Page 86 of Dissection of Immortal Hearts

“Have you tried connecting to the pocket watch yet?”

She had spent half an hour gazing at it, waiting for some sort of reaction – a twitch, a sound, anything. It had rested in her hand, more useless than an ordinary clock. “I’m not sure what to do with it.”

Callan smiled. “The watch is a gift for lycanthropes, the most bloodthirsty creatures in this world. Thirsty for blood, for killing. When a lycanthrope gets overwhelmed by these urges, they need something to soothe them – a place, an object, or even another being. The watch allows them to transport themselves to the desired location in seconds, quelling their typically insatiable hunger for violence. But I’m not surprised you can’t use it. It took me over a hundred years to master it.”

That wasn’t very encouraging. Then again, her role wasn’t to wield the Sacreds but to ensure no one else could gather them.

She stood up. “I’m going for a walk.”

Leaving Callan behind, she ventured into the forest. Soon, her brisk steps became a sprint, her pulse racing.

She wasn’t sure how far she’d gone when she paused to catch her breath and surveyed the area with her Oracle vision. The night was lovely, the stars peeking through the intertwined branches above her head, inviting wishes. The green leaves swayed in harmony with the wind, showing no signs of danger. At first.

She heard the growl a split second before something heavy slammed her to the ground. She twisted, meeting the manticore’s muzzle as its paw pinned her to the earth. His body was at least two and a half metres long. He leaned down towards her neck, warming her skin with his hot breath. Black wings unfurled from his spine, obscuring her view.

But even so, Amelia recognised Mikhail. She could see the outlines of his face, ghostly and faintly glowing around the creature’s snout.

Then something strange happened. Although a growl emanated from his mouth, she heard words in her head: ‘Very reckless of you to wander the forest alone at night. There are all kinds of dangers lurking.’

Amelia couldn’t fathom why now, of all times, she could hear him in her mind, when she hadn’t previously. Unless... Was it yet another evolution of her Oracle powers? And if it was, how much more would her powers evolve?

“As far as I can tell, you’re the only danger at the moment,” she managed to say, breathless.

He raised his head, locking his predatory eyes on hers.‘You understand me?’

“I do. And besides…” She wriggled her leg, trying to freeherself. “You’re heavy!”

‘How fascinating,’ he mused, not moving an inch. ‘I wonder what other gifts have resulted from this unusual blend of witch’s blood and Oracle abilities.’

“Get off me, Mikhail.”

Slowly, he drew back. ‘Go back to the cabin,’ he said before disappearing into the forest.

34

Constantine

Constantine examined the knives strapped to Diana’s thighs, the holster at her waist, and everything in between. A dozen crude remarks crossed his mind, but the time for that had long since passed. Besides, if his suspicions from the previous day were correct, their location could already be compromised.

Diana rested a hand on the holster at her waist, her stance wide. “I warned you not to pound on the wall. If you keep that up, someone might come snooping around. Do you want me to shoot an innocent person because of you?”

He smirked. “You’ve mistaken your man, dove. I stopped being a slave to a guilty conscience a long time ago.”

“Of course. How naïve of me to have thought otherwise.”

“Diana, every second we spend in this house puts both of us at risk. We need to leave as soon as possible.”

She placed her hands on her hips. “Tomorrow, my contact will meet with the Queen and propose a deal to have you returned to her.”

“And your contact will lose his head, as will you, if you don’t listen to me and get us out of here immediately. That woman you calleda reptilian bitch,remember her? Her name is Kathrine, and she has likely recognised you by now. She knows you took part in the tournament.”

Diana shrugged. “There were plenty of participants. I doubt the reptilians investigated or remembered all of us. Besides, we barely had time to show our skills. The weaker players were eliminated in the first rounds, and then the reptilians destroyedthe rest.”

“You might not have been on her radar initially, but I guarantee you are now.”

“Why?”

He tugged at his handcuffs, more out of habit than frustration. He hadn’t planned to confess his torment over her in such circumstances. “Because of me. I wanted to gut her, because I believed she’d killed you.”