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needs a fire lit under him,” he muttered, “and Arad Doman has always been next for him.

Very well. Your message will be sent, Suroth.”

She could stay no longer in the same room with him. Without a word, she left. Had she

spoken, she would have screamed. She stalked all the way back to her rooms without

bothering to mask her fury. The Deathwatch Guards took no notice, of course; they might

as well have been carved of stone. Which made her slam the anteroom door behind her

with a crash. Perhaps they noticed that!

Padding toward her bed, she kicked off her slippers, let the robe and sash fall to the floor.

She must find Tuon. She had to. If only she could puzzle out Tuon’s target, puzzle out

where she was. If only—

Suddenly the walls of her bedchamber, the ceiling, even the floor, began to glow with a

silvery light. Those surfaces seemed to have become light. Gaping in shock, she turned

slowly, staring at the box of light that surrounded her, and found herself looking at a

woman made of roiling flames, clothed in roiling flames. Almandaragal was on his feet,

awaiting his owner’s command to attack.

“I am Semirhage,” the woman of fire said in a voice like a tolling funeral gong.

“Belly, Almandaragal!” That command, taught as a child because it amused her to have

the lopar prostrate himself before her, ended with a grunt because she obeyed it herself

even as she gave it. Kissing the red-and-green-patterned carpet, she said, “I live to serve

and obey, Great Mistress.” There was no doubt in her mind that this woman was who she

said. Who would dare claim that name falsely? Or could appear as living fire?

“I think you would also like to rule.” The tolling gong sounded faintly amused, but then it

hardened. “Look at me! I dislike the way you Seanchan avoid meeting my eyes. It makes

me believe you are hiding something. You don’t want to try hiding anything from me,

Suroth.”

“Of course, not, Great Mistress,” Suroth said, pushing herself up to sit on her heels.

“Never, Great Mistress.” She raised her gaze as far as the other woman’s mouth, but she

could not make herself raise it higher. Surely that would be enough.

“Better,” Semirhage murmured. “Now. How would you like to rule in these lands? A

handful of deaths—Galgan and a few others—and you could manage to name yourself

Empress, with my help. It’s hardly important, but circumstances provide the opportunity,

and you would certainly be more amenable than the current Empress has been so far.”

Suroth’s stomach clenched. She feared she might vomit. “Great Mistress,” she said dully,

“the penalty for that is to be taken before the true Empress, may she live forever, and

have your entire skin removed, great care being taken to keep you alive. After that—”

“Inventive, if primitive,” Semirhage broke in wryly. “But of no account. The Empress

Radhanan is dead. Remarkable how much blood there is in a human body. Enough to

cover the whole Crystal Throne. Take the offer, Suroth. I will not make it again. You will

make certain matters slightly more convenient, but not enough for me to put myself out a

second time.”

Suroth had to make herself breathe. “Then Tuon is the Empress, may she live….” Tuon

would take a new name, rarely to be spoken outside the Imperial family. The Empress

was the Empress, might she live forever. Wrapping her arms around herself, Suroth

began to sob, shaking beyond her ability to stop. Almandaragal lifted his head and

whined at her interrogatively.

Semirhage laughed, the music of deep gongs. “Grief for Radhanan, Suroth, or is your

dislike of Tuon becoming Empress so deep?”

Haltingly, in spurts of three or four words broken by unmanageable weeping, Suroth

explained. As the proclaimed heir, Tuon had become Empress the moment her mother

died. Except, if her mother had been assassinated, then it must have been arranged by one

of her sisters, which meant that Tuon herself was surely dead. And none of that made the

slightest difference. The forms would be carried out. She would have to return to Seandar

and apologize for Tuon’s death, for the death of an Empress, now, to the very woman

who had arranged it. Who would, of course, not take the throne until Tuon’s death was

announced. She could not bring herself to admit that she would kill herself first; it was

too shaming to say aloud. Words died as howling sobs racked her. She did not want to

die. She had been promised she would live forever!

This time, Semirhage’s laughter was so shocking that it shut off Suroth’s tears. That head

of fire was thrown back, emitting great peals of mirth. At last she regained control,

wiping away tears of flame with fiery fingers. “I see I didn’t make myself clear.

Radhanan is dead, and her daughters, and her sons, and half the Imperial Court, as well.

There is no Imperial family except for Tuon. There is no Empire. Seandar is in the hands

of rioters and looters, and so are a dozen other cities. At least fifty nobles are contending

for the throne, with armies in the field. There is war from the Aldael Mountains to

Salaking. Which is why you will be perfectly safe in disposing of Tuon and proclaiming

yourself Empress. I’ve even arranged for a ship, which should arrive soon, to bring word

of the disaster.” She laughed again, and said something strange. “Let the lord of chaos

rule.”

Suroth gaped at the other woman in spite of herself. The Empire…destroyed? Semirhage

had killed the…? Assassination was not unknown among the Blood, High or low, nor

within the Imperial family, yet for anyone else to reach inside the Imperial family in that

way was horrifying, unthinkable. Even one of the Da’concion, the Chosen Ones. But to

become Empress herself, even here. She felt dizzy, with a hysterical desire to laugh. She

could complete the cycle, conquering these lands, and then send armies to reclaim

Seanchan. With an effort, she managed to regain possession of herself.

“Great Mistress, if Tuon really is alive, then…then killing her will be difficult.” She had

to force those words out. To kill the Empress…. Even thinking it was difficult. To

become Empress. Her head felt as if it might float off her shoulders. “She will have her

sul’dam and damane with her, and some of her Deathwatch Guards.” Difficult? Killing

her would be impossible in those circumstances. Unless Semirhage could be induced to

do it herself. Six damane might well be dangerous even to her. Besides, there was a

saying among commoners. The mighty tell the lesser to dig in the mud and keep their

own hands clean. She had heard it by chance, and punished the man who spoke it, but it

was true.

