Into Darkness

35

One single question stood out in Kahlan’s mind above all others.

Why would Shota want Kahlan to give birth just so she could kill the babies?

And why go to all the trouble to take her all the way to Agaden Reach to give birth? Not only that, but if she simply wanted to kill the babies, why not have her miscarry—which she had now twice proven she was entirely capable of doing—and then use a healer, like Shale, to help her recover if she really wanted Kahlan to live? If her intention was in fact to get rid of the babies and not kill Kahlan, that would be the easiest way. It would be over and done with.

So why would Shota insist that the babies must be born first, if she simply wanted them dead so that what she saw as the threat of their existence would be ended?

On the surface it made no sense.

But beneath the surface, it was starting to make sinister sense.

In the beginning, Shota had told Richard and Kahlan that she harbored no ill will toward them. She had even said that she appreciated the things they had done for their people, as well as what they had done that had saved her from the Keeper of the underworld. She had even said that she rather liked them, and that she didn’t mean them any harm.

She had tried to paint herself as reasonable—kind, even.

She had said that after the birth they would be free to go.

And yet, she proudly admitted that she had spelled Richard’s legs so that he couldn’t get away in time and the palace would collapse on top of him. That certainly didn’t sound like she didn’t intend them harm. In fact, she had used her power in a surprise attack to try to kill him just before that. Richard hadn’t struck first; she had. Despite her benevolent claims, it was clear that her intent had been to kill him, not let him go.

After all of that, why would she then go back to her original story that she meant Kahlan no harm and that she would let her go once she gave birth? She had said that she intended Richard no harm, either, yet she had clearly acted to kill him.

Why did Shota seem so intent on keeping Kahlan alive and having her give birth before she killed the children? What purpose would it serve to have the children born before she killed them?

It now seemed pretty clear from everything that had happened that Shota didn’t really intend to let Kahlan go once she gave birth. She intended to kill her.

So, if she actually intended to kill her in the end, but wasn’t admitting as much, which Kahlan now believed was the case, then the previous evening, on the mountain before they crossed the snowcaps, why hadn’t she simply let Kahlan miscarry and bleed to death? It would have been a simple solution to the greater good she kept talking about.

For that matter, why hadn’t she let Kahlan die way back when she started to miscarry after they finally got out of the strange wood? Killing the two unborn babies was her goal, after all, for that greater good as she saw it, so what difference would it have made had the babies died in a miscarriage and Kahlan died as well?

Shota’s true intentions flashed like ice through Kahlan’s veins.

Kahlan stood frozen with the sudden realization of what Shota actually wanted.