Page 112 of Anatomy of the Immortal Species

Helena’s painted eyebrows arched in indignation. “Ha! As if you weren’t involved! Let me tell you what really happened, Mikhail. Otherwise, you won’t understand a thing.”

“For heaven’s sake, let him get dressed first, woman…”

“I had something else in mind first.” Mikhail cast a meaningful glance at Amelia – it only served to further heat her skin.

Before either of them could say anything, Viktor came in next. “Mikhail, it’s true you returned!”

A thin smile formed on Mikhail’s lips. “Glad to see rumours spread so quickly…”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Alex barged into the room after her stepfather.

“Right…” Mikhail frowned, but the smile kept tugging at his lips. “Looks like the only thing I’ll be doing before talking to you, is getting dressed.”

Amelia left with the others and waited for him in the hallway.

43

The first rays of daylight filtered through the window. Mikhail feared if he kept his eyes closed for too long, he would open them and find himself back in the dungeon he had endured for the past three months.

His gaze lingered on Amelia’s profile, drawing her attention. Their eyes met, and she smiled at him – a smile he hadn’t seen since before he’d hurt her. His chest tightened. Never again. He would never again allow the past to defeat him.

He thought about his revoked sentence. It had been set for one hundred and fifty years and while the walls of his world had been crumbling, all he’d thought about was Amelia. His only concern had been for her well-being. And despite being back by her side, he couldn’t even get a minute alone.

No matter how much he wished to avoid dwelling on it, his mind kept drifting back to the prison – and to the happiest moment of his time there.

The door to his cell creaked open. Mikhail squinted at the light penetrating through the crack, but didn’t bother to shift from his sitting position on the bed. It had to be one of the guards who would sneak meat to Mikhail every now and then, for he’d been a patient at the Hospital patient many years ago and claimed to owe his life to the healers. The food he brought wasn’t what Mikhail would’ve consumed, but he did so without complaints. It was his single source of energy.

“Hello, my friend,” a deep voice said.

Mikhail’s gaze lifted from the fresh scars marring the knucklesof his arms and met a face he hadn’t seen for years. To make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, his eyes traced the bulging figure of the man until they landed on the mask dangling from his fingers. A mask Presiyan had worn even as he’d arrested him and brought him to this icy prison.

The man stepped closer, his features twisting. “Sorry for putting you through all of this. I had no choice.”

Familiar licks of anger stirred within Mikhail. “You’ve been avoiding me for two months and that’s the only thing you have to say now, Presiyan? How about sharing when you plan to fucking let me go?”

Presiyan shrugged. “I can’t say you’ve been treated well, but you’ve been treated better than every other Prokaliya prisoner.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Mikhail’s jaw clenched. Whatever the visit was about, it obviously wasn’t about his prison discharge. Presiyan had no intention of overturning his sentence.

“Listen, brother…” Presiyan said.

But Mikhail wasn’t paying attention. He was calculating his chance of survival if he fought the Tribunal leader. He was drained and even if, by some miracle, he managed to get past Presiyan, armed guards awaited outside, ready to take him down before he could even take a step towards escape. Should he still attempt it?

“Something’s happening in the immortal world. A threat I cannot give you details about, but I sense death…” The last words brought Mikhail’s focus back to Presiyan. “My information is scarce, yet it appears an interspecies war is rising.”

Mikhail’s muscles tensed, dread filling every cell of his body.

The reptilians.

He leapt off the bed and straightened to his full height, facing the Tribunal’s leader. “If all that’s true, there’s something youmust do for me.”

Presiyan opened his mouth to speak. Mikhail interrupted him. “Please. For the sake of all the years we’ve known each other, please go to the Hospital and find Amelia – the woman I was with when you arrested me. Take her somewhere safe. She’s the Oracle, but she’s not fit yet for this world. The reptilians were hunting her before and they won’t stop now…”

He was babbling and pleading – it was his single chance to speak to Presiyan, and he had to make it count.For if the Tribunal leader was right, Amelia was in grave danger.

Presiyan’s lips curved into a sly smile. “I suggest you take care of her yourself.”

Mikhail’s breath hitched.