Oh, Sberiam, Egwene thought. / had hoped that Verin was wrong about you.
"Egwene?" Sheriam asked uncomfortably. "I was just—"
Egwene stepped forward. "Are you Black Ajah, Sheriam?"
"What? Of course not!"
"Do you consort with the Forsaken?"
"No!" Sheriam said, glancing to the sides.
"Do you serve the Dark One?"
"No!"
"Have you been released from your oaths?"
"No!"
"Do you have red hair?"
"Of course not, I never—" She froze.
And thank you for that trick as well, Verin, Egwene thought with a mental sigh.
The tent grew very, very still.
"I misspoke, of course," Sheriam said, sweating nervously. "I didn't know what question I was answering. I can't lie, of course. None of us can. . . ."
She trailed off as Egwene held out the Oath Rod. "Prove it, Sheriam. The woman who came to me in the Tower gave me your name as a leader among the Black Ajah."
Sheriam met Egwene's eyes. "Ah, then," the woman said softly, eyes mournful. "Who was it, now, who came to you?"
"Verin Mathwin."
"Well, well," Sheriam said, settling back on her chair. "Never expected it of her, I'll say. How did she get past the oaths to the Great Lord?"
"She drank poison," Egwene said, heart twisting.
"Very clever." The flame-haired woman nodded. "I could never bring myself to do such a thing. Never indeed. ..."
Egwene wove bonds of Air and wrapped Sheriam in them, then tied off the weaves. She turned back to an incredulous group of women, whitefaced. Some terrified. "The world marches to the Last Battle," Egwene said sternly. "Did you expect that our enemies would leave us alone?"
"Who else?" Lelaine whispered. "Who else was mentioned?"
"Many others," Egwene said. "Sitters among them."
Moria leaped to her feet and ran for the exit. She barely made it two steps. A dozen different sisters enclosed the former Blue with shields and bound her in weaves of Air. In seconds, she was hanging, gagged, tears leaking down the sides of her oval face.
Romanda clicked her tongue, walking around the woman. "Both from the Blue," she noted. "This was a dramatic way to make the revelations, Egwene."
"You will address me as 'Mother,' Romanda," Egwene said, walking down from the dais. "And it is not so odd that there would be a higher percentage of them among the Blue here, since that entire Ajah fled the White Tower." She held up the Oath Rod. "The reason I had to make the revelation this way was simple. How would you have responded if I'd simply declared them to be Black without offering proof?"
Romanda nodded her head. "You are correct on both counts, Mother," she admitted.
"Then you wouldn't mind being the first to retake the oaths, I presume?"
Romanda hesitated only briefly, glancing at the two women bound in Air. Almost everyone in the room held to the Source, eyeing the others as if they might grow coppersnakes for hair at any moment.