Page 96 of Dissection of Immortal Hearts

“Fine!” he bellowed. “Fine, just quit hitting her.”

His eyes, wild with rage and anguish, never left the vampire’s trembling form. She lay curled on her side, struggling to suppress her sobs, though her cheeks gleamed with tears.

“Fine…” He lowered his head to his chest.

The Queen smiled. “Everyone out! Except you, Kathrine. See to it that this poor creature is cared for while the necromancer fulfils his task.”

***

Constantine

Constantine harboured no illusions that his tasks would end with retrieving the gloves. From now on, he’d be the Queen’s most obedient errand boy in the Otherworld.

The guards and a handful of spectators shuffled out of the hall with evident reluctance. The miserable wretches had come for a spectacle, naturally. He would have been more than willing to oblige them, but their bloody Queen had other plans. It made no difference to him – he just wanted this to be over.

Diana struggled to push herself onto her knees, her face contorted with pain at even the slightest movement.

“Don’t,” the Queen said, sensing his intention to approach her.

Kathrine stepped forward and grasped Diana by the shoulders to help her stand. The vampire pushed her away, baring her teeth with a feral hiss.

“That’s what I call spirit.” The Queen grinned, stepping in front of Diana. “And foolishness. Such displays are a sign of weakness and inexperience, girl.”

Diana’s eyes locked onto the Queen’s with fierce determination. “Screw you,” she spat.

Fuck…

The Queen turned her focus to Constantine, her eyebrows lifting in amusement. “You’re quite the pair, necromancer.”

He met Diana’s gaze, silently pleading for her to stop digging her own grave. Hehadexpected the Queen to torture her to force his compliance. What he hadn’t anticipated was how these games would affect him. Not after the crushing disappointment her past days’ behaviour had caused. She’d let him believe she was dead. She’d planned to trade him like a pawn. She’d kissed him not out of desire, but to achieve an aim.

But as the whip strikes had surpassed the limits that justifiedleaving her to her fate, something inside him had fractured. If he could go back to the moment he’d cracked under the sound of that cursed whip… He’d break again. And again. He would tear the world apart to end the suffering of the woman who had bound him and conspired to trade his life away.

Damnation!Along with his skills, Mada must have stolen much of his common sense, because he was about to commit the most sentimental folly of his millennia-long existence.

Diana knelt, teeth clenched, enduring the unfolding scene with grim resolve. Another wave of fury swept through Constantine.

“Begin!” he growled.

***

Constantine

The Smoky Quartz rested like a treasure in the Queen’s outstretched palm, its energy so intense it made the air crackle with menace. Constantine was on the brink of reclaiming his abilities and ridding himself of Mada’s slow, obliterating curse. Yet, he felt nothing.

“Are you ready?” the Queen asked, her voice a silken blade.

Why not? He would remain in her thrall until the end of his days.

“I have a question,” he said. “How did you know where to find us?”

The black stone pulsed, tasting the power to come. The chamber’s air thickened with malevolence.

“Hmmm…” The Mother of Reptilians tapped her lips. “The credit goes to Kathrine.”

Constantine’s head snapped towards the reptilian, but her face was unreadable.

“Sherecalledyour reaction when you mentioned the deathof a certain vampire,” the Queen continued. “One Kathrine failed to eliminate during the Al-Hatib Tournament because someone warned her. Swan, I assume. He’s always been close to Sevar.”