Passion of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 5) Bella Klaus (the red fox clan TXT) 📖

it was you, but there was this fiery outline.” Kain rubbed the back of his neck and frowned. “Why does Prince Draconius hate you so much?”

I twisted open the bottle and took the longest ever drag, letting the silky liquid slide down my throat. It moistened the dry membranes, sank into my flesh, and cooled my frayed nerves. Most of my desire for thrall now fizzled away. I wasn’t sure if that was because of the flare of phoenix fire or the rush of adrenaline from nearly getting captured and tortured by an ancient vampire prince.

“Maybe I’m getting in the way of him becoming the next Vampire King of Logris,” I said, exhaling my relief. “Even if Valentine’s brothers don’t want to rule, other people might relish the opportunity for power.”

With a huff, Kain blew out a long breath and sat beside me at the base of the weeping willow. He leaned forward and rubbed a spot on Macavity’s brow. The oversized leopard closed his eyes and purred.

“Macavity likes belly rubs, too,” I said with a smile.

As Kain and Macavity frolicked at the side of the pond, I updated them both on everything that had happened since all four of us were last together in the courtyard of Beatrice’s apartment. It had been less than two weeks, but felt like months ago. After Kain had delivered Valentine’s heart and backed into The Conduit and drove back to Logris, so much had happened.

Valentine and I teamed up with Jonathan and the others to rescue my coven, only to walk into a trap set by Hades and the Mage King. Kain knew more about the rules Valentine had introduced while under the control of the corrupt kings. We escaped and lost contact, but I had managed to connect with the soul that dwelled within Valentine’s heart.

“Wait a minute.” Kain raised his hand. “The way you talk about him now, it sounds like he’s free.”

My lips formed a tight line. “One of the fire users tried to destroy Valentine’s heart. When I burned it with my phoenix flames, his heart rose from the ashes beating and alive. That’s when he broke free, and we found him around the wards of the hideout.”

Both Macavity and Kain nodded, and I continued the update. “Right after that, my birth mother and father tricked me and a few others into resurrecting Kresnik. He stole our power and transferred control over Valentine to himself.”

Kain shook his head. “But your blood brought him back to life.”

“The magic in my blood was what made the difference,” I murmured. “Kresnik couldn’t take all of our power because the fifth chamber of our heart creates the magic. The more of my blood Valentine drank, the more he slipped out of Kresnik’s control.”

“Bloody hell,” Kain muttered.

“Yeah.” I stared out beyond the water, telling them how Hades and I had escaped from Kresnik, and about the army of preternaturals standing to attention in the sewers. They both turned serious, staring at me through wide eyes.

“I kind of get why Valentine isn’t coming back,” Kain muttered. “I must sound like a whiny little bitch. There’s some crazed god out there, desperate to make a comeback and wants to start the next zombie apocalypse.”

“Don’t say that.” I turned to him and frowned. “Being a king is a huge responsibility, and I don’t blame you for not trusting Prince Draconius.”

Kain’s lips thinned. “He’s such a dick.”

I snorted. “That’s an understatement.”

He turned to me, his aquamarine eyes sparkling with excitement. “So, can you turn into a phoenix?”

“I did it once in real life,” I murmured.

“Only once?” Kain shook his head. “But you don’t have that firestone around your heart, and you said the powers returned. Have you tried to do it again?”

A huge breath gusted out of my lungs and I turned my gaze to the pond. A frog jumped to the edge of a cluster of lily pads, watching a golden fish leap in and out of the water. The frog jumped after it, only for the fish to disappear for several seconds and reappear on the other side of the lily pads.

Kain’s question lingered in my mind. Why wasn’t I achieving my full potential? There was nothing holding me back. I’d absorbed all the power from the stone, gotten rid of all the attachments Kresnik had created to siphon my magic, and had no other physical blocks to shifting into a phoenix.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“That’s what you need to focus on next,” Kain said. “The Council of Ministers have lots of enforcers to take care of the zombies, and you did everything you could to collect those samples.”

I hummed my agreement.

“Think about it,” he said. “Do you think Prince Draconius and his flunkies would have been able to bully you if you turned into a fire-breathing bird?”

I met his laughing eyes. “You’re mistaking me for a dragon.”

Kain shook his head. “If you can turn your body into fire, you can do the same to your spit. Rise up into the sky and pow, pow, pow!”

“Can birds even spit?”

“Alright then, attack them from the other end.”

A laugh huffed out of my throat. “That’s disgusting.”

“Better to be the shitter than the shit-ee.” Kain raised his brows in the expression of a man bestowing sage advice.

Macavity lowered his head, resting it on his paws. The end of his tail twitched from side to side, the way it did when he wasn’t quite asleep but sliding into deep relaxation.

Kain was right. Not the part about fiery defecation but the part about transforming into a phoenix. My session with Istabelle had gotten me to the point where I could use my flames, but I also needed to start exercising my magic so that I could generate enough firepower the moment Valentine consented to letting me resurrect him.

My stomach tightened as I pictured how Father Jude had screamed and flailed during the ceremony that turned him into a pile of ash. Valentine had seen it, too. Was this why he kept