Love is Cruel, Chapter 5 of 13

[hrhrionastar]

Title: Love is Cruel: Con Dar
Pairing: Richard/Nicci (background Richard/Kahlan, Rahl/Kahlan/Cara)
Rating: PG-13
Length: 938
Spoilers: whole series
Summary: Post-Tears, Richard wakes up to find he's not at the Pillars of Creation anymore...and someone very familiar is in the cell next door. Written for madmguillotine, on seekerrarepair.

 

Con Dar

“My dear brother,” Darken Rahl drawled the morning after Richard’s dream.

There were no windows in the dungeon, of course; But the Mord’Sith came with food, or to take Nicci, at exactly the same times every day.

Rahl and his procession stopped in front of Richard’s cell. Besides his attendant Mord’Sith, Cara stood at his right hand, her head tilted to one side and her eyes unreadable. And on Rahl’s arm, resplendent in a dark red gown the color, Richard thought bitterly, of blood, stood Kahlan.

Richard’s eyes devoured her—she had on her Confessor face, impossible to read, but Richard noticed she was paler than usual, there was no Rada’Han around her neck, and her hand on Rahl’s arm didn’t shake.

“You have no idea the pleasure it gives me,” Rahl purred, “to inform you that Kahlan has consented to be my wife.”

Richard didn’t even look at Rahl; he stared into Kahlan’s eyes, willing her to give him a sign this was some sort of trick. Or what if Rahl had tortured her into it? Broken her as once he had broken Cara?

And what about Cara? Hadn’t she always told him he was her Lord Rahl? More than that, what of their friendship? Richard felt lost.

“Aren’t you going to congratulate us?” Rahl was saying. “Soon, with your blood and Kahlan at my side, I will regain the throne of D’Hara and bring peace to the world.”

“Kahlan…” Richard protested, almost against his will. He didn’t want to give his brother more ammunition, but the picture he painted was horrific.

“It’s true, Richard,” Kahlan said expressionlessly. “I don’t expect you to understand.”

“Of course, I knew you would succeed in closing the rift,” Rahl said. “The only question was how that could benefit me—and, of course, the D’Haran empire. Mris’with cloaks are rare—I doubt you’ve ever heard of them; I and my Mord’Sith waited at the Pillars of Creation, with Nicci,” he nodded almost cordially in the direction of her cell, and Richard imagined Nicci’s cool, dispassionate stare. For some reason, it gave him courage.

“Until just the right moment,” Rahl gloated. “You never even saw the Sleeping Dust.” This was true enough; Richard remembered the disorientation, the sense that no time had passed, until he woke and called for Kahlan, Cara, and Zedd…

Zedd! “What have you done with Zedd?” Richard demanded.

Rahl brushed imaginary dust from the front of his floor-length vest. “That need not concern you, brother,” he said coolly. “Soon the Keeper will take his vengeance upon you—when I have what I need.” Turning to Kahlan, he bent and brushed a kiss on the corner of her lips. “Come, my love.”

Richard watched them go, heart sinking but thoughts whirling.

 

 

Nicci felt her heart beat faster as Rahl spoke of sending Richard to the Underworld. Pain slashed through her veins, harsher even than an agiel, yet somehow comforting. The blood pounded in her head, and she thought surely her eyes were burning.

But the Rada’Han yanked back the lightning from her fingertips and the sweet agony of a rage fiercer than any she had ever felt—even when she served the Keeper, and sought to see the Land of the Living reduced to nothing but ash.

Nicci watched Rahl depart, the Mother Confessor on his arm, trailed by Richard’s pet Mord’Sith (no longer?), and there was murder in her heart.

“Okay,” said Richard determinedly. Nicci heard him pacing back and forth. “Rahl has done something to Kahlan—some sort of powerful magic, most likely. And Cara. So we have to undo it.”

He spoke as if he believed it were as simple as that—but, Nicci had to admit, it mostly was, if only they could get to the Mother Confessor, if only the Rada’Han weren’t around her neck—

But just because the Mother Confessor was under the influence of powerful magic didn’t mean Nicci was especially motivated to rescue her. Left to her own devices, Nicci would just as soon leave the dangerous Mother Confessor to Darken Rahl’s dark schemes to conquer the world.

Nicci didn’t want the world. It was corrupt and rotten, like a tempting persimmon with worms at its center. Let Darken Rahl have it, if he so desired. If he could keep it.

But Nicci wanted Richard. She knew someday she would have to fight the Mother Confessor for him. Why should she hasten the conflict?

Richard was going on, full of nervous energy. “You’ll be able to tell what he’s done to her and undo the magic,” he said; his dependence upon her touched Nicci.

Brushing at her eyes to rid herself of unaccountable tears, Nicci said firmly, “That depends upon how much of my power Rahl has already stolen. While I am bound by this lump of metal,” and she tapped her fingernails against her Rada’Han so it rang continuously, “I can’t be sure.”

“Then we’ll have to find the key,” said Richard.

They spent hours discussing their plan for escape. The sight of the Mother Confessor seemed to have instilled in Richard an almost feverish urgency. Nicci thought of how much he must care for the Mother Confessor, to be so desperate to save her.

Bitterness threatened to overwhelm her, but Nicci thrust it aside. There would be time for that later.

She fell asleep at last, repeating the plan under her breath and wishing she could protect Richard. But he would never let her sacrifice herself for him, even if it meant he was reunited with the Mother Confessor.

She couldn’t help but love him for it.

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