“Cruel hoax?” Shota asked in her silky-smooth voice.
Kahlan had never thought it fair that a woman as beautiful as Shota should also have a voice that could charm a good spirit out of the underworld.
“My intent was merely to bring a cherished memory to life so that each of you could once more look upon your beloved mothers.” Shota arched an eyebrow. “How is that cruel? It was a gift created through great effort on my part.”
“Your intent was to bring each of us pain and to crush our hearts,” Richard said. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
She smiled reproachfully. “Richard, a Seeker needs his anger. If you will recall, I’ve warned you before not to let it cloud your judgment. And yet, it is a mistake you have made too often in the past.”
Richard didn’t go for the bait and instead glanced around. “What is this gloomy pit? Why aren’t you in Agaden Reach?”
Shota swept an arm around in a grand gesture as if to show him the massive room, all the while smiling at him. “This is my winter palace. Isn’t it splendid? Do you like it?”
Richard never took his eyes off her, the same way he wouldn’t take his eyes off any lethal threat. “Not really. I think I prefer the swamp you live in. It’s more honest.”
“Ah, well, the Reach is nice, I must admit,” Shota cooed. “But I come here to Bindamoon, on rare occasions, when I have important business to conduct.”
“We met the man you sent to welcome us,” Richard told her.
Shota’s brow twitched. “Man?”
“The bearded fellow with the gift. A gift he intended to use against us.”
Realization came over her features. “Ah.” Her expression soured. “Iron Jack.”
“That’s the one,” Richard said.
She flipped a hand dismissively. “A sycophant, a stooge. He fancies himself useful to me, thinking it will earn him favors. He is always trying to impress me. He doesn’t realize that he merely impresses me as a worthless freak. He is a bothersome little man.”
“He won’t be bothering you anymore,” Richard told her. “He’s dead.”
Shota shrugged as she smiled. “Good.”
Kahlan was a bit surprised by the reaction. She had thought that Shota had sent him. Richard didn’t mention that Iron Jack had been killed by the Glee.
Kahlan gestured, indicating the palace above them. “And so you have that place above, now, so that you can call yourself a queen? What are you queen of, exactly?”
Shota turned a cold look on Kahlan. “That is what the people in this place prefer to call me. Queen.”
Kahlan frowned. “Why?”
Shota regarded Kahlan with the kind of penetrating gaze that only added to her menace. Shota had never liked Kahlan, and she took every opportunity to make that clear.
Shota glanced down at Kahlan’s swollen pregnancy. It was not a look of approval. The witch woman’s perfect shape made Kahlan feel fat and ugly in comparison. Against her will, she could feel her face start to go red.
“They choose to call me the queen because they fear to say my name aloud.” The smile again spread on her lips, but failed to reach her eyes. She arched one eyebrow. “With good reason.”
Frowning, Shale leaned closer to Richard. “Mind telling me what’s going on?”
He held out an arm in introduction. “Shale, this is Shota, a witch woman Kahlan and I know all too well. Deluded by prophecy, she swore that if we ever dared to have children, she would kill them. That is the witch’s oath that all along has been at the center of everything. That is the true witch’s oath that has shadowed us, nearly gotten us killed, and in the end brought us here. The witch’s oath had never been created by Michec. It had been Shota’s all along.”
Shota smiled at Richard and bowed her head in recognition of him grasping Michec’s role. “He was a useful idiot.”
Shale looked baffled. “But why?”
“Because,” Richard said, “she fears our children. Isn’t that right, Shota?”
Shota’s eyes turned hot and dangerous. “I guess I can’t fool you, Seeker.”
Kahlan had noticed from the beginning that all the women to the sides of the throne were glaring right at her. She did her best not to look at them, but it was next to impossible not to. Each one was different, and each one, in her own way, looked intimidating.
Shota, annoyed that Shale had spoken before being spoken to, slowly stepped closer to her, her boot strikes echoing around the massive stone chamber. She came to a halt before Shale. She lifted her chin a little to look down her nose as she studied the sorceress’s face for a moment.
“Well, well, what have we here?” she asked as she leaned forward then to peer intently into Shale’s eyes. “A half-breed. How utterly revolting.” She straightened back up. “Had you any shame, my dear, you would have long ago killed yourself.” Shota’s disapproval turned again to a mocking smile. “Not to worry.” She cocked her head. “I will help with that when I’m finished with you.”
“I can only assume that you are responsible for the boundary that appeared to force us to come here,” Richard said to draw Shota’s attention away from the sorceress. “That means that you are responsible for the loss of any innocent lives of the people who have been killed when they walked into it without realizing what it was. I want that terrible boundary brought down right now.” Richard leaned toward Shota, fixing her in his raptor glare. “Right now.”
Shota shrugged. “As you wish.” She twirled a hand around overhead. “Done,” she said in a voice that might have been used to announce dinner was ready.
Richard looked a little surprised to have her so easily agree, and a little dubious that she had actually undone something of such massive power. More than that, though, he was not at all happy about the boundary being put up in the first place. “How many innocent people do you suppose you murdered with that thing?”
Shota regained her imperious attitude. “I regret the loss of any innocent lives, but it was unavoidable in order to prevent what would be a much greater loss of lives. So, in that sense, you two are actually the cause of such deaths.”
Richard continued to glare at her. “How do you figure that?”
Shota walked slowly to her ornate throne to stand for a moment as she gathered her thoughts.
She lifted a finger without looking back. “You saved me from the Keeper once.”
“And this is how you show your gratitude?” Richard asked in a rising, angry voice.
After a moment, the witch woman turned and strolled back to stand before Richard and Kahlan. “I told you both that because of what you had done, I would be forever grateful. I meant it.”
She touched her fingertips to the side of Richard’s face. “I actually rather like you. You are a noble individual. You and the Mother Confessor both. You both have fought for the survival of your people, and in so doing fought for my survival as well. You have done good and brought peace to the world. For all that and more, I respect you both and wish you no harm.”
22
“So you decided to trap us here because you like us?” Richard asked. “You put lives of innocent people in danger because you like us? You more than likely caused the deaths of unwitting travelers because you like us?”
Shota gently gripped Richard’s throat as she glared with menace into his gray eyes. “I warned you that all the children a Confessor bears are Confessors. Over time it came to pass that most give birth only to girl children. I told you that if you give the Mother Confessor a child, it would be a boy, and that boy child would be a Confessor. Beyond that, even a girl child with Confessor power and the gift of a war wizard from two lines of wizards, one with Subtractive Magic, would be an abomination. I told you that for those reasons you must not have a child with this woman.”