As Nadine dipped into another inelegant curtsy, Kahlan quickly surveyed the room. The washbasin and ewer hadn't been used. The towels beside them on the washstand were clean and still folded. A simple, worn woolen travel bag sat at the foot of the bed. A clothesbrush and a tin cup were the only foreign objects on the overwrought, gilded table to the other side of a red velvet chair beside the fringed canopy bed. Despite the early spring chill and cold hearth, she hadn't pulled down the bedcovers for her nap. Perhaps, thought Kahlan, so as not to become tangled in them if she had to move fast.

Kahlan didn't apologize for entering without knocking. "Mother Confessor," she said in a cautious tone, feeling the need to make clear the tacit threat of the power she wielded. "Queen is one of my less. . common, titles. I am more widely known as the Mother Confessor."

As Nadine blushed, the sprinkling of freckles at the top of her cheekbones and across her delicate nose almost disappeared. Her large brown eyes turned to the floor with unease. She hastily ran her fingers through her thick brown hair, although it didn't look disheveled.

She wasn't as tall as Kahlan, though she looked to be about the same age, or perhaps a year younger. She was a lovely-looking young woman, and cast off no warning signs of threat or danger, but Kahlan wasn't put at ease by a fresh face and innocent demeanor.

Experience had taught Kahlan hard lessons. Marlin, the latest lesson, hadn't appeared, at first, to be anything other than an awkward young man. This young woman's lovely eyes, though, didn't seem to have the same timeless quality to them that had so unnerved Kahlan. Still, her caution wasn't allayed, either.

Nadine turned and hurriedly swept the flats of her hands over the bedcover, pressing out the wrinkles with quick strokes. "Forgive me, Mother Confessor, I didn't mean to muss your lovely bed. I brushed my dress first, so I wouldn't get road dust on it. I intended to lie on the floor, but the bed looked so inviting I couldn't resist giving it a try. I hope I haven't caused offense."

"Of course not," Kahlan said. "I invited you to use the room as your own."

Before the last word was out of Kahlan's mouth, Cara had swept around her. Even though there seemed to be no rank among the Mord-Sith, Berdine and Raina always deferred to Cara's word. Among the D'Harans, the rank of the Mord-Sith, and Cara in particular, seemed undisputed, though Kahlan had never heard anyone put definition to it. If Cara said, "Spit," people spat.

Nadine let out a wide-eyed squeak when she saw the leather-clad Mord-Sith coming at her.

"Cara!" Kahlan called out.

Cara ignored her. "We have your friend, Marlin, down in the pit. You'll be joining him shortly."

Cara jabbed a finger in the hollow at the base of Nadine's neck, causing her to drop backward onto the chair beside the bed.

"Ow!" Nadine shouted as she glared up at Cara. "That hurt!"

As she bounded up off the chair, Cara seized the young woman's throat in an armored fist. She swept her Agiel up and pointed it between the wide brown eyes. "I have not yet begun to hurt you."

Kahlan snatched Cara's braid and gave it a mighty yank. "One way or the other, you're going to learn to follow orders!"

Cara, still gripping the young woman's throat, turned in surprise.

"Let her go! I told you to let me handle this. Until she makes a threatening move, you will do as you are told, or you can wait outside."

Cara released Nadine with a shove that plopped her down in the chair again. "This one's trouble. I can feel it. You should let me kill her."

Kahlan pressed her lips together until Cara rolled her eyes and grudgingly stepped aside. Nadine came off the chair, slower this time. Her eyes teared as she rubbed her throat and coughed.

"Why'd you do that! I've done nothing to you! I didn't disturb any of your fine things. You people have the worst manners of anyone I've ever seen." She shook a finger at Kahlan. "There's no call to treat a person that way."

"On the contrary," Kahlan said. "An innocent enough looking young man showed up at the palace today, also asking to see Lord Rahl. He turned out to be an assassin. Thanks to Cara, here, we were able to stop him."

Nadine's indignation faltered. "Oh."

"That's not the worst of it," Kahlan added. "He confessed to having an accomplice-an attractive young woman with long brown hair."

Nadine's throat-rubbing paused as she looked at Cara, then back to Kahlan. "Oh. Well, I guess I can understand the mistake…"

"You asked to see Lord Rahl, too. That's made everyone just a little jumpy. All of us are quite protective of Lord Rahl."

"I guess I can see the reason for the confusion. No offense taken."

"Cara, here, is one of Lord Rahl's personal guards," Kahlan said. "I'm sure you can understand the reason for her belligerent attitude."

Nadine took her hand away from her throat and rested it on one hip. "Of course. I guess I landed in the middle of a hornet's nest."

"The problem is," Kahlan went on, "you haven't yet convinced us you are not the second assassin. For your sake, it would be best if you did so at once."

Nadine's eyes darted between the two women watching her. Her relief reversed to alarm. "Me? A killer? But I'm a woman."

"So am I," Cara said. "One who is going to have your blood all over this room until you tell us the truth."

Nadine spun around and snatched up the chair, brandishing its legs toward Cara and Kahlan. "Stay away! I'm warning you; Tommy Lancaster and his friend Lester once thought to have their way with me, and they now have to eat all their meals without the benefit of their front teeth."

"Put down the chair," Cara warned in a deadly hiss, "or you will be eating your next meal in the spirit world."

Nadine dropped the chair as if it had caught fire. She retreated until she was up against the wall. "Leave me be! I didn't do anything!"

Kahlan gently hooked Cara's arm and urged her back. "Let a sister of the Agiel handle this?" she said in a whisper as she lifted an eyebrow. "I know I said 'until she makes a threatening move, but a chair is hardly the kind of threat I had in mind."

Cara's mouth twisted in annoyance. "All right. For the moment."

Kahlan turned to Nadine. "I need some answers. Tell the truth, and if you really have nothing to do with this assassin, you will have my sincere apology and I'll do what I can to make up for our inhospitality. But if you lie to me, and you intend to do harm to Lord Rahl, the guards outside have orders not to allow you to leave this room alive. Do you understand?"

Nadine, her back pressed against the wall, nodded.

"You asked to see Lord Rahl." Nadine nodded again. "Why?"

"I'm on my way to my love. He's been gone since last autumn. We're to be wed, and I'm on my way to him." She brushed a strand of hair back from her eyes. "But I don't know where he is, exactly. I was told to go see Lord Rahl and I would find my betrothed." Nadine's lower lids brimmed with tears. "That's why I wanted to speak with this Lord Rahl-to ask if he could help."

"I see," Kahlan said. "I can understand your distress over your love being missing. What is your young man's name?"

Nadine pulled her kerchief from her sleeve and dabbed it at her eyes. "Richard."

"Richard. Is there more to his name?"

Nadine nodded. "Richard Cypher."

Kahlan had to remind herself to draw a breath through her open mouth, but her mind couldn't seem to make her tongue work.

"Who?" Cara asked.

"Richard Cypher. He's a woods guide where I live, in Hartland, that's in West-land, where we live. "

"What do you mean, you're to wed him?" Kahlan finally managed in a whisper. She felt her world threatening to crush in around her as a thousand things all at once whirled chaotically in her mind. "Did he tell you that?"