Page 76 of Dissection of Immortal Hearts

She frowned. “Stronger, how?”

“Because of the connection each Oracle has to the Higher Powers,” he said, voice low and measured. “Your blood is denser,richer. It carries a healing energy most wouldn’t believe, letalone recognise. But those who’ve existed long enough…we learn how to listen for what others miss.” His honey-coloured eyes pierced hers. “The blood I received at the Hospital helped me restore my human form, but yours brought back my immortal one as well. It’s my turn to ask a question. What is the connection between you and Mikhail Korovin?”

“We…” Her breath caught in her throat. “We were together before the siege on the Hospital. He was in love with me. Now he doesn’t remember me. He believes that whatever we had was because I bewitched him.”

We were. He was. We had.

No past tense had ever stung this much.

“You’re connected to the Sacreds, and he possessed one of them,” Callan said. “It’s no wonder there was an attraction between the two of you.”

His casual tone was like a vise tightening around her heart. “Are you saying that since he no longer has the ring, everything we had has simply…vanished?”

“Yes.”

If his previous words had threatened to break her, his blunt response forced her to defend her love for Mikhail. “Does that mean there will now be an attraction between you and me, since the pocket watch is in your possession?”

His lips curled into a self-satisfied smile. “The attraction would exist even if the watch weren’t mine.” Before Amelia could respond, his expression sobered. “True love doesn’t depend on insignificant external factors. If Mikhail Korovin truly loved you, the absence of one item could never change his feelings.”

True. But dying over and over again – being dragged back each time – such trauma could change anyone. The pain struck her anew.

Silence fell between them, interrupted only by the distant singing of mountain birds.

“So, you’veheard of the Sacreds, after all,” Callan observed after a moment. She glared at him, and the tones in his eyes darkened. “I do not pursue the artefacts. All I seek is vengeance. I want to destroy the woman you know as the Queen.”

The hatred in his voice sent a shiver down Amelia’s spine.

“No one knows her as well as I do. I’m aware of her strengths and weaknesses. She has two advantages. The first is the Sacreds, which is why I’ll assist you in taking them from her. The second is the disrupted regeneration, and I’ll provide a way for you to overcome it. All I ask in return”—his features sharpened, and his gaze never wavered from hers—”is to see her dead.”

“Why?”

“She killed Galia. The witch I loved.”

A heavy silence fell between them. The weight of his statement pressed into Amelia’s chest. She searched his face for some sign of hesitation, some flicker of remorse – but found none. Just raw, unyielding grief twisted into vengeance.

The barely contained fury in his voice caused her stomach to tighten. Fear made her even less willing to trust him. Recklessly, she declared, “Mikhail and I could retrieve the Sacreds ourselves and then kill the Queen.”

“You could,” he conceded. “But how will you address the regeneration problem?”

“We’ve identified the exact genetic cause, and there are many beings at the Hospital with extensive medical expertise. It might take time, but we’ll figure out how to solve it.”

Something in her words amused Callan. “Interesting how your medical expertise will suffice against the Queen’smethods,” he emphasised the last word.

Amelia’s jaw tightened. “What exactly do you mean by that?”

“I mean, the Queen is far more than the leader of an insignificant race.”

“How much more?”

“She’s a humanid. A being of extraterrestrial origin, sentenced to live on Earth with earthly powers.”

Amelia regarded him with suspicion. “Can you prove it?”

He waved a hand through the air. “Is the proof not all around you?”

Her nostrils flared as she struggled to process his revelations. The Queen was more than a mere being, but ‘an alien’ was far too much.Humanid. That was the term Callan had used. Gea had also written that the Sacreds were gifted to the earthly species by… humanids.

“Fine,” Amelia said, drawing a steadying breath. “Fine. What exactly does she do to cause these changes?”