The Impostor Queen Read Online Free PDF

perfectly. I’ll never know what it feels like to be loved by one, because I must be loved by all. I’ll never feel the touch of a lover, because my body is a vessel for magic. It only bothers me sometimes, like when I glance at Mim sitting by the fire on winter evenings. Her secret smile, meant just for me, leaves a pit in my stomach every time. And as I watch the handsome bearer’s strong hands wrap around the pole, I feel the same stab of longing.
    I tear my gaze from him and look down the corridor. Already the priests are milling about under the dome that marks the main chamber of the temple. Their shapeless, hooded garments are belted with rope to signify their life as servants of the Valtia, their round heads shaved bald, their skin pale from lack of sunlight, their shoulders stooped from hours spent hunched over their sacred star charts or peering through their telescopes. They remind me a bit of the waddling turkeys in the temple menagerie.
    Mim scoots ahead of the bearers and looks up at me. “You are blessed, Saadella,” she says in a loud, clear voice.
    In unison, the bearers and maidservants repeat the phrase, and then we’re moving. I focus on being still and regal as I float down the corridor. The priests stride to the outer edges of the domed chamber and stand in a circle, their backs against stone walls inlaid with veins of copper, the treasure hidden within the flesh of our beautiful land.
    Next to Elder Aleksi, on the east side of the chamber, is Elder Leevi, his thick red eyebrows slashing across his prominent, smooth brow, his deep-set blue eyes darting. And beside him is Elder Kauko, potbellied and square-jawed.
    The elders are so different and yet similar. It’s difficult to tell how old they are—though they have a few gray hairs, their skin is smooth and youthful. In fact, all the priests share those qualities, as if they age more slowly once they ascend from apprenticeship.
    The acolytes—both female and male—and the apprentices, all male, kneel at the back of the round chamber, their hoods over their heads, their faces concealed, their pale hands clasped in front of them. Some of them are small, no older than ten—and I wonder if one of them is Niklas, the little fire wielder Aleksi brought to us a few days ago. I hope he is well enough to join us today.
    My paarit bearers stride to the center of the chamber and take up their position over the symbol of the Saadella, three circles entwined, one for fire, one for ice, and one for the balance between the two. It is pure potential, as I’m supposed to be. My heart kicks within my chest as Kauko raises his arm, signaling that we’re ready for the Valtia’s entrance.
    Her bearers’ steps are synchronized as they carry her from an alcove on the west side of the domed chamber, and all the acolytes and apprentices bow until their foreheads touch stone. She’s now wearing her magnificent crown, which is polished and shining with the single agate that adorns its apex, a perfect eye of carnelian and amethyst. Her gown is a grand confection of woven copper thread, with a high, round collar that fans around her head. The bearers lower her to the ground, positioning her over her own seal, the symbol of infinity, two loops of pristine, snowy marble within a solid circle of copper, symmetrical and simple.
    Kauko steps forward with a carved wooden box in his hands. He bows to the Valtia and opens it, revealing the cuff of Astia, copper emblazoned with red runes, the sacred object she uses to project her power. She holds out her arm, and he reverently fastens it to her wrist.
    As soon as it clicks into place, she raises her finger, and the candles in the room burst to life at once, vibrant pricks of light in the dim chamber. The acolytes and apprentices rise to their feet and throw back their hoods, revealing their shaved heads and somber expressions. The trumpeters just outside the temple see the signal