Page 20 of Dissection of Immortal Hearts

Good thing they were disinterested enough in the Hospital’s affairs to accept his words without suspicion. As he stepped into the lift, Viktor couldn’t shake the feeling of their gazes boring into his back. If it had just been the humans, they would have exchanged jibes at his expense, calling him a ‘freak’, a ‘perversion’, and other insults he’d often heard directed at immortal creatures. However, the presence of the reptilian among them made them think twice.

The lift opened on the ICU floor and…

Elisanda Grace.

How in hell?The wolf clawed at his chest in fury. If there was one being in the world Viktor loathed, it was the nymph. She had betrayed Mikhail by allying with the reptilians, but she’d also killed a housekeeper from the Hospital with her bare hands and even attempted to murder a child.

Damn her to hell!Hadn’t Mikhail handed her over to the Tribunal?

“Viktor Volk! Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise!” the nymph exclaimed with a cheerful tone..

He stared at her. The lift door began to close, but Elisanda blocked it with her leather-booted foot. “Have you upset my guards so much they’ve cut out your tongue, Viktor?”

Her fiery crimson hair was clean and vibrant – hardly the look of someone who should have been in prison. She wore lipstick in the same scarlet shade, and a figure-hugging red dress with a high neckline and long sleeves draped her feminine shape… nothing like the prison uniform she should have been sporting.

Viktor’s gaze dropped to the large suitcase she was gripping by the handle. “What are you doing here again?!” he growled.

“Oh, he can talk…”

Viktor snapped out of his shock enough to step out of the lift. The moment he did, he spotted the guards flanking Elisanda as if she were a movie star. He wasn’t supposed to show emotion or react in front of the guards, but he couldn’t hold back. “How did you get out of Prokaliya?”

She curled her lips into a mocking smile, but it was so twisted with hatred that it resembled more of a grimace. “Like any innocent person, I didn’t have to ‘get out’. Though I’m not exactly free, given the responsibilities waiting for me…” Viktor’s body stiffened. “Oh, I see you haven’t heard. The Hospital isnow under my management, and I’ll finally implement all those changes I’ve long planned but couldn’t get anyone to support. Well, now I don’t need support, because I alone will call the shots.”

Viktor’s pulse thundered in his ears. Red hair, red lips, red dress… it all blurred into the bloody haze that had been clouding his vision for days.

Elisanda brushed past him to enter the lift. Her guards followed, one carrying her suitcase while another shoulder-checked Viktor.

Once inside the lift, she pivoted on her heels and faced him. “Before I was unjustly removed from my position, I lived in a flat in this wing, but I don’t think it suits me any longer. And since it doesn’t seem like Mikhail will be returning anytime soon, I’ve decided to relocate to his quarters on the top floor.”

The lift door slid shut, leaving Viktor alone.

No, not alone. Just a few metres down the corridor, more guards waited.

Move!It wasn’t the wolf’s voice this time, but his own, urging him to save himself from self-destruction.

Now he had to enter one of the rooms and persuade the beings inside that salvation was on its way. To hold on. Not to sign blood oaths to the Queen. To keep their faith alive.

But… Elisanda Grace should have been in Prokaliya, yet she wasn’t. Did that mean the Tribunal was really collaborating with the reptilians? And if so… was there no hope of liberation?

11

Amelia

Amelia followed the Queen down the steep staircase that led out of the castle, struggling to keep pace with her descent.

The Mother of Reptilians’ voice echoed through the hollows of the rock. “The first object you’ll find for me is a very special witch’s artefact.”

Amelia’s stomach clenched. This was the item Gea had claimed was connected to her. “So, it’s not those gloves?” she asked, having hoped her first task might somehow involve Constantine. It would have given her a chance to spend time alone with him and uncover his plan for getting out of here – assuming he had one.

The Queen came to an abrupt halt and faced her. “They have nothing to do with this. I advise you not to distract yourself with thoughts of them.”

So much for Gea’s prediction that, by now, the Queen might trust her enough to reveal more about the Sacreds.

“An object leaves a trace in the mind,” the Queen said, resuming her descent. “Its shape, its weight, the way it sounds or feels. Those are the threads you unravel to find it.”

Amelia followed, the impenetrable darkness around them raising shivers along her skin. “How can I find an object I’ve never seen or touched?”

“With a little help.”