Bonds of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 7) by Bella Klaus (reading e books .txt) 📕

my collarbone, scooped up some crusty fluid, and dropped it into the jar.

“Are you referring to the snake or the son of Gaia and Uranus?” Valentine worked something flakey from my back.

I turned to meet his concerned gaze. “He’s both.”

Valentine pressed a kiss on my forehead before continuing to help remove as much of the snake’s digestive fluids as he could find. He didn’t say a word as I told him what happened after Kresnik had abducted me, sometimes staring at me with a stillness that made me think he’d stopped breathing. Pain shone in his violet eyes, which glittered like freshly cut amethysts.

It was hard to witness the intensity of his emotions, even harder to see how much he’d suffered. I placed my palms over his broad chest. “I can’t imagine being separated from you for so long.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “I’m sure it was comparable to when I was dead.”

“But at least I had your body and soul keeping me company until we could be together, and a plan to restore you to life. Did you think I’d died?”

He squeezed his eyes shut. “The fate I feared for you was more gruesome than death. Once again, I failed to protect you.”

“That’s not true,” I murmured.

His eyes opened. “You exploded in front of my very eyes, and when you re-formed, Kresnik took you.”

“Because I refused your constant attempts to keep me safe.” Guilt twanged at my heart with a tug so fierce I felt it in the back of my throat.

Every version of Valentine I had encountered had, in his own way, tried to shield me from Kresnik, and I’d resisted their attempts out of a misguided belief that I wasn’t a damsel in distress. Maybe it was time to accept my limitations and allow Valentine to take care of me.

I lowered my gaze to the marble floor. “This is my fault. I’m always trying to wriggle out from under your protection, and when I prove myself wrong, you feel bad for respecting my wishes.”

“Next time, I’ll keep you in manacles.” He gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze.

A laugh huffed from my chest. “You can try.”

Valentine cradled my face in his large hands. “Are you ready for a bath?”

I rocked forward on my heels, sliding my arms around his broad shoulders. “Can’t wait.”

A muscle on the side of his nose twitched.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He shook his head, his gaze drifting away from my eyes. “It’s nothing.”

My breath caught. Did I put myself together wrong? “Valentine?”

The corners of his lips curled into a tiny smile. “I smell snakes and bile, and I can even tell you’ve been in a damp cave, but why do you smell of…”

I leaned forward, my eyes wide. “Of?”

“Dirty hair?”

Choking on thin air, I stepped back, my skin tightening with revulsion. “I need a hot shower with lots of bleach. Now.”

“Don’t you want to soak in a bath?” he asked.

“Not with that bastard’s beard grease all over my body.” I marched past the clawfoot tub to a shower cubicle at the end of the bathroom and turned the brass valve on the wall to maximum. Hot water streamed out of a pair of old-fashioned shower heads, filling the cubicle with steam.

“Mera?” Valentine’s voice was muffled as I stepped beneath the spray.

“Kresnik’s brother had this filthy old beard that was at least eight-foot long and trailed on the ground.” I fumbled at the marble corner shelves and grabbed a shampoo bottle. After flipping off its lid, I poured half its contents over my head.

“Let me help,” he said.

“But I stink.”

Valentine removed his clothes and stepped in after me, wet and naked and glistening like he’d been rubbed down with baby oil. The sight of those broad muscular shoulders, defined pecs, and tight six-pack was just about enough to wipe away memories of Kresnik’s too-small tunic and absolutely everything about his ghastly brother.

“Let me take care of you,” he said in a smoky voice that curled around my nipples and settled low in my belly.

My heartbeat skipped several beats, and a lock of shampoo-soaked hair flopped into my eyes, making me squeeze them shut. “Alright.”

As the hot water warmed my skin to a boiling point, Valentine massaged my scalp with his thick fingers. Pleasant shudders trickled down my spine, turning my muscles into mush and making the pulse between my legs pound.

He wrapped a strong arm around my back, holding me flush against his broad chest. “There wasn’t a minute I didn’t think about you the entire time you were gone.”

I rested my head against his shoulder and sighed. “I missed you, too.”

“You said it was hours,” he said.

“Until that rift reopened, I had no idea if I would ever see you again.”

Valentine worked the shampoo down my hair, separating the strands with his fingers. “There’s one thing I don’t understand.”

“What?”

“From the way you described the Realm of the Gods, it sounded like it had been deserted for thousands of years. If all the phoenixes were long gone, how did Kresnik’s people find yours?”

I tilted my head back, letting the hot water rinse the shampoo out of my hair. “Do you remember Father Jude?”

“Yes,” he replied, his voice tight.

“He had this thing about him that distorted time,” I murmured. “You could spend ten minutes with him and lose an entire night. He also told me he could enter any realm.”

“You’re saying he could travel to the time before this Great Divide?” Valentine poured shower gel onto a washcloth and worked it over my skin with firm strokes.

I slathered some of the slippery liquid in my hand and rubbed it over his hard pecs. “That would explain a lot, don’t you think?”

He stared down at me with his brows raised and a smirk playing on his lips. “I don’t need bathing.”

“What if I wanted to rub my soapy hands all over your glorious body?”

“Try not to distract me while I’m getting you clean,” he said with a chuckle.

“Or you’ll lift me off my feet and take