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

“I’ve heard enough of your bullshit.” I turned to the crowd of guards. “Someone hold him down with magic while I reduce him to ash.”

As the guards stepped out of firing range, a wave of smoky magic swept across the hallway, pinning the prince to the marble floor. He tried bucking forward, but the force slammed his head back down. He thrashed from side to side, roaring and screeching, but the magic wouldn’t budge.

“I know how to defeat Kresnik,” he rasped.

I placed a hand on my hip. “You’re stalling.”

“No, no, no,” Prince Draconius blurted. “We knew he would return eventually. After so many of our kind died putting my older brother to rest, we spent centuries ensuring that Kresnik’s poison never reached New Mesopotamia.”

My heart skipped. His words actually made sense. Keeping my expression neutral, I stared down at the vampire prince who continued to lie on the floor like a squashed bug.

“If you knew so much about Kresnik, why didn’t you act against him the moment you knew he’d risen?” I asked.

The ancient vampire curled his lip. “One does not give away for free that which can be traded for immense gain.”

I clenched my teeth. Basically, he was waiting for the right moment to take advantage of our desperation to be rid of Kresnik. The more I spoke to the prince, the more loathsome and despicable I found his personality. There wasn’t a single redeeming feature in the ancient relic.

“You have five seconds to tell me what you know about defeating Kresnik,” I said, carefully enunciating my words. “If I hear more of your bullshit—”

“I need assurances that you won’t burn me,” he blurted.

Forget that. Raising a flaming hand, I held up an index finger. “One… Two—”

“Alright!” he shouted. “We found a way to banish Kresnik into Tartarus.”

“How?” I lowered my hand.

Prince Draconius’s eyes darted to my left. “I could tell you,” he said through panting breaths. “But I need assurances from Kain that I won’t die.”

The young man placed a hand on his chest. “Why me?”

“Because you’ve just inherited the Lamia throne, boy.”

“You’re wrong.” Valentine’s deep voice echoed through the entrance hall. The crowd parted, and he stepped forward with his hand raised, indicating that it was his magic that had kept Prince Draconius pinned to the marble floor.

His uncle’s eyes widened. “How did you—”

“You must have fallen on hard times to hire such an incompetent assassin.” Valentine glared down at the older vampire with eyes harder than industrial diamonds. “However, you did deliver Poseidon’s trident, which will help us immensely in the upcoming battle against Kresnik.”

A breath caught in the back of my throat. Was he about to show Prince Draconius mercy?

“Nephew,” the older vampire rasped, his eyes watering. “I was a second father to you after Antonius died. Spare my life for the sake of his memory—”

Valentine cut him off with a growl. “You will tell me everything you know about Kresnik’s weakness. After that, you will remain in a cell until I’m ready to find my father’s missing soul.”

My brows drew together. Did Valentine really mean to spare his life?

Prince Draconius’s lips parted, and his gaze darted around the crowd of vampires. “Surely, after all this time, Antonius will be in Heaven—”

“He isn’t, and neither is he in Hell,” said Valentine.

The other vampire bowed his head. “I will concede to your demand if you will set me free upon the successful completion of our quest.”

“Agreed.”

As Valentine, Caiman, and Maitland jostled Prince Draconius down one of the hallways, I stood in the entrance hall, pulled my magic back into my chakras, and rubbed my chin. Maybe I should have said something earlier, but I hadn’t wanted to undermine Valentine in front of his subjects.

Kain bumped me on the shoulder. “You were such a badass.”

“I was mostly fed up with his existence.” I placed a hand on his back, steering him out of the entrance hall and toward Valentine’s suite. “He’s just so—”

“Annoying?” Kain asked. “Aggravating? A complete and utter asshole? You should have seen what he was like with all those lackeys carrying out his every demand.”

I winced. The few encounters I’d had with Prince Draconius had been bad enough. I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like for Kain to be stuck in a building with the wretched vampire.

My gaze rose to the young man’s aquamarine eyes. “Sorry you had to endure him for so long.”

Kain raised his shoulders and headed for the stairs. “It wasn’t so bad.”

Something in his voice told me that he was just trying to be manly and brave so I wouldn’t feel guilty about the time he’d spent confined in the palace. As we reached the first-floor landing, a little voice chirruped from below, and I glanced down to find Macavity stretching up toward Kain in the universal sign that indicated he wanted to be picked up.

“Come on then, you mangy cat.” Kain reached down, grabbed Macavity around his middle, and settled him on his chest.

“Meow!” The cat batted him on the nose.

“Macavity is a majestic being.” I tickled him under his chin.

He turned to me with a sharp nod and meowed his agreement.

“Master Kain.” A deep voice came from the other side of the hallway. “I’m glad to see that you’ve returned from your trip. Please make your way to your suite so I may test you on what you’ve learned.”

The young man groaned.

With a grimace, I hurried toward the queen’s dressing room and placed my hand on its door. If Kain had been watching Kresnik the entire time, I doubted he’d had time to crack open a book.

The room was untouched since I’d left it, and it took a few moments of rifling through the closets and drawers before I realized that the armor was probably behind the curtain. I pulled it back to find four suits.

The one on the far right was a female version of the armor Valentine wore, an embossed leather two-piece that looked like it would mold around my form.