The King's Man Read online

  The King’s Man

  (The Zero Enigma VII)

  Christopher G. Nuttall

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Book One: The Zero Blessing

  Cover Blurb

  Author’s Note

  Historian’s Note:

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  The Zero Enigma Will Continue In: | The Lady Heiress

  Afterword I

  Afterword II

  Book One: The Zero Blessing

  Book Two: The Zero Curse

  Book Three: The Zero Equation

  Book Four: The Family Shame

  Book Five: The Alchemist’s Apprentice

  Book Six: The Family Pride

  Book Seven: The King’s Man

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  Cover by Brad Fraunfelter

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  Cover Blurb

  The City of Shallot is on the verge of revolution. The Great Houses are mustering their forces, readying themselves for a shift in the balance of power. The poor have found a new leader and are - finally - demanding their rights. Shadowy figures and old ghosts are prowling the streets. It is only a matter of time before the unease and unrest explodes into violence, as the wealthy and powerful seek to secure themselves in a changing world. And dark forces are laying plans to take advantage of the chaos ...

  A newly-graduated student, the son of a proudly independent merchant, Adam Mortimer is recruited into the Kingsmen and charged with helping to track down the anarchists and terrorists before they trigger an explosion. But, as he delves into the mystery, he finds himself caught between the scars of his childhood and his hopes for the future, loyalties tested as he finds himself caught between old friends and new.

  And, as infernal devices begin to terrorise the city, Adam must risk everything to save the people he loves ...

  Author’s Note

  I’ve done my best, as always, to make this story as stand-alone as possible. However, a number of characters made their debut appearances in earlier books. Adam, Saline and Louise first appeared in The Family Pride, while Rebecca and Jill starred in The Alchemist’s Apprentice.

  CGN

  Historian’s Note:

  The Thousand-Year Empire dominated the twin continents of Maxima and Minima through two advantages, an unmatched command of magic and the development of Objects of Power, magical weapons and tools that made them seemingly invincible. But the Empire fell and the secret of making Objects of Power was lost.

  Hundreds of years later, a young girl - Caitlyn Aguirre - was born to a powerful magical family. Caitlyn - Cat - should have been powerful herself, like her two sisters, but she seemed to have no spark of magic at all. She lacked even a sense for magic. In desperation, her parents sent her to Jude’s Academy for the Magically Gifted in the hopes that exposure to magical training would bring forth the magic they were sure lay buried within her. There, she met Isabella and Akin Rubén, children of her family’s greatest enemy. Isabella became her rival, while she formed a tentative friendship with Akin.

  Cat developed no magic, but she discovered something else. Uniquely, as far as anyone could tell, she had no magic at all. She eventually discovered that a complete lack of magic was necessary for forging Objects of Power. Far from being useless, her talent made her extremely valuable and utterly irreplaceable. As far as anyone could tell, Cat was the only true ‘Zero’ known to exist. This led to her - and her friends, Akin and Rose - being kidnapped, then targeted by Crown Prince Henry and Stregheria Aguirre, Cat’s Great Aunt, when they launched a coup against the Great Houses and the King himself. Their subversions - which turned Isabella against her family - nearly led to complete disaster ... and perhaps would have done just that, if Cat and Akin hadn’t become friends.

  In the aftermath, Cat proposed that she and Akin should be betrothed, creating a marriage bond between their families and making it impossible, at least for the next few years, for the two houses to come to blows. This was - reluctantly - accepted, with the proviso that either Cat or Akin could reject the agreement if they wished, when they came of age. Cat left Jude’s to found her own school, where other Zeros - when they were found - would be taught.

  Meanwhile, the Great Houses had to deal with the repercussions of the attempted coup and the sudden shift in the balance of power. Isabella Rubén, condemned as a traitor, was exiled to Kirkhaven Hall, where she discovered a secret her family had sought to bury ... and a new secret, one of her own. Others took advantage of the chaos to stake a claim to power themselves, plots that were only foiled through sheer luck and outside intervention. The city remained unstable ...

  Six years passed, slowly. Akin Rubén went back to school for his final year, to discover - thanks to his father - that he had to compete in the Challenge, a contest to find the ‘Wizard Regnant.’ Reluctantly, Akin complied, forming a team consisting of his cousin Francis and a handful of misfits, including merchant’s daughter Louise Herdsman and Saline Califon, a distant relative who was under a spell cast by her wicked uncle. Despite Francis’s betrayal - the result of a shadowy figure from the family’s past - Akin managed to realise the true nature of the Challenge and forge a last-minute alliance with Alana Aguirre, Cat’s sister, that allowed them to share the victory.

  This did not please everyone, most notably common-born student Adam Mortimer.

  That was five short months ago. Now, Adam is on the verge of finishing his education ...

