The woman blinked at the burst of questions. She turned to the window and pointed out.
“She went down there. She said she wanted to have her children where she was born.”
“She went down to the Confessors’ Palace?”
Richard was astonished that she would take that risk before knowing that she would be safe from the Glee.
“That’s right,” Sister Phaedra said. “She has been down there for quite some time now.”
80
As he and Vika raced into the majesty of the Confessors’ Palace, two of the women who lived and worked there were already rushing toward them, skirts held in a hand as they ran.
“Lord Rahl! Lord Rahl!” one of them called out, waving an arm overhead to make sure they saw her.
They both ran up to meet Richard and Vika as they came into the bright, airy, grand central entryway. “Lord Rahl—”
“Yes?”
“I’m Ginny. This is Nina.”
“A runner just arrived to tell us that you were on your way,” Nina put in as if it were exciting gossip, or maybe she was just excited to see him.
Richard had been in a hurry to get there, so he was surprised to hear it. “A runner? A runner beat us here?”
“Rachel,” Ginny said with a grin. “She knows the shortcuts.”
Richard frowned. “Rachel? You mean Chase’s daughter? That Rachel?”
Ginny nodded. “Yes, she is such a big help to everyone. She has long legs, that girl. She was so excited to tell us that she had spotted you and a Mord-Sith that she had to race all the way down here as fast as she could to tell the Mother Confessor.” She pointed toward the ceiling. “She is up there with her now.”
“Where is Kahlan? Has she had the babies yet? Has—”
Ginny held her arm out, directing him. “Come. Everyone will be so excited that you have returned. To be honest, we all, well, we all thought you were dead. Everyone except the Mother Confessor. She said …”
Richard wanted to strangle the words out of her. “She said what?” He looked over at the other woman instead. “What did she say?”
“Well,” Nina stammered, “she said that you weren’t dead, that you would …”
“Would what?”
Nina blushed furiously. “She said that you would get some crazy idea and be able to come back to us. I guess she was right. Oh! I don’t mean she was right that you would have a crazy idea—I’m sure your ideas aren’t crazy—but that you would return.”
When Richard swished his hand to urge them to get them moving and show the way, Ginny immediately turned and led him and Vika up a grand stairway of white marble to a spacious balcony that ran most of the way around three sides of the palatial entryway. Around one side of that balcony they went up a second stairway to the third floor, and then turned down the central hall.
As they hurried down a wide, elaborate hallway with comfortable-looking chairs in groupings, Shale came racing around a corner out ahead. “Lord Rahl!” She rushed up and seized him by his shoulders. “Dear spirits! We thought for sure that you were lost to us!”
Vika cocked an eyebrow. “He got a crazy idea how to come back.”
Shale stared at her a moment, but had no answer. She turned back to Richard. He was surprised to see her in such a fine dress.
“The Mother Confessor will be relieved to see you. She was so worried, but she would never admit it. Whenever one of us would look at her, concerned for her and what she must be fearing, she would just smile and tell us not to worry. That you would be back.”
Richard threw up his arms. “Where is she! Bags, would one of you take me to her?”
Ginny and Nina blushed at the language.
“Come on,” Shale said, rolling a hand to urge him to follow. She started him down the hallway toward another grand stairway.
Richard was beside himself. “Has she had the babies yet? Are they all right? Is Kahlan all right?”
“Just come on and you can see for yourself.”
Shale led Richard and Vika up the stairs two at a time. Ginny and Nina hastened along behind. The palace was white and quiet and beautiful, but it was all a blur to Richard. He hardly saw any of it. He just wanted to get to Kahlan.
And then as they came to another hallway, he saw a group of people all milling around down the hall. He recognized the Mord-Sith, but they were all in white leather, which was a shock after having seen them in their red leather for so long.
Berdine spotted him coming and broke into a dead run. When she got to him, she leaped up into his arms, nearly knocking him down. She threw her legs around his waist.
“Lord Rahl! Lord Rahl! You’re back!”
Richard grabbed her by the waist and set her down. He flashed a quick smile as he turned her around and pushed her ahead as he rushed onward to the group outside a doorway.
He saw Chase there, with his wife Emma. He paused long enough to squeeze the big man’s arm in a silent greeting.
“Richard!” Rachel cried out as she suddenly hugged him. He ran a hand down the back of her head of long hair. He was surprised to see that she was now nearly as tall as him.
Richard looked around at the small group. “I need to see Kahlan.”
Shale smiled as she opened a white door with ornate carving on it. She held the door open for him and motioned him in.
Richard stared at her.
Shale grinned. “Go on, then.”
81
Richard walked into a beautiful room decorated with cream-colored curtains with a textured pattern and white frame and panel walls. The reflector lamps mounted on the walls were all silver, but none were lit. The carpets were leaf patterns in various shades of off-white. It wasn’t a large room, considering the size of the palace, but it looked special. The bed had four posts draped over the top with a white, filmy material that hung down on each side near the headboard. Through the open window Richard could hear birds chirping outside. In the distance the looming Keep looked down over them, a dark protector of the Confessors.
From that bed, Kahlan’s green eyes were locked on him from the moment he walked through the doorway.
His heart hammered as he stared at her.
She was so beautiful he felt tears well up in his eyes.
In each arm, she held a bundle. He could just see the tops of the babies’ heads.
“Are you all right?” he asked in a hushed tone, feeling stupid because he couldn’t think of anything better to say.
“Now that I see you, everything is good,” she said in a soft voice. “Everyone was so worried. But I knew that you would find a way to come back to me.”
“I’m sorry it took me so long. I wanted to be here when the babies came. But I—”
She was still smiling. “You are back with me now. That’s all that matters to me.”
“You don’t have to worry about the Glee coming after us ever again. No one in our world ever has to fear them again.”
“The Golden Goddess is not the new golden age, then?” she asked.
Richard shook his head. “No. A golden ring helped me get back to you and make our children safe. That golden ring is with us, now, here in our world. I think that is what it really meant when I promised you the beginning of a new golden age. That’s where that promise really comes from. I wanted you to know. It’s nothing else, nothing bad.”
She nodded against the pillow she was propped up on. “One day you can tell me about your crazy adventure, but right now, come and meet our children.”
At long last, Richard carefully stepped to the edge of the bed, close to her. He didn’t think he had ever felt more nervous and expectant all at once.
Kahlan smiled with bliss, with tranquility, and in weariness. It somehow calmed him. Her green eyes calmed him.