beloved, will betray him in her blood." His words ripped her heart.

Kahlan covered her scream with his shirt as he swept out the door. The one thing she had sworn she would never do, she had done: she had betrayed him. It could have been no worse betrayal. It was a betrayal that had destroyed his heart.