Page 114 of Courting the Dragon King

“I suppose that makes sense.” But Elias’s gaze kept flicking around.

They turned a corner. A wide staircase led downwards. Clara pointed to the door at the bottom. “The grand monk is through there. The warrior monks will take you the rest of the way. Now I need to report to the grand shield.” Then she ran off before Konrad or the others could respond.

“Please follow us, Your Majesty, Your Highnesses,” the tall warrior dove said.

Konrad, Gerard, and Elias followed them down the stairs. The Draconian guards flanked them.

Then Elias stopped. He looked back the way Clara had gone.

“What’s wrong?” Gerard asked Elias.

“I am going to check something out.” Then Elias lifted his skirts and ran up the stairs.

“Your Highness, you must come this way,” the stocky warrior dove called out.

Elias glanced back at them. “No. I don’t think so.” Then he dashed up the stairs and disappeared from sight.

“Elias?” Gerard called out, but his husband had gone.

Gerard and Konrad shared a glance. So too did the warrior doves.

“I’m going after him,” Gerard said. “Stay with your king,” he commanded the Draconian guards. “Protect him with your lives.”

Konrad turned back to the warrior monks. They stared up the stairs, where Elias and Gerard had disappeared. Their brows furrowed.

“Well, lead on. The grand monk is waiting, and there is no time to waste,” Konrad said.

The warrior doves led them the rest of the way down the stairs. The stocky warrior dove opened the door. It led onto a long dark corridor lit with torches.

Chapter

Fifty-Six

“How can you bring King Alaric back?” Wraith stared at the dead dragon king’s skeleton. King Alaric’s spirit had not turned up yet. But if they planned to resurrect him, he’d appear soon.

The dragon king’s bones would hold power over him. But not enough.

How would they control him? How would they force him to shift and make use of his powers? They could bring the dragon king back as a skeleton, but they’d just have a normal human skeleton. Which wouldn’t be particularly useful. And how long would they even be able to hold his spirit?

“There has never been a successful attempt to create a bone dragon.” As far as Wraith knew. “And how did you get his bones?” Surely they should have been sent to Draconia for burial.

The shadow queen smiled, a tight, thin smile. “You don’t need to worry about any of that.”

The necromancers’ chanting continued. Still, the dead king did not appear.

“And that is not all,” she said. “We will have another bone dragon soon.”

“What? Who?”

Her grey eyes glinted. “King Konrad.”

Wraith froze. “But Konrad isn’t dead.”

“Not yet,” she said.

No. Wraith’s body turned cold. Even after everything, Wraith did not want Konrad dead. Or to be a bone dragon.

He looked between the shadow queen and king. How long had they been plotting against Draconia? Because this was not a new plan. After all, they had the dead dragon king’s bones.