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

was fine for me to almost get ravaged but they didn’t want Valentine bumping into them?

Didn’t they realize that Kresnik had risen and they were either in danger or about to be led into a war with the Supernatural Council? Aurora had dropped enough hints for me to understand that they were ready to fight back against those who hunted their kind. I made a mental note to leave these people to the mercies of their bloodthirsty new leader if I ever got out of this stronghold alive.

The crowd thickened around the entrance to ritual room four, the amphitheater where Jonathan got banished. Valentine pushed his way through the people and stepped into the circular space.

It was half full, with the front two rows of curved seats occupied, and dozens of injured people strewn across the sunken stage. Some groaned and writhed in agony, while a few of them lay still.

As Valentine walked us down the steps that led to the front, my gaze dropped to Brother David, the man who had interrupted the ritual to tell us that Valentine was at the wards. He lay in the middle of the stage with a plate-sized hole in his chest, exposing shattered ribs. My stomach dropped, and I clapped a hand over my mouth. No one could have survived such a blow, especially one that left his heart in tatters. Did that mean the enforcers had dragged his soul to Hell?

Aurora stood in front of the big screen, still dressed in white. Beside her was the silhouette of a tall man with a muscular frame. On his other side stood Healer Calla, who wore a fresh gown of white. A few other women of varying ages stood among them, also clad in white.

Valentine seated me in the front and placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. His silent command to stay. It wasn’t like I was complaining, but why did he bring me here? Had he been summoned by Kresnik’s magic? I met his crimson eyes and nodded, ready to bolt the moment he was distracted.

The silhouette stepped through the screen, a rejuvenated Father Jude with his thick head of red hair. Instead of the black garment he had created with the shadows he stole from Clarence, he wore a white jumpsuit that skimmed the contours of his muscular frame.

Immense magic radiated off his body, making my insides thrum. I clenched my teeth. Of course he would be powerful after loading himself with the magic of seven people. Seven people who were deemed to have special abilities—a dragon shifter, an ifrit, three dual-powered mages, a wielder of black flames, a woman with immense power reserves, and a phoenix. Me.

A hush fell across the auditorium as he continued toward the middle of the stage. I’d gotten the impression that the high priest isolated himself and hid behind screens so as not to alter time. Whatever he had taken from us had both boosted his ability to maintain the wards and tethered him to the current timestream.

Father Jude pressed his hands together in prayer. “Thank you, my children.”

The doors behind us closed, and everyone around us roared again, drowning out my thoughts. I turned my gaze to the stairs on the far-right of the room, my heart sinking as women in pinafores led little children down toward the stage. Somehow, I’d hoped they would be spared the sight of injured people and corpses.

“I have returned.” Father Jude spread out his arms.

My throat thickened as I reminded myself that this wasn’t Father Jude. Perhaps all along he was Kresnik. Valentine lowered himself into the seat next to mine and folded his arms across his chest. I stared into his profile, wondering if I ever had a chance of freeing his body now that my magic belonged to someone else.

“How beautiful it is to see you and in such expanded numbers,” the man onstage said in a voice as slippery as silk. As he turned to press a kiss on Aurora’s cheek, the crowd went wild.

“How wonderful it is to fight alongside my family and emerge triumphant!”

More cheers. I leaned forward, forcing deep breaths in and out of my nostrils. The key to breaking Valentine from his control was taking my magic back, but if I was going to survive the night, I’d have to concentrate. Concentrate on the man’s weakness. Concentrate on how he used his magic and concentrate on a way to slip through his defenses.

“For those who joined since our exodus from Ignatius Manor, I am Kresnik!”

My throat convulsed, and I shot Valentine a glance. His features remained expressionless as though he was waiting for a command.

Gulping hard, I bit down on my lip. This was the man who had murdered Valentine’s father and controlled his preternatural body. Somewhere deep in the back of Valentine’s mind, he had to know this, too. Had the magic completely consumed his reason?

Only a few of the people sitting around the seats gasped at the new information, making me wonder if the older residents of the Flame knew what Father Jude had been planning all along. I waited for him to explain the difference between himself and the high priest, but he balled his fists and paced around the stage.

“The time for hiding from the Supernatural Council is over,” he snarled. “We have reached a critical mass where our firepower matches theirs. We have enough firestone to destroy Logris, and our former persecutors will become our slaves.”

Shouts and cheers and the stomping of feet filled the vast space.

“Indeed.” Kresnik’s voice rang through the air. “We will not hide, we will not cower, we will no longer fear for the lives of our brethren. Before the Supernatural Council recovers from their losses, we will be ready to attack!”

My throat dried. I understood everyone’s fury. The Supernatural Council had ordered my execution and wanted my coven dead because I was a fire user. I’d even seen what they had tried to do to an innocent little girl. From