Confessor by Terry Goodkind Read Free Book Online

weight to his left side, spin, and plunge the knife into the kidney of the stupid fellow, just as Jagang had suggested.
    “You have me dead to rights,” Kahlan told the emperor in a flat tone. “Well done.”
    His left eye twitched just the slightest bit. He didn’t know if she was telling the truth, or lying.

CHAPTER 4
    Do you know the consequences of breaking the seal on those doors?” Cara asked.
    Zedd looked back over his shoulder at the woman. “Need I remind you that I am First Wizard?”
    Cara returned the glare in kind. “Well, excuse me. Do you know the consequences of breaking the seal on those doors, First Wizard Zorander?”
    Zedd straightened. “That’s not what I meant.”
    The woman was still glaring. “You haven’t answered my question.”
    If there was one thing that was consistent about Mord-Sith, it was that they didn’t like it when they asked questions and got evasive answers. They didn’t like it one bit. It made them surly. As a rule Zedd considered it wise not to give Mord-Sith cause to be surly, but then, he didn’t like being pestered when he was doing something important. That made him surly.
    “Why does Richard put up with you, anyway?”
    Cara’s glare only deepened. “I have never offered Lord Rahl a choice. Now, answer my question. Do you know the consequences of breaking the seal on those doors?”
    Zedd planted his fists on his hips. “Don’t you suppose that I know a thing or two about magic?”
    “I would have thought so, but I’m beginning to have my doubts.”
    “Oh, so you think you know more about it than I do?”
    “I know that magic is trouble. It would seem that in this instance I very well might know more about it than you. I know better than to go barging through a seal of this kind. Nicci would only have shielded this door for a good reason. I don’t think it’s too awfully wise, First Wizard, to go barging through her shield without knowing why it’s there.”
    “Well, I think I know a thing or two about seals and shields and such.”
    Cara arched an eyebrow. “Zedd, Nicci can wield Subtractive Magic.”
    Zedd glanced at the door, then looked back at Cara. The way she was leaning over him he thought she very well might seize him by his collar and haul him back from the brass-clad doors if she decided that she had to.
    “I suppose you have a point.” He held up a finger. “But on the other hand I can sense that something serious is going on in there—something altogether ominous.”
    Cara sighed and finally withdrew her blue-eyed Mord-Sith glare. She straightened, drawing her long blond braid through her loose fist as she checked the hallway to both sides.
    She tossed the braid back over her shoulder. “I don’t know, Zedd. If I was in a room and had locked the door it would be for good reason and I’d not like you to pick the lock. Nicci wouldn’t allow me to stay with her—and she’s never asked that I leave her alone like that before. I didn’t want to let her go in there by herself, but she insisted.
    “She was in one of those spooky, quiet moods of hers. She’s been like that a lot lately.”
    Zedd sighed. “That she has. But not without good reason. Dear spirits, Cara, we’ve all been in a mood lately, and we all have good reason.”
    Cara nodded. “Nicci said she needed to be alone. I told her I didn’t care and that I intended to stay with her.
    “I don’t know what it is about her, but sometimes when she says to do something you all of a sudden find yourself doing it. Lord Rahl is the same way. I don’t often pay a great deal of attention to his orders—after all, I know better than he does how to protect him—but sometimes he says something in that way he has and you just find yourself doing as he asked. I never know how he manages to do it. Nicci is the same way. They both have the odd ability to make you do things you have no intention of doing—and they don’t even raise their voices.
    “Nicci said that it involved