“You already know that I did.”
He gestured expansively. “All right, for the sake of argument, let’s say you were right.” Richard held up a finger as he leaned toward her. “But what you may not realize is that your look into prophecy has already come to pass. That flow of time has run its course and is over. It already happened.”
Shota folded her arms. “What are you talking about?”
“When the chimes caused magic to fail—caused the magic of the necklace you gave Kahlan to fail—we didn’t know that your necklace wasn’t working as you designed it, and as a result, we conceived a child. Unfortunately, Kahlan lost that child before it could be born. If your prophecy is true, that means the first child conceived, the one Kahlan lost, was in fact the monster you so fear, the very one you saw in the flow of time.
“That means that the prophecy you saw in the flow of time has already happened and has already been fulfilled. Since Kahlan became pregnant but lost that first child, that means the child you saw in the flow of time that would be a monster, is already long dead. The world has already been saved from the dark times you saw in the flow of time caused by that monster.”
Richard gestured at Kahlan as he went on. “This pregnancy is now a different one. This time, these children Kahlan now carries are exactly what the world needs to survive. They are not the monsters that would destroy the world, but rather they are the other side of that prophecy, the balance to it that magic requires: the saviors of the world.”
Shota scowled at him for a moment. “It is not possible for them to be saviors of our world.”
“Yes, it is, because without them, our gift—mine and Kahlan’s—will eventually pass out of existence when we die. The Grace each of us was born with will carry us and our gift beyond the veil. Right now, our gift, Kahlan’s and mine, is what is holding magic together and preventing the Golden Goddess from completing her lust to take our world and kill everyone in it.
“Don’t you see? Without our magic carrying on through these children of D’Hara, the Glee will be able to ravage our world. If you think the dark times were bad, you have not seen the terror visited upon people by the Glee. We have seen a small bit of it, and I can tell you that no one will survive. If these children don’t live, then no one will.
“If you were to kill these children, you would, in essence, be killing everyone.”
With her hands on her hips, Shota regarded Kahlan for a long moment before looking back at Richard and again folding her arms.
“That’s a nice story, but I can’t risk the world on a nice story. I won’t risk it. I know of the Golden Goddess. What you don’t see is that she is not my concern.” She unfolded her arms to poke Richard’s chest with a finger. “The Glee are your concern, your responsibility, as the Lord Rahl. It is up to you to protect our world, and as such it is your responsibility to deal with the threat posed by the Glee. It is as simple as that.
“My concern is the monsters you have conceived. It is my responsibility—since you abdicated it—to make sure the twins you two have conceived never come to be.”
Richard’s hands fisted at his sides. “I don’t have any way to fight a threat from another world! Any hope for the future will slip away without these gifted children!”
Richard took a settling breath to compose himself before going on. “Shota, your fault, your flaw, is that you are so focused on your narrow belief, that you are not able to see the bigger picture. You are fighting the last battle from dark times long forgotten.”
“It is you who are not seeing the big picture and the obvious solution,” she said. “You simply need to stop the threat from the Golden Goddess and her kind, wizard. When you do that, then our world will be safe from the Glee. That is your duty as Seeker and as the Lord Rahl. Do your job. My concern is that these children are not allowed to live in this world. That is my job.
“Had you not ended prophecy, I would be able to look into the flow of time and see if anything has changed and if your theory could possibly be true. But because you took it upon yourself to end prophecy, that opportunity is lost to us. Because the consequences would be too grave to risk doing otherwise, the original prophecy must stand.
“My witch’s oath stands. It will be carried out.”
Richard’s eyes took on the hawklike glare that Kahlan knew so well. “Shota,” he said in a low, dangerous tone, “if you have forced us to come all this way so that you can kill us along with these innocent children yet unborn, you have made a very big mistake. You have no right to their lives or ours, and as the Lord Rahl of the D’Haran Empire, I am telling you to once and for all to end your obsession.
“Believe me, you do not want to fight me.” He gestured to Kahlan. “Nor do you want to fight the Mother Confessor. Have you ever seen a mother bear protect her cubs? I have. She is ferocious. You cross her at great peril.”
23
Kahlan felt solace at Richard’s words. Shota, however, looked like she was having none of it. Kahlan wondered how long the witch woman’s patience would last before she decided to simply kill them.
Shota opened her hands as an empty smile spread on her lips. “Richard, just as you have so often misinterpreted my actions in the past, you misunderstand my resolve to be of assistance in this difficult time. You must believe me when I say that I have no malice toward you or the Mother Confessor. Nor do I have any desire to do battle with either of you. Most of all, I certainly have no intention of harming either one of you. I already told you: I am grateful to you both. Everything you falsely interpret as threatening is merely my desire to help you both.”
Richard glared with incredulity. “You expect me to believe you are only interested in helping us? You want us to think that by murdering our children you are helping us?”
Shota stepped close so she could rest an arm over Richard’s shoulder. She smiled warmly and batted her eyelashes, as if trying to charm him. Kahlan had absolutely no doubt that Richard was not charmed or attracted to the witch woman. Even so, it made her blood boil to see her trying to seduce Richard with her “charm.”
“Think of me as doing a difficult chore for you, one that must be done, so that you don’t have to do it,” she said with a shrug. She idly ran a finger of her other hand down his chest, making Kahlan fume all the more. “I admit that my insistence on being of service to you could be taken the wrong way, but be assured, I certainly intend you no harm.”
“If you intend us no harm, then why did you force us to come here?” Kahlan asked, drawing the witch woman’s attention away from her husband.
Shota withdrew her arm from where it was resting on Richard’s shoulder and turned to Kahlan, clearly annoyed to be interrupted in mid-seduction. “I brought you here so you could give birth to the children you carry. I will see to it that you will be safe and comfortable while you are here until then. Once you give birth, both you and Richard, and”—she gestured offhandedly beyond Richard without taking her eyes off Kahlan—“your gaggle of Mord-Sith, will be free to leave and go about your lives.”
“My children will not be born here, in this vile place, so that you can slaughter them.”
Shota’s grin widened. “I’m afraid that you are once again getting the wrong idea. You see, you have no say in this. We will do our best to make you comfortable for the duration of your visit to my palace. After you give birth, as I said, you will be free to leave. But you will not be leaving with those children.”
Kahlan’s hands fisted with fury. “You can’t have my babies so that you can murder them!”