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

I unfastened the buckle of his belt with trembling hands and unzipped his fly.

The hottest, hardest, and heaviest erection sprang from the fabric, indicating that he’d had plenty of blood. I wrapped my hands around the pulsing length and licked my lips, making Valentine hiss through his teeth.

A whimper resounded in the back of my throat, and I slid my fingers around his shaft. Last night had been the hottest experience of my entire life. Taking Valentine in my mouth for the first time had been exhilarating. Getting to ride him hard on a dining chair before being devoured in front of an audience of strangers had resulted in an explosive climax. I couldn’t even feel mortified because it had been so unbelievably hot.

“You want more of what I gave you last night?” I stepped back and smirked. “You can teach me how to make it last longer.”

Valentine cupped the side of my face, holding it steady as he studied my features. “Are you trying to distract me from your punishment?”

I widened my eyes and made my lips part with an expression I hoped was shock. It made sense that he would notice. Valentine had a millennia of experience on me and had probably dealt with every form of manipulation. I wasn’t even particularly good at dirty talk. What made me think I could distract him?

“Of course not,” I squeaked.

His nostrils flared. “That’s a lie.”

The length between my fingers thickened and pulsed, as though catching me out in a falsehood was turning him on. I released his erection and pulled my face out of his grip. “Hasn’t anyone told you it’s rude to sniff other people?”

Valentine’s eyes flared. “Strip.”

Clenching my teeth, I edged around the footboard, trying to break eye contact. “We need to have a conversation about your unreasonable expectations. I can’t stay here all day, and I’ve got to eat.”

“When the new vampires rise, I will send one of them up with a tray of food.”

A breath caught in the back of my throat, and I stumbled toward the bed. “Did the people waiting outside the infirmary also get injected? When will they rise?”

He stepped toward me, baring his teeth in a growl. “Being lenient with you has been a mistake.”

Now it was my turn to flare my nostrils. “What’s wrong with you? One minute you’re normal, and the next you act like I’m your property.”

His gaze darted toward the exit, and his right ear twitched. It was such a subtle movement that I almost thought I’d imagined it. Was someone listening at the door? Valentine’s sensitive ears could pick up heartbeats I couldn’t hear. That might explain his erratic behavior.

I leaned into him and whispered, “Is anything the matter?”

“Our Lord questioned your loyalty,” he said in a monotone.

“Me?” I placed a hand on my chest and pulled my brows together. “Most of the time I’m half-conscious on thrall.”

“That is what I told him, yet he believes you are a dangerous element and need to be kept confined.”

My gaze darted to the door at the end of the room that concealed the windowless closet and bars on the exit. Valentine wouldn’t keep me in that pen… would he? All the moisture evaporated in my throat as the threat rolled around and around in my mind.

How long would it take me to starve to death if I stayed in that room? Kresnik might take my presence there as an opportunity to send Valentine on a far-off mission so I’d be forced to stay there and rot.

I couldn’t let that happen.

“Valentine.” I met his gaze. “Is there anything I can do to avoid entering that place?”

He stared down at me with a penetrating gaze that made my insides shrivel. Palpitations squeezed my heart, bringing on a full-blown attack of panic. My entire future depended on being able to convince him that I was loyal to Kresnik.

Valentine’s magic slipped into my consciousness, filling my head with smoke.

I blanked my mind, trying to look like I wasn’t trying to calculate ways to get myself out of a predicament. I forced every thought out of my head in case he decided to delve through my mind and search for answers.

As he continued to stare down at me, I ran through images of me standing behind the bars as fire spread across the room, Aurora and Martika rushing into the room, pleading for me to get out from behind those bars and help Kresnik. I added another image of Jonathan holding me to the bars with his black flames as his hands roved my naked body.

Valentine’s brows drew together, and the pressure on my mind eased.

“You will take your punishment and perform a blood oath,” he said.

My stomach dropped, and I stumbled forward, catching myself on Valentine’s arm. “When you say blood oath, are you talking about—”

“The oath a slave makes to her master,” he replied.

I squeezed my eyes shut, shuddering as my heart and stomach shriveled toward my spine. Every instinct in my body screamed at me to take the punishment, the imprisonment, the thrall. To do or say or agree to anything except for an oath that would give Valentine complete control over my mind and body.

“Open your eyes,” he said.

My throat thickened. What kind of sick game was he playing? The quickest way to control me was through eye contact. Valentine could have slipped beneath my consciousness and compelled me to follow his commands. It was almost as though he wanted me to become addicted to thrall.

“And if I refuse?” I asked in a small voice.

“Then Our Lord will require that I keep you behind those bars.”

Where I’d have no chance of escape. I swallowed hard. If I took the oath, I would be free to return to Aurora, free to speak to Coral, and free to make a deal with Hades as long as I didn’t agree to something stupid like accepting Kresnik as my lord and master. My gaze flicked up to Valentine’s face.

Curiosity glimmered in his eyes, which