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

were now the color of a mature red wine. Outside, the sun disappeared behind dark clouds, casting the room and one side of his face in gloom. The firelight illuminated the other side, warming the undertones of his bronze skin.

He looked just as alive as he had been when he’d visited my room in the villa with a mug of hot chocolate. His chest even rose and fell with a semblance of breath. I placed a hand over his heart, yearning to feel something vibrate beneath my palm, but he stopped breathing.

“What do you want me to agree to in this oath?” I asked.

“That you will submit to my will,” he replied.

My gaze dropped to his full lips and back up to his darkening eyes. Valentine drifted toward me, filling my nostrils with the scent of sandalwood and musk. If this oath would get him to stop dosing me with thrall and keeping me confined to his quarters then it was what I had to do to free us from this cult.

“Alright,” I said.

He smoothed back a lock of hair but instead of tucking it behind my ear as usual, he held it between his fingertips and sniffed it the way one would scent a rose. My throat convulsed. What was he picking up in my scent? Deception? None of that mattered because the oath was about to change everything.

“Strip.” He stepped back, presumably to get a better view.

I pressed my lips into a tight line. This hadn’t been part of the agreement, but did it matter? In a moment, Valentine could command me to do whatever he wanted. With the oath, my body would obey a command to take off my clothes in the middle of the refectory and let Valentine take me in front of Kresnik. I pulled off my sweater to reveal I wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

Valentine’s gaze dropped to my nipples, but I didn’t linger on his eyes. I grabbed the bedpost for support, toed off my boots, and kicked them under the bed. After that, I pulled down my jeans and stepped out of the puddle of denim.

Warm air swirled around my naked body, and my arms twitched with the urge to wrap my arms around my breasts and place a hand over my pubes. I raised my chin, rested my hands on my hips, and focussed on the bigger goal of freeing Valentine from Kresnik.

“What’s next?” I asked.

Valentine stepped forward, the heat of his body warming my bare skin. Even without touching him, I felt the rumble of his chest against mine. He stared down at me with blazing eyes and drank me in with a deep breath.

“Kneel on the bed, facing the window,” he said in the voice he used to command a servant.

My mouth fell open, and I gaped at the fully-clothed vampire. “Since when do slaves have to bend over to take an oath?”

“Get into position,” he growled.

Excitement pulsed through my core, and my nipples tingled in anticipation of his touch. I rolled my eyes and huffed. “Can we discuss the contents of the blood oath?”

He stepped back, depriving me of his warmth, and swept his arm to the bed. “Once you’re on the bed.”

I climbed atop the mattress and positioned myself on my hands and knees. “Now can we talk?”

“Spread your legs.”

I parted them to shoulder-width. “Done.”

“Wider,” he rasped.

My heartbeat kicked up several notches, and heat rose to my cheeks. I swallowed several times in quick succession. Valentine and I had only ever had sex face to face, although Beatrice told me that this position could be more intense. He probably wanted to enter me from behind after the spanking… or whatever he decided would be my punishment.

The longer I kept him waiting, the more stringent he’d probably make that oath. I spread my legs, laying myself bare to Valentine, and dipped my head behind a curtain of hair.

Valentine didn’t move forward. His smoky magic curled around my skin, seeming to touch me everywhere. It twisted around my nipples, slid over my exposed sex and lingered over my throbbing clit.

“How long are you going to just stand there, toying with my body?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Until you behave yourself and stop fidgeting,” he replied, amusement lacing his voice.

“What—” I clamped my mouth shut. Valentine probably counted complaints as an example of poor behavior.

Tensing my muscles to stop this imagined fidgeting, I panted hard and tried to keep my skin from overheating. What the hell was this vampire doing to me? I was twenty-four, his fiancée, and soon to be his queen yet he’d somehow gotten me wet and excited just by issuing a few commands.

Silence stretched between us, punctuated by the rapid thud of my pulse. Was he just going to stand there and stare at me until inspiration struck? I bit down on my lip, trying to keep myself from moaning out loud, while the muscles of my core pulsed in anticipation.

In anticipation of what, I didn’t know. A tremor ran down my entire skeleton, and I licked my dry lips. The last time Valentine had punished me, it had been fast and dirty. Now, he was drawing out my trepidation.

I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for him to approach, waiting for a stinging slap on my ass cheeks, accompanied by the most intense pleasure.

“No matter what you say, how you cry or curse or complain, your body needs this.”

“You’re wrong,” I murmured under my breath.

His fingertips ghosted over the skin of my inner thigh. “See how you tremble beneath my touch. You need my discipline, you crave my protection.”

Bugger this. I turned around, flashing my eyes at the arrogant vampire. “If I’m turned on, it’s because I remember the gentleman who—”

The first slap landed hard enough to arch my back, curl my toes, and flood my core with moisture. I clenched my teeth, reeling from the sting.

Valentine’s warm hand caressed my ass cheek, with the pad of his thumb skimming over the outer edge of my sex.