The Last Kingdom

Contents
 
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Copyright
 Acknowledgments
 Dedication
 Epigraph
 Prologue
 
 Present Day
 
 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
 Chapter 22
 Chapter 23
 Chapter 24
 Chapter 25
 Chapter 26
 Chapter 27
 Chapter 28
 Chapter 29
 Chapter 30
 Chapter 31
 Chapter 32
 Chapter 33
 Chapter 34
 Chapter 35
 Chapter 36
 Chapter 37
 Chapter 38
 Chapter 39
 Chapter 40
 Chapter 41
 Chapter 42
 Chapter 43
 Chapter 44
 Chapter 45
 Chapter 46
 Chapter 47
 Chapter 48
 Chapter 49
 Chapter 50
 Chapter 51
 Chapter 52
 Chapter 53
 Chapter 54
 Chapter 55
 Chapter 56
 Chapter 57
 Chapter 58
 Chapter 59
 Chapter 60
 Chapter 61
 Chapter 62
 Chapter 63
 Chapter 64
 Chapter 65
 Chapter 66
 Chapter 67
 Chapter 68
 Chapter 69
 Chapter 70
 Chapter 71
 Chapter 72
 Chapter 73
 Chapter 74
 Chapter 75
 Chapter 76
 Chapter 77
 Chapter 78
 Chapter 79
 Chapter 80
 Chapter 81
 Chapter 82
 Chapter 83
 Chapter 84
 Chapter 85
 Chapter 86
 
 Writer’s Note
 Discover More
 About the Author
 Also by Steve Berry
 
 
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 Table of Contents
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Copyright © 2023 by Steve Berry
 Cover design by Eric Fuentecilla
 Cover copyright © 2023 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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 First edition: February 2023
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 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Berry, Steve, 1955– author.
 Title: The last kingdom / Steve Berry.
 Description: First Edition. | New York : Grand Central Publishing, 2023. | Series: Cotton Malone
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022042128 | ISBN 9781538720998 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781538742891 | ISBN 9781538742907 | ISBN 9781538721018 (ebook)
 Subjects: LCGFT: Novels.
 Classification: LCC PS3602.E764 L37 2023 | DDC 813/.6—dc23/eng/20220902
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022042128
 ISBNs: 9781538720998 (hardcover), 9781538742891 (signed edition), 9781538742907 (signed edition), 9781538721018 (ebook)
 E3-20230119-NF-DA-ORI
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Acknowledgments
 
 My sincere thanks to Ben Sevier, senior vice president and publisher of Grand Central. To Wes Miller, my editor, whom I’ve greatly enjoyed getting to know and working with. He’s a man of remarkable insight. This book became much better thanks to him. Then to Tiffany Porcelli for her marketing expertise; Staci Burt, who handled publicity; all those who worked hard to create the cover and make the interior of the book shine; and to Sales 
 
 
 For Derrick Koger, Nick Koger, Toni Sims, Trinity Dorner, and Kelsey Deal, Imagineers Extraordinaire
 
 
 
 
 
 
 At least permit me this final joy. I adore the mysterious and wish to remain an eternal enigma.
 —King Ludwig II
 
 
 
 
 
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 Prologue
 Bavarian Alps
 August 8, 1881
 3:10 A.M.
 
 LUDWIG FRIEDRICH WILHELM VON