Page 48 of Dissection of Immortal Hearts

As mesmerised as she was by the Sacred, time was scarce. She needed to get Mikhail out of Antambazi.

Amelia put her coat back on, concealing the cord beneath her sleeve.

“Should I expect an electric shock from the shackles, too?” Constantine asked as he circled Mikhail’s body, though he dared not touch the metal cuffs on his wrists.

Amelia inspected the systems. Nothing appeared to be flowing through the tubes at that moment. “We need to find out what they’ve been injecting him with.” She gestured towards the unconscious reptilian on the floor. “Wake him up.”

Constantine crouched beside the man and gave him a rough nudge. The reptilian frowned but didn’t stir.

Amelia grabbed a glass flask from the table by the wall, uncorked it, and sniffed. Just water. She flung its contents intothe reptilian’s face, forcing a reaction.

He coughed and opened his eyes. A bruise was already forming across his cheekbone. His trembling limbs reinforced the impression that he was inexperienced – both in high-pressure situations and in dealings with beings of other species.

Amelia loomed over him. “What are you injecting the manticore with?”

The reptilian remained silent. Constantine seized him by the lab coat and yanked him upright. “Answer.”

The man’s eyes widened in fear. “Her Majesty will have all our heads for this. Please, leave. Whatever you’re trying to achieve, you won’t succeed. She’ll kill you – and me with you!”

He feared the Queen, but not them?

Amelia smashed the flask against the laboratory counter. “I asked what you’re injecting him with.”

The reptilian shook his head. “Please, don’t…”

She held the broken rim to his throat. His gaze froze on her face, terror overtaking his fear. Now, his reaction had nothing to do with the Queen’s punishment. Amelia knew it was because of her Oracle eyes. And she hadn’t even begun.

She dragged the shard down the front of his shirt, where his lab coat parted. All of a sudden, Constantine’s detachment from killing people seemed entirely understandable to her. For Mikhail, she would cross every line. “I’m asking politely for the last time. What are you injecting him with?”

“A… a compound similar to curare,” the reptilian stammered. “It paralyses the respiratory muscles and causes death by asphyxiation…”

Amelia’s heart ignited with fury. She was well aware of curare’s effects!

She pressed the shard harder against his throat. “And the second system?”

Tears streamed down the reptilian’s face as he chokedout, “Milliseconds after… after he dies, the second system administers a regeneration serum to bring him back.”

God! “How many times?” Amelia’s voice was low, alien.

“Wh-what?”

“How many times have you done this to him?”

The reptilian seemed well aware that his answer wouldn’t please her. “Four… four times a day.”

Constantine cursed.

Mikhail had been suffering a torturous death four times a day, fordays on end.

That explained why she’d found him lifeless when she entered, and why he’d been revived moments later. The automated system had administered a regeneration serum.

Amelia rushed back to Mikhail. Everything within her ached at seeing her prince with golden eyes, shackled and forced to his knees. He was the strongest man she had ever known. Such submission was an insult to his very nature. Blinking away the sting of tears, she summoned every shred of courage. They would escape. He would survive.

After confirming he was still breathing and nothing was flowing through the tubes, she yanked both systems from his veins. Then, she focused on the shackles. They were locked.

She returned to the reptilian, who remained frozen under Constantine’s imposing presence. “Where’s the key?”

“Please, Her Majesty will kill me!”