The Impostor Queen (The Impostor Queen, #1)(83)

“I’m not sure yet. But Raimo said I was made to serve.” For the last twelve years, I’ve thought about it every day, how my people need me, how it’s my responsibility to protect and nurture them. “I can’t run from that.” Even though I have no idea what I’m supposed to do.

Oskar takes my hand. “Once Freya and my mother are safe, I’ll go with you wherever you need to go. I’ll face it with you.” He puts my hand on his chest. “You can have my magic to wield as your own.”

Hope rises inside me. “All right.” But I hesitate again as he tries to pull me down the trail. “I don’t think the cave dwellers are going to be happy to see me. I’m the reason . . .” A lump in my throat makes it hard to speak. “Senja,” is all I can whisper.

“Like so many other things, that wasn’t your fault. And I told them you aren’t the Valtia. Once they thought about it, it seemed fairly obvious.”

“Do they know what I am, though?”

He lets out a quiet huff of laughter. “That’s a bit harder to explain. But here’s what I did tell them.” He waits for me to look up at him. “You’re part of my family now. If they have a problem with you, they will have to deal with me.” The corner of his mouth twitches. “And my mother. And Freya.”

I shudder and giggle at the same time. “Oh, that must have cowed them.”

Oskar grins. “They were terrified.” He throws his arm around my shoulders. “Come on.”

As the sun rises, we make our way down the trail and reach the open area outside the massive cavern entrance. It’s a bustle of activity, with families loading horses with supplies. A few people give me startled or worried looks, but no one challenges my presence. The bodies of the elders and constables are gone, and the space is filled with bundles of furs, cooking pots, and tools, all laid out on blankets.

“Oskar!” shrieks Freya, scurrying out of the cave. “You found her.” Her braids swing as she runs to us and throws her arms around me. “I was trying to warn you, but you didn’t hear.”

Oskar strokes her hair and then peels her off me. “Are we packed?”

She nods and points to a roan that’s loaded with their belongings. “That’s our horse.”

“Go tell Mother we have to leave now.”

“Already? She’s cooking breakfast.”

Oskar’s eyes meet mine. “It needs to be now.” He gives her a little shove, and she takes off. “Don’t think of running away again,” he says to me as I entertain thoughts of doing exactly that. “I’d hate to have to tie you to our horse.” His voice is teasing, but I detect the uncertainty, the worry.

I’m scared to leave him, and scared to be with him. I entwine my fingers with his. “I’m just scared.”

He smooths a lock of hair away from my face. His smile is tender. He’s opening his mouth to speak when the blast of fire hits him square in the chest, tearing him from my grip.





CHAPTER 21


Oskar staggers back, agony etched across his face, as Sig and eight other wielders walk from the mouth of the narrow trail, their hands outstretched. With a hard flick of his wrist, Sig flings another ball of fire straight for my ice wielder, and Oskar barely manages to get his hands up in time to destroy it. He grimaces as the flames lick his skin, turning it red. Anxiety flashes in his eyes—at the moment he doesn’t have enough magic to defend himself from all of them.

Most of the cave dwellers scatter, running for the cavern. Ismael, Aira, and Veikko stay, hovering near the cave entrance, looking back and forth between Oskar and the nine wielders here to bring him down. I am frozen with panic. I don’t know how best to protect him.

Sig’s hair is standing on end, and his dark eyes are wild as he glares at Oskar. “I should have known you would come for her as soon as I saw that ridiculous bird she carries in her pocket. But I’m afraid I’m going to need her back.”

“Elli, get into the cavern,” Oskar says quietly, his breaths uneven and pained, his eyes riveted to Sig’s lean form. The other wielders fan out, surrounding us.

Ismael tries to push Aira behind him, but she insists on standing next to her father, her hands raised and her green eyes full of determination. She glances back at the smoldering central fire, probably wondering if it will be enough. “Sig, we’ve already dealt with an attack yesterday,” she says in a loud voice. “Don’t do this. What are we, if we’re willing to turn on one another?”

Sig’s fingers twitch. “My thoughts exactly, Aira. So why don’t you ask Oskar what he did to Jouni?”

Aira gives Oskar a questioning look.

“Elli,” Oskar repeats, more urgent this time.

I walk toward Oskar, reaching for his hand, knowing he needs me now more than ever. “I’m not leaving.”

Sig’s teeth clench and his hands rise. “Don’t touch him.”

“Elli!” shrieks Maarika from only a few feet to my left. Before I can stop her, she lunges in front of me, her arms spread to protect me.

Just as Sig hurls his fire.

Oskar shouts for his mother as the flames hit her skirt. Sig stumbles back, his eyes wide, but the others blast Oskar with their magic, pulling ice from puddles around them and fire from their torches, all of it aimed at my ice wielder. Maarika screams, and I stagger for her, planning to throw myself on top of her and smother the fire—it’s made of magic, and it can’t hurt me.