Page 142 of Anatomy of the Immortal Species

His mind reeled at her last sentence, repeating it over and over again.

‘We slaughtered the remaining players.’

‘We slaughtered… remaining players…’

Diana.

A vision of her in workout gear, tossing punches at him, hit him with all the force of a hammer. Her features had been drawn into focus, her eyes glittering with sweet satisfaction as she’d landed a well-aimed hit to his ribs. She’d smiled – one of the few times he’d seen it.

All that training, and for what... ?

“Close your mouth, necromancer, or I might take it as a signthat you’re rather impressed by me.” She smirked.

His lungs weren’t pumping. His heartbeat stuttered, like an engine ready to fail.

What heart, necromancer? You have no heart.

Then why did that spot to the left of his rib hurt like hell right now?

“With the help of the mirror, we took down all the defences of the Hospital, and we made it visible to our human allies.We got in. And there’s nothing you or that manticore can do about it.”

Constantine jerked against his bonds – or tried to. As soon as he caught the glint of satisfaction in Kathrine’s eyes, he stopped and forced himself to stay still. She was baiting him, trying to provoke him. Too bad she didn’t understand she’d just given away her leverage.

Something bright had tried to sprout inside of him in Diana’s presence. An urge to live, not merely exist. And now she was dead, and she’d taken that last spark in him with her.

“Is that why you kidnapped me, then? To make sure I couldn’t stop you?”

She chuckled low. “In a way. Let’s just say the Queen has plans for you, necromancer. And with you not living on the Hospital’s grounds, you were a… wild card.” She sneered. “One that’s been neutralised. And now, the Hospital is under siege. We control it.”

“You mean you, that slick fool in the tasteless suit, and your self-proclaimed queen?” he barked, struggling to keep his straight pose.

“I mean the reptilian race,” Kathrine said. “There is no one left to oppose us. Mikhail Korovin has been removed.”

Removed.

Constantine wanted to ask what that meant, but doing so would show weakness.

If she said ‘removed’ and not ‘dead,’ it had to mean Mikhail wasstill alive.

“The Oracle was a great help to us,” Kathrine continued. “Korovin suffered from losing the Hospital, but the Oracle’s betrayal destroyed him. It seems he’s in love with her. Or at least, hewas. After what she did, he probably won’t have any pleasant feelings towards her.”

“What did she do?” Constantine asked in a flat tone.

“She pretended to be in love with Korovin to steal the ring – his inheritance from his father.”

The weight pressing on Constantine’s chest doubled. He didn’t know if Amelia had betrayed Mikhail or if something else had occurred, but he’d seen the change in him since she had entered his life. If Mikhail had survived, he must have been broken.

His fingers tightened around the metal collar. His black eyes bore into Kathrine’s violet irises. “There is no greater optimist than one who believes he has hit rock bottom. I said, ‘I have nothing more to lose.’ And he, Life, accepted it as a challenge.”

Kathrine’s eyes flared with new emotion.

Constantine sneered. “Why don’t you wipe the schoolmistress look off your face and come kneel at my feet, just like you’ve been imagining since the first time you laid eyes on me?”

Her slap struck him like lightning. Constantine laughed. They were going to have fun.

The reptilians wanted him on their side because they needed his necromancer abilities. The fact he had none, and they didn’t know it, put him in a great position to toy with them. And he hadn’t even brought up the detail that Kathrine had slipped C.’s journal to Alex. He saved that for the next stage of their relationship. He had a lot of punishment planned for her.

Actually, now that Diana was gone, as was his freedom, he couldn’t think of a better goal in his life than destroying Kathrine’s.

“You’ll learn respect, necromancer,” she hissed.

“You will too, tigress. Several times a day.”

How long would it take her to realise he wasn’t joking?

Kathrine was clever, deadly, and in perfect control. Why had she given the journal to Alex if she held such a prominent position in the Queen’s entourage?

The answers would come in time.

Constantine raised his gaze to hers, determined to push her to her limits. “Well, Kathrine… How far are you willing to go to win me over to your side?”