Read Online The Impostor Queen by Sarah Fine - Free Book Online

the Stone Chamber and hover in the tunnel outside, trying to get a good look at me, offering kind smiles and bows. They’re depending on me. I sit up straighter, ignoring my echoing heartbeat, my numb legs, my tingling lips. I need to look like the queen I am.
    Aleksi pushes his way through the onlookers and kneels before me. “Are you ready to accept your fate?”
    I nod.
    He takes a carved wooden box from his apprentice. I recognize it immediately. He sets it on my stone slab and opens it, revealing the cuff of Astia. “This is your ally, your sword and shield.”
    He looks down at my right hand, and I lift my arm. It feels like a hunk of rock, but I hold it steady as Aleski fastens the cuff to my wrist. It glints in the torchlight, the same shade as my hair, deep and burnished and swirling with the bloodred runes that give it power. As soon as the clasp is in place, Aleksi releases my arm, which falls to my side.
    â€œFrom this day until you take your final breath, you are no longer Elli,” he says, getting to his feet and gesturing for me to do the same. “That name belonged to a girl, and now you are a queen.”
    It takes all my focus to get my legs to push me from the ground. I feel like a fawn taking its first steps. My arms rise from my sides to aid my balance. I draw in a breath. I am balance. Perfect balance.
    Everyone smiles as I stand steady before them. Aleksi holds out his arms, presenting me. “From this day until you take your final breath,” he continues, louder this time, “you are the Valtia!”
    I incline my head, and they clap. Kauko is grinning as one of the acolytes hands him a stout candle on a copper plate. It’s a perfect column of beeswax, never lit.
    Kauko gives me a sheepish smile. “I know it’s a small thing to ask of such profound magic, but it is our tradition. If you will, my Valtia . . . light this candle with your magic. Illuminate our way as we ascend into the temple and greet this wonderful new era.”
    I take a moment to thank Sofia for this gift of her magic, and I promise her I’ll use it well, just as she did. Then I stare at the wick, yellow and waxy. I imagine it bursting into a perfect tongue of flame.
    Nothing happens.
    I close my eyes and wait for the fire to rise within me, a jewel of golden heat to adorn the candle, to melt the wax, to . . . I open my eyes.
    â€œAh,” I say in a shaky voice. “How am I supposed to do it?”
    Aleksi’s brow furrows. “It shouldn’t be difficult for you, Valtia. Unless you’re worried you’ll set us all aflame with your power?”
    There’s nervous laughter around the chamber—if the magic were out of control, that’s exactly what could happen. But my magic, the Valtia’s magic, is completely balanced, and therefore easy to control.
    Until it isn’t, whisper my thoughts. The memory of Sofia’s body being torn apart appears before my eyes. Kauko touches my arm and snaps me back to the present. “There’s no need to fear, my Valtia,” he says. “You can stop holding back. The barest passing thought will light the candle. Simply wish for flame, and it will appear.”
    I thought I’d already tried that. But I do it again, focusing hard on the torch guttering at the back of the chamber. I capture the image of fire in my mind and then stare once more at the virgin wick. My heart thuds in my hollow chest. I reach out and lift the candle from its plate, wrapping my fingers around its base and holding it up in front of me. The cuff of Astia lies heavy and comforting on my wrist. Only a few hours ago, it helped raise waterspouts from the lake and draw lightning from the sky. Lighting a candle is child’s play. I chuckle, pushing down the uncertainty rising within me. “Never doubt,” I whisper.
    Kauko smiles and returns his gaze to the wick. So do I. My stare consumes it. I call for