Page 127 of Courting the Dragon King

The grand shield stepped forward. Her hand on her sword hilt tightened. “If they refuse, then they will be killed.”

A shiver ran down Konrad’s spine.

“But I don’t understand. How does your plan create peace?” Wraith asked.

Chapter

Sixty-Two

“Exactly!” Konrad said. “How does any of this create peace?”

The grand monk let out a heavy breath. “I apologise, King Konrad and King Consort Wraith. I have not explained our intentions well. Our plan is to use you, the rulers beneath our control, to maintain peace. You cannot disobey us or you die, so you cannot return to war.”

“What? You will force us to keep the peace,” Konrad said, not even trying to hide the disbelief from his tone.

“I should clarify,” said the grand monk. “It is not ideal to enforce peace. But after extensive thought, I see no other option. The only way to stop you from starting wars is to control you completely. For you to be under our thumb or die.”

“But then why do you need an undead army?” Konrad glanced at the reanimated and the dread knights.

“Unfortunately, we cannot be certain that all civilians within the different kingdoms will fall in line, even if it is in their best interest. Some will be upset by the death or the controlling of their monarchs. They might feel like rising up. So we need a strong army, the strongest there has ever been, to put a stop to that.”

The grand monk nodded towards the shadow queen, who currently wept. “That is why I originally approached the necromancers, even before the peace assembly started. They have the ability to create such a large army at a stunning rate. Of course, we plan to use your armies too. They will obey you, and you will obey us.”

The grand shield lifted her chin. “And if any of you prove problematic, even with the contracts in place, we will kill you and find one of your less problematic relatives to replace you.”

“You’ll be like puppet monarchs, and we’ll hold the strings.” The grand monk hummed a tune as he mimed tugging on a puppet’s strings.

“Controlling civilians with undead armies, we obey you or you kill us. This future doesn’t sound like a peaceful paradise!” Konrad spat.

The grand monk dropped his hands. He sighed. “I see your point, and I admit it is not ideal.” He lifted his gaze to the high ceiling. “An ideal world would not require armies or contracts and blood magic to obtain peace. But this is not an ideal world, Your Majesty. So our plan must fit the damaged world we live in. But, King Konrad, it will be worth it. You’ll see.”

He turned from Konrad and looked to the monks. “The future will be bright. The poor will be cared for. There will be no more wars. The warmongers will be dead or controlled. The servants will rise. We will use the sword, but to achieve peace and prosperity for all.”

Applause broke out from the monks. Their eyes sparkled as they stared at the grand monk.

“You and your plan are disgusting!” Konrad shouted.

The applause stopped.

The grand monk’s bushy brows lowered. “I understand this is hard for you to accept, King Konrad. And if you must know, this has also cost us greatly. We, too, have had to make difficult sacrifices. We even had to kill one of our own.”

“What do you mean?” asked Konrad.

“The grand healer,” Wraith whispered.

The grand monk nodded, gaze lowered. “She believed in our plan. But then she had to kill King Alaric with her tweaked healing magic whilst she tended to him after he was attacked. She even had to do so beneath Healer Doran’s gaze without him noticing. But she is very skilled, and she managed.”

He paused. “But afterwards, she found the guilt eating at her. She’d never gotten her hands dirty before. She was a healer, not a fighter. And she found using her healing magic to murder someone difficult to come to terms with.”

The grand shield exhaled. “It was such a shame.”

“Her will weakened,” said the grand monk. “She came to me and said that what we were doing wasn’t right. She wanted us to stop. I could not have that.”

“I must tell the grand monk. That’s what her ghost said,” Wraith said. “And you killed her when she did.”

“Is there nothing you won’t do?” Konrad asked.

The grand monk stalked towards him. “For peace? I would do anything for peace, King Konrad. I would pay any price to stop the suffering caused by war. Do you think we wished to kill our own beloved grand healer?”