The Impostor Queen by Sarah Fine
Mim tucks me into my bed and spreads extra blankets over me. “Tonight I’ll sleep at the foot of your bed instead of going to my room,” she says. “If you need a single thing, water, a cool cloth, a hot stone for your feet, just say my name. A mere whisper will draw me to your side.” She smooths my hair from my brow. “I know you weren’t eager for this day to come, my Valtia, but you were born for this. I’m proud to serve you.”
I am so lost and desperate for comfort that I almost ask her to lie next to me, to allow me to press my face to her neck and coil my arms around her. But I remember that moment on the balcony earlier, when I realized she only remained close because I commanded it. So I shut my eyes as she withdraws, readying myself for what comes next. Kauko warned me of the dreams, and with the way Mim is coddling me—even more than she usually coddles me—I suspect he warned her as well.
The breeze from the Motherlake slips through the open balcony door and cools my face. I dwell in the darkness, relaxing into it. In my silent sleep, I wait for the dreams that come with powerful magic.
They never arrive.
A warm hand caresses my cheek. “Valtia, the priests have summoned you.”
Valtia? My eyes flutter open. Sunbeams filter through the balcony doorway, filling my chamber with warm light. For a moment, I’m all confusion. What time is it? Is it harvest day? But as I sit up, the truth winds around me like a rope. My Valtia is gone, and I’m the queen now.
Mim gives me a half smile. “You slept like a stone. From what Kauko described, I thought you’d be thrashing all night!” She takes my hand and pulls back the blankets before helping me to stand up. “Though I suppose the strongest Valtia in all of history would weather such things with grace.” She grins. “As she always has.”
I force myself to smile back. I had no dreams. All I had was darkness as deep as the Motherlake, as empty as a cavern. “I am eager to learn the extent of my powers today.” I am ashamed at the quaver in my voice, but Mim merely nods.
“I have some information before you go, if you want it,” she says.
I step forward to allow her to pull my nightgown over my head. “About the Soturi?”
“No. They are not the only problem in the outlands, and now that their invasion has been repulsed, the city council and the elders will turn their attention back to the bandits. Especially after what happened yesterday.”
“What?” I ask, my heart beginning to pound.
“That fight the Valtia mentioned as we prepared you for the harvest ceremony. A group of miners took it upon themselves to clear the cave system they plan to mine.”
“The one where the bandits are squatting.” And the one Aleksi said might hold the last unmined copper on the peninsula.
She nods. “I got more details early this morning. Two miners died of their injuries.”
I want to bury my head in my hands, but I stay completely still. This is my responsibility now, and I will deal with it as a queen should. “When I meet with the elders, we will discuss it, and I will decide how we will proceed.”
She bites her lip. “There’s more. The miners who died . . . they were burned.”
My brow furrows. “Burned with what?”
She leans forward, nearly bursting with her news. “The rumor is that it was magic.”
I sit down on the bed like my legs have been swept from under me. “A fire wielder in the outlands?” The priests scour the city and the homesteads for magical children every month, and it is considered a great privilege to live in the Temple on the Rock, so their families give them up readily. And the only people in the outlands are criminals who have been banished from the city. “That seems unlikely, Mim. Besides, a torch could do the job just as handily.”
“I said the same thing to Irina, the scullery maid who told me, but she said there have been whispers about rogue wielders for years, Ell—” Mim presses her lips shut and gives me a sheepish smile. “My Valtia.” Then she claps her hands and pulls me to my feet again, like she is about to give me a special treat. “Now that you are the queen, you can find out for sure instead of relying on me for gossip! And then you can deal with any rogues who threaten our miners. Or anyone else, for that matter.” She’s almost glowing now, and it makes my stomach hurt.
While Mim clothes me in a simple red gown and plaits my hair down my back, the feeling only intensifies until I finally recognize it as hunger. “Can you get my breakfast for me, Mim?”
