Stone of Tears

“If I decide to kill you, my dear boy, and I may, your sword will not help you.” Richard suddenly yelped and dropped the sword as if it was a hot coal. He stared down at the sword as he comforted his hand. “Now, put it away.” That time the quality of her voice was more of velvet rubbed the wrong way.

From under his eyebrows, Richard looked up at Shota on her throne, before bending to retrieve his sword and slide it back into its scabbard.

A self-satisfied smile spread across Shota’s full lips. She lifted the snake from her lap and set it aside. Shota watched Richard a moment longer and then stood, leaning forward enough in the process to offer her breasts the opportunity to fall out of her wispy, low-cut, variegated gray dress. How they managed not to, Kahlan didn’t know. A little stoppered bottle tumbled from its snug place between her breasts and swung on a fine silver chain.

Kahlan’s face heated as Shota gracefully descended the three platforms, never taking her eyes from Richard. The loose points of the dress floated gently, as if in a light breeze. But there was no breeze inside the spirit house.

That fabric, Kahlan decided, was definitely too thin for a dress. She wondered what she would look like in it, and blushed at the mental image.

Once standing on the ground, Shota turned and pulled the stopper from the little bottle. The entire throne wavered, like something seen through heat waves. Abruptly it turned to gray smoke and swirled in a circle, diminishing all the time in size, and sucked itself into a fine line that went into the little bottle. Shota replaced the stopper, tucked the bottle back between her breasts, and with a finger, pushed it so far down it could no longer be seen. Kahlan took a deep, noisy breath.

Shota’s gaze glided from Richard’s eyes and took in his open shirt with what might have been amusement. Or satisfaction. Richard’s face reddened.

Shota’s smile widened. “How delightfully indecent.” She ran one of her long, red nails all the way down his chest to his navel, and then she gently patted his stomach. “Button your shirt, Richard, or I may forget why I’m here.”

His face turned a deeper red. Kahlan moved deliberately closer to his side as he began redoing the buttons.

“Shota,” he said as he tucked the tails in his pants, “I have to thank you. You may not know it, but you really helped me before. Helped me to figure it out.”

“It was my intention to help you.”

“You don’t understand. I mean you helped me figure out how to be with Kahlan. You helped me figure out how we could be together. How to love her.” He smiled. “We’re going to be married.”

There was a moment of icy silence.

That’s right,” Kahlan said, holding her chin up, “we love each other… and can be together now… Forever.” She hated the way Shota made her feel explanations were necessary, and the way she fumbled with them.

Shota’s intense gaze slid to her and her smile slowly evaporated, making Kahlan have to swallow again. “You ignorant children,” Shota whispered as she slowly shook her head. “You foolish, ignorant children.”

Richard’s expression was becoming heated. “We may be ignorant, but we are not children, and we love each other. And we are going to be married. I was hoping you would be happy for us, Shota, since you played a small part in it.”

“What I told you, dear boy, was that you needed to kill her.”

“But that’s all over,” Kahlan protested. The problem has been solved. It’s all right for us now. Everything is all right.”

Kahlan gasped as she felt her feet lift off the ground. Both she and Richard were flung across the room and up against the wall. The impact knocked the wind from her lungs. Little points of light floated and danced before her eyes. She looked down, trying to clear her vision.

She and Richard were flattened against the mud-brick wall, a good three feet off the ground. She could hardly breathe. The only thing she could move was her head. Even her clothes were flattened. Her cloak lay against the wall as if it were the floor. Richard was as helpless as she. They both struggled, twisting their heads, but it was useless; they were stuck tight.

Shota glided across the room toward them, her eyes hot and dangerous. She stopped in front of Kahlan. “He didn’t need to kill you? And it’s all right now, is it, Mother Confessor?”

“Yes,” Kahlan managed, trying to sound confident as she hung helpless.

“Did it ever occur to you, Mother Confessor, that perhaps there are reasons behind what I say?”

“Yes, but that has all…”

“Did it ever occur to you, Mother Confessor, that there is a reason why Confessors are not supposed to love their mates? And perhaps another reason he should have killed you?”

Kahlan couldn’t answer. Her mind raced with frantic thoughts.

“What are you talking about?” Richard demanded.

Shota ignored him. “did it, Mother Confessor?”

Kahlan’s throat was so dry, she had to swallow twice before she could speak. “What do you mean? What reason?”

“Have you lain with this man you love? Have you done that yet, Mother Confessor?”