Chainfire Read Free Page B

wife.”
    Nicci turned an astonished frown on Cara. “A wife!”
    “Remember the name he called out when he was delirious?” Cara flashed a conspiratorial smile. “That’s the one he married in his dream. She’s beautiful—and smart, of course.”
    “Beautiful.” Nicci blinked at the woman. “And smart.”
    Cara cocked an eyebrow. “And she’s the Mother Confessor.”
    Nicci looked incredulous. “The Mother Confessor.”
    “Enough,” Richard said as he released Nicci’s wrist. “I mean it, now. Where is she?”
    It was immediately apparent to both women that his indulgent sense of humor had evaporated. The intensity in his voice, to say nothing of his glare, gave them pause.
    “Richard,” Nicci said in a cautious tone, “you were hurt pretty bad. For a time I didn’t think…” She hooked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and started over. “Look, when a person is hurt as seriously as you were, it can play tricks with their mind. It’s only natural. I’ve seen it before. When you were shot with that arrow you couldn’t breathe. Not getting air, like when you’re drowning, causes—”
    “What’s the matter with you two? What’s going on?” Richard couldn’t understand why they were stalling. His heart felt as if it were galloping out of control. “Is she hurt? Tell me!”
    “Richard,” Nicci said in a calm voice obviously meant to settle him down, “the bolt from that crossbow came perilously close to going right through your heart. If it had, there wouldn’t have been anything I could have done. I can’t raise the dead.
    “Even though it missed your heart, the arrow still did serious damage. People just don’t survive a wound as grave as you had. I wouldn’t have been able to heal you in the conventional manner because it couldn’t be done. There was no time to even try to get the arrow out in any other way. You were bleeding inside. I had to…”
    She faltered as she stared up into his eyes. Richard bent down a little toward her. “You had to what?”
    Nicci shrugged one shoulder self-consciously. “I had to use Subtractive Magic.”
    Nicci was a powerful sorceress in her own right, but she was infinitely more exceptional in that she was able to wield underworld forces as well. She had once been committed to those forces. She had once been known as Death’s Mistress. Healing was not exactly her specialty.
    Richard’s caution flared. “Why?”
    “To get the arrow out of you.”
    “You eliminated the arrow with Subtractive Magic?”
    “There was no time and no other way.” She again clasped his shoulders, although more compassionately this time. “If I hadn’t done something you would have been dead in mere moments. I had to.”
    Richard glanced to Cara’s grim expression and then back to Nicci. “Well, I guess that makes sense.”
    At least, it sounded like it made sense. He didn’t really know if it did or not. Having been raised in the vast woods of Westland, Richard didn’t know a great deal about magic.
    “And some of your blood,” Nicci added in a low voice.
    He didn’t like the sound of that. “What?”
    “You were bleeding into your chest. One lung had already failed. I was able to perceive that your heart was being forced out of place. The major arteries were in danger of being ripped apart from the pressure. I needed the blood out of the way in order to heal you—so that your lungs and heart could work properly. They were failing. You were in a state of shock and delirium. You were near death.”
    Nicci’s blue eyes brimmed with tears. “I was so afraid, Richard. There was no one but me to help you and I was so afraid that I would fail. Even after I did everything I could to heal you, I still wasn’t sure you would ever wake again.”
    Richard could see the toll of that fear in her expression and feel it in the way her fingers trembled on his arms. It spoke to how far she had come since she had given up her belief in the cause of the Sisters of