Page 4

He stopped again, a loud sigh filling the space between us. “Yes, Princess?”

“Will you stay to be my training partner?”

He turned and headed back my way. His face said he wanted to say something but thought better of it. He lined up in his fight stance and I let my water bottle drop to line up facing him.

I was less intense this time, focusing on technique rather than the emotions flowing through me. That told me the training was paying off. I was going to leave here significantly less stressed than when I’d come in.

Most of it to Felix’s credit. He was an admirable partner. I never thought about it before, but you could tell a lot about a person by the way they trained with you. He didn’t go easy on me. That was the number one thing I liked about him in this moment. He didn’t let me get away with anything, which meant he had the skills and the capacity to know I wouldn’t want it any other way. He also didn’t drive home any mistakes I made. Which, I had to admit, I pegged him as that kind of training partner. Gloating. Sarcastic.

But, he was none of those things.

Alexei and I were very competitive. We played with one another too much. This was different—and nice.

I kicked out at Felix but got over on my edge too much. He saw the opening, picked up my leg and threw me on my back. I lay there for a minute. Though we had the best mats around, they were still mats, not pillows. Felix put his hand out to help me up, a small smirk on his face.

“That sucked,” I grumbled.

A line of uncertainty formed between his eyes, but it was only fleeting. Something else caught his attention—and mine.

“What the hell, Dumont?”

I looked over my shoulder to find Theo Nolan walking toward us, a scowl on his face deepening the already permanent serious lines.

I tried to say something, but Felix pushed to his feet. “What? We’re sparring. If the princess wants to play like one of the boys, she has to play like one of the boys.”

Really? I rolled my eyes at him. Sarcasm. It was his defense mechanism. I locked eyes with him and shook my head. This little episode—sparring match and all—just told me a lot more about Felix.

“I’m fine,” I said, pulling myself to my feet.

Theo gave me a once over. Not in a caring way at all, just methodical.

“Get that stick out of your ass, would you, Nolan?” Felix spat.

“Okay, okay,” I said. “I think we’re done here.”

Theo bowed his head at me and turned, leaving the room as quick as he’d come in.

Felix chuckled. His laughter bit at me and without giving him another look, I walked from the room too.

We all had shit happen to us in our past. We shouldn’t let that run our present though.

My cell phone rang, and the guard spun to give it to me just as I approached the door. It was Papa Christian.

I answered it, frustration for a totally different reason dripping from my voice. “Yes?”

“I’m going to need you to get to the Rajyvik’s. Now.”

My heart thumped. “Is everything okay?”

“Li Chang just showed up. It’s not good.”

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter Two

I hadn’t heard of Li Chang before. The name I knew was Su.

Su was the member from Clan Chang that was supposed to be my sixth choice. He’d never showed.