Temple of the Winds

Baleful laughter danced through the hot torture, like flames through a ruin. Verna prayed to the Creator that she would black out. Her prayer went unanswered.

Above her. she heard a voice. Janet's voice.

"I'm so sorry Verna. You should never have come here to try to rescue us. You will serve His Excellency, now, as his slaves." The blond one. Cara. followed him into the reception room. She stayed three paces behind, as he had ordered. She always wore her red leather, now, as he had ordered. He liked the way the red leather made them look like they were sheathed in blood. One of them was always there, with him, a bloodred reminder of the slick, sticky debauchery to come.

Her blue eyes turned away when he glanced back over his shoulder. He knew that she stayed only to be near Kahlan. That was fine by him. That she stayed was all that mattered. She was harmless, now, but it looked better if the Lord Rahl had an escort of guards like her-a proper accoutrement of his rank.

And he was the Lord Rahl, now, as the whispers from the ethers had promised him. Only he had the intellect to perceive the voices, the wisdom to hear them, the acumen to heed them. It had brought him triumph. Attention to detail had brought him his rewards. His extraordinary insight had brought him to the place of power he had always deserved. His gift was his genius, and it would serve him better than mere magic.

He was a man above others, and for good reason. He was superior to others- a man of rare understanding, instinct, and rare ethics, unadulterated by the twisted excuses women put to their vulgar pleasures. His own virtue intoxicated him.

Kahlan glanced up when she saw him striding into the room. Her face showed a blankness, an expression she wore almost constantly. She only thought it showed nothing. To him, it revealed a panoply of emotion. Immersed in the details of her bewitching face, he could discern the rich flux of emotions she tried to hide.

He saw the way she looked at him. He had caught her glances at his body in the past. He knew: she wanted him. She hungered for him. She wanted pleasure from him.

That she tried to deny it only excited him all the more. That she covered her hunger for him with harsh words only proved it to him. That she pretended revulsion only showed him the extraordinary depths of her need.

When she finally gave in to her lust, it would be all the more glorious for the wait, for the abstinence, for the yearning, for the delayed fulfillment. Then, at long last, he would give her what she wanted. Then he would hear her screams. The general with Kahlan bowed. "Good morning-Lord Rahl." "What's this?" he asked. He didn't like it when the soldiers brought things to Kahlan without seeing to informing the Lord Rahl first. "It's just the morning reports, Drefan," Kahlan said in that flat tone of hers. "Then why wasn't I informed? Reports should come to the Lord Rahl first." General Kerson stole a glance at Kahlan. He bowed again. "As you wish, Lord Rahl. I just thought-" "I do the thinking. You do the soldiering." The general cleared his throat. "Of course. Lord Rahl." "So, what do the morning reports have to say?"

The general glanced to Kahlan again. Drefan saw the slight nod. As if the general needed permission from the Lord Rahl's wife to report. Drefan let it pass, as he always did. He enjoyed her games, the way she thought he missed things. It amused him.

"Well, Lord Rahl. the plague is nearly over."

"Describe 'nearly over, if you would, please. As a healer, vagueness hardly does me any good."

' In the last week, the deaths from the plague have dropped to only three confirmed cases lust night. Nearly everyone who was sick when Lord"-he caught himself- "when Richard left has recovered. Whatever Richard did-"

"My brother died, that's what he did. I am the healer. I am the one responsible for the plague ending."

Kahlan lost the calm look. Her expression twisted to tightly controlled rage. He wondered how her face would twist were it pain, were it terror. He would know, in the end.

"Richard went to the Temple of the Winds. He sacrificed himself to save everyone. Richard! Not you, Drefan, Richard!"

Drefan dismissed her tirade with a casual flip of his hand. "Nonsense. What did Richard know of healing? I am the healer. It is Lord Rahl who has saved his people from the plague." Drefan raised a finger to the general. "And you had better see to it that that everyone knows it." Kahlan gave her slight nod to the general again.

"Yes, Lord Rahl," the general said. "I will personally see to it that everyone knows that it was Lord Rahl himself who stopped the plague." Kahlan's face showed the slightest hint of a smile at the general's ambiguous response. Drefan let it go. He had more important business than her disrespect for her husband.