The Impostor Queen (6 page)

I tear myself away from her. “Not a chance.” My voice is full of laughter. “Look, Mim! How could anyone be scared when their queen can do that?”

She wraps her arms around my waist like she's afraid I'll be blown away. Tendrils of my hair, torn loose from my braids by the fierce wind, tangle with her brown curls. Her cheek presses to mine. “No one should ever doubt the power of the Valtia,” she says in my ear. “I'm sorry that my fear got the best of me. Forgive me?”

“Always,” I say, turning my head and kissing her rain-speckled cheek. I've never been this happy, this full of ferocious, throbbing certainty. “Someday, Mim, that will be me.”

She squeezes me tightly. “Someday it will be you. And I'll be so proud to be your handmaiden.”

My hands fold over hers, holding them against my body. I wish I had fire magic to warm her, but even as I think it, I feel my temperature rising, along with a delicious tingling along my skin. She starts to pull away, but I tighten my grip. “No,” I whisper. “Stay right here.”

“But Elli—”

“Please. Don't move.” It feels so good. My blood is pounding in my ears, and Mim's arms are perfect right where they are.

She obeys me. She must, because she is my handmaiden, and suddenly a tiny part of me feels guilty, because I'm not sure if she likes it quite as much as I do. I stare at the storm, wanting things I cannot have. That I should not have. I clear my throat and let go of her hands. She squeezes me and pulls away, but stays next to me, watching the massive swells, the blinding flashes of light, the billowing clouds.

After an hour or so, the storm quiets abruptly, folding in on itself like a scroll. I squint into the distance, but all that lies in front of me is foggy darkness.

“The Soturi must be at the bottom of our Motherlake,” says Mim. “Now will you come inside?” When I shake my head, she gives me an exasperated smile and puts her hands on her round hips, and I am relieved that she seems to have forgiven me for wanting to be too close to her. “Don't you want to wash up before she comes back—or do you prefer to greet her looking like a drowned ferret?”

“In no way do I resemble a ferret.” I giggle as I swipe my hands across my wet cheeks. As much as I'd like to stand here and wait for the Valtia's boat to come sailing into port, I spend the next hour inside, reliving the storm, my chest buzzing and thrumming while Mim dries my skin and changes my clothes, draping me in a flowing gown of soft red wool. She undoes all my braids, brushes my hair, and plaits it once more. She lays her palms on my cheeks when she's finished. “
Now
you look like a princess.”

Fresh and clean, I go back out to the balcony. Sure enough, guttering torches moving across the water mark three ships returning to our docks. I bounce on my toes. “Mim, are they preparing our meal? I want it to be ready when she reaches us. She'll probably be starving.”

“I'll go check,” she says, and leaves me alone to watch the sailing vessels glide into the harbor.

I pace my balcony. I can't wait to ask my Valtia what it was like, if she actually saw the Soturi being tossed by her storm, if the sailors around her were frightened or steadfast as she made the gale rage around them. Those are but a few of the questions I have for her.

Somewhere out in the city, a horn sounds. Its eerie call steadily grows louder as the minutes pass. Finally, just as I'm wondering when Mim will return, she bursts through the doorway.

Her face is pasty pale, like she's painted her own skin with white lead. “Your sedan chair is being brought now,” she says, her voice quavering.

I frown as I step forward. “What's wrong?” Alarm clangs in my head, louder than that stupid horn, which is still blaring. “Did some of the Soturi ships make it through?”

She shakes her head. Her mouth twists into the saddest smile I've ever seen. “No, Saadella. By all accounts, the Valtia dealt them a devastating defeat.”

I sag with relief. “Then why the long face? Were some of the sailors hurt?”

She comes forward and takes me by the arms. “Elli,” she whispers. “You have to come now. You've been summoned.”

“Of course,” I say.

“By the elders,” she adds.

I pause, the oddest feeling stirring inside me, like a beast awakening from its winter sleep. “Mim.” It comes out in a snap, and my handmaiden flinches. “Where's the Valtia?”

