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

who took the seat at my right. Gail turned her attention to Leman and made a show of asking him questions about Roman. The blond man muttered a few answers but turned his attention to Clarence.

I stuffed a large piece of lamb in my mouth and chewed. Whatever Hades wanted to discuss had to wait until I’d eaten. I wanted to work with him, but I trusted him as much as I trusted Kresnik. Even if he didn’t want to start a supernatural war and take over the humans, he still wanted to drag everyone’s souls to Hell.

Hades was desperate and needed the help of someone who wasn’t loyal enough to Kresnik to reveal that his ashes had escaped from one of their containers. I cut off another forkful of dumpling before dipping it into the stew.

“Miss Griffin,” he hissed. “One of my jars has been left unattended. Now is your chance to steal it.”

Swallowing my mouthful, I reached for the mug and dipped the teabag in and out of the hot water, releasing the scent of mint.

“Can anyone feel something?” Coral turned her head from side to side and frowned. “It’s jagged, demonic, and feels annoyed.”

“At this rate, your dawdling will get me exorcized,” Hades said with a sigh. “Would it make any difference to know that your so-called mother is on the brink of death?”

I choked on my mouthful of stew. Why didn’t he say that before?

Chapter Thirteen

I grabbed a glass and gulped mouthfuls of water, letting the cool liquid slide down my throat. Aurora couldn’t be injured—she was probably sitting cross-legged in a ritual room, meditating in another plane. Hades had to be saying that to get my attention.

The chatter around the table stopped, and everyone paused to stare at me. Even Gail, who had been pretending to have a conversation with Clarence and Leman, turned her head in my direction, risking eye contact with Racon.

Coral leaned across the table, her eyes wide. “Mera, are you alright?”

“Fine.” I held up a palm and rose off my seat. “It’s just a bit of food that went down the wrong passage.”

Coral frowned but didn’t speak. I snatched my gaze away from hers, hoping she didn’t link the demonic presence she’d sensed with my choking. While I trusted Coral to remain silent about any attempts to sabotage Kresnik, I wasn’t sure about the others’ states of mind.

Gail stared up at me with red-rimmed eyes. She was still distraught about discovering she was related to Racon, but instead of being furious with the people who had allowed their relationship to blossom, it looked like she’d turned her anger toward him.

“Come along,” Hades said, sounding like he’d waited an eternity for me to come to my senses and help him on his quest.

I picked up an uneaten dumpling and slipped the bar of supermarket-brand chocolate into my pocket, pulled back my chair, and muttered, “I’m running low on blood stabilizers.”

Coral rose. “Do you need me to come with you?”

“No,” Hades hissed.

I shook my head and smiled. “I’m going to walk for a bit and clear my head. See you guys later?”

Her gaze swept down my outfit as though it held a clue to my peculiar behavior. I offered the older woman a tight smile, hoping to convey that I would confide in her later… After I’d worked out a truce with Hades.

By now, a few more residents of the Flame sat around the tables, but the place wasn’t even close to being a quarter-full. More people crowded around the refectory’s serving hatch, but there were no signs of Roman, Martika, or the others who had tested positive for magic.

As I walked toward the exit, I passed a group of little children sitting with four women I recognized from around the Flame. Petra sat between a pair of twins with hair as red as hers, and my heart sank. Would Kresnik move on to them as an energy source now, or later?

“Where are we going?” I muttered under my breath.

“Infirmary,” he said back.

The hallways were deserted, and I jogged past the closed doors, feeling for the familiar thrum of Healer Calla’s magic. Hades had almost certainly lied about Aurora, but I was only going along for the opportunity to speak to him alone.

I needed to discover the location of Valentine’s heart, because his soul was the only one in this situation who might be able to explain how to navigate this situation without falling prey to the machinations of the Demon King.

When I stepped into the infirmary, Healer Calla wasn’t standing behind her counter, but a few women Aurora’s age sat on the seats along the back wall. They all wore white dresses, all stared at me with grave features, and appeared shaken.

Maybe Hades hadn’t lied, after all.

“Has anyone seen Aurora?” I asked.

A woman with ebony skin and elegant features that reminded me of Clarence cleared her throat. To her left was another woman with the same pale blonde hair as the twins. The power radiating from each of them indicated that they were mages. Before I could wonder if they were the mothers of my team, the dark-skinned woman pointed at the door on the left, next to the room Father Jude used to occupy.

“Healer Calla is tending to Aurora’s injuries,” she said.

“She got hurt during a mission?” I asked.

The woman shook her head and turned her gaze to her lap.

“Never mind them,” said Hades. “One of my jars is here.”

I glanced around the reception area. The shelves that used to contain the crystals and Tibetan singing bowls still lay empty, but books still filled the shelves on the right. My gaze skipped over a wooden box with an ornate symbol, but there was no sign of a jar.

“Last door on the right,” Hades whispered into my ear. “The healer’s keeping my ashes in her private quarters. Go now, while she’s distracted with your mother.”

I rolled my eyes and continued toward the room on the left. If the women sitting