The Fires of Heaven (The Wheel of Time #5)

Rand only watched. Watched his friend being softened for what he meant to do to him. Is there anything left to me but necessity? It was a quick thought, there and gone. He would do what he must.

The Aes Sedai's voice gained a rime of crystal frost as she spoke, almost in an echo. “We all do as we must, as the Pattern decrees For some there is less freedom than for others. It does not matter whether we choose or are chosen. What must be, must be.”

Mat did not look softened at all. Wary, yes, and certainly angry, but not softened. He could have been a tomcat backed into a corner by three hounds. A tomcat who meant to go down hard. He seemed to have forgotten anyone was in the room except for himself and the three women. “You always have to push a man where you want him, don't you? Kick him there, if he won't go led by the nose. Blood and bloody ashes! Don't glare at me, Egwene, I'll speak the way I want. Burn me! All it needs is for Nynaeve to be here, yanking her braid out of her head, and Elayne staring down her nose. Well, I'm glad she isn't, to hear the news, but even if you had Nynaeve, I'd not be shoved —”

“What news?” Rand said sharply. “News Elayne shouldn't hear?”

Mat looked up at Moiraine. “You mean there's something you haven't ferreted out?”

“What news, Mat?” Rand demanded.

“Morgase is dead.”

Egwene gasped, clasping both hands to her mouth below eyes like huge circles. Moiraine whispered something that might have been a prayer. Asmodean's fingers never faltered on the harp.

Rand felt as if his belly had been ripped out. Elayne, forgive me. And a faint echo, altered. Ilyena, forgive me. “Are you certain?”

“As certain as I can be without seeing the body. It seems Gaebril has been named King of Andor. And Cairhien, too, for that matter. Supposedly Morgase did it. Something about the times needing a strong man's hand or some such, as if anybody could have a stronger than Morgase herself. Only, those Andorans down south have heard rumors that she hasn't been seen in weeks. More than rumors. You tell me what it adds up to. Andor's never had a king, but now it has one, and the queen's vanished. Gaebril's the one wanted Elayne killed. I tried to tell her that, but you know how she always knows more than a mudfooted farmer. I don't think he'd balk a second at slitting a queen's throat.”

Rand discovered that he was sitting in one of the chairs across from Mat, though he did not remember moving. Aviendha laid a hand on his shoulder. Concern tightened her eyes. “I am all right,” he said roughly. “There's no need to send for Somara.” Her face reddened, but he hardly noticed.

Elayne would never be able to forgive him. He had known that Rahvin — Gaebril — held Morgase prisoner, but he had ignored it because the Forsaken might expect him to help her. He had gone his own way, to do what they did not expect. And ended chasing Couladin instead of doing what he planned. He had known, and concentrated his attention on Sammael. Because the man taunted him. Morgase could wait while he smashed Sammael's trap and Sammael with it. And so Morgase was dead. Elayne's mother was dead. Elayne would curse him to her deathbed.

“I'll tell you one thing,” Mat was going on. “There are a lot of queen's men down there. They are not so sure about fighting for a king. You find Elayne. Half of them will flock to you to put her on the —”

“Shut up!” Rand barked. He quivered so hard with fury that Egwene stepped back, and even Moiraine eyed him carefully. Aviendha's hand tightened on his shoulder, but he shook it off as he stood. Morgase dead because he had done nothing. His own hand had been on the knife as surely as Rahvin's. Elayne. “She will be avenged. Rahvin, Mat. Not Gaebril. Rahvin. I'll lay him by the heels if I never do another thing!”

“Oh, blood and bloody ashes!” Mat groaned.

“This is madness.” Egwene flinched as if realizing what she had said, but she kept that firm, calm voice. “You have your hands full with Cairhien yet, not to mention the Shaido to the north and whatever it is you're planning in Tear. Do you mean to start another war, with two on your plate already and a ruined land besides?”

“Not a war. Me. I can be in Caemlyn in an hour. A raid — right, Mat? — a raid, not a war. I'll rip Rahvin's heart out.” His voice was a hammer. He felt as if acid filled his veins. “I could wish I had Elaida's thirteen sisters to take with me, to smother him, and bring him to justice. Tried and hung for murder. That would be justice. But he'll just have to die however I can kill him.”

“Tomorrow,” Moiraine said softly.

Rand glared at her. But she was right. Tomorrow would be better. A night to let his rage cool. He needed to be cold when he faced Rahvin. Now he wanted to seize saidin and lay about him, destroying. Asmodean's music had changed again, to a tune that street musicians in the city had played during the civil war. You could still hear it sometimes when a Cairhienin noble passed. “The Fool Who Thought He Was King.” “Get out, Natael. Get out!”

Asmodean straightened smoothly, bowing, but his face could have done for snow, and he crossed the room quickly, as if uncertain what one second more might bring. He always pushed, but perhaps this time he had pushed too far. As he opened the door, Rand spoke again.

“I will see you tonight. Or I will see you dead.”

Asmodean's bow was not so graceful this time. “As my Lord Dragon commands,” he said hoarsely, and hurriedly pulled the door shut with him on the other side.

The three women looked at Rand, expressionless, not blinking.

“The rest of you go, too” Mat practically bounded toward the door. “Not you. I have things to say to you yet.”

Mat stopped short, sighing loudly and fiddling with his medallion. He was the only one who had moved.

“You do not have thirteen Aes Sedai,” Aviendha said, “but you have two. And myself. I may not know as much as Moiraine Sedai, but I am as strong as Egwene, and I am no stranger to the dance.” She meant the dance of spears, what the Aiel called battle.

“Rahvin is mine,” he told her quietly. Maybe Elayne could forgive him a little if he at least avenged her mother. Probably not, but maybe he could forgive himself. A little. He forced his hands to stay at his sides, to not make fists.

“Will you draw a line on the ground for him to step over?” Egwene asked. “Put a chip on your shoulder? Have you considered that Rahvin might not be alone if he calls himself King of Andor now? Much good it will do when you appear if one of his guards puts an arrow