A Little Hatred (The Age of Madness #1) - Joe Abercrombie Page 0,227

lay flat on his back, eyes closed, mouth slightly open. The covers had been pulled down to his ankles, feet still making two little peaks in the crimson cloth. His nightshirt had been dragged right up above his chest, waxy pale body exposed, fuzzed here and there with grey hair, shrivelled prick flopped sideways and stuck flat to his hip. Orso’s father had always said that dignity was a luxury kings could not afford.

The royal physician knelt by the bed, ear pressed to the king’s chest. Someone pushed through the crowd to offer him a hand mirror and he held it to the king’s mouth, fumbled for his eye-lenses and perched them on his nose.

‘There was no sign he was ill,’ came a disbelieving mutter.

‘I was talking to His Majesty just last night. He was in high spirits!’

‘What the hell does that matter?’ someone snarled.

The silence stretched.

The physician carefully put down the mirror and slowly stood.

‘Well?’ asked Lord Chamberlain Hoff, wringing his pale hands.

The physician blinked, then shook his head.

Bremer dan Gorst took a breath so sharp it made a strange squeak in his broad nose.

Arch Lector Glokta slumped into his wheeled chair. ‘The king is dead,’ he murmured.

A kind of groan went through the gathering. Or maybe it came from Orso’s own throat.

Suddenly he felt that there had been so much he needed to say to his father. He had always supposed they would discuss the important things later. The profound things. But it would never happen. There had only been a fixed time in his presence, and Orso had pissed it all away talking about the weather, and there would be no more.

He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, more grasping than comforting, and turned to see the First of the Magi standing beside him. He almost had the ghost of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

‘Long live the king,’ said Bayaz.

Acknowledgments

As always, four people without whom:

Bren Abercrombie, whose eyes are sore from reading it.

Nick Abercrombie, whose ears are sore from hearing about it.

Rob Abercrombie, whose fingers are sore from turning the pages.

Lou Abercrombie, whose arms are sore from holding me up.

Then, my heartfelt thanks:

To all the lovely and talented people in British publishing who have helped bring the First Law books to readers down the years, including but by no means limited to Simon Spanton, Jon Weir, Jen McMenemy, Mark Stay, Jon Wood, Malcolm Edwards, David Shelley, Katie Espiner and Sarah Benton. Then, of course, all those who’ve helped make, publish, publicise, translate and above all sell my books wherever they may be around the world.

To the artists responsible for somehow continuing to make me look classy: Didier Graffet, Dave Senior, Laura Brett, Lauren Panepinto, Raymond Swanland, Tomás Almeida, Sam Weber.

To editors across the Pond: Lou Anders, Devi Pillai, Bradley Englert, Bill Schafer.

To champions in the Circle: Tim and Jen Miller.

To the man with a thousand voices: Steven Pacey.

For keeping the wolf on the right side of the door: Robert Kirby.

To all the writers whose paths have crossed mine on the Internet, at the bar or in the writers’ room, and who’ve provided help, support, laughs and plenty of ideas worth the stealing. You know who you are.

And lastly, yet firstly:

The great machinist, Gillian Redfearn. Because every Jezal knows, deep down, he ain’t shit without Bayaz.

The Big People

Notable Persons of the Union

His August Majesty Jezal the First – High King of the Union.

Her August Majesty Terez – High Queen of the Union.

Crown Prince Orso – King Jezal and Queen Terez’s eldest and only son, heir to the throne and notorious wastrel.

Hildi – the crown prince’s valet and errand girl, previously a brothel laundress.

Tunny – once Corporal Tunny, now Crown Prince Orso’s pimp and carousing partner.

Yolk – Tunny’s idiot sidekick.

Arch Lector Sand dan Glokta – ‘Old Sticks’, the most feared man in the Union, head of the Closed Council and His Majesty’s Inquisition.

Superior Pike – Arch Lector Glokta’s right-hand man, with a hideously burned visage.

Lord Chamberlain Hoff – self-important chief courtier, son of the previous Lord Hoff.

Lord Chancellor Gorodets – long-suffering holder of the Union’s purse-strings.

Lord Marshal Brint – senior soldier and one-armed old friend of King Jezal.

Lord Marshal Rucksted – senior soldier with a penchant for beards and tall tales, married to Tilde dan Rucksted.

Colonel Forest – a hard-working officer with common origins and impressive scars.

Bremer dan Gorst – King Jezal’s squeaky-voiced First Guard, and master swordsman.

Lord Isher – a smooth and successful magnate of the Open Council.

Lord Barezin – a buffoonish