The Omen Machine

So much had happened since she had first met him in his woodland home. Both their lives had completely changed. The world had been turned upside down as it went through a nightmare war. She couldn’t count the times she had thought that she would never see him again, or feared he was going to die, or worse, thought that he had been killed. The terror had seemed as if it would never end.

It finally had. They had not just survived but after years of struggle they had won the war and brought peace to the world.

But now the world felt like it was again slipping into darkness.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Kahlan took up his good hand and held it to the side of her face. She hid her silent tears against his hand.

Richard gently ran his hand through her hair as he pulled her head against him.

“I know,” he said softly. “I know.”

Kahlan put her arms around his waist. “Promise me that you won’t let what ever is coming take you from me?”

Richard bent and kissed the top of her head. “I promise.”

“A wizard always keeps his promises,” she reminded him.

“I know,” he said with a smile.

Everything was going so well. They had fought for so long, suffered so much. It wasn’t fair that something was coming for them again, but she knew it was. And she knew that Richard knew the same thing. He held her to him as she gave in to weakness and wept. She never let anyone but Richard see that weakness.

“What are we doing in this room?” he finally asked.

“Just trying to keep us away from prying eyes.”

“So you sensed someone watching you, earlier?”

She shrugged, still holding him. “I don’t know, Richard. It seemed like I did, but I couldn’t be sure. It sounded so creepy when Cara told us about it. Maybe I was just imagining it.”

She looked up at him and laughed through her tears. “But if you think I’m taking off my clothes tonight, Lord Rahl, you have another think coming.”

Richard lay back on the bed. Kahlan crawled up and snuggled up to him, putting her head on his shoulder.

“Just hold me,” she whispered. “Please?”

He circled his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

She wiped at her tears. “I can’t remember the last time I cried.”

After a long moment, he said, “I can.”

She pressed herself into him. She couldn’t believe that she really had him, that he was really hers, that he really and truly loved her.

She couldn’t believe that she was going to lose him to darkness seeking darkness.

CHAPTER 17

Kahlan woke to the distinctive sound of Richard’s sword coming out of the scabbard. The clear ring of the Sword of Truth’s steel brought her wide awake and brought her heart rate up.

She lifted her head from his shoulder. “What is it?”

Richard had the sword gripped in a fist above her. He shushed her as he gently, carefully slipped out from under her loose embrace. It was a bewitchingly fluid movement that ended with him standing silent and still beside the bed looking into the darkness.

Kahlan expected that at any moment something might fly at him out of that darkness. Nothing did.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“Do you feel like someone is watching us?” he asked back over his shoulder.

“I don’t know. I was sound asleep.”

“You’re awake now.”

Kahlan sat up. “I don’t know, Richard. I could convince myself that I do, but I don’t know if it’s real or just my imagination.”

Richard stared off at the darkness at the end of the room. “It’s real.”

That made Kahlan’s heart beat even faster. She inched closer to him, making sure to stay out of the way of his sword in case he needed to use it.

“Can you tell what it is?”

His muscles relaxed. “It’s gone.”

Kahlan squinted, trying to see better in the dimly lit bedroom. “You mean it’s gone like maybe you were imagining it and now you realized as much?”

Richard turned to her. “No, I mean that when I deliberately looked back at it, it left. It was there. I have no doubt of it.”

The tension might have gone out of his muscles, but she recognized all too well the rage that still lit his eyes. It was the magic of the Sword of Truth he was gripping tightly in his fist. It was the righteousrage of the Seeker.

Kahlan could hear distant thunder. She rubbed her arms against the chill. “Who, or what, could do such a thing? I mean, who could look in at us that way?”

“I haven’t any idea. Zedd didn’t know either.”

Richard slid the sword back into the gold and silver scabbard he was holding in his other hand. As the sword slipped back into its lair, the anger faded from his gray eyes.

Richard lifted the sword’s baldric over his head and let it rest on his right shoulder while Kahlan went to the window and drew the drapes aside enough to peek outside. “It’s light out.”

“What about the storm?”

“Looks like it’s worse. You’re quite the prophet.”

“Great,” Richard muttered. “Now all the representatives get to stay around and badger us about prophecy some more.”