  Prologue

  If there was one lesson my father - and my experience at Jude’s - had hammered into me, time and time again, it was this.

  Never, never, trust an aristo.

  It wasn’t that all aristos were bad. I’d met some who were good, who were decent and kind and generous ... as long as it didn’t impinge upon their interests in any substantial way. And I’d met some who seemed to take delight in looking down on the commoners and making us beg, for everything from food and funding - and patronage - to simple survival. They’d been taught to put their interests of their class ahead of everything else, even simple human decency. They were just too different. They could never be trusted.

  Father had sworn he would never call upon an aristocrat and he’d kept his oath. He’d worked his way u
p from the docks through sheer talent and a gritty willingness to do whatever it took to build up a merchant trader business by himself. He could have had everything on a platter, if he’d become an aristo’s client. They would have given him everything he could handle, at the cost of losing his independence. Once they had him in their clutches, they would never have let him go. The price was too high. And Father had proved it could be done without them. He’d made me swear the same oath when I went to Jude’s.

  I’d kept it, as best as I could. It came with a price. I could be friendly to anyone and everyone, but I could never truly be one of them. I wasn’t an aristo, of course, and I was unwilling to submit to them. They knew I wasn’t useless, but they also knew I would never be their client. I studied as hard as I could, determined to make a name for myself that relied on no one else. I was going to be the greatest sorcerer in the world. It was why I’d entered the Challenge.

  And then, everything changed.

  I’d chosen not to form a team. There just weren’t many students, like myself, who didn’t have ties to the aristos. Even trying to put together a group would have exposed me to humiliation. I was good too, good enough to think I could do it on my own. I thought, as I heard the rumours echoing through the school, that I’d have some advantages if I was alone. I wouldn’t have to fear my allies putting a knife - hopefully just metaphorically - in my back. One never knew with aristos.

  The Challenge itself seemed absurdly simple. Capture the Flag, writ large. I suppose that should have tipped me off. Nothing is ever quite as simple as it seems. I woke up in the middle of a forest, miles from anywhere. No worries. I was good at being sneaky. I’d spent my nights at school sneaking around, stealing food from the kitchens or feuding with other students. I stayed low, keeping my head down as I inched through the forest towards the castle. I didn’t want to encounter the other teams, not when I couldn’t afford to take a single hit. If I was frozen, stunned, or trapped in a useless form ... I would lose. No one was going to liberate me before time ran out. It would just make life harder for themselves.

  I watched and waited as two other teams reached the castle, only to start snapping spells at each other instead of splitting up or trying to collaborate. They took each other out, more or less. There were only a couple of students left free by the time I spelled them both and walked into the castle. The wards felt stronger than I’d expected, strong enough to confuse my senses. The building’s interior kept shifting. I was impressed, as well as worried. I knew it would be very easy to get turned around and pointed in the wrong direction. I was sneaking down the corridor when I saw someone moving ahead of me. I hexed him ...

  ... And promptly got hexed in the back.

  My body froze, my muscles locking stiff. I wanted to shout, to roar in fury, but it was too late. I’d been tricked and ... I’d lost. Francis Rubén walked past me, sniggering like a depraved loon. He’d been separated from his team, but ... it had worked out for him. He’d taken me out of the game. He dropped his trousers and mooned me, then walked on into the shadows. I stood there, helplessly. There was nothing I could do but wait for the game to end.

  I’d been beaten before. It happened, no matter how hard I tried. There’s always someone better or luckier or ... simply in a position to take advantage of my mistakes. I didn’t take losing personally. If I was beaten according to the rules, I didn’t mind. It happened. But Francis ... I felt tricked, belittled, and humiliated by how he’d rubbed my nose in it. And it didn’t help that others snickered at me too as they passed. I was frozen, but I could hear them. They pointed and laughed, the commoner who’d tried to do the Challenge alone. Alana was particularly cruel. She’d never liked me, ever since I’d asked her to walk out with me. She didn’t pay attention to anyone unless he - or she - could trace their bloodline all the way back to the Thousand Year Empire.

  It felt like hours before I was freed. The Challenge was over. Akin Rubén - one of the few decent aristos - had won. Alana had come second, sort of. Francis was dead. I never heard the full details, which led me to suspect he’d done something embarrassing. I would have liked to think that he’d hexed someone else in the back, but I doubted it. Aristos didn’t get thrown out for cheating commoners. That was how most of their ancestors had risen to power in the first place.

  But the whole affair left me unsure of what to do with my life. I was a good magician - I knew that - but what would I do after I graduated? What could I do? There were few careers open to me that didn’t involve asking for patronage, pledging myself to an aristo and following my patron’s orders slavishly. The system had little room for the truly independent. Father had worked hard, but he’d run up hard against the limits. He couldn’t grow his business any further without their help and it was the one thing he refused to do.

