Mim stares straight ahead, like she’s not even aware of their presence.
Eljas lifts the crown from the cushion in Aleksi’s arms. “From this day until your final breath, you will lead us,” he says in a high, brittle voice. “From this day until your final breath, you will protect and rule. From this day until your final breath, you are the Valtia!”
He places the crown upon her head and steps back, turning to the crowd with a wide smile. “We, the Kupari, can now celebrate our new queen!”
The crowd around us erupts, a wall of sound that can surely be heard for miles. Their relief is like a living thing. Sig whistles, and so do the magic wielders around me, but I can neither clap nor shout. All I can do is puzzle at the void in Mim’s eyes, which used to glitter with energy and make my stomach swoop every time she looked at me.
Eljas leans forward and touches her elbow, and she rises abruptly from her grand chair. She stiffly raises her arms, revealing the cuff of Astia clamped over her right wrist. The torches around the square flare wildly, the flames lengthening and twisting in the air. The citizens scream with delight at her show of power. A few of them shake their fists at the Soturi, who frown as the fire stretches unnaturally long, rising like bars of gold, caging the barbarians in with us. The elders’ gazes follow the arc of the flames as they dance and entwine above the square, creating a canopy of light.
Sig laughs, the sound molten and dangerous. “Stars, it’s not coming from her,” he says in an unsteady voice. “Can you feel it, Elli?”
All I feel is hatred for the elders. They’ve done something to Mim. They’ve hurt her. I know it. They’re putting on a show to impress the Soturi, but at the expense of the woman who nurtured me since we were both children—a woman I loved with all my heart. Her gaze is vacant yet somehow full of pain as she stands there, arms raised. A puppet, Sig had said. He was so, so right.
Sig steps forward as the fire twists above us, swirling into beautiful designs, making the people shriek with joy and the Soturi gape with shock. Sweat beading on his brow, he drags me past a few cheering men and women, and I grab his hand to pry it from my arm. He’s bringing us perilously close to the priests and elders, who may have other things on their mind at the moment, but who would be happy to recapture me if they realize I’m right in front of them. “Sig, wait.”
His head swivels in my direction, his brown eyes glowing, his handsome face alight with glee. “She’s an impostor,” he says with an unhinged laugh.
My fingers curl over the back of his hand just as his other jerks upward, his palm outstretched. The fire above us suddenly spirals high, forming a solid pillar of flame that nearly kisses the sky. Eljas and Aleksi’s eyes go wide as they lose control of it. Mim’s empty stare glows orange as her head tilts upward, following its path.
There’s a wrenching tug within my chest as Sig clenches his fist and drops it like a hammer.
The column of fire arches over the platform and slams down—right on top of Mim.
CHAPTER 20
I’m nearly blinded as the inferno engulfs the platform. The square becomes a writhing mass of panic. We’re shoved back and pushed to the ground. Sig is on top of me, his body drenched with sweat. I claw and kick, trying to rise, trying to see what’s happening. We’re going to be trampled.
Rough hands close around Sig’s shoulders and yank him up. Jouni’s hair is plastered to his cheeks, and his face is red. Sig leans against him, his eyes unfocused—just like Oskar’s were after we encased our enemies in a block of ice. A sharp pain stabs through my stomach as I look up at the platform. The scream tears its way from my throat, joining with thousands of others. The Valtia’s chair is a spiraling monster of flame and smoke as the elders on either side use their ice magic to suppress the fire. Aleksi looks untouched, but Eljas’s face and hands are red and blistered. Jouni tugs me and Sig backward just as I move forward. “Mim,” I cry in a choked voice.
“Come on, girl,” Jouni snaps. “We have to get out of this square!”
“He killed Mim!” I shriek, trying to rip myself away. My Mim, who loved me, who gave me a life. Sig destroyed her. . . .
Jouni grabs the neck of my cloak and hauls me backward. “Shut up, you idiot! Do you want to be caught?”