The silence Kahlan craved was shattered by her father's voice, sharp as a blade. "K! Don't you have anything to say?"
Her mind jolted awake, heart lurching as if caught in a trap.
A frown tugged at her lips, and she just in time caught her father's reddening face, his eyes boring into her with familiar disappointment.
"Umm… no, Dad," she whispered, her voice barely a breath, swallowed by the murmur of the crowd.
"What?!" Mr. Cypher's shout sliced through the warm air of the banquet hall, where laughter and clinking glasses celebrating her younger sister's graduation was heard moments ago.
"Where's your mind, Kahlan? You're a disappointment. Look at your siblings—can't you at least try to be like them?"
His words stung like salt in a wound, each one heavier than the last. Kahlan's throat tightened, and she bowed her head, her dark hair falling like a curtain to shield her from the crowd's judging stares.
"She's always been… off," someone whispered, their voice cold and cutting, like a shard of glass underfoot.
Kahlan's chest ached, her eyes burning with tears she refused to let fall. She bit her lip until it throbbed, tasting the metallic tang of her restraint.
Slowly, she rose from her seat, her legs trembling as she wove through the sea of faces—faces that seemed to mock her with every glance. She didn't belong here, not among the polished pride of her family.
She fled to the Cypher family garden, where the air was cool and the world felt softer.
Collapsing onto the dew-kissed grass, Kahlan tilted her face to the sky, where stars blinked like distant promises. Tears spilled freely now, tracing warm paths down her cheeks.
She hugged her knees, her sobs muffled by the night's gentle hum.
No one sees me, she thought, the words a quiet scream in her heart. I'm nothing to them.
Kahlan had always lived in her own world, weaving stories and dreams in her mind—castles of color and light where she was enough.
But her family saw only absence, a girl lost in thought, useless.
Her brother, a software engineer whose name her parents spoke with reverence, built empires in code.
Her elder sister, a medical student with a perfect record, was their golden child.
Even her younger sister, radiant and sharp at today's graduation, commanded attention with her business acumen.
Kahlan was the shadow, the silence, the mistake.
What am I good at? The question clawed at her, raw and relentless.
Her sobs grew ragged, catching in her throat as she pressed her palms to the earth, grounding herself in its quiet strength. A breeze stirred the garden, carrying the scent of jasmine, and for a moment,
Kahlan imagined it was the world whispering back: You are enough.
Kahlan was still lost in the quiet of her thoughts, the garden's soft whispers cradling her, when a shrill voice pierced the air. "Kahlan! Why are you hiding out here?"
She flinched, her peace shattering.
Turning, she met the furious gaze of her half-sister, Phony, and snapped, "That's none of your business."
Her voice trembled with annoyance, though guilt flickered beneath it.
Phony scoffed, her lips curling.
"Tch! Imagine you getting annoyed. You ruined everything I planned for my party, and you have the nerve to sulk here?" Her face flushed crimson, eyes blazing with indignation.
Kahlan's heart sank. She looked at Phony, only fifteen but sharp-tongued and radiant, her beauty a mirror of their father's charm.
Kahlan, the child of his long-ago affair, carried a different legacy.
Kahlan's mother, a breathtaking woman from the countryside, had been kind and generous, her grandmother once told her, she was a magnet for suitors despite her poverty.
When Mr. Cypher fell ill with a heart condition, he'd been sent to a rural village to recover.
Madam Cypher, refined was unwilling to endure the "filth" of village life, so she stayed behind, leaving him to meet Kahlan's mother, a fleeting love blossomed between them leaving Kahlan as its only trace.
Now, staring at Phony's furious expression, Kahlan felt the familiar weight of her outsider status.
"Phony, I'm sorry," she said softly, her voice cracking. "I didn't mean to mess up. I didn't know it was my turn to speak."
"You didn't know?" Phony shrieked, her voice cutting through the garden's calm.
"I wanted today to be perfect, my graduation, my moment!and your empty head ruined it! I even wrote the speech for you. All you had to do was read it, but no, you got lost in your stupid daydreams. You're an idiot, a countryside nobody!"
Her delicate features twisted with rage, shifting from pale to scarlet.
Kahlan's breath caught, her stunning face a replica of her mother's, stinging under Phony's words.
In Phony's eyes, Kahlan saw a flash of something cruel, a glint that cut deeper than the insults.
Kahlan turned away, her fingers grazing the grass, anchoring her against the flood of shame threatening to drown her.
Phony wished she could tear apart that stunning face,
she hated her!
She hated her so much that she wished she could skin her!
"Phony, I really was just thinking about what I could add to the speech to make it interesting..." Kahlan's gentle voice rang out disrupting Phony's ugly thoughts.
With a mocking sneer, Phony replied her lazily
"Hah! A speech? That's a joke!"
Phony's voice dripped with venom, her eyes glinting with cruel delight.
"What could a pathetic nobody like you possibly understand? If not for my father's pity, you'd still be stuck in that wretched village, scraping dirt off your granny's rotting grave!"
Kahlan's chest constricted at the sound of her words, hot tears welling in her eyes as her voice quivered with hurt.
"Stop it, Phony! Why are you dragging Granny into this? What have I ever done to you?"
Her words were a desperate plea, her heart aching at the insult to her beloved grandmother.
Phony stepped closer, her lips curling into a vicious smirk.
She really loved seeing Kahlan miserable.
"Oh, please. If your mother, that brazen village witch hadn't flung herself at my family's fortune..."
Crack!
Kahlan's hand lashed out, striking Phony's cheek before she could stop herself.
"Don't you dare insult my mother!" she bellowed, her eyes, sharp and cold.
Granny had always spoken of her late mother's kindness and strength, how could Phony spit on her memory?
Phony clutched her reddened cheek, her eyes blazing with fury.
"You filthy btch*! How dare you hit me? I'll make you pay!" she shrieked, her voice shrill with rage.
"Your mother was a whore! Wasn't she? A countryside hillbilly that thought herself, phoenix. She will burn in hell!"
Phony spat, lunging forward.
"Seducing my father with that bewitching face of hers, nothing but a scheming vixen!"
Kahlan's restraint shattered. With a cry of anguish, she launched herself at Phony, tackling her to the ground.
Her fists flew, driven by a desperate need to silence the venomous lies. She couldn't bear another word against her mother's honor.
Inside the grand manor, the guests' murmured conversations faltered, their attention snagged by the escalating commotion outside.
Propriety demanded they stay seated while the host remained, but curiosity gnawed at them.
Right then, maid burst into the opulent hall, her face pale as she whispered urgently into Madam Cypher's ear.
"What?" Madam Cypher's delicate features twisted into a deep frown, her usual poise crumbling under the weight of the news.
"What's going on out there?" Mr. Cypher demanded, his sharp gaze pinning the trembling maid.
Madam Cypher rose up before the maid could reply her master, her movements graceful yet unsteady, her hand clutching the maid's arm for support.
"I'll go check," she said, her gentle voice strained with worry, her expression stirring sympathy in those around her, especially her husband.
"I'm coming with you, dear," Mr. Cypher said, his tone firm as he took her hand.
They hurried toward the backyard, their steps quickening with concern.
The guests, sensing a scandal ripe for gossip, abandoned decorum and followed in a hushed, eager throng, their anticipation palpable.
But as they reached the backyard, the sight before them stole their breath, a collective gasp echoing through the crowd.