Chapter 7

• Three Years Later
• I stood before two towering, muscle-bound men and allowed a smirk to curve my lips. A crowd had gathered around us, forming a wide ring in the middle of the training grounds. The earth beneath my boots had dried to a fine layer of loose sand from the weeklong drought - an advantage I intended to use.
• The men eyed me with disdain, their gazes sweeping up and down the length of my body. "You sure about this, princess?" Paolo, the bald one, chuckled as he ran a hand over his head, rolling his broad shoulders back in a display of confidence.