The Impostor Queen by Sarah Fine Read Free Book Online Page A

flowing gown of soft red wool. She undoes all my braids, brushes my hair, and plaits it once more. She lays her palms on my cheeks when she’s finished. “ Now you look like a princess.”
    Fresh and clean, I go back out to the balcony. Sure enough, guttering torches moving across the water mark three ships returning to our docks. I bounce on my toes. “Mim, are they preparing our meal? I want it to be ready when she reaches us. She’ll probably be starving.”
    â€œI’ll go check,” she says, and leaves me alone to watch the sailing vessels glide into the harbor.
    I pace my balcony. I can’t wait to ask my Valtia what it was like, if she actually saw the Soturi being tossed by her storm, if the sailors around her were frightened or steadfast as she made the gale rage around them. Those are but a few of the questions I have for her.
    Somewhere out in the city, a horn sounds. Its eerie call steadily grows louder as the minutes pass. Finally, just as I’m wondering when Mim will return, she bursts through the doorway.
    Her face is pasty pale, like she’s painted her own skin with white lead. “Your sedan chair is being brought now,” she says, her voice quavering.
    I frown as I step forward. “What’s wrong?” Alarm clangs in my head, louder than that stupid horn, which is still blaring. “Did some of the Soturi ships make it through?”
    She shakes her head. Her mouth twists into the saddest smile I’ve ever seen. “No, Saadella. By all accounts, the Valtia dealt them a devastating defeat.”
    I sag with relief. “Then why the long face? Were some of the sailors hurt?”
    She comes forward and takes me by the arms. “Elli,” she whispers. “You have to come now. You’ve been summoned.”
    â€œOf course,” I say.
    â€œBy the elders,” she adds.
    I pause, the oddest feeling stirring inside me, like a beast awakening from its winter sleep. “Mim.” It comes out in a snap, and my handmaiden flinches. “Where’s the Valtia?”
    â€œShe’s being brought to her quarters now.” Mim pulls me into an embrace, close enough to feel her shudder. “But they’re saying she won’t live out the night.”

CHAPTER 4
    I push Mim away. The ringing in my ears is so loud that I can’t hear her voice anymore. I blunder toward the door of my chamber, my only thought to reach my Valtia, begging the stars that when I do, this will all turn out to be a mistake. She’ll greet me with affection and we’ll have our meal and she’ll tell me how she sent the Soturi to their graves in the deep.
    Mim loops her arm around my waist as I reach the corridor. “Slow down, Elli. Your chair’s coming.”
    A waste of time. “No.”
    â€œPlease. Prepare yourself for what’s about to happen.”
    With her hanging on to me, I stride down my corridor toward the domed chamber. It’s like wading through deep water as Mim tries to hold me back. Prepare yourself.
    But I can’t bear the thought of losing my Valtia, so I can’t bear to think of preparing for it.
    When I’m about halfway, Elder Leevi comes toward us from the domed chamber, his apprentice trailing behind him carrying a lantern that throws distorted shadows against the stone walls. “She’s in her quarters,” he says to us. “You will be taken to the catacombs, the Stone Chamber, to wait for—”
    â€œNo.” I slap at Mim’s clutching hands and quicken my pace as soon as she lets me go. “I will see her now.”
    Leevi blinks at Mim and then at me. “My Saadella, that is not how we do this.”
    â€œI need to see her.” My voice echoes off the walls. “I’m not going anywhere else.”
    Leevi scowls at Mim, as if she’s responsible for my behavior. “Very well,” he finally says. “Handmaiden, pack her