“She's being brought to her quarters now.” Mim pulls me into an embrace, close enough to feel her shudder. “But they're saying she won't live out the night.”

I
push Mim away. The ringing in my ears is so loud that I can't hear her voice anymore. I blunder toward the door of my chamber, my only thought to reach my Valtia, begging the stars that when I do, this will all turn out to be a mistake. She'll greet me with affection and we'll have our meal and she'll tell me how she sent the Soturi to their graves in the deep.

Mim loops her arm around my waist as I reach the corridor. “Slow down, Elli. Your chair's coming.”

A waste of time. “No.”

“Please. Prepare yourself for what's about to happen.”

With her hanging on to me, I stride down my corridor toward the domed chamber. It's like wading through deep water as Mim tries to hold me back.
Prepare yourself.

But I can't bear the thought of losing my Valtia, so I can't bear to think of preparing for it.

When I'm about halfway, Elder Leevi comes toward us from the domed chamber, his apprentice trailing behind him carrying a lantern that throws distorted shadows against the stone walls. “She's in her quarters,” he says to us. “You will be taken to the catacombs, the Stone Chamber, to wait for—”

“No.” I slap at Mim's clutching hands and quicken my pace as soon as she lets me go. “I will see her now.”

Leevi blinks at Mim and then at me. “My Saadella, that is not how we do this.”

“I need to see her.” My voice echoes off the walls. “I'm not going anywhere else.”

Leevi scowls at Mim, as if she's responsible for my behavior. “Very well,” he finally says. “Handmaiden, pack her things.”

Mim's eyes are red-rimmed and her face is pinched. “Yes, Elder,” she says hoarsely. “I'll have them ready to be moved in a few hours.”

I gape at him. He's already planning for me to move into the Valtia's chambers, and she's still alive. Disgust burns in my throat as he takes my arm and leads me forward.

“Who's with her now?” I ask when we reach the main chamber, its copper dome arching above us, dark and ominous as the candles gutter around the edge of the room.

“Elder Kauko is attending to her body, but—”

“Her body.” It comes out as a squeak.

He purses his lips. “He's trying to make her comfortable. If you insist on being there, it's best if you wait in the antechamber.”

It feels like there's a stone on my chest. Each breath is an effort. “I won't wait outside, Elder. I
need
to see her.” This time, my voice is loud and sure. I'm not a little girl. And though I've been taught the value of obedience, my Valtia's voice in my head also reminds me that I'm the someday queen. And if Kauko's right, I'll be more powerful than any before me. I'd best start owning it now.

Elder Leevi bows his head. “As you wish.”

I enter the corridor where her quarters are located. A few acolytes and maidservants are milling about, their faces ashen. Some of them are crying. Helka's down the hall, weeping loudly. I grit my teeth. They're grieving for a queen who still lives. I walk past them without acknowledging them, striding into her antechamber, which is paneled with carved wood. The hammered copper ceiling looks like it's on fire as we pass beneath with the lantern. Leevi tells his apprentice to wait while we enter, and I'm grateful. The Valtia doesn't need prying eyes right now. She needs me, her Saadella.

Leevi gently grips my shoulder. “Elli, please prepare yourself—”

“Why does everyone keep saying that to me?” I lurch away from him and barrel into her bedchamber.

The room is lit with a few candles. Aleksi stands at the foot of her bed, still as a statue. The door to the balcony is wide open, the drapes fluttering with the breeze from the Motherlake. Goose bumps ride across my skin, but a moment later a gust of heat washes over me, raising beads of sweat. I walk slowly toward the Valtia's bed as Elder Leevi strides ahead of me to alert Elder Kauko, who is hunched over it, his back to me.

Elder Kauko looks over his shoulder and frowns. “You should be in the Stone Chamber. You don't want to see this, my Saadella.”

“Don't tell me what I want.”

