Kingdom Come Read Free

of here.”
    She sniffled in response as Bud suddenly noticed the blood-stained box between them. Kieran was holding it tightly and Bud couldn't take his eyes off it.
    "Hey," he nodded his head at the small wooden case. "Dave told me about the crown. Is... is that it?"
     She gazed sadly at the box. "Yes," she blinked, tears splattering with the rain. "Christ’s Crown of Thorns, the object we were searching for when we found Kieran’s grave. It wasn’t buried with him like we’d hoped, but he remembered where he had hidden it so we dug it up. But I swear I'd give it back if it would make Kieran well again. It's just not worth the heartache it's caused."
     "There was a man who thought differently, once," Kieran's voice was faint. "He believed it worth dying for."
    "Well, I don't," Rory snapped softly. "It's not worth your life. God, I wish you'd never found the damn thing."
    Bud put his hand on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort and also to prevent her from reining out of control. Now was not the time for hysterics with Kieran bleeding to death. Tearing his gaze away from the holy treasure he had spent over a year of his life searching for, Bud’s ice-blue focused on the dying man.
    "How ya doin', pal?" he asked, a ridiculous question considering. "Looks like we've got to get you to a hospital."
    The knight shook his head weakly. "'Tis of no use. Now that my task is complete, I am to die as I should have eight centuries ago."
    Bud fixed Kieran in the eye, a man he should hate for stealing Rory away from him but a man he found he could not hate. When they had excavated Kieran from his grave those weeks ago, there was no way of knowing how Rory and the knight would have been drawn together, both in death and in life. There was something in the man's nature that provoked Bud's respect in spite of everything. A determination and a sense of duty that Bud himself would have liked to have possessed.
    "A doctor can help you, but we've got to go now," he said, feeling his desperation when Kieran once again shook his head. He didn't have time to argue with the man. "Look, Kieran; Rory means a great deal to me. If you die... she'll never be the same. No matter what we've been through, our differences and all, in the end all that matters is that the woman we both love is happy. Right?"
    Kieran raised an eyebrow slowly, rain coating his ashen face. "Another selfless gesture, my lord. Pity I am unworthy of such respect for the misery I have caused you both."
    "That's not true," Bud disagreed, casting the man an exaggeratedly selfish glance. "Besides, I haven't finished pumping you for information. I haven't found out a damn thing about the world you come from. I’d be the first archaeologist in history to get that kind of information first hand.”
    "Then ask quickly," Kieran murmured, licking his wet lips. "There is not much time left."
    Bud looked at Rory, seeing the desperation in her eyes. "We've got to get him to a hospital," he said to her, wondering if it wasn't already too late. "Let me talk to Corbin and see what I can do."
    He turned away from the drenched pair, sliding down the rocks until he reached the soaking sand. Shuffling across the grit, he focused on Corbin's haughty glare.
    "Look," he said firmly. "Kieran is very sick. He's probably dying. We've got to get him to a hospital immediately."
    Corbin drew in a deep breath. "Fine. I shall take them both in my custody now and will be more than happy to have the bodyguard escorted to a hospital."
     As he spoke, his right hand emerged from his pocket gripping a Beretta 9mm handgun. Bud's eyes widened.
    "What in the hell are you doing?" he hissed. "Put that damn thing away."
    Corbin aimed the gun directly at Bud's heart. "Not a chance, Dr. Dietrich. You and your associates have taken me on a wild ride from Nahariya to England and back again. I represent the descendants of the knight’s family and they want him back, wherever you have hidden him. I’m not letting any of