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"To a good cause," Sebastian said, quietly.
Je
"Je
Tears of rage poured down her face. "I can't believe you could have done such things to me and claimed to love me."
But I do, Je
She pressed her hands to the voice screaming in her head. "You are evil! I could never love you!"
"Brother Narev teaches that all of mankind is evil. We can have no moral existence because mankind is a taint on the world of life. At least Brother Narev is at last in a better place. He's with the Creator, now."
"You mean to say that even Brother Narev is evil, then? Because he is part of mankind? Even your precious, sacred Brother Narev was evil?"
Sebastian glared at her. "The one who is truly evil is standing right there"-he pointed-" Richard Rahl, for killing a great man. Richard Rahl must be put to death for his crimes."
"If mankind is evil, and if Brother Narev is in a better place-with the Creator-then Richard has done a kindness by killing Brother Narev, by sending him into the Creator's arms, hasn't he? And if mankind is evil, then how could Richard Rahl be evil for killing men of the Order?"
Sebastian's face had gone red. "We are all evil, but some are more evil than others! As least we have the humility before the Creator to recognize our own wickedness, and to glorify only the Creator." He paused and cooled visibly. "I know it's a sign of weakness, but I love you." He gave her a smile. "You have become my only reason for being, Je
She could only stare at him. "You don't love me, Sebastian. You don't have any idea what love really is. You can't love anyone or anything until you love your own existence, first. Love can only grow out of a respect for your own life. When you love yourself, your own existence, then you love someone who can enhance your existence, share it with you, and make it more pleasurable. When you hate yourself and believe your existence is evil, then you can only hate, you can only experience the shell of love, that longing for something good, but you have nothing to base it in but hatred. You taint the very concept of love, Sebastian, with your corrupted longing for it. You want me only to justify your hatred, to be your partner in self-loathing.
" To truly love someone, Sebastian, you must revel in their existence because they make life all the more wonderful. If you think existence is corrupt, then you are sealed off from the fruition of such a relationship, from what love really is."
"You're wrong! You just don't understand!"
"I understand all too well. I only wish I had sooner."
"But I do love you, Je
"You can only wish you did. They are the empty words of a barren shell of a man. There is nothing there for me to love-nothing worth loving. You are so empty of humanity that it's even difficult for me to hate you, Sebastian, except in the sense of the way one would hate an open sewer."
Lightning crashed down on the pillars all around. The voice in Je
"Je
Je
"I've listened to this touching lovers' spat long enough," Sister Perdita growled. "Sebastian, be a man and shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you. Your life means just as little as anyone elses. Richard, you have a choice. Je
"You don't have to serve the Keeper, Sister," Richard said. "You don't have to serve the dream walker, either. You have a choice."
Sister Perdita pointed at him. "You have a choice! I make you this offer, once! Your time is up! Kahlan's time is up! Je
"I don't like your rules," Richard said. "I choose neither."
"Then I choose for you! Your precious wife dies!"
Even as Je
Je
There was a crystal-clear instant when the world seemed to stop, to freeze in place.
And then, there was a violent concussion to the air, thunder without sound.
The terrible shock drove a ring of dust and rock away from the Mother Confessor in an ever-expanding circle. The shock to the columns so close all around shook the towering pillars. Some, that were so precariously balanced, toppled. As they fell, they hit others, bringing them down as well. It seemed to take forever for the huge sections of rock to plunge through the sweltering air, trailing dust as they disintegrated, plummeting down like thunder made of stone. As the rock came crashing to ground it seemed the entire valley shook under the tremendous blows. Blinding dust swirled up into the air.
The world went black, as if all light had been taken away, and in that terrifying instant, in the total blackness, it seemed that there was no world, no anything.
The world came back, like a shadow lifting.
Jermsen found herself holding the arm of a dead woman. The Sister toppled to the ground like one of the stone pillars. Je
Richard was already there, holding Kahlan in his arms, slicing through the rope, easing her down. She looked drained, but other than her weakness, she looked fine.
"What happened?" Je
Richard smiled at her. "The Sister made a mistake. I warned her. The Mother Confessor unleashed her power into Sister Perdita."
"Did you have to warn her?" Kahlan asked, suddenly quite coherentsounding. "She might have listened to you."
"No, it only encouraged her to do it."
Je
"No. She was dead before your knife touched her," Kahlan said. "Richard was distracting her so I could use my power. You tried, but you were an instant too late. She was already mine."
Richard put a comforting hand on Je
Jermsen's knees were trembling. "The voice is gone," she whispered aloud. "It's gone."
"The Keeper inadvertently revealed his intent," Richard said. "Since the hounds were loose, that meant the veil-the conduit between worldswas open."
"I don't understand."
Richard gestured with the book before he tucked it back into one of the pouches at his belt. "Well, I haven't had time to read it all, but I've read enough to learn a little. You are an ungifted offspring of a Lord Rahl. That makes you the balance to the gifted Rahl-to magic. You not only have none, but you're not touched by it. In a time of a great war, the House of Rahl was created to give birth to a line of powerful wizards, but in so doing, it also sowed the seeds of the end of magic for the world. It may be the Imperial Order that wants a world without magic, but it is the House of Rahl that may eventually deliver it.
"You, Je
Je
Richard smiled. "You have as much right to your life as anyone else-as any Lord Rahl has ever had to their life. There is no right way for the world to be. The only right is that people be allowed to live their own life."
Kahlan pulled the knife from Sister Perdita's chest and cleaned it on the black robes before handing it to Jermsen. "Sister Perdita was wrong. Salvation is not through sacrifice. Your responsibility is to yourself."
"Your life is your own," Richard said, "and not anyone else's. You made me proud, hearing everything you said to Sebastian."
Jermsen stared down at the knife in her hand, still dazed and confused by everything that was happening. She looked around in the gathering darkness, but didn't see Sebastian anywhere. Oba was gone, too.
As she looked around, Je
Kahlan smiled and sat down, leaning back against the pillar where she had been tied, watching Richard, listening, stroking the ears of Betty's twin kids.
Betty watched her two young ones, then, seeing them safe, peered hopefully up at Je
"Betty?"
Betty happily jumped up on her, eager for a reunion. Je
"But why would you not do as your ancestors? Why? How can you risk everything in that book?"
Richard hooked his thumbs behind his belt and took a deep breath. "Life is the future, not the past. The past can teach us, through experience, how to accomplish things in the future, comfort us with cherished memories, and provide the foundation of what has already been accomplished. But only the future holds life. To live in the past is to embrace what is dead. To live life to its fullest, each day must be created anew. As rational, thinking beings, we must use our intellect, not a blind devotion to what has come before, to make rational choices."