Page 31 of Urban Gladiator

But that was impossible. No one knew I was gone yet.

And I turned and soared off the other side of the city wall. My temporary wings spread, and I flew. Magic flooded my veins as I glided above the trees. It wouldn’t last. I’d used a ton of magic, which would be hard to sustain. But I laughed at the sheer joy of my flight, at finally being free from captivity.

I flew as far as the wings would carry me and landed miles away from the city. They’d given me the head start I needed. I would do the rest on foot, traveling northwest.

It would take me days to reach the barrier. But I didn’t want to think about the ground I needed to cover yet, nor the predators in the area. Because while the dome kept humans out of Avalon, it didn’t waylay beasts of the forest. Although I could defend myself against bears, mountain lions, and whatever else might come. In fact, normal creatures would be easier to handle than some of the territories I’d enter.

I had to be stealthy and pray the goddess kept me hidden. Otherwise, my escape from Avalon City would be short-lived.

And Rowan would find me.

12

At the furious knock on my bedroom door, I bolted up in bed. Had she come to apologize? “Come in.”

Bixby stuck his head in my room. It was still unusual to me that he could no longer walk through walls. But I’d never seen the man happier—until now. His face was pinched with worry. “Ah, sir, sorry to disturb you, but there’s a problem.”

“What did she do now?” My mate was seriously testing the limits of my good graces.

He cleared his throat. “Um, well, reports are coming in that the arena is on fire, and they’re having difficulty putting out the blaze. It seems to be made from—”

“Witch fire. Son of a bitch! Where is she?” I snapped, vaulting out of bed. Bixby didn’t bat an eye at my nude state.

“That’s the problem, I don’t know. Her bedroom door is open, and the room is empty.”

“What?” I roared. I knew I should have put her in the room with me where I could keep an eye on her. But I’d allowed fury to dictate my actions. And if I was honest, I wanted a sliver of separation between us to make it easier for me to let her go when the time came.

Foolish mistake. Letting my emotions govern my actions.

Seething, I dressed and asked, “Did anyone see her? Search the castle from top to bottom.”

“Um, the guards already did, and they came up empty. They followed her scent into the gardens and beyond to the city wall, but that’s where her scent ends.”

Running a frustrated hand through my hair, I swore. “Let’s deal with the arena first. And then I will find the damn witch.”

“There’s more, sir.” Bixby winced.

Fuck me. What more could there possibly be? “What?” I chewed out. It wasn’t Bixby’s fault.

“Your father. He’s calling for the witch’s head the moment she’s captured.”

My mate had created a catastrophic clusterfuck. It would make trying to get her out of the city even harder. I gritted my teeth. “I’ll deal with my father.”

Of course that fucker was calling for her head. It was all my father knew how to do—wage war. When I had begun questioning the gladiator tournaments because of Ember.

The trek to the arena took twice as long because of all the people outside their homes watching the blaze. The blue haze of witch fire illuminated the surrounding city. Bixby was on my heels. I turned to him and murmured, “Get the necromancer. Tell Marco if he’s able to extinguish the witch fire, I will release him from prison.”

“Is that wise?”

Likely not. And there was a high probability it would come back and bite me in the ass, but it was the best I could come up with at present. “It’s the only way to extinguish the flames. We can’t risk the rest of the city igniting. Do it quickly and quietly. And tell Marco he has my word that I will honor our bargain. Do not, under any circumstance, allow my father or his guards to hear or see the two of you. And you must be swift.”

Bixby nodded and grimaced.

“What? Out with it.”

“It’s just that now that I’m corporeal, it will take time. I must go on foot instead of appearing and disappearing at will.”

“Fuck. I’ll do it. Stay here and manage this chaos.” I shifted before he could respond. My day had been shit.

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