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to
run. So either you follow my rules, or you leave.” Nik glared at
her until Andrew growled from behind. Arianna reached back and
placed a hand on Andrew’s chest. He stopped growling, but not
glaring, at the young man. He could easily rip the young Katsulas
heir into pieces. Arianna flared her power and everyone quieted
down.
    “The most important rule throughout the
competition is that you may not do harm to any other competitor or
any of the staff here in the mansion. You’ll be immediately
disqualified, and depending on the harm, you will face judgment in
the dearg-dul courts as we are on dearg-dul land and must adhere to
all dearg-dul rules.” Not a man defied her as they stared at her.
They all nodded in understanding.
    “There will be three competitions.” Arianna
continued on. “Before each, you will be given a rank from one to
fourteen. The number has already been slipped under your bedroom
door. The people that rank number one thorough six at the end of
the second competition go on to the fighting matches. Whoever wins
the most matches, wins the competition. It’s that simple.” It was
an unassuming enough contest that Arianna hoped everyone would be
lulled into a sense of security, and not see the tricks they had
planned. Arianna reached back to take the paper Thomas handed her.
“Now to go to your room and find your rank, you must sign this
amendment to the clan of thirteen rules.”
    “There has been no talk of amendments at any
of the recent year’s meetings,” the older man complained again.
Arianna had been warned that some like Loan’s grandfather, Harris,
would be a pain for her to deal with and he already was proving
difficult.
    “No, but I refuse to allow this to go any
further unless there is change. This amendment states that there
will be no age limitation on when a night human must marry. I feel
this is too much of a one-sided issue as you only call these
meetings when a leading female clan member is unwed by seventeen. I
mean, look around this room. Everyone here is over seventeen and
unwed; yet where were the competitions for each of you? Yep.
Exactly. You only do this when fighting over a female. I want my
competition to be the end of this. So I refuse to proceed any
further until you all sign.”
    Arianna looked from man to man. Most
wouldn’t even look back at her. She was speaking the truth, but
they all also favored the traditional way. The rule made it
possible for these men to try to marry someone powerful outside of
their clan. Without the rule, they would actually have to impress a
female, rather than just win one physically.
    “I already have the signatures of my clans,
so Devin, Turner, and Ken, you can proceed back to your rooms to
wait for tomorrow’s games to begin. For the first competition, the
rules will be explained before breakfast.” Patrick nodded to
Gabriel, who moved over and stood behind Arianna as Patrick
escorted Devin, Turner, and Ken out of the room. Arianna nodded to
Gabriel as she needed his support if things went badly.
    “I suppose I’m already out,” Nate said,
coming up to the paper to sign.
    “While you have been eliminated from the
numbers, you may still participate; hoping to impress us so much
that you can earn a number,” Arianna replied. They needed to keep
all the heads around if they wanted to use them as ransom, which
was one of their alternative plans if things got too bad.
    “Really?” Nate asked. Arianna nodded.
    “You just can’t keep your retainer once you
are out of the numbers,” she explained. They wanted only the heads
and not the men working for them.
    “Then, by all means.” Nate took the pen and
signed in his spot on the sheet before leaving the room.
    “That makes five clans and four competitors.
This isn’t an open offer,” Arianna explained as none of the other
men made a move to sign. Arianna watched as Rhys pulled away from
his retainer. He bent down and signed the paper, too.
    “For my younger sister,”