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

PROLOGUE

Mother had just tuckedme into bed when they kicked in the door to our house. It was a distinctive sound, the bang loud as it hit the wall. Impressive, given Mother had dropped the bar in the bracket for the night.

“Is it brigands?” I asked, thinking of the stories I’d heard whispered.

“Worse,” Mother muttered. “You must hide, Ilyana.”

My lips parted to protest. “Why should I hide? This is our house.” Despite my tender age of nine, I should be by her side as she confronted the rude intruders stomping about on the floor below us.

The wide-eyed countenance of my mother and the way she bit her lower lip stole any complaint I might have uttered. Not much scared my mother. She laughed at bugs, even the hairy, many-legged scuttling kind. Unlike our neighbor, Dame Feelly, whose shrieks could be heard even with windows closed. Mother didn’t hike her skirts when the rats swarmed from the cellar after the floods but rather chased them with a butcher knife. They made fine stew, and their fur kept my hands warm in winter.

“Quickly now. In the cubby,” she admonished before leaving me alone. Trepidation blanched her features as she went to confront the invaders, rendering me terrified, too.

I couldn’t lose her. With Father dead and the creditors, those scavengers, stripping our things one by one to pay a thing called debt, she was all I had left. Her and the leaky roof over our heads. Perhaps that was why the intruders banged around so much downstairs. Even tucked in my room with the door closed, I could hear things breaking, the distinctly male voices cursing and yelling, the softer murmur of my mother as she tried to calm them.

Poor Mother. Nothing had gone well since Father’s untimely demise. I should be by her side, supporting her.

Despite her warning, I exited my room and crouched at the top of the stairs, pausing first for a listen.

A gravelly male voice barked, “Where is the brat?”

They had better not be speaking of me.

“She is not here.” My mother lied to protect me, and I eyed the door to my room. Perhaps I should return and hide. The cubby I could access by wiggling under my bed would be tight but secure.

All thought of hiding fled as the sharp crack of a hand slapping flesh brought a sharp cry from my mother. They’d hit her!

“Let’s try that again.” The man’s voice might sound calm, but I could hear the menace. “Where is the brat?”

“Sleeping at a friend’s house.”

“I don’t believe you. Check upstairs.” The male in charge snapped the order, but before anyone could even take that first step, my mother reacted.

“Leave us alone. Isn’t it enough you killed my husband?”

My eyes widened. Why did Mother claim that? She’d told me Father had died in an accident.

“I’m told he died because he got greedy.”

“I’ve kept to my part in the bargain,” my mother exclaimed.

“The terms of it have changed. Where is the child?”

“I’ll never tell you.”

“You will. People always talk with a bit of fisted persuasion.” I could hear the cold glee in his words. “Restrain her.”

My mother cried out again, and despite her last command to me, I had to help her. I flowed down the stairs, the hem of my nightgown fluttering. I paused at the bottom as I took in the scene I burst upon. There were two men, both bigger than me and my mother, not brigands but soldiers of the emperor. I recognized the black and silver livery. My gaze focused on my mother, her arms yanked behind her back by a soldier with a beard. “Let Mother go.”

Mother saw me, and her eyes widened. So much terror in them. Not for herself but for me.

The man in front of her turned and noticed me standing there. “You must be the brat.”

My chin lifted. “My name is Ilyana. Release my mother.”

“You don’t get to give orders, brat. Especially not in this matter. Your mother lied to an emissary of the emperor.”

My young age didn’t make me stupid about the events unfolding, but I remained immature enough to think my two clenched fists and stubborn demand might sway them. “She lied to protect me. I am here now. Let her go. You’re hurting her.”

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