His brows rise in surprise at my defiant tone, but then he gives me a sorrowful, apologetic smile. “I shouldn't have presumed.” He bows and moves aside.

My stomach clenches. The Valtia writhes on her bed, her naked body covered in a thin, gauzy sheet. All her adornments have been removed—her crown, her dress, the cuff of Astia—probably taken back to the catacombs. Blood-dotted bandages cling to the crook of each arm. Her white face paint has washed or chipped away, revealing only horror beneath. My heart crumbles as I hear the pained hiss of her breaths. Her beautiful face is marred by black and red patches of blistered skin, but as I move closer, mounting the steps up to the platform where her mattress sits, I see that other parts of her are gray-blue and fissured. Bloodless and frozen. Two of the fingers of her left hand have cracked and fallen away. They lie like chipped stones in the folds of the sheets, ice crystals melting and leaving a wet pink stain. Her eyes are squeezed shut, her head thrown back as agony consumes her.

“My Valtia,” I whisper, my bottom lip trembling.

As soon as she hears my voice, her eyes open. Once a majestic icy blue, now they're crimson. “Elli,” she wheezes. “I'm sorry.” A blood-tinged tear slides down her cheek.

As I reach for her right hand, Kauko strokes my arm. “You must be careful, Saadella. Her touch could burn or freeze you in a moment. She can't control it now.”

“I'll take my chances,” I say, a sob choking off my words. She needs to be touched and to know she isn't alone. I kneel at her bedside and caress her fingers. They're stiff, covered in a layer of ice, but when she feels my palm on hers, the cold melts away. “You did it, didn't you?” I say. “You sent them to the bottom of the Motherlake.”

“I did it too well.” She moans from between gritted teeth. “All it took was a moment of distraction to lose the balance.”

Something Kauko had been trying to prevent. Ice and fire are unpredictable, especially when they collide. A little too much of one or the other and things must have spiraled. “And yet you contained the storm. If you hadn't, all our ships wouldn't have returned.”

She looks up at me. “A Valtia protects her people. That is your first duty. Remember.”

I will my tears away, but they're stubborn. “Please stay, Valtia. Don't go.”

It is the prayer of a child, not a woman. My head is full of memories, of the first time I was carried into her presence, of the kindness in her eyes as she took me into her arms. I was so scared, but as soon as I felt her warmth, the fear melted.
You are precious,
she said.
Your home is with me now.
Her eyes had been filled with tender sadness, but also with love.

“I belong with you,” I whisper. “You told me that, my Valtia.”

“Sofia,” she says as ice crystals prick my palm. For a moment it's so cold around us that I can see our breaths, but it fades quickly. “That's the name I had before.”

A name she shed the day she became the Valtia. That she's reclaiming it now is a knife in my heart. But her eyes are pleading, and I cannot deny her. “Sofia.”

“You're ready, darling,” she rasps. “You're going to be the strongest Valtia there ever was. The stars have foretold all of it. The world has never seen such power.”

My mouth goes dry. “You knew about the prophecy?”

She cries out as blistered patches rise on both her legs. Her injuries are coming from the inside out. So much magic, out of balance, tearing its vessel apart. “Can't you do something?” I ask Kauko, forcing myself not to scream. “Help her restore the balance!”

He shakes his head, his fleshy lips pressed together. “It's too late, my Saadella. And too much for a humble priest. Only a Valtia could do such a thing.”

What I need to be to save her, she must die for me to become.

“This isn't fair.” I lower my head to kiss the frozen skin of her wrist. “If I had the magic now, I would use all of it to make you well.”

She squeezes my hand, but her fingers are so hot that they're burning me. I clench my teeth and smile at her, tears streaking down my face. Her hair is haloed around her head, sections of it singed to a blackened crisp, others covered over with ice. It crunches softly as she moves. “I know the bind of it,” she says in a halting voice. “I remember the day my own Valtia died. But you will go on, Elli. I'll always be with you, and so will all the Valtias before me. You'll carry our magic inside you. You will never be alone.”