The Impostor Queen (The Impostor Queen, #1)(20)
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 from wherever it is buried, because that would mean we need it now more than ever.”
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.”