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 ...