Princess Rahl, Chapter 12 of the Heir to the Throne

[hrhrionastar]

Title: A Mord'Sith's Honor (Ch. 12 of The Heir to the Throne)
Pairing: Darken/Kahlan, background Darken/Cara, Richard/Kahlan
Length: 811
Rating: T
Spoilers: Reckoning, mostly, but eventually there'll be a few references to things we learn later.
Summary: Reckoning AU: what if Darken and Kahlan's baby was a girl?

 

A Mord’Sith’s Honor

Mistress Cindi didn’t think she was unreasonable. She served Lord Rahl with a calm efficiency that was a marvel, particularly when compared with her Sisters. She harbored little affection for any of them—particularly Dahlia, who seemed to delight in little sharp barbs about her competence, appearance, and leadership as compared to Cara’s. She hadn’t liked Cara. If Cara was killed in some magical explosion, so much the better for Cindi, new First Mistress.

But Alina was a different matter. Not that Cindi had liked her better than any of the others. Alina was older than Cindi, and if she ever felt any resentment that Cindi was the one promoted to First Mistress, she never mentioned it.

Of course, that made her that much more dangerous—but that much less irritating on a daily basis.

It was not Alina, per se, that Cindi was so devastated to lose.

She wasn’t sure what it was—security perhaps?

All she knew was that she was not anxious to let those horrible little monstrous children get away with this.

As she strode through the halls of the Palace, she vowed she would teach them some respect.

But Cindi knew Lord Rahl would never allow her to take liberties with his heir. Lord Nicholas was a murderous, impertinent brat—but Lord Rahl was not Panis Rahl, who, Cindi had heard, had actually ordered his son to be trained by a Mord’Sith.

So there was really no point imagining all the torments she might inflict on Lord Nicholas.

In a way, however, Lady Nila was even worse.

Cindi had listened to her description of what had occurred—her callous disregard for Alina’s suffering had stung more than Cindi cared to admit.

These soul-stealing Confessors were a menace, and Cindi would never understand how Lord Rahl stooped to bed one of them, even if he was immune to her powers.

But there was no need to consider Lady Rahl. She was unimportant, in the larger scheme of things. Besides, Cindi was a Mord’Sith—she knew to always go for the pain. And what could be more painful for Lady Rahl than the lesson Cindi would teach that Underworld-spawn of hers?

Her course of action decided, Cindi followed the little brat, Lady Nila, up to the attics.

She ignored the towering World Mirror (it was said to show any time, any place, the viewer desired), the nondescript Wheel of Chaos (if properly activated, it could erase the minds of all in the Land of the Living, making them little more than animals), and the Dragon Scales (a weighing device made entirely from the scales of the Great Dragon’s hide, that was said to weigh love, hate, evil, and other intangible matters of the soul).

Mistress Cindi had a prosaic mind, and the only thing that interested her was the gawky, awkward little girl clambering up the Dragon Scales, in order to peer into the World Mirror.

Refusing to waste time on a request, Cindi simply reached up and yanked the Lady Nila down by the collar of her dress.

“Hey!” the little terror shrieked. “Do you mind?” When she saw Cindi’s set face, she asked, “Does Father want me?”

“No,” Cindi said, with relish. “He never did. Lord Nicholas is the heir—only Lord Nicholas matters. You are extra—unnecessary, redundant. I don’t know why Lord Rahl didn’t have you killed at birth.”

Now the brat was really squirming, screaming that it wasn’t true, Father loved her, Nicholas was useless and not much of an heir, put her down at once…

Cindi tuned it out, bored already. Little girls were all the same. Lady Nila reminded her of the new recruits she was supposed to be training. Lord Rahl had told her to be especially careful with this batch—they had all been born about the same time he had won the war and the Seeker had been killed, and he wanted them as some sort of Statement.

Cindi wasn’t too clear on the point of this, but she would do as she was told; she was loyal to Lord Rahl.

Cindi put the screaming Lady Nila in with the other little girls, the ones she and her Sisters had gathered, from the various corners of the kingdom. Let Lady Nila feel the cold, the rats nibbling at her toes and the grim uncertainty of her fate nibbling at her thoughts.

Cindi wasn’t sure if she were really going to break the little princess; Lord Rahl might think that was going too far. But suppose he did punish Cindi? Cindi thrilled at the thought, guilty pleasure rising through her.

Maybe now was the time to show Lord Rahl it wasn’t only Cara who had a mind of her own, and wasn’t afraid to disobey orders.

Cindi smiled, willing to take the risk. She was Mord’Sith; this was what she had been created for.
 

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