Kingdom: The Complete Series by Steven William Hannah Read Free Book Online

he retorts. He feels Chloe press
herself harder against him.
    Footsteps begin to echo
down the staircase until two pairs of legs are visible, stumbling, manoeuvring
down the stairs; a moment later, Jamie sees why.
    The King, his knee a
tattered mess of exposed bone and cartilage, is being carried by two of his
servants, his arms around their necks. He is pale and sweating in agony, his
teeth are clenched and his eyes are burning with intense anger. Patting one of
the servants, he is set down on the bottom stair and, with a trembling breath,
he leans on his good knee as though he were having a relaxing seat in the park.
    Jamie feels his finger
tighten on the trigger, his trembling hands making the gun rattle in the
silence.
    “ Killing
me won't improve your position, Jamie,” the King says as his men take up guard
on either side of him, producing machine-pistols from their jackets. “Trust me
on that.”
    “ And
your bullets aren't going to work on me,” Jamie says. “Trust me on
that.”
    “ That
was quite a trick you pulled on us up there. This must be what you meant when
you said that you had a 'game changer' to discuss, hm?”
    Jamie says nothing, but
the King sees it in his eyes.
    “ So
you came here, thinking that because you're a little bit special – that because
now you can flicker about the place like a little cricket – that you are
somehow capable of beating me.”
    “ I
already shot you once. I can do it again.”
    “ I
said 'beating', not killing. So kill me. Then what? Please, tell me this grand
plan of yours. Shoot me. Kill me, even, and then: what?”
    “ I
have that covered, don't you worry,” Jamie lies. He feels his heart racing, and
finds himself clutching Chloe's waist tighter.
    “ I
assume that your plan includes this new capability you seem to have found
yourself with.” He fixes Jamie with a fiery stare, and Jamie feels as though
his soul is being searched like an open tome. “It was the fire, wasn't it
Jamie? The fire that came from the sky has changed you, am I right?”
    The King is leaning
forward eagerly, his terrifying eyes urging Jamie to answer. Jamie can feel
Chloe looking up at him in confusion.
    “ I
think you underestimate me – as everybody does.” The King leans back. “When I
say that I know everything that goes on in this city, I'm not lying. Even the
stuff like this. Have you considered,” the King continues as though he were
talking to a child, “that the more you use this power, the more blood starts to
gush out of your nostrils? Have you made the link yet, son? Are you starting to
get it?”
    Jamie licks his lips
and tastes the blood that is soaking into his stubble.
    “ You
haven't been watching the news,” the King shakes his head, “and you don't have
the information that I do. You haven't seen what happens to people like you
when those nosebleeds get worse. You try to use your little trick again and
I'll bet that your brain will haemorrhage so violently you'll be dead before
you hit the floor.”
    “ You're
bluffing,” says Jamie – though he cannot tell who he is trying to convince: the
King, or himself.
    “ Turn
on a television, son. There's been a strong military and police presence
building for a few weeks: they knew the fire was coming. You know, they asked
me permission to move soldiers into my city? What nice manners they have, these
government types. Soldiers in black, they use – I'm surprised you haven't ran
into any.”
    Jamie says nothing,
remembering the dark figure that tried to bring him in after the fire hit.
    “ They
didn't know what was coming,” the King continues. “They knew it wasn't an
asteroid – asteroids don't make course corrections, they told me. Then they
found people at the crash sites this evening – humans, but different. Like you.
Already we've had people leaping off rooftops and fighting armed soldiers by
the dozen. There's a video of a man in overalls shrugging off gunfire from a
helicopter's cannon.” The