Kingdom Come Read Free Page B

The disbelief, the disorientation glazing his expression, was blatant.
    "Through the miracle of love," he murmured, barely heard above the driving rain. "My... my lady and I will not be separated. I thank you for your assistance."
    Darlow simply nodded. The gun dropped in the sand beside Corbin as if Darlow no longer possessed the strength to hold it. Being a law-abiding man, he couldn't understand what had provoked him into murder, only that he feared for Kieran's and Rory's lives, for all their lives. He knew that the evil filling Corbin would never stop until someone stopped it. Until someone stopped him.
    "You killed him," Dr. Peck’s voice was filled with awe and perhaps a bit of jealously. "By damn, Darlow, you killed him."
    Darlow turned to him. "I realize that and I don't particularly care. I was protecting the knight from Corbin's crazed assault and I am confident any jury will find that I did it to protect us all," he glanced over his shoulder at the lady and her knight, once again in a tight embrace as rain and lightning exploded around them. "He's a madman, you know. I just couldn't stand by and allow him to commit cold-blooded murder. And he would have, too. Can't you see that the lady and her knight cannot be separated?"
    Bud simply stared at the man who had been willing to kill for the power of love; odd how Sir Kieran Hage seemed to provoke the strongest of emotions wherever he went. Glancing to the sand where Corbin lay, he realized that it was finally over with the man. But the fact remained that Kieran was very ill and the need to get him to a hospital took precedence over all other thoughts at the moment.
    "Come on," he motioned to Darlow and to the soldiers who had thus far stood silent and basically unmoving. Even the Marine who had been aiming his weapon at David had lowered it. "We've got to get him to a doctor. There's a small hospital not too far from here, about an hour up…."
    Bud never finished his sentence. A huge burst of lightning suddenly lit up the sky, a jagged bolt crashing down on the outcropping of rocks where Kieran and Rory were huddled. Chunks of rock went flying and even as Bud screamed Rory's name, trying to protect himself from the white-hot projectiles, he knew his cries were in vain. He knew, before the smoke even settled, that she never heard him.
    If you go, I go with you.
    She had.
     
     
     

 
     
     
    CHAPTER ONE
     
     
    January, Year of our Lord 1192
     
    “Libby,” came the soft voice. “Wake up, sweetheart. Open your eyes and look at me.”
    Libby . The name Kieran had given her because he thought her given name wasn’t suitable enough for her ‘comeliness’, as he had put it. Rory was somewhere between the fog of lucidity and the black depths of unconsciousness, hearing him call to her in the darkness. She could hear a familiar voice calling to her and at some point, realized there were gentle taps against her cheek. Then someone had her by the shoulders and carefully shook her. 
    The buzz in her head lessened and she became more aware of her surroundings. But her brain was swimming, her heart pounding.  When she tried to open her eyes, everything was spinning.
    “Oh… God,” she gasped, trying to steady her breathing. “What… what happened?”
    There was a brief silence. “I do not know.”
    After a moment, Rory opened her eyes as the world started righting itself.  The most brilliant night sky she had ever seen was staring down at her and she blinked, struggling to orient herself. A big face, handsome and granite-jawed with gem-like brown eyes, suddenly loomed in her vision.
    “Are you well?” Kieran asked gently. “Do you hurt anywhere?”
    Rory gazed up at him, his head back-dropped by the blazing night. She reached up, touching his stubbled cheek as she struggled to orient herself.
    “Kieran?” she labored to sit up, looking around as she did so. “What in the hell happened?”
    He helped her to sit up, his clear brown eyes scanning their