Free Winning the Legend by B. Kristin McMichael Page B

interested in watching Devin.
    “Go ahead,” Arianna indicated to Devin.
    Devin nodded and tossed the knife with just
a flick of his wrist. Most of the men held their breath as the
knife flew down the field to where Arianna was. It flipped around
multiple times before the knife hit the apple squarely with a
resounding thud. Arianna skipped back down the field, holding the
fruit on the knife and eating it like a candy apple.
    “Any more questions, or doubts of my
judgment?” Arianna asked everyone, trying to rub it in for Nik. He
had looked like he was about to pee his pants only moments before,
but was now back to his sneering, sulking self. Arianna turned to
walk away but stopped. She needed to make a point with these men to
stay in charge.
    “If anyone questions my decisions, they may
be asked to leave the competition. I have agreed to play your
stupid, chauvinistic game for my hand in marriage, which really
only equates to your right to sleep with me since I know I’ll never
love any of you. You have all made me into a glorified whore, so
I’m really not in the mood to stand around debating if what I do is
fair or not. You chose to be here. If you don’t like my game, then
leave.” Arianna glared a challenge at each man. No one flinched or
looked away. They all got her point. Arianna turned on her heels,
and walked away from the awed and confused men. Her little display
of power didn’t frighten them like she hoped, but just enticed them
further.
    * * * * *
    The next morning Arianna ran beside Andrew
as Thomas led them around the expansive grounds of the estate to
set the course for the next competition. She was trying to ignore
the way Andrew tempted her as he ran beside her so that she could
concentrate more on following Thomas, but it was hard to do. They
were plotting the course that the men would follow later that night
for the endurance test portion of the first round. It was just
before noon, and Arianna kept getting distracted by the sunlight
glistening off Andrew’s day human skin. Even in this form, there
was something not quite day human about him. Like her, Andrew was
too powerful to keep his night human form completely suppressed.
Certain qualities would come through even if he didn’t fully
transform. Andrew gave her a sly smile as he caught her looking for
at least the tenth time since they began their run.
    ‘Do you need something,
princess?’ Andrew always called her
“princess” when he wanted to get her riled up.
    Arianna pouted, and ran a few steps ahead of
him. She distracted herself by watching the border around the
estate. Outside there were already some groups of night humans
milling about beyond the fence. Only those that could be in the sun
were out now, so the majority of people were in their tents, either
asleep or waiting to come out. Arianna wondered if the men inside
the house had called their own people to come, or if the people
were just drawn to the huge concentration of power coming from the
main house.
    Thomas veered left as he placed another
marker for the course. Andrew reached up with little more than a
jump and tapped it into place. They worked as a coordinated team,
setting the markers for the contestants.
    ‘Why do you have to be so
perfect?’ Arianna asked. It actually would
have been easier to marry one of the guys in the house if she
wasn’t so drawn to Andrew.
    ‘I don’t think my uncle
thinks I’m perfect,’ Andrew replied,
trying to lighten the serious mood Arianna was creating.
    ‘You know what I
mean,’ Arianna complained with another
pout. Thomas laid a marker, and Andrew again pounded it
in.
    ‘When you find your other
half, it doesn’t matter what they do. They seem perfect all the
time,’ Andrew explained. He knew exactly
what she was looking for. ‘Really, I’m not
perfect. I seem perfect in your eyes, just as you are in mine. We
will always see each other as perfect.’ Arianna smiled as she ran a bit ahead of him. She didn’t want
him to