The shadows of Richard's features seemed dark and severe, cast as they were in a mask of resignation.

"Kahlan, you must be prepared to go on."

"What do you mean?"

"You must find joy in the fact that I, too, live. You must be prepared to go on with that knowledge and nothing else."

"What do you mean, nothing else?"

He had a terrible look in his eyes-some kind of sad, grim, tragic acceptance. She didn't want to look into his eyes, but, standing there with her hand against his chest, feeling the warmth of him, the life within him, she couldn't make herself look away as he spoke.

"I think it's different this time."

Kahlan pulled her hair back when the wind dragged it over her eyes.

"Different?"

"There's something very different about the feel of this. It doesn't make sense in the way things in the past have made sense. There's something deadly serious about Nicci. Something singular. She's planned this out and she's prepared to die for it. I can't lie to you to deceive you. Something tells me that, this time, I may never be able to find a way to come back."

"Don't say that." In weak fingers trembling with dread, Kahlan gathered his dark shirt into a wrinkled knot. "Please don't say that, Richard. You must try. You must find a way to come back to me."

"Don't ever think I won't be doing my best." His voice was impassioned, almost to the point of sounding angry. "I swear to you, Kahlan, that as long as there is a breath in my lungs, I'll never give up; I'll always try to find a way. But we can't ignore the possibility just because it's painful to contemplate: I may never be back.

"You must face the fact that it looks like you must go on without me, but with the knowledge that I'm alive, just as I will have that awareness of you in my heart where no one can touch it. In our hearts, we have each other and always will. That was the oath we swore when we were married-to love and honor each other for all time. This can't change it. Distance can't change it. Time can't change it."

"Richard. ." She choked back her wail, but she couldn't keep the tears from coursing down her face. "I can't stand the thought of you being a slave because of me. Don't you see that? Don't you see what that would do to me? I'll kill myself if I must so that she can't do this to you. I must."

He shook his head, the wind ruffling his hair. "Then I would have no reason to escape her. Nothing to escape for."

"You won't need to escape, that's just it she won't be able to hold you."

"She's a Sister of the Dark." He threw open his hands. "She will simply use another means I won't know how to counter-and if you're dead, I won't care to."

"But-"

"Don't you see?" He seized her by her shoulders. "Kahlan, you must live to give me a reason to try to escape her."

"Your own life is your reason," she said. "To be free to help people will be your reason."

"The people be cursed." He released her and gestured angrily. "Even people where I grew up turned against us. They tried to murder us. Remember?

The lands that have surrendered into the union with D'Hara will likely not remain loyal, either, when they see the reality of the Imperial Order's army moving up into the Midlands. Eventually, D'Hara will stand alone.

"People don't understand or value freedom. The way it now stands, they won't fight for it. They've proven it in Anderith, and in Hartland, where I grew up. What more clear evidence could be seen? I hold out no false hope.

Most of the rest of the Midlands will quail when it comes time to fight against the Imperial Order. When they see the size of the Order's army and their brutality with those who resist, they will surrender their freedom."

He looked away from her, as if regretting his flash of anger in their last moments together. His tall form, so stalwart against the sweep of mountains and sky, sagged a little, seeming to huddle closer to her as if seeking comfort.

"The only thing I have to hope for is to get away so I can come back to you." His voice had lost all traces of heat as he spoke in a near whisper.

"Kahlan, please don't take that hope from me-it's all I have."

In the distance she could see the fox trotting across the meadow. Its thick, whitetipped tail followed out straight behind as the fox made its inspection for any rodents that might be about. As Kahlan's gaze tracked its movement, from the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Spirit standing proud and free in the window. How could she lose the man who had carved that for her when she needed it most?

She could, she knew, because now he needed what only she could give him. Looking back up into his intense gray eyes, she realized she could not hope to deny him his earnest plea and only request, not at a time like this.

"All right, Richard. I won't do anything rash to free you. I'll wait for you. I'll endure it.

"I know you. I know you won't ever give up. You know I expect no less from you. When you get away-and you will-I'll be waiting for you, and then we'll be together again. We'll never be apart in our hearts. As you said, our oath of love is timeless."

Richard closed his eyes with relief. He tenderly kissed her brow. He lifted her hand from his chest and pressed soft kisses to her knuckles. She saw then how much her pledge meant to him.

Kahlan pulled her hand back and quickly removed her necklace, the one Shota had given her as a wedding gift. It was meant to prevent her from getting pregnant. She turned Richard's hand over and pushed the necklace into his palm. He frowned in confusion at the small, dark stone hanging from the gold chain draped over his fingers.

"What's this about?"

"I want you to take it." Kahlan cleared her throat to keep her voice.

She could only manage a whisper. "I know what she wants of you-what she will make you do."

"No, that's not what. ." He shook his head. He said, "I'm not taking this," as if turning it away would somehow deny the possibility.

Kahlan put her hand to the side of his face. His face wavered before her in a watery blur.

"Please, Richard. Please take it. For me. I couldn't bear the thought of another woman having your child." Or even the thought of the attempt at its creation-but she didn't say that part of it. "Especially not after mine

. .»

He looked away from her eyes. "Kahlan. ." Words failed him.

"Just do it for me. Take it. Please, Richard. I'm doing as you ask and will endure your captivity; please honor my request in return. I couldn't stand the thought of that bewitching blond beast having your child-the child that should be mine. Don" you see? How could I ever love something I hated?

And how could I ever hate something that was part of you? Please, Richard, don't let it come to that."

The cold wind lifted and twisted her hair. Her whole life, it seemed, was twisting out of her control. She could hardly believe that this place of such joy, peace, and redemption, a place where she had come to live again, could be a place where it would all be taken away.

Richard held the necklace out to her, as if it were a thing that might bite him. The dark stone swung under his fingers, gleaming in the gloom.

"Kahlan, I don't think that's what this is about. I really don't. But anyway, she could simply refuse to wear it and threaten your life if I didn't. ."

Kahlan pulled the gold chain from his fingers and laid it all in a small neat mound in his palm. The dark stone glimmered from its imprisonment behind the veil of tiny gold links. She closed his fingers around the necklace and held his fist shut with both of her hands.

"You're the one who demands we not ignore those things that are painful to contemplate."

"But if she refuses. ."