Kingdom: The Complete Series Read Online Free PDF

cars, have
you?”
    The King rests a large,
ringed hand on Jamie's slick hair and looks at him with something resembling
sympathy.
    “ I
got you something better,” Jamie assures him.
    One of the men sneers
and mutters: “A nosebleed?”
    He barks a sickly laugh
until the King shoots him a look that silences the room, one hand still on
Jamie's head. He looks down at Jamie again.
    “ What
did you get me, Jamie?”
    “ Cut
me loose and I'll show you,” Jamie urges him.
    The King seems to weigh
this up and then, hanging his head down and shaking it, takes his hand from
Jamie's skull.
    "Cut you
loose," he says to himself, rolling the words over like a cigar between
his lips. He motions to one of his men out of sight and is handed a small,
heavy knife so sharp that it seems to hum as it moves through the air, cutting
the silence apart.
    He weighs it in his
hands, and then paces behind Jamie with heavy, echoing footsteps.
    "Ok. I'll cut you
loose, Jamie," he says, his voice coarse with regret.
    Jamie sees Chloe, tense
and trembling on the edge of her seat. He sees a questioning look in her eyes,
and gives her a brave nod as her eyes drift to the King standing behind him.
    Jamie feels the King's
fingers slide under his jaw and tilt his head back.
    “ I'm
am actually very sorry about this,” laughs the King.
    The knife catches the light
in the corner of Jamie's eye, and he hears a scream leave Chloe's mouth. She is
leaping out of her seat towards him, despair painted across her face.
    Then she is frozen.
    Sound fades to silence
as though Jamie had paused a video of this very moment, and he feels his
heartbeat quicken. The King is suddenly a statue, and Jamie squirms out of his
hold and stands up on aching knees. He turns and wraps his bound hands against
the King's frozen knife, cutting himself free with a thief's finesse.
    His heart pounds in his
ears as he feels time begin to accelerate again, the sounds growing like a
pressure in his skull. It feels as though he is trying to grab onto a single
moment and hold himself there against an ever quickening river current.  His
nose runs red with fresh blood and he wipes it away as he moves forward and
grabs Chloe around her waist. Jamie forces himself to slow down, to take a deep
breath and calm himself: as he does, time slows again.
      A
second has passed.
    Chloe feels light to
him in his new, timeless world, as though she is made of paper. He lifts her
and turns to make for the door. In the second that has passed, the King has
noticed his absence – his eyebrows are arched in surprise as the knife passes
through thin air.
    The flow of time rages
against Jamie as he moves towards the door. It feels like he is swimming
upstream, exhausting himself the harder he goes against the current. With every
breath, fresh blood splutters from his nostrils – he can taste it in the back
of his throat. Chloe is draped over his shoulder in a fireman's lift, getting
heavier by the second.
    He needs more time.
    As he passes the
executioner's squad at the door, he grabs a pistol from someone's hand and
turns. Time is building up in his skull like water at a dam, aching to burst.
He turns around and points the pistol at the King – at his head.
    Then at his heart.
    The trigger is heavier
than he can pull.
    Jamie points the gun
downwards and pulls the trigger.
    Flying in silence like
an arrow, the bullet blows the King's knee to splinters. Time begins to seep
through the cracks in Jamie's concentration, and a silent scream escapes the
King's mouth, getting louder with every passing moment like an approaching
train.
    Jamie throws himself
and Chloe through the door and slams it shut.
    The crash of the wood
brings the flow of time with it.
    He hears screaming and
shouting muffled by the door. Chloe's ear splitting cry continues as he puts
her down. Her wet, red eyes take in their surroundings and her mind goes blank
as the scream trails off. Her jaw is slack.
    “ What
-” she begins.
    “