Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [326]
She put a hand to his chest, to steady herself as she recovered. “Do you think I do not understand what I am doing to you?” Her eyes had an empty gloss to them. “Your training and service will last for mere weeks, before you die. The training of a Mord-Sith lasts for years. Everything I do to you. and more, has been done to me, a thousand times over. A Mord-Sith must know her Agiel better than she knows herself. My first trainer took me for his mate when I was fifteen, after he had trained me since I was twelve. There is no way I could ever live up to his cruelty, or his ability to keep a person on the cusp between life and death. He trained me until I was eighteen, when I killed him. For that, I was punished with the Agiel every day for the next two years. This Agiel. The very same one I use on you was the one used to train me. It was presented to me when I was proclaimed Mord-Sith. I live for nothing else but to use it.”
“Mistress Denna,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”
The steel returned to her eyes. She nodded. “You will be. There is no one who will help you. That includes me. You will find that being the mate to a Mord-Sith brings you no added privileges, only a great deal of added pain.”
Richard hung helpless in the shackles, overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. Understanding her a little only increased his hopelessness. There was no escape for him. He was the mate of a madwoman.
The frown and the smile returned. “Why would you be so foolish as to do what you did? Surely, you must know I will hurt you for doing it.”
He looked at her puzzlement for a moment. “Mistress Denna, what difference does it make? You are going to hurt me anyway. I can’t imagine what more you could do to me.”
Her lip curled in a sneer. “Oh, my love, you have a very limited imagination.”
He felt her grab the tongue of his belt and yank the buckle open.
She gritted her teeth. “It is time we found some new places on you to hurt. It is time to see what you are really made of.” The look in her eyes made him go cold. “Thank you, my love, for giving me the excuse to do this to you. I have never before done it to another, but it has been done to me enough times. It is what broke me when I was fourteen. Tonight,” she whispered, “neither of us is going to get any sleep.”
CHAPTER 42
The bucketful of cold water on his naked flesh barely revived him. He only dimly saw the little rivers of water that were stained bright red as they ran away from him in the cracks of the stone floor his face lay against. Each shallow breath he took was a mighty effort. He wondered idly how many of his ribs she had broken.
“Put your clothes on. We’re leaving,” she called down to him.
“Yes, Mistress Denna,” he whispered, his voice so hoarse from screaming he knew she couldn’t hear him, and knew she would hurt him for not answering, and yet he could do no more.
When the Agiel didn’t come, he moved a little, saw his boot and reached out to it, pulling it to him. He sat up, but couldn’t raise his head above his shoulders. It hung limply. With great difficulty, he started putting on his boot. Gashes on his feet brought tears to his eyes when he pulled.
Her knee to his jaw knocked him flat on his back. She fell on him, sitting on his chest, hitting his face with her fists.
“What’s the matter with you! Are you stupid? Your pants go on before your boots! Do I have to tell you everything!”
“Yes Mistress Denna, no Mistress Denna, forgive me Mistress Denna, thank you Mistress Denna for hurting me, thank you Mistress Denna for teaching me,” he mumbled.
She sat on his chest, panting in rage. Her breathing slowed after a time.
“Come on. I will help you.” She leaned over and kissed him. “Come on, my love. You’ll be able to rest while we travel.”
“Yes, Mistress Denna.” The sound of his voice was hardly more than a breath.
She kissed him again. “Come on,