Warheart Read Free Page A

kill Richard. She said you would do it because you love him. That was all true. It happened just as she said, but at the time it made no sense.
    â€œShe didn’t say that you would do it out of an act of love. She only said you would do it because you love him. I thought it meant that she was saying you would somehow do it out of anger or jealousy or something.” Kahlan tried to dismiss the accusation with a quick wave of a hand. “You know what I mean.”
    Nicci’s only answer was to let out a deep sigh.
    â€œThat part just didn’t seem possible to me,” Kahlan said. “I couldn’t bring myself to believe you would do such a thing to Richard and I told her so. She said that if you lived, you would. In the end I couldn’t seriously consider ending your life on her word when it made no sense to me.”
    Nicci smiled sadly, then. “Thank you for believing in me.”
    The sorceress looked over at Richard lying atop the funeral pyre. Men were starting to clamber up over the planks and logs to carefully lift him down.
    â€œMaybe you should have taken her advice,” Nicci said. “Had you done as she insisted, Richard would be alive right now. I’d rather it be me lying there dead than him.”
    â€œDone is done,” Kahlan said, waving off the notion. “We can’t change what is done, but maybe we can change what will be.”
    Nicci looked back at her. “What do you mean?”
    â€œRed felt real sorrow for me, true compassion. I know she did.” Kahlan gestured off toward Hunter. “Because she did, I thought that Red sent Hunter as a way of offering her condolences.”
    Nicci was beginning to look more intrigued. “Now you think otherwise? You think she sent him for some other reason?”
    â€œYes–maybe. The last time she sent Hunter to me, it was so he could lead me safely to her so that she could tell me what she saw in the flow of time. She wanted to protect Richard and she believed that I was the best one to do that. She said that she could not kill you herself because it is not her place to interfere directly. Her place is to see what she can in order to help others do what must be done. She was right about it all, but I didn’t believe her and so I didn’t follow her instructions.”
    Kahlan gripped Nicci’s arm. “What if that’s what she is doing this time as well? What if that’s why she sent Hunter? What if she sees something in the flow of time, something we could do to help bring Richard back?”
    Nicci’s expression was guarded. “Witch women often seem like they are trying to help you, but that isn’t necessarily the case. They have their own agenda and they have an unpleasant way of giving you false hope to serve their own ends.”
    Kahlan knew that Nicci would do anything, take any chance no matter how crazy, if it could save Richard, so she knew that the sorceress was expressing doubt as a way of testing the strength of Kahlan’s theory.
    â€œHer agenda this time is for Richard to survive in order to stop Sulachan. There is no bigger threat to her. What if there really is a way?” Kahlan asked. “What if the witch woman sees something, some way to help Richard? While it’s true that they misdirect you at times, it’s never with lies–there is always a core of truth in what they say. I actually liked her, Nicci. I think she really cares about all of us.”
    Nicci regarded her with a skeptical expression but didn’t say anything.
    â€œSince I didn’t do as she told me to do and stop Richard’s death by killing you, that changed events, changed the course and flow of events in time. Richard’s act of free will changed the future. What if she now sees something new in the flow of time, something that we could do–something that has only now become a possibility because Richard did what he did by coming after