Chapter 51
Chapter
Fifty-One
Konrad stood as their cousin burst into the room.
“Clara, what’s wrong?” Konrad asked.
Sweat glimmered on her shaved head. “I’m so sorry for disturbing you, but I had to tell you something urgently.”
“Take a seat.” Then Konrad turned to Martin and said, “Please pour her some tea.”
Clara collapsed into the chair, breathing heavily.
“Clara, what has happened?” Konrad came up beside her.
Clara reached for the cup, holding it between her palms. “I was in the garden attached to the rooms provided for the Necros royal family.”
The hairs on the back of Konrad’s neck immediately stood on end.
“They have servants of their own to attend to them and see to their needs, but we monks look after the gardens.” She put down her cup, tea untouched.
“They didn’t realise I was there. We usually tend the gardens in the late afternoon, but yesterday, I had a migraine. So I went this morning instead.”
She swallowed. “I was working away, pruning the bushes. I was near a window. Then I realised I could hear the royal family talking in a sitting room. At first, I didn’t pay them much attention. But then I realised what they were speaking about.”
“Which was?” Konrad prompted.
She glanced between them. Then she looked to the doorway. “Where is King Consort Wraith?”
Konrad’s muscles tensed. “Why?”
She licked her lips. “Because what I have to say concerns him.” She lowered her voice. “I don’t want him to overhear me.”
Ice slid down Konrad’s spine. He opened his mouth, but no words came forth.
“He is asleep in his room. You are safe here. Please, continue.” Gerard leaned forward.
“The Necros royal family are plotting against the peace treaty,” Clara said. “King Consort Wraith is a part of it.”
Konrad couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Finally he managed, “No. That isn’t possible.”
Wraith’s family hated him. They hurt him. He wouldn’t be working with them to betray Konrad.
“I’m sorry. But it’s true,” Clara said. “I heard the shadow king and queen and their two children talking about it. They, along with the king consort, are planning to launch an attack against you today.”
Clara hesitated. “They said that he has everything in place and he will be ready to move early afternoon. Before the treaty is finished.”
Konrad shook his head. “I don’t believe it.” He took a step back. “I don’t believe it.”
But Clara just kept speaking. “They said the king consort has been doing a good job getting you to trust him and believe him to be some sort of outcast, when really he has been working with them the entire time, feeding them information, and planning to destroy the Royal House of Draconia.”
Konrad just kept shaking his head. He didn’t know what else to do.
Then Clara reached into her pocket. She pulled out a skull locket. Konrad recognised it immediately.
“This is Wraith’s from your wedding,” Clara said.
“He gave it to his mother last night at the ball. The locket has power over you, because it contains both of your hair, and because it symbolises the marriage binding you together. The high priestess apparently did something with it this morning so they could use this against you.”
Konrad snatched the locket from her and opened it up. Sure enough, his and Wraith’s hair lay inside.
“What attack?” asked Gerard.
“It sounded like they wanted Wraith to lure Konrad somewhere where they could murder him,” Clara said. “Then they would perform necromancy on him.”
Konrad closed the locket. He wrapped his fingers around it, squeezing tight.
Was Wraith really going to help them murder me? And then what, bring me back as some horrid undead creature? No. It can’t be true. It can’t!
“And they said that they killed the grand healer too. Somehow, she found out about their plan, and so they had to silence her.” Clara hunched forward. “I was so scared. I knew if they realised I was there, they’d kill me too.”
“You did well, Clara.” Gerard placed a hand on her shoulder.
“They left the sitting room, and I ran in and grabbed the locket. I didn’t want them to use it against you,” she said to Konrad. “I rushed straight here. But I was so scared they’d catch me.”
Konrad opened his hand. He looked at the locket. Wraith had been wearing this last night. He’d worn it to the ball. Had Wraith really given this to his mother?
“I know it’s hard to believe, Konrad. But you’ve been tricked.
The king consort has tricked and betrayed you.
Just like the queen consort tricked your father and everyone else.
” Clara stood. “Now I must go and tell the grand monk. Really, I should have told him first. But we’re family.
No doubt the grand monk will wish to speak to you soon as well. ”
She paused. “I’m really sorry, Konrad.” Then she ran from the room.
Konrad stared at the embossed skull on the locket. He rubbed his finger over the metal.
“Konrad,” Gerard said, voice gentle.
Konrad looked at him.
“Are you all right?” Gerard asked.
“I— No. I don’t think I am.” Konrad’s mind spun. It went around and around, and he still didn’t have any idea what he was thinking. He couldn’t make sense of any of it. His body felt numb.
