Page 62 of Urban Gladiator

At my threat, he walked away without a backward glance. I wanted to rage. I should have claimed her. I should have done so many things differently. I should have listened to her when she asked me to leave Avalon with her. And now she would die believing I betrayed her.

I saw the look in her eyes, the accusation. She thought I had poisoned the wine and her.

Shifting, I battered at the bars. They were reinforced with magic and next-level impossible to break. But I wouldn’t stop. If I had to beat myself bloody to get out, I would. My only thought was saving my mate.

Ember

My head spun horribly. I felt sick to my stomach as I lifted my gaze. Where the hell was I? And why was it so loud? My ears painfully rang. And then I gasped as everything swam into focus.

Oh my goddess, no!

I’d been strapped to the altar in the arena. The place was a burned-out shell of its former glory. But the altar still stood.

A man wearing the robes of a necromancer approached. His black eyes held the knowledge of the ancients. And before I could call out for help or for the power to aid my escape, he withdrew a blade. The silver glinted. Fear descended over me. Because I knew in that moment I was going to die.

And the necromancer in dark blue robes began making shallow cuts on my arms, my midsection, and my ankles.

I yelped at the sharp pain. Because while they were shallow, they were deep enough for the blood to flow unimpeded.

Turning my face away, I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see the crowd of onlookers cheering on my death. I didn’t want to look into the necromancer’s black eyes and have it be one of the last things I saw in this life. It was taking all that I had not to break down over Rowan’s betrayal.

How many witches had he played for a fool before he let them be taken? He’d acted like he had drank the wine. But it had only been to get me to drink it.

But I was unable to hold back the tears as my blood trickled out into the basin beneath the altar to collect it. Then they would take it to the barrier and infuse it with my blood.

I wanted to curse Rowan. But I didn’t have it in me. But internally, I screamed a question I’d asked before.

Oh Maiden, Mother, Crone, why have you forsaken me?

Rowan

I lay on the floor of my cell, letting my body heal from its injuries. I’d been attacking the cell for an hour, to no avail.

“Chin up, old boy.”

My head snapped up. “Simon?”

The vampire stood on the other side of the bars and put a finger to his mouth. “Hush. I’m here to get you out.”

“Thank fuck! I need you to save her. You can get to the arena faster than me. I need—”

Simon leveled me with a hard stare. “We need you out of this prison cell so you can rescue your mate and kill your father. We already know.”

“Who’s we?”

“Bixby is at the door to the dungeons, ready to call out if we have an issue.”

“My father’s guards?” Had he killed them? I wouldn’t care if he had. I just needed to understand what we were up against. And if there would be any detractors who might slow me down in reaching Ember in time.

“Are taking a nice nap.” Simon unlocked the cell door with a key he had procured. Then yanked it open with such force it pulled the door off completely. Simon tossed it onto the ground like it weighed nothing.

I was through the door in a flash. “Do you know where the king is?”

“Ah, sir, he headed to the arena to be there for the bloodletting. To ensure it’s done right were the words I heard him say,” Bixby said from his post at the door to the dungeons.

“Simon, I need you to rescue Ember and get her out of that arena. I will handle my father.” It was time for his reckoning.

“I can do that.” Simon nodded solemnly with understanding the magnitude of the task before him.

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