Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [332]
She had him drag the tub to the foot of her bed. He took the bucket from the tub and was instructed where to go for hot water. He was to speak to no one, even if spoken to, and he was to run, there and back, so her bathwater wouldn’t get cold before the tub was filled. She told him that if he didn’t follow her instructions exactly while out of her sight, the pain of the magic would take him down, and if she had to come looking for him, he would be very sorry he had disappointed her. He swore his solemn oath to do as she commanded. The place where the hot water came from, a hot spring in a pool surrounded by white marble seats, was a goodly distance. He was sweating and exhausted by the time he had the tub tilled.
While she sat soaking in the tub Richard scrubbed her back, brushed her hair out, and helped her wash it.
Denna draped her arms over the sides of the tub, put her head back, and closed her eyes, relaxing, while he knelt next to her, in case she wanted anything. “You don’t like Constance, do you?”
Richard didn’t know how to answer. He didn’t want to say anything bad about her friend, but lying would get him punished, too. “I am… afraid of her, Mistress Denna.”
Denna smiled with her eyes still closed. “Clever answer, my love. You aren’t trying to be flip, are you?”
“No, Mistress Denna. I told you the truth.”
“Good. You should be afraid of her. She hates men. Every time she kills one, she cries out the name of the man who first broke her, Rastin. Remember I told you about the man who broke me, took me for his mate, and that later I killed him? Before he broke me, he was Constance’s trainer. His name was Rastin. It was he who broke her. Constance is the one who told me how I could kill him. I would do anything for her. And because I killed the man she hated so, she would do anything for me.”
“Yes, Mistress Denna. But Mistress Denna, please don’t leave me alone with her?”
“I suggest you be very attentive to your duties. If you are, and you do not earn too much time, I will remain when she is training you. You see? You see how lucky you are to have a kind mistress?”
“Yes, Mistress Denna, thank you for teaching me. You are a gifted teacher.”
She opened one eye, as if to check his face for a trace of a smirk. There was none.
“Get me a towel, and lay my nightclothes on the table by the bed.”
Richard helped towel her hair dry. Denna didn’t put on her nightclothes, but lay back on the bed with her damp hair spread out on the pillow.
“Go blow out the lamp on the table over there.” He went immediately and blew out the flame. “Bring me the Agiel, my love.”
Richard flinched. He hated it when she had him fetch the Agiel; touching it hurt. Fearing the result of hesitation more, he gritted his teeth and snatched it up, holding it in the open palms of his hands. The pain of it vibrated in his elbows and shoulders. He could hardly wait for her to take it. She had propped up the pillows against the headboard and was sitting up a little, watching him. He let out a deep breath when she picked it out of his hand.
“Mistress Denna, why doesn’t it hurt you to touch it?”
“It does, same as you. It hurts me to touch it because it is the one used to train me.”
His eyes opened wide. “You mean, the whole time you hold it, it hurts you? The whole time you are training me?”
She nodded, rolling it in her fingers, looking away from his eyes for a second. She gave him a little frown and smile. “There is rarely a time I am without pain, of one kind or another. That is one reason the training of a Mord-Sith takes years— to learn to handle the pain. I guess it’s also why only women are Mord-Sith; men are too weak. The chain around my wrist allows me to let it hang; it doesn’t hurt when it