Page 177 of Dissection of Immortal Hearts

The sight was both breathtaking and painful, awakening a sharp ache of longing in Amelia. She should have been the one wielding the Sacreds.

From the depths of her heart, a faint voice whispered:But what would be the point if you don’t have what you truly desire?

The Queen raised her gaze to the sky. “The three timelines have converged. We begin now.”

Amelia’s jaw clenched, her chest tight with fear. Her heartthundered so loudly and fiercely that she feared it might tear her apart. Desperately, she turned her attention to the Sacreds, calling them one by one.

She focused her thoughts on the necklace.Greed.

Her gaze shifted to the quartz at the Queen’s neckline.Envy.

Lust.She envisioned the net coiled around the Queen’s arm.Lust.

Her mind sought the gloves.Sloth.

Pain lanced through her chest as she summoned Mikhail’s ring beneath the gloves.Wrath.

Her eyes landed on the mirror.Pride.

Finally, her focus settled on the pocket watch.Gluttony.

She imagined herself connecting with them, every fibre of her being extending outward. Then she waited.

She didn’t know what she was waiting for, but she dared not breathe, while the relentless hammering of her heart filled her ears.

One beat. Two. Three. Nothing.

The Queen faced the Hospital, stretching her arms to the sky.

Amelia whispered the sins once more, her voice trembling.

Beams of light burst forth from the Sacreds, shooting towards the Hospital. They climbed its windows and arches, bathing the harpies in a searing white glow before cascading down the façade and disappearing into the earth.

The ground beneath Amelia shuddered violently.

***

Mikhail

The forest was a battlefield littered with bullets, blood, and torn entrails. Bodies covered the grass, hung limply from tree branches, and bled onto the jagged rocks below. The echoes ofthe fight would linger in the mountains for a long time, perhaps even reaching the human world.

It was a sight Mikhail would never forget. Among the fallen were agents he’d spent the last few days with at the winery, as well as familiar creatures who’d once sought refuge at the Hospital. And as much as it ached to acknowledge it, he recognised some of the dead enemies’ faces, too.

They had advanced up the slope, cutting down the Queen’s soldiers one by one, but something – or someone – always seemed to block his path, delaying his approach to the Hospital.

He tore out a vampire’s throat with his teeth and pressed on up the incline.

Finally, the Hospital’s gate appeared through the thick foliage. He took no notice of the building’s peak, now teeming with harpies, nor of the imposing structure that had consumed two centuries of his life. His focus narrowed on the open central gate.

From the cover of the forest, Mikhail scanned the main path and the area around the gate. Something wasn’t right – there were no guards. His eyes moved to the courtyard beyond the open gate. In the centre was the Queen. Then he saw Amelia: a tiny figure lying motionless in the grass.

His heart pounded faster, fear rising in his chest.

In his manticore form, Mikhail charged towards the entrance. He was abandoning the safety of the forest, but was too desperate to care.

“MAGICAL BARRIER!” someone shouted from behind.

He skidded to a halt, claws digging into the earth just before he crossed the metal posts of the gate. The lifeless body of a man lay outside the barrier, the skin on his face and hands black and wrinkled.