Thrall of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 4) by Bella Klaus (elon musk reading list .txt) 📕

“Did you notice that?” I whispered.

“The hopping from foot to foot or the clenched fists?” Coral muttered. “Maybe she thinks you’re after her job.”

Unease settled in my belly, but I swallowed back the urge to disagree. At least not in public. A few of the people in the hallway slowed to gape at us, and one or two of them smiled and waved.

I wasn’t sure what they were putting in the water, but it looked like everyone thought we had actively volunteered to resurrect their lord. As if bound by an unspoken sense of distrust, we continued in silence to the nearest stairwell and stepped out into the crisp morning.

A blast of cold wind stirred around us, making me raise the head of my cloak. By now, the sun had risen within a sky obscured by a thick covering of clouds. We stepped out onto the lawn, walking toward the trees.

I placed an arm around Gail’s shoulders and pulled her into my side. “Are you alright?”

“It’s like he’s dead,” she said.

My gaze met Coral’s, who grimaced. This wasn’t anything like the situation with Beatrice and Christian, or even Beatrice and Lazarus. What on earth did you say to a girl whose lover turned out to be a close relative?

“Has anyone offered you some help?” I asked.

“Aurora won’t talk about it, even though she knew what we were for years.” Gail’s shoulders shook with rage.

I clenched my teeth. All this time, I thought Aurora reserved her coldness for the children she discarded and might have felt something for those she had raised. I’d been wrong. Maybe Aurora was brainwashed. Maybe she was just deluded, but she’d been brought up better. People weren’t allowed to marry close relatives in Logris, and we certainly didn’t practice that sort of thing among witches.

The leaves rustled in a breeze, bringing with it the scent of autumn. In the time I’d been stuck in that room under the influence of thrall, half the trees had lost their leaves. There was no sign of the fire damage from before, but it looked like not even Kresnik could restore the landscape to its former splendor.

“Do you know what Our Lord said?” she asked.

Lord? My head snapped up, and I met Coral’s stricken features. The older woman offered me a slow nod, which seemed to say that she’d been coping with Gail’s referring to him as her lord for days.

“Um…” I cleared my throat. “What did he say?”

“That our close relationship gave us the best chance of producing fire-wielding offspring for the new regime.”

I rubbed my temple, feeling the onset of a headache. Every word of comfort I could offer dried in the back of my throat. They weren’t going to force her, were they?

A soft meow carried in the wind, and I glanced from side to side, looking for its source. Up by the trees, right at the end of the wards, a cat jumped down and landed on his feet—a perfectly spotted Bengal cat with a leopard skin coat.

Excitement rippled up my insides.

“Macavity?”

Chapter Six

I hurried across the lawn, still clinging to Gail, who stared up at me as though I’d lost my mind. Coral jogged at my side in silence, tapping my arm to see if I was alright, but I continued toward the leopard skin cat.

“Who’s Macavity?” Gail asked.

“A cat who used to live with me in London.” I glanced over my shoulder, looking for signs of the men who usually guarded the perimeter. A couple watched us from beneath the trees nearest to the building, but they didn’t step forward to make us stay away from the ward.

“He tracked you down to the Flame?” asked Coral. “Are you sure he’s not a cat shifter?”

My steps faltered. I’d heard of lion shifters, wolf shifters, even a gorilla shifter, but I’d never heard of a supernatural who could turn into a cat. Even Macavity, who was a domestic cat most of the time, turned into a leopard. “I thought all shifters were large animals.”

“That’s what they want you to think,” she muttered. “Most shifters who don’t achieve an impressive animal get cast out.”

“Really?” Gail asked between sniffles.

Coral made a low hum in the back of her throat. “You think Neutrals have it bad. When I lived beneath Logris among the dregs, I met guys who shifted into rodents. That’s why I was asking about the cat.”

“Trust me.” I gazed up into the tree and caught the black eyes of a robin with a breast the color of crimson flames. “Macavity doesn’t turn into a man.”

My foot caught on a root. I stumbled forward, my hands circling in the air for balance.

Coral grabbed me by the back of my cloak. “Easy,” she murmured. “You’re still under the influence.”

Gulping hard, I slowed my steps. Even though Healer Calla’s stabilizers had diluted the thrall in my blood, that still didn’t mean I was a hundred percent.

“Thanks,” I murmured.

Something flickered across Coral’s face, and her gaze darted toward Gail, who had rushed ahead and now knelt in front of Macavity. Her lips parted to say something, but she clamped them together and shook her head. “Later.”

“Is anything the matter?” I asked.

“The Vampire King,” she murmured. “Why is he Kresnik’s right hand?”

“You saw him?”

“He’s at every meeting,” Coral replied with a shrug.

I bit down on my lip. “My magic animated him, and guess who has control of it now?”

“I thought it was something like that,” Coral muttered. “I was never any good at magical theory.”

Before I could say anything else, Macavity lifted his head and yowled. He’d made that noise a few times before, when I’d return from work late and he wanted his salmon, or one time when I said I would be away at Beatrice’s for a day but she’d convinced me to stay another night.

Guilt clutched at my chest. Valentine and I had ditched him in that demon coffee place. I wasn’t surprised he’d tracked me down. How would I like it if I went