Temple of the Winds

"If Richard didn't claim me, and I got pregnant, then I'd say it was his and he'd marry me because it could be his. If I didn't get pregnant, and he wouldn't claim me, well, then, there was still Michael. I figured second best was better than none."

Kahlan didn't know what had happened, Richard hadn't said. She feared Nadine would stop her story right there. Kahlan couldn't very well admit she didn't know what happened next, and worse, she feared to hear just how successful Nadine's bizarre plan had been. In the first version, the kissing version, Richard had turned away. But Kahlan now knew that version wasn't true.

She watched the vein in the side of the Nadine's neck throb. Kahlan folded her arms and waited.

At last, Nadine collected her voice and continued. "Well, that was my plan, anyway. It seemed to make sense. I figured I'd get Richard out of it, at best, and Michael at worst.

"It didn't work the way I thought. Richard walked in and froze. I smiled over my shoulder. I invited him to come join the fun, or else to come to me later and I'd see to him, too." Kahlan held her breath.

"That was the first time I saw that look in Richard's eyes. He didn't say a word. He just turned and walked out."

Nadine stuck a hand in under the hair hanging around her face and wiped it across her nose as she sniffled. "I thought I'd at least have Michael. He laughed at me when I told him he'd claimed me. He just laughed. He never wanted to be with me again after that. He'd gotten what he wanted. I was no use to him after that. He moved on to other girls."

"But, if you were willing to… Dear spirits, why didn't you simply seduce Richard?"

"Because I was worried he might expect that and have his resistance built up for it. I wasn't the only girl he danced with. I was afraid he wouldn't want to commit, and that if I simply tried to seduce him, he might be ready for that and turn me down. I'd heard a rumor that Bess Pratter tried that. It didn't seem to have worked for her. I was afraid it wouldn't be enough of a shove.

"I figured that jealousy would be the thing that pushed him off the fence. I figured my plan would take him by such surprise that he'd just lose his head with jealousy and lust, and then I'd have him. I've heard tell there's nothing more powerful in a man than jealousy and lust."

With both hands, Nadine pushed her hair back on her head. "I can't believe Richard told you. I didn't think he would ever tell anyone."

"He didn't," Kahlan whispered. "Richard only stared at me when I told him that you said he caught you kissing his brother. He didn't tell me the story. You just did that all by yourself." Nadine's face sank into her hands.

"You may have grown up with Richard, but you didn't know him. Dear spirits, you didn't know the first thing about him."

"It might have worked. You don't know as much as you think. Richard is just a boy from Hartland who never had anything and has had his head turned by fine things and people doing his bidding. That's why it might have worked-because he just wants what he sees. I was just trying to make him see what I have to offer." Kahlan's head throbbed. She pinched the bridge of her nose as she shut her eyes. "Nadine, as the good spirits are my witness, you have got to be just about the stupidest woman I have ever met."

Nadine sprang up from the chair. "You think I'm so stupid? You love him. You want him." She jabbed her finger at her own chest. "You know how it feels, in here, to want him. I wanted him no less than you. If you had to, you would do the same thing. Right now, as well as you know him, you'd do the same if you thought it was your only chance. Your only chance! Tell me you wouldn't!"

"Nadine," Kahlan said in a calm voice, "you don't know the first thing about love. Love isn't about taking what you want; it's about wanting happiness for the one you love."

Nadine leaned in with a venomous expression. "You'd do the same as I did, if you had to!"

The words of the prophecy whisperer through Kahlan's head. Lightning will find him on that path, for the one in white, his true beloved, will betray him. .

"You're wrong, Nadine. I wouldn't. Not for anything in this world would I chance hurting Richard. Not for anything. I would live a life of lonely misery before I would hurt him. I would even let you have him before I would hurt him."

CHAPTER 17