Page 27 of Urban Gladiator

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, I lit the candle. Then I mixed the spell ingredients together in the bowl. Drawing my energy together, I quietly intoned, “I call upon the elements of earth, air, fire, water, and spirit to aid me in this spell. Maiden, Mother, Crone, I beseech thee. Show me what Prince Rowan keeps hidden from my sight.”

I drew a pentagram in the bowl and then lit the concoction on fire. But it wasn’t an ordinary flame; it was witch fire. Burning brighter than my spirit, the blue flame blazed, unburning.

“Let me see, let me see. As I will it, so mote it be.”

Smoke billowed from the blue flame, filling the bathroom. But then, like a curtain drawing back within the smoke, a scene appeared.

Rowan in the suit I’d seen him wearing in the courtyard. But now he was at his desk, looking rather debonair. My captor was hot. He had this raw animal magnetism I found deeply sexy.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” A gentleman asked. He bore the red eyes of a vampire. Rowan was friendly with vampires? Our coven hadn’t had any dealings with them in my lifetime. And I was curious. The vampire’s hair was golden and long. He had the bearing of a king and a body that bore a resemblance to Vikings of old. I wondered if that’s where he was from, a Scandinavian country.

“There’s nothing I can do, Simon. By the laws of our people, fourteen days after the witch is won through combat, they must be sacrificed in a bloodletting ritual to preserve the wall that separates our world from the human world.”

“Surely there’s a way around it.”

Rowan pinched the bridge of his nose. “I wish there was. If you can find a way around it that doesn’t result in our world being exposed to humans, then I’m all for it. But I’ve searched through the lore, and there’s nothing.”

“Would it be so bad to have the wall fall? The outside world has changed.”

“Yeah, and the country we find ourselves in has become even less tolerant of anything or anyone who doesn’t conform to their ideology. Do you really think the fairies or orcs would be accepted by them? You and I both know they wouldn’t. It would be like the burning times but a thousand times worse. Half of us would end up in government facilities having our brains and innards studied. And the rest of us would have to worry about mobs attacking us. Hell, they could drop a bomb on Avalon, and that would be it for all of us. Do you really want to risk it?”

Simon pursed his lips. “I see your point. I’m sorry she has to die.”

“I am too. But there’s no way around it that I can see unless I find another witch to sacrifice.”

I yanked myself out of the vision.

Sacrificed. I’d known there was something he wasn’t telling me. And deep down, I’d known it would be bad.

The truth forced my hand. And my plan for vengeance had to take a back burner. Vengeance would get me nowhere if I wound up dead. It sealed my decision. Tonight, when everyone was asleep, I would escape. I’d overheard the coven mother tell the council that in the north, past the giants' territory, was an area where the border between worlds was weaker. That many a witch had escaped Avalon through it.

And that was my destination. I would leave Avalon forever. As much as I didn’t want to enter the human world, it was the only way I could continue to live. Because I couldn’t trust Rowan. If I did, I would tell him there was another way to revive the barrier. One that didn’t require my sacrifice.

But I could never trust him.

And with that, I extinguished the blue flame. I dumped the contents from the spell down the drain and silently gave thanks to the Maiden, Mother, and Crone for guiding my sight.

Rowan’s betrayal hurt more than I was comfortable with because I’d begun dropping my shields with him.

At least I knew now. And tonight, I would escape my fate. And I wouldn’t go quietly either. If they wanted to see what a witch could truly do, I would give them a show.

10

Later that night, I was relaxing on the couch in a slinky nightgown, watching a baking competition after dinner, when Rowan strutted into the room. My body purred to life. At least I wouldn’t have to pretend to want him. But I swallowed the lump of betrayal. I knew it was the divide between our tribes and not necessarily him. Although it didn’t make what he was willing to do to me any easier.

Those sexy ice-blue eyes found me and traveled over my body with the light of approval in them. He cockily swaggered my way. “I heard you helped Bixby today.”

Straightening my spine, I knew he’d be reproachful over my use of magic. But I wasn’t going to apologize for it. “I did.”

Rowan took a seat on the couch beside me, his gaze warm. “Thank you. Bixby’s been miserable for years, unable to cross over but incapable of doing things most men can.”

“You mean so he can bed Mistress Lara?” I teased.

Rowan chuckled and gifted me with a genuine smile that reached his eyes. Mirth danced inside them. And for the first time, I wished things were different. That he was just a man and I was just a woman without all the bullshit politics between us. “Yeah. Poor sot has had it bad for her for years and been unable to do anything about it.”

I shrugged like it was no big deal. “It’s what we do in my village with the ghosts that can’t cross over. I’m surprised your kind hasn’t made us do it for ghosts in the city.”

“You make it sound like we’re the monsters in this equation.”

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