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

lookalike, who placed a hand over her mouth and stared at her meal. I sent Valentine a word of silent thanks for ordering something as palatable as a red velvet milkshake.

Kresnik picked up his fork and dipped it in the egg, spreading yolk over the chopped meat. “Why have you kept Hemera for so long, considering her proclivity to be disobedient and willful?”

A fist of alarm squeezed my heart, making me rear back. Was he suggesting that Valentine kill me? I glanced across the table to meet the other girl’s shocked eyes. I’d never seen her around the Flame before, but she seemed to understand Kresnik’s hint.

“Disciplining Mera is the ultimate pleasure,” Valentine replied with a smile in his voice.

“Yes, her conduct this afternoon suggests that your methods of reprimand are insufficient.”

I cowered behind Valentine, trembling so hard that my teeth chattered. Kresnik would punish Valentine first for allowing me to meddle in his attempt to create a vampire army out of his followers and then he would demand that Valentine silence me for good. Blood roared between my ears. I held my breath, keeping my body inhumanly still, so everyone might forget my presence.

Shallow breaths grazed the tops of my lungs, and my heart fluttered like a flock of feral pigeons. If Kresnik ordered Valentine to drain me dry, what would he do? I wrapped my arms around my middle and squeezed my eyes shut. Maybe this was why Valentine had ordered me that shake—so he could drink me to the brink of death.

My eyes darted around the booth, which suddenly felt like the interior of a coffin, except I was stuck with a man who wanted me dead, and another who would be my executioner. I didn’t know where the Annie lookalike fit into the scenario. She was probably another fire user who Kresnik would order to cremate my exsanguinated corpse.

Valentine chuckled at Kresnik’s accusation that I was out of control. “Mera’s training has been geared toward pleasure.”

“Do tell,” Kresnik drawled, elongating the last syllable.

“Under my tutelage she has perfected the fine art of fellatio,” Valentine said.

My mouth dropped open, and I reeled forward. What the hell? In the time we’d been together, he’d never once demanded that of me. Was he getting me mixed up with the girls in his past he used to spank?

Kresnik chuckled. “Martika came to me already fully trained, didn’t you, dear?”

The young woman tilted her head to the side and spoke, but the pounding between my eardrums muffled her voice. Whatever she said made Kresnik lean toward her and press a kiss on her lips.

“Mera does all of that for me and more,” Valentine said, sounding unimpressed.

Prickly heat rose to my cheeks, and my lips parted to let out shallow breaths. I had to clench every muscle in my body to stop myself from uttering a denial. Even through my humiliation, I could tell this was a form of subterfuge. Kresnik was more focused on details about my sexual prowess than on suggesting that Valentine get rid of me.

“A girl like Hemera is far too prudish to be of any use in the bedroom,” said Kresnik. “What you want is an adventurous spirit like Martika.”

Valentine shook his head. “There’s nothing finer than training an inexperienced young woman over a course of years to anticipate one’s every need.”

I dipped my head, not wanting to show my reaction to this pack of lies. Valentine had spent our time learning how to please me, but I wouldn’t object if this salacious talk distracted Kresnik from wanting to kill me.

Kresnik clapped his hands together. “Prove it.”

“What?” I whispered.

“Order Hemera under the table. I wish to see the fruits of three years of specialized training.”

Chapter Eleven

I sat against the leather backrest as still as a tin solder with my hands curled into fists. My heart pounded double time to the striptease music, draining all the blood from my face. Kresnik had to be joking, right? What kind of tyrant judged obedience by a willingness to slip under the table and perform fellatio?

A psychotic one.

Valentine turned to me, his expression unnaturally neutral. The strain around his eyes told me that I had better play along before Kresnik finally ordered my death. On his other side, Kresnik leaned forward, meeting my frozen gaze with raised brows.

I gulped. He expected me to protest, to make a scene, so he could order Valentine to finally drain my blood so he could extract my power. My tongue darted out to lick my dry lips. Fellating Valentine was fine—even underneath a table with one of my academy tormentors hovering close by—but I would die before I got anywhere near Kresnik’s junk.

“What were my orders again?” I asked.

Kresnik’s smile was glacial. “Valentine claims he has you under control. Get on your knees and prove it.”

Thoughts of the tyrant ordering me to service him flitted through my mind, and a rush of nausea caused some words to tumble out of my mouth. “By myself?”

Kresnik wrapped an arm around the curly-haired girl, pulling her into his side. “Martika will keep you company.”

Her eyes danced, and she bounced about on her seat. “Is this a competition to see who makes our boyfriend cum first?”

“If you like,” Kresnik said with a chuckle.

“Yay!” Martika flashed me a wide smile.

Relief whooshed out of my lungs in an outward breath, but then another thought slapped me upside the head that made my stomach twist. I glanced at Kresnik, my eyes wide. “But all these people are watching.”

Valentine gave me a firm pat on the knee that felt more like a warning than a comfort. “I will engage the booth’s opaque enchantment, so Our Lord can enjoy his fellatio in private.”

Kresnik narrowed his eyes. “Are you stalling, Hemera?”

Anything I said next would probably count as a stalling tactic, so I slid beneath the table. My knees sank into the spongy floor—something I hadn’t noticed until now, and I wondered if this establishment had made it soft in the event that