Gerard stood. He gripped Konrad’s shoulder. “We’ll work this out and get to the bottom of it.” He strode to the door and spoke to one of the guards.
Konrad’s ears rang. The guard marched off, and Gerard came and stood next to Konrad, watching him.
“She can’t be right. Can she?” Konrad looked at Elias and then at Gerard. “Wraith wouldn’t betray me.”
There were feelings between them. Real feelings.
Unless Wraith had been faking them.
“Clara is wrong,” Konrad said. “She must have been mistaken or misheard or …” He trailed off, hoping the others would offer some other explanation.
Elias frowned, saying nothing.
“I’m not sure what is going on, Konrad,” said Gerard. “But I’ve asked for Wraith’s guards to come here immediately. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”
A second later, the two guards assigned to Wraith appeared.
“Has the king consort exhibited any unusual behaviour lately?” Gerard asked.
The guards shared a look.
Then the male guard said, “Excuse me for saying so, Your Highness, but he often exhibits strange and unusual behaviour.”
“He sometimes stares at nothing or talks to the air,” the female guard said.
“Not that.” Gerard then paused, as if considering. “Has he been interacting with other necromancers recently?”
Konrad was glad Gerard could still think, because Konrad could not. All he could do was wonder if Wraith had actually managed to trick him so completely.
Elias stared at the guards. Not that long ago, Elias had tricked everyone, Gerard included.
They’d all thought Elias a foppish fool, incapable of magic.
They’d thought him completely harmless. Elias had not been planning to betray or harm Gerard or them, but they had all been completely wrong about him.
Could they be wrong again? Could Wraith have done the same thing Elias did?
Konrad tried to think of his past conversations with Wraith. Was it possible that Wraith’s family hating him had just been part of an act to gain Konrad’s sympathy? Perhaps Wraith’s father was really the shadow king and he’d lied about being illegitimate.
Konrad’s hatred of necromancers had not been hidden. If Wraith wanted to manipulate him, telling Konrad that he did not get along with other necromancers would definitely gain him sympathy.
And he could have intentionally not told Konrad about the dread knights. Instead, he’d pushed stories about him being a reaper, which had made Konrad believe he was different from the other necromancers.
Was the reaper thing even true? Konrad could not see the ghosts. Maybe Wraith had just made it up. Perhaps he had made everything up. All the odd and unusual behaviours could be faked. Had it all been a facade?
He stared at the skull on the locket.
“He spoke to his mother at the ball last night,” the female guard said.
Konrad knew that.
“He also visited the Necros royal family quarters the other day,” she said.
Wraith had visited them after he’d gotten that letter from his mother. Supposedly, she’d said she no longer needed to speak to him. But had they actually been discussing their plans to kill and bring back Konrad as one of their undead?
“Then yesterday, he visited some other rooms assigned to Necros, but not to the royal family,” the female guard finished.
Konrad’s head snapped up. “What?” He didn’t know that. What reason would Wraith have to go there? He didn’t get along with anyone from Necros. That was what he had told Konrad.
“He seemed a little nervous,” the female guard said.
“What did he do there?” Elias asked.
“He spoke to a servant, and they went into another room,” the male guard said. “He asked us to remain outside.”
Little by little, Konrad’s doubts grew and multiplied.
Dragon gods. Am I really so gullible?
“Was it just the servant in the room with him?” Elias asked.
“We are not sure,” the male guard said. “We could not see into the room.”
Konrad closed his eyes. Fire and fucking flames. The proof that Wraith was working against them was adding up.
So far, they had his cousin’s report and the locket in front of him, and now he knew that Wraith had met with necromancers yesterday, and Konrad could not fathom why.
Konrad did not want to believe it. He wanted to scream that Wraith had never lied to him and that he would not betray Konrad.
But they had actual proof now that Wraith, along with other necromancers, had been plotting against them.
They’d been planning to kill Konrad. And then perform necromancy on him.
Bile rose into his throat. Were they going to bring him back as a bone dragon? Wraith had said he’d not believed such a thing to be possible, but Konrad did not know if he could trust Wraith’s words anymore.
“I need to speak to Wraith,” Konrad said. Maybe there was some explanation. Something that would make this make sense in a way that did not involve Wraith betraying him. But part of him didn’t believe that to be true.
When they’d met, he’d assumed Wraith would be evil because he was a necromancer. Since then, he’d come around and changed his mind completely. But it seemed that Konrad might have been right all along.
Necromancers were evil. They could not be trusted. He’d believed they were working against the peace treaty from the start. And that included Wraith.
But instead of him feeling vindicated that he’d been right all along, it just broke him.
I just really hope I am wrong now.