Page 42 of Courting the Dragon King

The dread knight laughed. It sounded like bones rattling. With a yell, Konrad shoved his sword straight through the bottom of the dread knight’s head and up into her brain.

He stared into the yellowed eyes. All the while, the dread knight continued to laugh. Or she laughed as much as she could with a sword going through her skull.

Konrad yanked his blade free and swung it, lopping off the knight’s head. It rolled across the ground. Still, the dread knight continued laughing.

Konrad shoved the body of the knight away. She stumbled around. Then she lifted her sword once more.

With a shout, Konrad chopped off the arm holding the sword. Then he swung and chopped off the other. From there, he took off both legs. All the limbs continued to twitch, even though they were no longer attached to the body. An arm crawled across the ground.

But Konrad turned towards the head, which was still fucking laughing!

Konrad hefted the sword. “Shut the fuck up!” He brought it down on the head of the dread knight. He did it over and over. “Just fucking die!”

Finally the laughing stopped. But her one intact yellow eye continued to roll in her head. Konrad kicked it away.

Konrad let out a breath. He dropped the sword and fell to his knees. He put pressure on his bleeding leg. He’d need a healer. But all around the camp, screams echoed. It seemed there was more than one dread knight.

Konrad had survived the night, albeit with a pretty big scar. But many in the camp had not made it. They’d buried the bits and pieces of dread knights after the battle.

Konrad stared at the locket he’d been given by the necromancers. He tossed it onto the table and stormed from the room.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

Konrad paused as he passed a sitting room. Leon sat on an armchair, a goblet of wine in his hand. The almost empty bottle sat on the floor beside him.

Fuck. It isn’t even lunchtime.

Holding in a sigh, he entered the room. Konrad really had more than enough to deal with. But he couldn’t ignore his half-brother. Especially when he was so clearly struggling. He’d never heard any mention of Leon having drinking issues, so Konrad assumed or hoped this must be out of character.

Konrad hadn’t had that much to do with Leon or any of his other half-siblings. They were all years younger than him. In youth, Konrad had been busy training and studying. Then, when old enough, he’d fought in the war. So he’d never really built relationships with any of them.

“How are you holding up?” Konrad asked.

Leon let out a bitter laugh. “Fine. Fucking fine. I mean, why wouldn’t I be? After all, I’ve just lost both my father and my mother because my mother thought it would be a good idea to betray Draconia and her husband.”

Leon took a deep gulp of wine and shook his head. “What the fuck was she thinking? I mean, okay, so Father ignored us and fucked around on her, siring bastards left and right and all the places in between. I understand why that pissed her off. But that doesn’t mean you need to kill him!”

“I believe she was manipulated by Empress Emmeline,” Konrad said. “Not to say that absolves her of what she did, but it does explain why she was not thinking clearly.”

Leon hung his head. “If she’d just talked to me, or any of us, we’d have told her not to do it! We’d have suggested other, less murdery options.” His features twitched. “Then she and Father would still be alive.” His voice shook. “And—” He cut himself off.

Konrad gripped his shoulder. “I’m sorry.” He, too, was dealing with the loss of their father. But at least Konrad did not have to deal with the loss of his mother too. His own mother had died years ago, and although Konrad still missed her, the wound no longer felt so raw.

Leon had to also deal with the knowledge that his mother had been one of the individuals responsible for his father’s death. It had to all be very confusing for him.

At least Leon’s words suggested that he and the other children of Queen Consort Adelina did not support her behaviour. And since he’d been drinking, Konrad felt his words were more likely to be trustworthy.

“I cannot imagine the difficulties you are facing right now,” Konrad said. “I am so sorry.”

Leon huffed. “Don’t apologise. I should be the one apologising. She tried to kill you too. And Gerard, Senta, Liesel, and Luther. Fire and flames! Why the fuck would she do that?”

“Your mother’s actions are not yours. You do not need to apologise for them.”

“But why would she think we wanted that? We never would have wanted that! And yeah, he wasn’t a great father. But he was still our fucking father.” Leo blinked rapidly.

“It must be overwhelming. But you are not alone.” Konrad squeezed his shoulder. “The important thing now is to focus. There are still threats lurking about. We need to finish this treaty, and we need to protect Draconia from any further plots.”