Page 126 of Courting the Dragon King

He paused, as if waiting for them to answer. No one did.

“We monks have seen the pain caused by noble and mighty kingdoms. We’ve buried charred bodies of civilians, burned by dragonfire. We’ve seen whole villages reduced to rubble. We’ve taken in wounded war refugees. We’ve fed and cared for sick and starving children, orphans of your war.”

The grand monk sneered. “But your kind never even cared about the suffering you caused. You just sent us money so we could tend to your victims, whilst you just continued to wreak more suffering, destruction, and death.” He shook his head. “All your kind knows is how to inflict suffering, destruction, and death.

“So how could you possibly lead anyone into a time of peace? The peace treaty would fail, even with all our binding magic, because you are all bloodthirsty aggressors.” The grand monk bit out the words.

“Necros obviously has no care for innocent lives.” He gestured to the reanimated. “I can’t believe they thought we’d hand over our innocent half-brethren for their undead army.”

“Disgusting,” the grand shield spat.

“And Voltaria and Zephyrias, always wanting to take over the other, and also expand their empires east with no thought to the human cost,” the grand monk said. “The Grey Mountains could be tolerated. Mostly. They live largely peaceful existences. But unfortunately, they’ve had too many ruthless rulers who could not be trusted.

“And Botanial might seem fine. But they, too, have sinned, poisoning bodies of water and their enemy’s fields and crops.” The grand monk shook his head. “No. None of the kingdoms can be trusted to bring about peace.”

And despite everything, Konrad couldn’t help but see his point. The warring kingdoms had caused so much death, pain, and suffering. How could they, how could Konrad, lead his kingdom into a peaceful future when all he’d known was war?

“So we came up with our own plan,” the grand monk said. “From the start of the peace assembly, we undermined you all and sowed chaos to weaken and confuse the royal houses. Princess Lantana of Botanial was so easy to manipulate. She held such contempt for the dragons who killed her family. A few choice words and she was launching an attack at the wedding for Lord Barrett Morton and Prince Ash Rosewood.”

Konrad’s jaw dropped.

“Then there was Warden Flint of the Grey Mountains. I realised the anger he held towards Grand Warden Amber for agreeing to the peace treaty. He wanted the war to continue. He wanted to beat the dragons.”

The grand monk spread his hands wide. “So I pledged our assistance to him and encouraged him on his path. If you haven’t guessed, I was the one corresponding with him.”

The grand monk chuckled. “It’s funny how quickly everyone trusted me. They saw me as a servant. A helper. Someone so subservient and beneath them that I would never betray them. So they let me serve them, without questioning for a second why I’d be so willing to assist in their violent plans.”

“And what about my stepmother? How did you manipulate her?” Konrad asked.

“Well, I first spoke to Empress Emmeline. Through our talks, she realised that this time at the monastery would be a perfect opportunity to change how the combined kingdoms functioned, by elevating Zephyrias and grinding Voltaria down. I then hinted that perhaps Queen Consort Adelina might be of use, especially since her husband, King Alaric, treated her so poorly. And I was right.”

“You killed my father, didn’t you? You and your monks were the robed figures?” Konrad asked.

“Yes. The robed figures were us. Although, I personally was not part of the actual attack or murder of your father,” the grand monk answered.

“What was that weird magic?” Konrad pressed.

“Healing magic, dove healing magic, just with some tweaks, which meant that rather than healing, it sapped the strength from your father’s body,” the grand monk said.

“But why do all that?” Wraith asked.

“Can you not see?” the grand monk asked. “Recently all the royal houses are shattered. No one trusts anyone. You were all too busy looking at one another, so you never thought to look at the gentle, unassuming Monks of the Way of the Dove as we had you sign more and more contracts, giving us more control of you.

“You were all so distracted that it allowed us to move quite freely and put our plan into motion. But if you had all been getting closer, you might have noticed what we were up to and then worked together to stop us.”

The grand monk looked between Wraith and Konrad. “Now the royal houses have been weakened and fractured. And now we will weaken you further, until you’re nothing but empty vassals serving us and our higher goal of creating a peaceful utopia. There can be no chance of resistance from any of you.”

“Weren’t you afraid someone would give you away?” Wraith asked. “You worked with so many people. Surely one of them could have told, and then your plan would have fallen apart.”

But Konrad knew the answer to this. “They weren’t allowed to speak. My stepmother said she couldn’t. Then she tried, and she died.”

The grand monk inclined his head. “Exactly. I told them all that we were signing contracts that bound us all to silence about the plan. I said it was to protect everyone. I did not specify that death would be the result of speaking, but I felt it was implied. That vow of silence ended at dawn today.”

“And what now? What are you planning to do with your undead army? What are you planning to do with us?” Konrad needed to come up with a way to get him and Wraith out. But he could think of nothing. However, if he kept the grand monk talking, maybe it would buy him some time.

“Well, all the royals, nobles, and dignitaries will be expected to sign a contract, if they have not done so already,” the grand monk said. “That way we can ensure they will be kept in line.”

“And if any refuse?” Konrad asked.