Page 55 of The Barbarian King's Assassin (Magic and Kings 1)

It ended in his bedroom. He dropped the heavy hatch over the stairs and then simply looked at me, a smoldering glow in his eyes.

Any other man, I’d have been tearing off his clothes.

I licked my lips. “Don’t move while I secure the space.” I dropped to look under his bed. Then inside his shower room and garderobe.

He didn’t move as I shifted around the space. I couldn’t escape his heated gaze, so I moved to the level above, checking the windows for grappling hooks. Found nothing to keep me in the chillier space. I headed back down and proceeded to barricade the shower room, even as I still doubted golems existed. I secured the upper hatch and strung noise-makers on the steps leading down from the room above.

I secured against every single threat except one.

Konstantin.

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

I’d been alonewith the Barbarian King before, but for some reason, this time felt different. Konstantin sat on the edge of his bed, shoulders slumped, feet bare, expression tired.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He glanced at me. “Nothing you can fix.”

“Are you sure?”

“This isn’t a problem you can kill.”

“Don’t be so sure. Everybody’s woes trace back to a person, whether it is someone actively threatening them or the tax collector looking to take their last crust of bread. Kill the right person, and that problem goes away.”

“And is replaced by another. Or do you think I haven’t tried eliminating all the threats to my country?”

“You haven’t eliminated the right one, obviously.”

He chuckled. “Could be that in that respect you are right.” He lay down and laced his hands behind his head. “Do you ever wonder at the different paths your life could have taken if you’d made different choices?”

“Not really because the only choice I had was death.”

“What judge dooms a child for avenging her mother?”

“Never saw a judge. They put me in a cell with criminals. I was told I’d be dead before sundown the next day for what I’d done.”

“And yet you were saved. How fortuitous.”

“I guess.” I’d often thanked the luck that led Jrijori into the dungeons that night, looking for an apprentice. “In many respects, being taken on as his apprentice was like finding a real father. Mine never had much to do with me. And as for my mother… We didn’t have common interests.” Where she strived to keep a proper household and raise a demure daughter, I defied her at every turn, coming home filthy and often bruised from rough-housing.

“My parents were very involved in my childhood. I never had brothers or sisters, so they lavished all their attention on me. Which couldn’t have been easy given my father’s role as king. I inherited the throne from him.”

“How did he die?”

“He’s not dead.”

That startled me enough I almost fell over.

“After the failed attempt on me that almost took my mother’s life, he abdicated that they might enjoy some time in retirement away from the intrigues plaguing the court.”

“Retired? I didn’t know rulers could do that.” The emperor certainly showed no signs, even though rumors had him as a doddering idiot who needed naps.

“A ruler should know when it’s time to pass on the reins.”

“Will you?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Depends on circumstance. I’d need to have a capable heir before I even considered it. What of you? Will you be an assassin forever?”