The Wicked King (Full Book) by Holly Black

263 Pages·2020·3.11 MB·English

by  Holly Black

Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are
the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is
coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Holly Black
Illustrations by Kathleen Jennings
Cover art copyright © 2019 by Sean Freeman. Cover design by Karina
Granda.
Cover copyright © 2019 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of
copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to
produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission
is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission
to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please
contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the
author’s rights.
Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
Visit us at LBYR.com
First Edition: January 2019
Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group,
Inc.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not
owned by the publisher.
“Nymphidia” by Michael Drayton, first published in 1627
“The Fairies” by William Allingham, first published in 1850
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Black, Holly, author. | Jennings, Kathleen, illustrator.
Title: The wicked king / Holly Black ; illustrations by Kathleen Jennings.
First edition. | New York ; Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 2019. |
Series: [The Folk of the Air ; 2] | Summary: As seneschal to High King
Cardan, Jude must fight to keep control of the Faerie throne while her
younger brother, Oak, enjoys the childhood she never knew.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017056642| ISBN 9780316310352 (hardcover) | ISBN
9780316310338 (ebook) | ISBN 9780316310345 (library edition ebook)
Subjects: | CYAC: Kings, queens, rulers, etc.—Fiction. | Power
(Philosophy)—Fiction. | Courts and courtiers—Fiction. | Fairies—Fiction.
| Sisters—Fiction. | Fantasy.
Classification: LCC PZ7.B52878 Wic 2019 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017056642
ISBNs: 978-0-316-31035-2 (hardcover), 978-0-316-31033-8 (ebook), 978-
0-316-45213-7 (int’l), 978-0-316-48713-9 (Barnes & Noble)
E3-20181107-JV-NF-ORI
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Map
Book One
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Book Two
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
For Kelly Link, one of the merfolk

J
ude lifted the heavy practice sword, moving into the first stance—
readiness.
Get used to the weight, Madoc had told her. You must be strong enough
to strike and strike and strike again without tiring. The first lesson is to
make yourself that strong.
It will hurt. Pain makes you strong.
That was the first lesson he’d taught her after he’d cut down her parents
with a sword not unlike the one she held now. Then she’d been seven, a
baby. Now she was nine and lived in Faerieland, and everything was
changed.
She planted her feet in the grass. Wind ruffled her hair as she moved
through the stances. One; the sword before her, canted to one side,
protecting her body. Two; the pommel high, as though the blade were a
horn coming from her head. Three: down to her hip, then in a deceptively
casual droop in front of her. Then four: up again, to her shoulder. Each
position could move easily into a strike or a defense. Fighting was chess,
anticipating the move of one’s opponent and countering it before one got
hit.
But it was chess played with the whole body. Chess that left her bruised