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

result in severing the bond, I might learn something that could weaken it.

“Dear oh dear,” she growled.

My heart sank. If she told me my connection with Valentine had snapped, I wasn’t sure how I would cope.

“What do you see?” I rasped.

“This is one of the biggest violations of soul magic I’ve ever seen.”

I cracked open an eye. “You know how he did it?”

“Not exactly.” Healer Asena climbed down her stepladder and withdrew her magic. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, you get to see a number of scams and tricks, but this is the shittiest of all.”

Every ounce of moisture in my throat evaporated, and I scrambled up to sitting. “What did he do?”

The healer dragged the stepladder to the wall, climbed atop it, and stood so we were more or less looking into each other’s eyes. “A little background on soul bonds first.”

“Okay,” I said, ignoring my insides, which writhed with impatience. It wasn’t like I knew anything but the basics about soulmates.

“You know that when fate chooses a mate for someone, they’re mostly compelled toward that person?”

I nodded.

“Every now and then, some idiot tries to fake the connection for some reason or another.” She waved her hand. “Power, financial gain, status, revenge, or lust.”

“But how do they do it?”

“Deals with devils, arrangements with angels, or the use of soul-weaving tools.”

I leaned forward, resting my forearms on my thighs. “What kind of tools?”

Healer Asena reached into the inside pocket of her white coat and extracted a metallic object the size of a knitting needle.

Cold shock slammed through my insides. With a hiss, I scrambled to the other side of the table and jumped on the floor.

“Interesting,” she drawled. “You’ve seen this before?”

Sweat beaded on my forehead, and my heart galloped across my chest, trying to lodge itself behind my spine. There I was, thinking that my sessions in the hospital had healed me from the trauma of Kresnik’s attack when it left me with a phobia of huge needles.

“What the hell is that?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“Something I use to suture broken bonds.”

“Do you think that’s what he used?” I placed a hand over my chest.

She shook her head and slipped the needle back into the confines of her coat. “The bond I saw was thicker than my forearm. It would have taken weeks to create with an instrument as delicate as the soul-weaver.”

“Then how—”

“Think larger.” She spread her arms wide.

“Like an arrow?” My face fell. “Cupid’s arrows?”

“According to what I read in the tabloids, Kresnik went to the Realm of the Gods. What if Cupid struck you in the heart chakra, and you formed a connection?”

I shook my head. “But I hate him.”

“Then maybe Kresnik did it to you himself.”

My shoulders sagged, and I held on to the side of the examination table, trying not to topple over. I’d seen Hades’ Helm, Poseidon’s trident or at least a close replica, and now there was talk of Cupid’s arrows. This was all becoming too much.

“But why?”

“Didn’t you see him on BBC Score the other day?” she asked.

“You mean when he made that woman transform into a demon before killing her?”

She shook her head. “He appeared in front of the humans as a phoenix. I dismissed it as a cheap light magic trick, but after seeing the connection he’s formed with you…”

“He’s siphoning my magic.”

“Looks like it.” She swept her gaze up and down my body. “Unless he wants you for your dowry.”

I was pretty sure my bank balance was overdrawn. “Is there something I can do to get rid of it?”

“Find a Greek god who knows how to counteract Cupid?” She raised her narrow shoulders. “Whoever you see, it has to be someone with as much power or access to power as Kresnik.”

“Right.”

She jumped down from her stepladder. “Good luck.”

“Wait.”

Her lips tightened. “Didn’t I just tell you to find someone more powerful?”

“What about my second bond?”

“What about it?”

“Is it still frayed?”

Her lips formed a tight line, and her large eyes narrowed into slits.

I clenched my teeth, staring the woman down. Most healer appointments took an hour, and I was a paying customer. She couldn’t just give me a quick glance, tell me she couldn’t help, and expect to invoice the palace her full fee.

Healer Asena huffed a long breath, her shoulders rounding as though I’d asked her to work overtime. “Very well.” She closed her eyes, sweeping that crackling magic over me once more. “Your second bond is healthy and knitting together on its own. Spend a little more time with your partner, and it should fully mature.”

All the tension left my chest in a relieved breath. Perhaps that was why Valentine had been so keen for us to spend a week locked up together? If we ever survived Kresnik, we’d have to go on his yacht or somewhere equally as isolated.

“Thank you.” I turned toward the door.

“Take the other one, please.” Healer Asena pointed at an exit by the sink that I hadn’t noticed until then.

“Right.” I walked around the huge examination table and pushed open a door that led to the other side of the village square. It clicked shut behind me, and I walked around the back of the building.

“Psst!” said a small voice.

I quickened my pace, not wanting to get entangled with the sort of person who lurked in alleyways behind shops.

“Oi,” the voice said.

I broke into a jog.

“Mera!”

My steps slowed, and I turned around.

A thin woman with powder-blue hair stepped out, clad in a frayed denim jacket and shorts. She was in her thirties but looked a bit older, with the kind of worn and embittered expression Coral used to wear before Hades restored her youth.

“Do I know you?” I asked.

“No, but I can help you cut the thick cord you’ve got with Kresnik.” She placed her hands on her hips and grinned, revealing a mouthful of broken teeth.

My brows drew together. “How do you—”

The door slammed open, and Healer Asena hurled her stepladder at the strange woman, who bolted into