Her smile falters. “The priests said I am to give you nothing. But . . . I’m sure that after you meet with them, we can order you a fine spread from the kitchens.”
“Water?”
She bites her lip. “They forbade it, Valtia,” she mumbles, her glow dimming quickly.
“Since when do the priests overrule the Valtia’s wishes,” I snap. When I see her blanch, I realize I’ve put her in a terrible position. “Never mind,” I say, squeezing her hand. “I’m not thirsty anyway.”
I’m parched, but I care about her too much to say so. I walk to the door with my head held high. Today will be the day I show the elder priests the magic inside me. I’ll make them quake with the certainty of it, and then I’ll deal with the bandits and any rogues hiding among them. Today I begin my reign. “Where to?”
“The catacombs,” Aleksi says as he enters my chamber. “Good morning, Valtia.” He bows. As he raises his head, his dark eyes sweep up my body, as if he expects me to have transformed overnight. “I hope you were able to rest despite the dreams.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. “Thank you for your concern, Elder Aleksi. I’m quite well rested.” A splinter of doubt pierces my determination. Too well rested, perhaps.
I keep my back straight and my head high as we descend into the catacombs. I wish I could face all this in the daylight instead of in this cold, dank tomb. This is the realm of the cloistered acolytes, the ones who are not chosen as apprentices and live in seclusion after they reach the middle of their third decade. They live together, one united community, completely hidden from the distractions of the world above, devoting themselves to the Valtia’s magic. I have always wondered how pale they must be after years without sunlight, but whenever I asked, Elder Kauko merely chuckled and reminded me that some of them wield fire—they do not want for light or heat. And I will be able to wield fire now too. Starting today. Starting now.
Veins of green and orange copper glint in the torchlight as I follow Aleksi past the Stone Chamber to another circular room. This one is larger, with four tiers of wide, steep steps leading down to a small arena that looks more like a pit from where I stand. Sitting on the steps are the priests, thirty of them in all. No acolytes or apprentices today. Elder Aleksi takes me to a set of shallow steps that lead to the bottom. “Take your place in the arena, Valtia, and we’ll begin.”
My heart thuds, and again I feel it reverberate within me. When I reach the flat, slippery stone floor, I turn in place. Aleksi is sitting down with Kauko and Leevi, our three elders, on the lowest tier of this arena. If their robes weren’t so long, from this vantage point I’d be able to see what hides beneath.
“After the events of last night,” says Leevi, his voice filling the chamber, “we wanted to make sure you are ready before we proceed with the coronation.” He smiles at me, but between his gaunt face and his jutting brow, it looks more like a grimace. “We know you have always been an obedient and loyal Saadella, if a bit too inquisitive.” He pauses, as if to make sure everyone notes that fault, before continuing. “But you have always respected the role of Valtia. Therefore we expect you to understand the crucial nature of what we ask.”
I clasp my hands in front of me. The feel of my own clammy fingers sends a chill down my back. “Of course, Elder. At a time like this, having lost their beloved queen, the people need to know they’re secure and protected.”
Kauko nods his approval. “Well said, my Valtia. This could not be a more critical time for that. Now, all we ask is that you practice your ability to wield ice and fire
I swallow, but my mouth is so dry that it hurts my throat. “What would you like me to do?” I say, my voice pitifully soft in this roomful of staring priests. I wonder if Sofia had to go through this. I wonder how she felt.
“Three basic tasks is all,” says Aleksi, smiling as if it is nothing. “The same that we ask of all our apprentices and acolytes when they first come into our care, so that we may evaluate which element—ice or fire—is more powerful within them.” He chuckles. “Of course, you will easily complete each.”
He gestures to my left, where a shallow copper bowl full of water sits on a stone pedestal. “Turn the water to ice.” He points to my right, at a sheet of parchment on another pedestal. “Burn it to ash.” Then he slides his plump finger over to the third pedestal, directly in front of me. On it sits a pebble, the kind that litters the shore of the Motherlake. “Make that rise into the air and float.”