“Think, Suroth!” The gongs rang strong, imperative. “Captain Musenge and the others

would have gone the same night Tuon and her maid left if they had had any inkling of

what she was about. They are looking for her. You must put every effort into finding her

first, but if that fails, her Deathwatch Guards will be less protection than they seem.

Every soldier in your army has heard that at least some of the Guards are involved with

an impostor. The general feeling seems to be that the impostor and anyone connected to

her should be torn apart bodily and the pieces buried in a dungheap. Quietly.” Lips of fire

curled in a small, amused smile. “To avoid the shame to the Empire.”

It might be possible. A party of Deathwatch Guards would be easy to locate. She would

need to find out exactly how many Musenge had taken with him, and send Elbar with

fifty for every one. No, a hundred, to account for the damane. And then…. “Great

Mistress, you understand I am reluctant to proclaim anything until I am certain Tuon is

dead?”

“Of course,” Semirhage said. The gongs were amused once more. “But remember, if

Tuon manages to return safely, it will matter little to me, so don’t dally.”

“I will not, Great Mistress. I intend to become Empress, and for that I must kill the

Empress.” This time, saying it was not very hard at all.

In Pevara’s estimation, Tsutama Rath’s rooms were flamboyant beyond the point of

extravagance, and her own beginnings as a butcher’s daughter played no part in her

opinion. The sitting room simply put her on edge. Beneath a cornice carved with

swallows in flight and gilded, the walls held two large silk tapestries, one displaying

bright red bloodroses, the other a calma bush covered in scarlet blossoms larger than her

two hands together. The tables and chairs were delicate pieces, if you ignored sufficient

carving and gilding for any throne. The stand-lamps were heavily gilded, too, and the

mantel, worked with running horses, above the red-streaked marble fireplace. Several of

the tables held red Sea Folk porcelain, the rarest, four vases and six bowls, a small

fortune in themselves, as well as any number of jade or ivory carvings, none small, and

one figure of a dancing woman, a hand tall, that appeared be carved from a ruby. A

gratuitous display of wealth, and she knew for a fact that aside from the gilded barrel-

clock on the mantel, there was another in Tsutama’s bedroom and even one in her

dressing room. Three clocks! That went far beyond flamboyant, never mind gilding or

rubies.

And yet, the room suited the woman seated across from her and Javindhra. “Flamboyant”

was exactly the word for her appearance. Tsutama was a strikingly beautiful woman, her

hair caught in a fine golden net, with firedrops thick at her throat and ears and dressed as

always in crimson silk that molded her full bosom, today with golden scrollwork

embroidery to increase the emphasis. You might almost think she wanted to attract men,

if you did not know her. Tsutama had made her dislike of men well known long before

being sent into exile; she would have given mercy to a rabid dog before a man.

Back then, she had been hammer-hard, yet many had thought her a broken reed when she

returned to the Tower. For a while, they had. Then everyone who spent any time near her

realized that those shifting eyes were far from nervous. Exile had changed her, only not

toward softness. Those eyes belonged on a hunting cat, searching for enemies or prey.

The rest of Tsutama’s face was not so much serene as it was still, an unreadable mask.

Unless you pushed her to open anger, at least. Even then her voice would remain as calm

as smooth ice, though. An unnerving combination.

“I heard disturbing rumors this morning about the battle at Dumai’s Wells,” she said

abruptly. “Bloody disturbing.” She had the habits now of long silences, no small talk, and

sudden, unexpected statements. Exile had coarsened her language, too. The isolated farm

she had been confined to must have been…vivid. “Including that three of the dead sisters

were from our Ajah. Mother’s milk in a cup!” All delivered in the most even tones. But

her eyes stabbed at them accusingly.

Pevara took that gaze in stride. Any direct look from Tsutama seemed accusing, and on

edge or not, Pevara knew better than to let the Highest see it. The woman swooped on

weakness like a falcon. “I can’t see why Katerine would disobey your orders to keep her

knowledge to herself, and you cannot believe Tarna is likely to put discredit on Elaida.”

Not publicly, at any rate. Tarna guarded her feelings on Elaida as carefully as a cat

guarded a mousehole. “But sisters do get reports from their eyes-and-ears. We can’t stop

them learning what happened. I’m surprised it’s taken this long.”

“That’s so,” Javindhra added, smoothing her skirts. The angular woman wore no jewelry

aside from the Great Serpent ring, and her dress was unadorned, and a red deep enough to

appear near black. “Sooner or later, the facts will all come out if we work till our fingers

bleed.” Her mouth was so tight she seemed to be biting something, yet she sounded

almost satisfied. Odd, that. She was Elaida’s lapdog.

Tsutama’s stare focused on her, and after a moment a flush grew on Javindhra’s cheeks.

Perhaps as an excuse to break eye contact, she took a long drink of her tea. From a cup of

beaten gold worked with leopards and deer, of course, Tsutama being as she now was.

The Highest continued to stare silently, but whether at Javindhra or something beyond

her, Pevara could no longer say.

When Katerine brought word that Galina was among the dead at Dumai’s Wells, Tsutama

had been raised to replace her by near acclamation. She had possessed a very good

reputation as a Sitter, at least before her involvement in the disgusting events that led to

her downfall, and many in the Red believed the times called for as hard a Highest as

could be found. Galina’s death had lifted a great weight from Pevara’s shoulders—the