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

like the enforcers might also be getting sick of seeing so many of their number die while the Council members bullshitted behind the safety of their wards.

Corporal Penumbra opened the door into the hallway that overlooked the six-lane escalators that led down to the ground floor. By now, the sun had completely set and moonlight shone through the Council Building’s tall windows, drenching the space in silvery light.

I nodded my thanks and stepped out, glancing down the row of enforcers standing against the walls. As soon as my gaze caught that of a young woman who had shown me to the enforcers’ quarters weeks ago, I headed toward her with a tiny smile.

“Miss Griffin?” Hades grabbed my wrist and spun me around

“Where did you come from?” I pulled out of his grip.

“Allow me to escort you to your destination.” In the blink of an eye, we stood in front of the crackling fireplace of his office, where a new painting of himself stared down at us.

This portrait depicted Hades’ new and youthful appearance and stood shirtless, wearing a replica of his helm and holding a trident identical to the one Sylvester had confiscated from Prince Draconius. Its background was a room that opened up into a courtyard, where a red-haired woman lay front-down on a couch, her ass cheeks as red as the cheeks on her face, and smiled with gleeful satisfaction.

I snatched my gaze away and snarled, “This isn’t Valentine’s cell.”

“You and I need to talk.” He placed his hands on my shoulders.

“About how you’re plotting against Valentine?” I ducked out of his grip. “First you want to take his throne, then what? His life?”

Hades’ lips thinned. “Quick to judgement as ever, Miss Griffin.”

I slipped the scroll into my pocket for safekeeping, walked over the rug toward the exit, and reached for the door handle.

“What does it take to make you forget King Valentine?”

My breath hitched. This was his plan? To impress me with his ability to ruin an innocent man’s life? “Give up.” I balled my hands into fists. “I didn’t like you when you sentenced me to death, I hated you when you and the Mage King took control of Valentine’s body, and I only allied with you in the Flame because I had no other options.”

“Yet you bound us together—”

“So you wouldn’t betray me,” I yelled. “And the moment you got a chance, you tied me to a bed in your purple room of pain.”

“It was a purple palace of pleasure.” Hades glowered down at me, his nostrils flared. “And some women are impossible to please.”

“Some women have had better men.”

He flinched. “What?”

Triumph flared through my insides. Hades was a man who didn’t understand the word ‘no,’ but neither did he like to be compared to other men. I filed that thought for future reference.

“I am not and never will be interested in you.” Vitriol dripped from my words, each inflection burning like acid. It was cruel to turn down a man with such venom, but Hades was more persistent than Jonathan had been and twice as entitled. “You lie, you cheat, you sleep with multiple women, including my sister—”

“Now you’re trying to slut-shame.” He waggled his finger and grinned.

“You don’t take me seriously when I say that I’m committed to Valentine.”

“What you feel for King Valentine is puppy love.” He spread his arms wide. “Or it’s the kind of connection a couple experiences after a thrilling adventure. Once the adrenaline fades, there’s nothing left—not even the initial physical attraction.”

“You’re wrong.” I elbowed him aside and pulled down on the handle.

“Do not leave this room.” His sharp voice sliced through my determination, and he backed it up with a crackle of magic.

I clenched my teeth, hating myself for hesitating, but maybe it was time to say a few hurtful truths.

“Hades.” I turned to meet his fiery gaze. “Valentine is the most decent and noble being I’ve ever met. He’s honest, kind, generous, and loving. These are all qualities you lack.”

The edges of his irises turned black. “You’re forgetting that I’ve seen how tame he is when he fucks.”

“And you’re forgetting that he satisfies me in a way you never can,” I said.

“You’d rather copulate with a corpse than a god?” he asked through clenched teeth.

My jaw tightened, the pulse between my ears thudding to the beat of my fury. How many of these bastards were going to accuse me of necrophilia? It wasn’t like I’d jumped on Valentine’s cold and unmoving body, and ridden his rigor mortis into the sunset. Each time we’d had sex, he had fed, he’d been warm, and had appeared as alive as any other immortal. If Hades thought I would back down, he was in for a shock.

“The truth?” I asked.

Nodding, he folded his arms across his chest.

I sucked in a deep breath, centered myself the way Istabelle had taught me before performing long healing sessions, and filled my chakras with magic. Then I eased all that power beneath my skin, where it was ready—just in case what I was about to say caused Hades to fly into a rage.

“Here’s the truth,” I said. “Even when Valentine had risen from the dead with his skin graying, his eyes milky, and an open wound in his chest. Even when his flesh was as cold as winter and his touch as frigid as ice, he was still a better and more desirable man than you. I have loved Valentine for a quarter of my life, and I’ll continue loving him until the end of my days.”

Hades’ glare could cut diamonds. Heat radiated off his body, accompanied by a fury that charged the air with brimstone. Tiny crackles of magic hit the surface of my skin in a storm of static electricity.

Holding myself still, I met his gaze and breathed hard against the onslaught of his power.

“That is your final word?” he asked.

“My final word is to leave us both alone,” I replied. “Find someone else.”

He stepped back, his chest rising and falling with