All things they expect from apprentices and acolytes. Simple.
I hitch what I hope is a serene smile onto my face. “As you wish.” I move to the basin of water first, because I remember trying to awaken the fire inside me last night, and I don’t feel ready to burn the parchment just yet. My heart drumming in my hollow chest, I close my eyes and reach for the magic that I know must be there.
Help me, Sofia, my Valtia. I know you would never abandon me.
I hold out my hand, palm down, a few inches above the surface of the water. There is complete silence in this arena, but I can feel the priests’ rapt attention like fingers clutching at the hem of my dress. I blow a slow breath from between my tingling lips and summon the cold. I picture the thick ice that forms in rough plates over the Motherlake in winter, the chunks of it that bob and collide in the spring. When I feel the shiver, my soul cheers. Here it comes.
But when I open my eyes, the water is . . . as watery as ever. What I felt was the chill of the chamber, nothing more. For the first time, a blade of fear slices straight down my backbone. I try again, gritting my teeth and drawing the cool air around me like a cloak, willing it to coalesce in a frigid blast of air.
Behind me, I hear a soft grumble, one priest whispering his doubt to another. I whirl around—it’s Eljas, his flattish nose and wide-set blue eyes giving him the appearance of a toad. He was one of my tutors, assigned to teach me the geography of the known world, and I remember his musty, dank smell better than any of my lessons. “How am I supposed to concentrate if you’re gossiping, Priest Eljas?”
Eljas crosses his arms over his chest. “You shouldn’t have to concentrate,” he says in an even voice. “Freezing the water in that bowl should be as easy as breathing.”
I scowl up at him. “It’s not as if I’ve ever been taught a thing about how to wield the magic.”
“You need to be taught how to do something this paltry?” He waves his hand, and the water in the bowl turns to cloudy ice. The priest next to him mirrors the movement, and the ice instantly melts—and then the water begins to boil.
It turns to steam that bathes my face, leaving it slick and warm. It’s a mercy, because perhaps it conceals the tear that slips from my eye. My Valtia said she’d never leave me, and now I can’t find her. She promised. She promised.
But her promises weren’t unbreakable, as it turns out.
Kauko stands up. “Try the stone, my Valtia,” he says softly. “Use the heat and cold to raise it from the pedestal.” He gives me an encouraging smile, but it’s the only one in the room. All the others wear frowns of doubt, and Aleksi’s is particularly vile, his black brows so low that I can barely see his eyes.
I compose myself and stride over to the stone pedestal that stands between me and the elders. I recall all my lessons with Aleksi about the weather and wind, about what happens when hot and cold air collide. Straining every fiber of my muscles and heart and brain, I focus on changing the temperature of the pedestal, on heating it up while I cool the air above it. But instead of feeling the swell of power inside me, all I have is the echo of my pulse thrumming inside my head.
Aleksi shoots to his feet and points at me. “You denied the magic,” he growls, his thin lips pulled back from his bright-white teeth. “You were so wrapped up in your affection for Sofia that you chased away the power!” He looks around the room. “I can’t sense magic in her at all. She doesn’t want to be the Valtia!”
Kauko grasps Aleksi’s arm. His square jaw is tense as he says, “I was there. She submitted to the magic. I heard her words with my own ears. And you know very well that the Valtia’s magic is harder to detect because the elements balance each other out.”
Aleksi tears his sleeve from Kauko’s grip. “She said the words, but she didn’t mean them. How else can you explain this?” he hisses, gesturing at the tiny pebble that still sits, unmoving, on its pedestal. He clenches his fist and raises it in the air, and the stone glides upward. As it rises, my stomach sinks. With a flick of his wrist, he sends it flying across the room, so violently that when it hits the wall, it shatters above the heads of several priests in the top row. “She couldn’t even make it wobble! She couldn’t alter the water, and I would bet my life that she can’t burn the parchment.”
