Page 106 of The Barbarian King's Assassin (Magic and Kings 1)
I might have been insulted if I’d not had giants telling me the opposite for a while now. Since he addressed me, I managed to say, “Hard to look delicate beside someone as unimpressive as you.”
That didn’t go over well. Since he couldn’t slap me and ruin my face, he instead shot me full of pain using magic.
It sent me to my knees, sucking in a harsh breath and then trembling as he punished me.
Once done, he said too smoothly, “Do you need another dose?”
I wanted to say, “Try your best.” Instead, I replied, “No.”
“Let’s go then.”
He marched me through the palace, his chin high and his cruelty obvious by the number of people who flinched out of his path. I regretted not leaving with Jrijori when I had the chance. Who knew the son was worse than the father?
The throne room we entered proved the most ridiculous thing, everything gilded in gold: towering support columns, tables, chairs, the throne, even the dais it sat upon.
The fat man in the overwrought chair eyed us as we approached, and I wanted to curl my lip in disgust. This was my father? I eyed the emperor, noting at one time he might have been handsome, before a life of excess ruined him. His robe might be of the richest material, but it had too much going on. It hurt the eye.
The emperor squinted in my direction. “Is this the woman who murdered my dear grand vizier and my favorite daughter?”
“Actually, Your Excellence, I killed the traitor Zasha once I discovered the perfidy she committed with the help of my father.”
“You killed my sweet Zasha?” The emperor struggled to rise.
“She was an imposter. The daughter of another passed off as your own.”
“Who, who would do such a thing?” The emperor sounded genuinely shocked.
For a moment, Marell hung his head, appearing sad. Yet I knew this for an act. “The grand vizier betrayed you. Betrayed us all. Not only did he hope to pass off his own daughter as your heir, he tried to murder a true one.” He swept his arm in my direction. “I present to you, Ilyana, daughter of Belnya. Your flesh and blood.”
“Belnya? I know that name. It’s from a long, long time ago.” He frowned. “How did I not know about her?”
“My father hid it from you. Tried to have her killed. Luckily, I discovered the truth. And now, you have a new daughter.
The emperor blinked at me. “Are you really my daughter?”
A direct question I could answer. “So it would seem.”
The corpulent man sat down hard, and his face turned an awful shade of red. “This is too much. A daughter who is not my daughter dead. A dear friend who was a traitor also gone. And now you’re here. A daughter already grown. I—” He rubbed at his chest, and sweat poured from his temples.
Right before our eyes, he toppled from the throne and died.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREE
I don’t knowwho was more surprised. Me, Marell, or the handful of soldiers around the throne. The emperor fell face first from his throne, and it took a moment of stunned silence before someone yelled, “Fetch the physician.”
Judging by the wide eyes shot through with red, no amount of poultices would bring him back to life. The emperor was dead.
Wait.
That meant I’d just become the heir. I wanted to be sick. I should have listened to my father and stayed far away from the grand vizier. Why hadn’t I said yes to Konstantin when he’d asked me to be with him? We would have never gone to Frothy Falls. Never run afoul of the grand vizier and his machinations. I’d have been out of Marell’s reach.
But no, I made all kinds of dumb decisions that led to me being the prisoner of a mad man who wielded magic more deadly than any blade. That kind of power should be used sparingly, and not for evil. It stunned me to find myself thinking in the same terms Konstantin used. But it fit. What Marell did? It couldn’t be allowed.
He needed to die.
Give me a sword.
My fingers flexed, but I couldn’t call forth the tingle. Even worse, because of my spelled bracelets, I remained unable to fight.