Page 86 of The Barbarian King's Assassin (Magic and Kings 1)

“He cares for you.”

“If he cares so much, where is he?” I asked.

He pointed upwards, where Broon had quieted his screeching and waited for Jrijori to pick his way across the sticky web. Jrijori saw me looking and waved.

I snorted. “You do know my father will charge Broon for that rescue?”

His lips quirked. “I told him to make sure it was an insanely high amount to serve as a lesson to Broon to not fall asleep on watch in the future.”

“No wonder he worried about you finding out.”

“I don’t tolerate shirking of duties.”

“Says the king who keeps letting me shirk mine.”

“Taking time to recover for being harmed in defense of me isn’t shirking. And look, I no sooner give you some freedom than you get in trouble. Again.”

“What can I say? I attract the wrong sort.” The pointed look I gave finally brought a smile.

“More like you shouldn’t sleep alone. This is twice now it’s happened.”

“Technically, I wasn’t asleep this time.”

“You shouldn’t have gone by yourself.”

“I am not dragging someone along to listen to me piss,” I hotly exclaimed. “Now put me down.” He’d yet to set me on my feet as he left the spider’s larder.

“No.”

“I can walk.”

“Good for you.”

“Why are you being like this?”

“Like what? A person concerned about your well-being? You were almost eaten alive,” he practically shouted.

“No, I wasn’t. In case you didn’t notice, I was saving myself when you arrived.”

“I noticed. That’s the problem.” He held me closer.

I groaned. “You’re making me look weak in front of everyone again.”

“I don’t think there’s anything that would make you look weak. You do realize when we arrived, you were scowling and singlehandedly, quite literally, fighting off an arachnid three to four times your size. And you weren’t scared one bit!” He shouted as if angry and proud at the same time.

“Fear is for those who are certain it’s their turn to die. I’m not even close yet.”

He offered a rueful chuckle. “You have the heart of a snaggle bear.”

“That better be the most ferocious animal you know.”

“Small but mighty. Just like you.” His smile warmed me enough that I decided not to kill him, even though he carried me the entire way back to the cave.

I totally deserved Jrijori’s mockery. He snuck up behind and snickered, “Princess.”

I aimed a kick that he easily dodged. I glared at Konstantin. “This is your fault.”

“Hardly the king’s fault. You’re supposed to be protectinghim,” my father pointed out.