Ace Books by Mark Lawrence The Broken Empire PRINCE OF THORNS KING OF THORNS EMPEROR OF THORNS The Red Queen’s War PRINCE OF FOOLS THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) LLC 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 USA • Canada • UK • Ireland • Australia • New Zealand • India • South Africa • China penguin.com A Penguin Random House Company This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group Copyright © 2014 by Bobalinga, Ltd Penguin supports copyright Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader Ace Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) LLC eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-63093-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lawrence, Mark, 1966– Prince of fools / Mark Lawrence — First Edition pages cm — (The Red Queen’s War; 1) ISBN 978-0-425-26878-0 (hardback) Queens—Fiction Imaginary wars and battles—Fiction I Title PS3612.A9484P45 2014 813'.6—dc23 2013048142 FIRST EDITION: June 2014 Cover art by Christian McGrath Map reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd © 2014 Andrew Ashton This is a work of fiction Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental Version_1 CONTENTS Ace Books by Mark Lawrence Title Page Copyright Dedication Acknowledgments Map ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN FOURTEEN FIFTEEN SIXTEEN SEVENTEEN EIGHTEEN NINETEEN TWENTY TWENTY-ONE TWENTY-TWO TWENTY-THREE TWENTY-FOUR TWENTY-FIVE TWENTY-SIX TWENTY-SEVEN TWENTY-EIGHT TWENTY-NINE THIRTY THIRTY-ONE Dedicated to my daughter, Heather ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many thanks to the good folk at Ace Books who have made this all happen and put the book in your hands Special thanks to Ginjer Buchanan and Rebecca Brewer Thanks also to Justin Landon, who read the early portion of the book and provided much-appreciated feedback And finally, another round of applause for my agent, Ian Drury, and the team at Sheil Land for all their sterling work ONE I’m a liar and a cheat and a coward, but I will never, ever, let a friend down Unless of course not letting them down requires honesty, fair play, or bravery I’ve always found hitting a man from behind to be the best way to go about things This can sometimes be accomplished by dint of a simple ruse Classics such as, “What’s that over there?” work surprisingly often, but for truly optimal results it’s best if the person doesn’t ever know you were there “Ow! Jesu! What the hell did you that for?” Alain DeVeer turned, clamping his hand to the back of his head and bringing it away bloody When the person you hit doesn’t have the grace to fall over, it’s generally best to have a backup plan I dropped what remained of the vase, turned, and ran In my mind he’d folded up with a pleasing “oofff” and left me free to leave the mansion unobserved, stepping over his prone and senseless form on the way Instead his senseless form was now chasing me down the hall bellowing for blood I crashed back through Lisa’s door and slammed it behind me, bracing myself for the impact “What the hell?” Lisa sat in the bed, silken sheets flowing off her nakedness like water “Uh.” Alain hammered into the door, jolting the air from my lungs and scraping my heels over the tiles The trick is to never rush for the bolt You’ll be fumbling for it and get a face full of opening door Brace for the impact; when that’s done, slam the bolt home while the other party is picking himself off the floor Alain proved worryingly fast in getting back on his feet and I nearly got the door handle for breakfast despite my precautions “Jal!” Lisa was out of bed now, wearing nothing but the light and shade through the shutters Stripes suited her Sweeter than her elder sister, sharper than her younger sister Even then I wanted her, even with her murderous brother held back by just an inch of oak and with my chances for escape evaporating by the moment ... better we should own it than our enemies I will have tasks for you all soon: quests for some, questions for others, new lessons for others still Be sure to commit yourselves to these labours as to... Instead I was with Snorri trading shaped iron and salt for seals carved from the bones of whales “Speak of the dead, Snagason Put some fear into these idle princes,” Grandmother told him I saw... my age gave a fig for such things! She’d become obsessed with sailors’ tales, ghost stories from the Drowned Isles, the ramblings of muddy drunkards from the Ken Marshes Already men went chained