Page 60 of Courting the Dragon King

“Most animals pass on quickly. But sometimes a pet, a dog, bird, or cat, lingers.”

Wraith placed his hands on both sides of Umbra’s face. “I went completely on instinct, on what I felt would work. I touched her face, like I’m doing now, and I called her spirit. The Bone Door appeared and opened. She bounded back through as a ghost. She barked and jumped around me, with more energy than she ever had in life.”

Wraith laughed. He’d been so happy to see Umbra carefree. Even if she was a ghost.

“But I didn’t know how to get her to go back into her body. I willed it, but—” Wraith shook his head. “And I was struggling to keep her with me. I felt the tug of her slipping away. It was like I couldn’t hold her.” A tear slipped down his cheek. “I was losing her. I could feel it. But I wouldn’t allow her to leave me!”

He wiped at his cheeks. “I remembered hearing that there was power in blood. I knew sacrifices had to be made. And I’d heard and seen enough to know some of the things you should do to bring back the dead. So I cut my palm and placed it on her corpse. It did nothing. I could still feel her spirit slipping away.”

Wraith’s heart pounded as he remembered the fear that had clawed at his throat as he thought he was about to lose Umbra forever.

“I made a cut on her body and placed my bleeding palm onto it. I called her. I told her to stay. My palm warmed. Her ghost seemed to grow stronger. But it didn’t return to her body. Umbra’s ghost just stood by me, staring at me and barking.”

Wraith exhaled. “I lifted my hand from her corpse, and I touched her ghost. I’d never touched a ghost before that moment. My bleeding hand burned. And in that spot where I touched her, I could feel the energy moving between us, flowing from me into her.”

Wraith wrapped his arms around Umbra, pulling her close. “I felt my energy sapping, the strength leaving me to create her and give her a form. And she was getting stronger, her presence becoming fixed. So I just kept pouring more and more of my energy. Until I was pouring everything, all my life force into her. She got stronger and stronger. Then I collapsed and passed out.”

He released Umbra and patted her. “I woke sometime later. Umbra’s corpse was still cold and unmoving beside me. But Umbra had been reborn as a hellhound. And she was licking my face.”

Wraith cleared his throat and looked at Konrad once more. Konrad had not moved. He still just sat, listening to Wraith.

“It almost killed me. I was bedridden for almost a year. Only the servants visited me, bringing me food so I did not perish. But I don’t think I ever fully recovered.”

“Why did it almost kill you?” Konrad asked.

Wraith took a moment before responding. “Did you know that many necromancers die young, especially between the ages of five and fourteen?”

Konrad shook his head.

“If you are born with the ability and try to use it before you have been trained, it can be extremely dangerous. You can draw on your own life energy and easily overextend. That’s what kills us. If I hadn’t collapsed when I did, I probably would have died.”

“Are there not measures in place to stop such a thing from occurring?”

Wraith nodded. “There are bracers that can be worn around the wrists, or pendants, or brooches, or other bits of jewellery that will protect against overextending. Most children who are thought to have necromantic skills are often made to wear them from a very young age so they don’t die accidently.”

“Why were you not wearing something like that?” Konrad asked.

Wraith dropped his gaze. Because no one cared if I lived or if I died.

Chapter

Thirty

Konrad waited for Wraith to respond.

But for several moments, Wraith just patted Umbra. Finally, he said, “Because the shadow king and queen did not make me wear such protective items.”

“Why not?” That made no sense to Konrad. “Did your siblings wear them?”

“They did.” But Wraith did not elaborate. Nor did he meet Konrad’s gaze. Instead he just continued patting Umbra.

Konrad couldn’t understand it. Wraith had grown up a shadow prince of Necros, one of the children of the shadow king and shadow queen. Surely they would assume he’d be born with necromantic powers and thus would be at risk of overextending himself.

So why had his parents not made Wraith wear something to protect himself? And in his story, he’d talked of servants and stable masters. But there was no mention of his parents or his siblings, even after he’d gotten sick and almost died. Where had they been? Why had they not been looking after Wraith?

Then Konrad remembered what Elias had said: “I think he is lonely. Dreadfully lonely.”

Umbra flopped onto her side. Wraith rubbed her belly, features relaxed.