  The weeks and months that followed were frustrating, to say the least. Everyone knew I’d been humiliated. They learnt not to snigger so loudly after I claimed Scholar’s Rights and hexed two particularly annoying students until their own mothers couldn’t have recognised them, but I knew they were still laughing. Of course they were! I was a safe target. They wouldn’t get embroiled in a family feud by laughing at me. Whatever I did to them, it wouldn’t last. I forced myself to work hard, putting my all into the exams. And then ...

  I waited, bored. I had to do something to liven things up.

  Ironically, my decision to commit a string of pranks was what opened the door to a whole new world ...

  Chapter One

  It was going to be the greatest prank ever.

  I smiled as I carefully picked my way into the Charms classroom. Jude’s had a tradition of pranksters, students who pushed the limits as far as they would go without crossing the line into bullying. I’d gleefully embraced the tradition over the last few months, devising newer and better spells to make everyone - even the victim - laugh. But I hadn’t come up with anything new. My pranks were little more than modified or improved versions of older pranks. They’d be saying I was a copycat. And that was intolerable.

  This time, I told myself, it would be different. I was really going to do something new. I was going to upset the aristos, shock them ... my smile grew wider as I slipped into the empty classroom and made my way to the storeroom beyond. I’d borrow a handful of supplies, use them in the prank and - afterwards - take whatever punishment came my way. Magister Hugh Von Rupert wouldn’t be too annoyed, I thought. The old geezer barely knew what year it was, let alone the names and faces of his students. He had a first-class mind for magic - I’ll give him that much - but little else. I honestly didn’t understand why students like Caitlyn Aguirre had paid so much attention to him.

  The wards on the storeroom parted after a few moments of careful effort. I nodded to myself as I gingerly opened the door - I wouldn’t put it past the charms tutors to rig a surprise on the far side for any thieving students - and peered inside. The small collection of tools, supplies and textbooks seemed to shimmer in welcome. I stayed where I was, casting a handful of detection spells. Getting caught after the fact was one thing, but getting caught in the act would make me a laughingstock. Being laughed at was worse than detention, or writing lines, or volunteering at the local soup kitchen. If there were any more charms inside the compartment, I might be in some trouble.

  But there were none.

  I frowned, torn between the urge to get on with it and the sense I should back away now. The storeroom wouldn’t have been left completely undefended. I could hardly be the first student who’d thought of raiding the charms classroom for supplies. The potions cabinets were heavily defended - most students tried to raid them - but really ... the storeroom should have been warded better than this.

  Yet ... there was nothing.

  I narrowed my eyes, then inched inside. I’d come too far to back out now. I’d know, even if no one else did. I would know I’d been a coward, rather than taking what I wanted and withdrawing before lunch was over and the tutors had returned. I reached for the
nearest box of tools ...

  ... And sensed, more than heard, someone behind me.

  I tensed, bracing myself as I turned slowly. If Magister Von Rupert had caught me ... I might be able to talk my way out of serious - and humiliating - trouble. Boys will be boys and all that guff. My heart sank as I saw Magister Grayson, hands crossed over his chest and a grim expression on his face. Magister Von Rupert was easy-going, but his partner was vindictive, vicious, vile and a number of other things that also started with V. No one ragged on Magister Von Rupert - much - for fear of Magister Grayson. I was doomed, unless ... I groaned. Tradition decreed that any student who managed to get past the tutors and escape was allowed to go free, but I knew I wasn’t going to get past him. Magister Grayson was the toughest tutor in school. A student who tried to give him the traditional black eye would be lucky if he only spent the next few weeks in the hospital wing.

  “Adam Mortimer,” Magister Grayson said. I tried to look for a hint of mercy in his dark eyes, for an awareness that we were nearing graduation, but saw none. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  A hundred answers ran through my mind, all discarded before they were fully formed. I couldn’t lie, not to him. I couldn’t escape either. There was nothing for it, but to take my punishment like a man. I wondered, as I forced myself to relax, what it would be. Tutors weren’t allowed to hit or hex students, unless the students hit or hexed them first, but they had wide latitude for punishment. I was an upperclassman. Maybe he’d humiliate me by assigning me lines, as if I were a lowly lowerclassman. Or maybe he’d tell me to spend the next few days helping the kitchen staff.

  “I was borrowing supplies for a prank, sir,” I said. I didn’t bother to pretend I was sorry, not about anything other than getting caught. He wouldn’t believe me if I’d tried. “I ... how did you know I was here?”

  “That’s none of your business.” Magister Grayson glowered at me. I wondered, suddenly, if he’d swapped shifts with his partner. I’d thought Von Rupert was on duty today. I would never have dared raid the storeroom if I’d known it was Magister Grayson. “You’re meant to be graduating, are you not?”