I opened it and showed her the treasures I’d purchased for my baby brother. “Cloth for trousers to keep up with Tegil’s growing and new shoes.”
Disbelief clear in her wide eyes, she challenged, “How?”
We turned the corner into the narrow side alley between two houses. Before I could answer, she went pale at the same instant I felt the blood drain from my face. I wasn’t the only empathic mage in the family.
We’d both sensed ill intent—directed at us.
It moved through the air like a snake searching for its next victim. Wrapped itself around my ribs until I could hardly breathe.
My mother’s hand tightened on mine. Her mouth moved to whisper a warning, but I shook my head. It gave us more time to prepare if they didn’t know we knew they were coming.
The first man to step out of the deepening shadows wore no uniform and bore no house crest. His leather jerkin was well made, but the tunic underneath it had seen better years, stained with greasy food and old blood. Strapped to his hip was a plain short sword alongside two smaller daggers, hilts all wrapped in worn leather. His scars completed the picture of a man who’d seen battle.
And his hatred found me like an arrow to the chest. My mother and I stopped mid-step.
“Witch.” The word slithered out from between his lips, thick with ale and venom. Even from a short distance, his breath stank of rotting teeth and last night’s regrets.
I said nothing.
He spat onto the stones. “My brother visited your stall this morning. ’Cept he didn’t leave, did he?”
The mercenary.
Two other men stepped out of the shadows. They were slouched in the picture of drunken resentment—shoulders sagging, feet splayed, simmering rage barely concealed beneath bloodshot, hateful eyes.
These men had to be the dead mercenary’s drinking crew. All of them had one.
Usually, they’d confine themselves to staggering out of taverns in the outer ring, laughing in their drunkenness and reeking of lust as they headed to the nearest brothels. But these men were angry and seeking vengeance instead.
“She’s the one,” the broadest one slurred, pointing at me. “She’s the one who hexed him.”
“No,” the tallest said, voice thick with drink but eyes glassy with grief. “She lured him there. Pretty little thing wasbait.”
Beside me, I felt the subtle shift in pressure, the tiny vibration in the air around my mother. She was reaching for her magic. I did the same. These men still thought I was a witch.
“You got him killed by that red-cloaked monster,” the first man growled. “Used your freak magic to twist his mind. That’s what witches do, don’t they? That’s what they say.”
I scanned my surroundings, from the windows above to the street below, expecting to see someone watching. But all eyes were resolutely pointed in other directions, hands closing a door to separate them from the danger.
No one ever helps women like me. Not when the men are loud, drunk, and angry enough to get away with murder.
The tallest one stepped closer, and my mother moved between us so fast the hem of her shawl lifted. Her eyes were dark now, shadowed with the threat of magic. Her voice was low. “Walk away.”
“You think you can pull another hex on us?” the broadest one jeered. “We felt it this morning. She did something. She cost us our brother.”
I could’ve told them the truth—that I hadn’t even touched their brother with my magic. Maybe I should’ve shouted that the executioner had acted alone, with the Assembly’s blessing, but the words dried up in my throat.
They wouldn’t care because they didn’t want the truth. They only wanted someone to hit.
The moment the first man reached for my mother’s arm, I’d had enough.
Magic rushed out of me in a stream. Compared to the reactive magic in the market, this was far more refined and direct.
I shoved terror down his throat. Let it scrape furrows into his chest until his heartbeat stuttered once, twice.
He gasped like he’d been dunked in icy water.
My mother acted without a word. Confusion poured out of her like a fog toward the other two. A mis-aimed blow from the tallest one made Mama teeter back. She remained standing, but only because her magic had confused their limbs as much as their minds.
