He staggered slightly, his face pale from the pain. He flickered in and out of sight, too weak to fully utilize his power.
“Run.” Her heart felt like it was trying to tear itself away from her body.
“I’ll see you,” he said, his eyes dark and deep, then he turned. He was through the door and out of her sight before the sob broke from her chest.
Vivienne appeared with Karrem and Loras.
“Where is he?” Loras demanded.
“Long gone,” Fiona lied. Oh gods, she had to buy him some time.
Karrem charged out of the room, Loras on his heels.
Nay! Fiona ran after them, rounding the corner in time to see a dagger strike Ian in the back. He was nearly to the end of the hallway, but Karrem was too fast. He threw another dagger and Ian stumbled. Fell to his knees.
“Nay!” she screamed.
But it did no good. Loras and Karrem were upon him, grabbing his arms and hauling him to his feet. Blood dripped to the floor.
Fiona watched, helpless, as they dragged Ian down the hall.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Three weeks later
Prison for Magical Deviants, Immortal University
Edinburgh, Scotland
Rough hands shoved Ian into his cell. The heavy metal door slammed shut behind him, the footsteps of the prison guard echoing down the hallway. Ian dragged a hand down his face, sighing disgustedly at the feel of the grit on his skin. The prison guards had just escorted him back from construction duty in Moloch.
Building the cathedral in hell had been worse than ever since he’d been thrown back in here three weeks ago. His brief taste of freedom—and having Fiona—had only served to highlight the misery of the prison.
There’d been no retrial when he’d been captured after the assault on Dalen. They’d simply pulled the daggers from his back, patched him up, and thrown him back in the cell. He’d managed to slip the collar back around his neck in the infirmary. To his knowledge, no one had noticed that it had ever been gone, so Fiona shouldn’t take the blame.
It was the least he could do for her. She’d tried to free him.
If she’d tried to visit him while he was down here, he had no idea. Hell, visits probably weren’t even allowed.
He sat on his bed and pulled the dirty boots from his feet. Another endless day of mortaring stone and then breaking it down again. Compared to the exhilaration of being with Fiona, it was an exercise in utter misery.
The lock on his cell door creaked. His head jerked up. No one should be turning that lock until tomorrow morning, when he’d head back to Moloch.
An unfamiliar guard walked in and shut the door behind him.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked. But even as he said it, his skin prickled.
It couldn’t be.
Green magic swirled around the figure. When it dissipated, Logan stood inside his cell.
Hope flared in Ian’s chest. “How the hell are you here? Warding spells bar you from the campus.” As a god, Logan wasn’t allowed on the campus of the Immortal University. In an attempt to maintain peace between the afterworlds, the university sometimes made decisions that the gods didn’t like. Hence the need for the spell that banned them from the grounds unless they were granted permission to be there.
Logan grinned. “Not pleased to see me?”
“Aye.” Ian strode to his friend and hugged him, clapping him on the back. “But how the hell did you waltz right in here? You aren’t allowed on the grounds.”
“I have a little trick up my sleeve.”