His dark eyes meet mine, full of challenge. “Prove me wrong, Valtia.” He says the royal term like a curse.
“How dare you,” I whisper, but I can already see that I’ve lost the faith of my priests. My doubt floods in, peeling off my fragile confidence and leaving only raw pink skin, so easily bruised and torn. “I loved my Valtia. I was loyal to her. And her magic is inside me.”
“But you’ve corrupted yourself,” he says. “Gorging yourself on petty gossip from your handmaiden, on childish sentiment—” He bites back more accusations and turns away, as if he cannot stand to look at me. All his quiet resentment of my questions throughout the years seems to have risen now, at the most terrible time, right when I need the guidance and support of my elders.
The priests are murmuring among themselves, their puzzlement and anger rippling through the chamber, buffeting me from all sides. Leevi stands before me, and for a moment he looks as hollow as I feel. “The shock,” he says. “She had such a shock last night.”
“A shock? No thanks to you, Leevi.” Aleksi’s double chin wobbles as he speaks. “If you were so concerned, you should have brought her straight to the Stone Chamber instead of indulging her selfish whims.” He jabs his finger at Leevi. “And Sofia was shocked too, when her Valtia wilted and faded over the course of a fortnight. But the power roiled within her as soon as Kaarin took that final breath. That is how it’s always been. Don’t tell me about shock.”
“The copper, then,” Leevi whispers, tossing the priests a nervous look.
Aleksi shakes his head. “We’d all be affected. And here of all places, that would not be a problem.”
“What about the copper?” I ask, loudly enough for several priests to stop their grumbling and turn to us.
“I said it is not a problem,” Aleksi replies in a low voice, every word drenched in contempt.
Kauko gives me a sidelong glance. “You read the prophecy, Aleksi.”
Aleksi’s nostrils flare. “The part of it we have, yes.”
“You only have part of it?” I whisper, but doubt mutes my voice, and they don’t seem to hear me.
Kauko sighs. “We read the star signs together, Aleksi, and they confirmed it. You’ve seen the clarity and size of her blood-flame mark—you were the one who found her! But perhaps the magic is buried deep. Maybe this is the part of the prophecy that was lost. Perhaps we’re witnessing something completely new. And perhaps the current”—he, too, glances at the priests, many of whom are still staring—“shortage merely heralds the start of a new age.”
Leevi, fidgeting on Aleksi’s other side, nods his agreement with Kauko, and upon seeing it, Aleksi’s eyes narrow. “Then we must try to dig this magic up f
The way he says it, little flecks of spittle flying from his mouth, fills me with dread. “Perhaps,” I say, “if I had a little more time—”
“We have no time,” shouts Aleksi, his face turning red. “The Soturi will regroup, or they could use their forces in Vasterut to strike again. The thieves’ caverns are brimming with criminals who are raiding the farmsteads and attacking our miners! We need to get that copper. And the winter is coming—the people depend on that dome of warmth. We have no time!” His shrieking tone makes me wince, and when he leans forward, I nearly stagger back. “But what we do have is an obstinate girl too absorbed in her own feelings and desires to wield the magic we need to survive!”
I bow my head, afraid he might be right. “Wh-whatever you ask of me, I will do, Elders,” I stammer.
Kauko clasps his hands in front of his belly. “What about the trials?”
Leevi’s jaw drops. “No Valtia in our history has ever been put through—”
“But perhaps we are witnessing something completely new.” Aleksi throws Kauko a resentful look and puts his hands on his wide hips, his fingers bunching in the rough black fabric of his robe. “I think Elder Kauko’s suggestion is wise, as always.”
The other priests, who have all been whispering to themselves while the elders argue, fall silent. Kauko kneels on the step, and I look up at him. There is a dark shadow of stubble on his jaw and apology in his eyes. “Sometimes magic wielders are unable to summon the power at will,” he explains. “But in a stressful situation, it never fails them.” He winks. “It usually bursts forth with such strength that the wielder herself is surprised at the force of it.”