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

news of his resurrection a secret,” I said around a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

“It’s terrible,” she said. “Enforcers are leaving their stations, as are ward masters. All modes of transport are already fully booked. At this rate, there’ll be nobody left to protect Logris.”

“Why don’t they all work together against him?” I asked.

“Humans have the sheer numbers to overwhelm us,” she replied. “What with their automatic weapons and long-distance methods of annihilation, supernaturals don’t stand a chance.”

“Why haven’t we developed a way to fight back?”

“And have other supernatural nations rise to the humans’ defense?” she asked. “Angels wouldn’t lash out against humans, and neither will those who rely on them for sustenance. It’s best for all to stay alive and out of their way.”

My stomach clenched with a touch of trepidation, but I continued my breakfast, trying to work out how we were going to stop Kresnik before he amassed a human army large enough to destroy Logris and every other supernatural enclave in Great Britain.

Mrs. Meg placed a glass of orange juice in front of me, and I took several long sips, letting the sweet liquid slide down my throat. As my energy levels returned to normal and I shook off the last vestiges of sleep, my mind drifted to Valentine, who was probably still sitting in that luxury cell, wondering what on earth had happened with Kain and me.

“Are you going to keep me confined in this room?” I asked.

“When His Majesty let you out of the pocket dimension, I assumed he’d changed his mind about keeping you.”

“Like a kept woman?” I asked.

“Most young women would kill to be the plaything of a rich and handsome monarch,” she said.

“I’m…” I shook my head and reached for a steaming cup of breakfast tea. What did it matter if people thought I was Valentine’s plaything? He was stuck behind bars. “Can I pay for faerie services with a credit card?”

Her eyes narrowed. “That depends on what kind.”

“I need a shapeshifter faerie to sit in Valentine’s cell while I sneak him out. Is that possible?”

Mrs. Meg stroked the hairs on her chin, her lips twisting with a look of concentration. “There’s an agency that takes credit, but they’re not cheap.”

I nodded. “And would they take the place of a prisoner?”

“The penalty for getting caught is death,” she said. “Do you really want to risk a faerie’s life to break out someone who’s going to be released in six days?”

My shoulders sagged, and I shook my head. “A lot can happen in a few days,” I murmured. “Valentine’s uncle is plotting to take his throne, and Kresnik’s recruiting humans to stand against us.”

Macavity leaped onto my lap and climbed up to the table, his paws reaching for the edges of my plate.

“No.” Mrs. Meg reached for the cat.

I raised a hand. “He stood guard over me while I slept, so he’s earned a little reward.”

“Meow.” Macavity nodded.

I picked up the sausage and held it to the cat’s mouth, watching him devour it in a few enthusiastic bites. Macavity’s happy purr reverberated against my stomach and chest, easing some of my tension. Now that Mrs. Meg had explained the consequences of involving a third party in breaking Valentine out of prison, I couldn’t move ahead with that plan.

“Alright then.” I picked up the bacon and waved it in front of Macavity, whose head swished from side to side. “Is there a glamor I can use to make me look and smell like Valentine?”

“Not one that can fool a supernatural’s nose, but you could take a corpusverto pill.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s a concentrated elixir that allows the drinker to steal a person’s physical form,” she said.

“How does it work?”

“You know the tale of the Clever Princess and the Frog?”

“Where a girl tries to escape a forced wedding by transforming into a frog?” I asked.

Aunt Arianna had told me the story a few times when I was little. The princess’s father somehow got swindled by an ogre into promising his daughter’s hand in marriage, and she swapped bodies with a frog just before the wedding. When the ogre married a frog in her body and they exchanged a kiss, the ogre turned into a frog and the frog turned into the ogre.

“Didn’t you ever wonder how they did the body swaps?”

“My aunt said it was wish magic.”

“The princess took a corpusverto before kissing the frog and poured another dose into the porridge.” Mrs. Meg shook her head and pursed her lips. “Why do you think they included the scene of the wedding breakfast?”

I leaned back in my seat, running my hand down Macavity’s back, and pictured the frog-princess slamming her head into a bowl of porridge. “To make the story funny?”

“Meow!” Macavity said with a sharp nod.

“That’s why faeries should tell their own stories,” Mrs. Meg muttered under her breath. “Other races always miss the important parts.”

“So the princess took corpusverto and tricked the frog into taking it so the ogre would become a princess and the frog become an ogre? In my version of the story, the ogre became a frog.”

Mrs. Meg tilted her head to the side. “The original tale is more detailed than what you might have heard as a child, but you understand the gist.”

I took another sip of my tea. “How easy is it to get corpusverto?”

“It’s available at any faerie brothel,” she said.

My eyes bulged, and I tried not to think about how and why patrons would need such an enchanted object. “Alright. If I take it, will I still retain my power?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to swap bodies with Valentine so he leaves the prison as me. Then I’ll transform into a phoenix and flicker over to him.”

“Corpusverto only changes your outward appearance, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.”

“Good.” I pushed Macavity off my lap, ignoring his outraged yowl, and stood. “Can you get me two servings while I take a shower and get dressed for a conjugal visit?”

Mrs. Meg nodded and disappeared.

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