Winning the Legend (26 page)

Arianna reached over and touched Turner’s
shoulder as he stood.

“Would you reconsider fighting him?” she
asked quietly. Turner stared at her. She was asking him to not
fight.

Turner looked across the way. Rhys was happy
as he stood and walked to his spot; he needed to release some
anger, and this was the perfect opportunity. Arianna looked back at
Rhys again and closed her eyes. She began to feel a sense of dread.
It wasn’t coming from Rhys, but rather the wind. Emotions swirled
all around her. People scared. Someone hurt. Someone angry. The
wind shifted and the sense cleared more. Devin was angry. Nessa was
scared, and Turner was dying. Arianna snapped her head up at
Andrew’s touch.

‘What was that?’
he asked.

‘Another
ability?
’ Arianna guessed as she saw
Turner was fine and standing up to fight. Devin was behind him,
looking over at Rhys and anticipating the fight.

‘Some ability.’
Andrew rubbed his head, trying to get all the
emotion out of it. The sensation that hit them was stronger than
what they felt on a daily basis from the people around
them.

“Turner,” Arianna reached up and grabbed his
arm to stop him as he began to walk away. “He is out for blood.
Your position so close to me frightens him. He will do to you what
he did to Loan. Even with my blood, he will still hurt you. Please
don’t do this,” Arianna begged. Something was wrong. Turner stopped
at the desperation in her voice. Devin slid down beside her.

‘What did you see?’
Devin asked. Devin had analyzed all the clans as
soon as Arianna took their blood. He needed to be sure about the
abilities she could possibly gain. It was said that some night
humans could predict the future at times. It wasn’t a controlled
ability, but one that came when needed.

‘I didn’t see anything; I
felt it. I felt the emotion of Turner dying,’
Arianna replied to both Turner and Devin. Turner knelt by
her. They didn’t doubt her. She was obviously upset over what she
experienced.

‘I’ll be fine,’
Turner replied.
‘Remember, super lycan here,’
he
joked. It was true. With her blood, he was now a super lycan. Like
her, he would have to fight with caution. It was that carefulness
that would cost him his life.

‘No,’
Andrew replied.
‘You won’t be fine.
I felt it through her. You’ll die if you fight him. Devin won
because Rhys didn’t expect him to even last for thirty seconds. He
thought plain old tricks would win him the match. He won’t do that
with you. He is getting smarter and more desperate.’

Devin nodded to Gabriel as Turner absorbed
what Andrew had said to them all.

“My charge is declining the fight,” Gabriel
told Serge. Serge nodded and placed a win for Rhys. Turner stood,
still shocked to find that Arianna could sense the future and his
death was to be part of it. Anger flared across the way. Rhys was
furious, but Turner was alive and safe for now. That was all that
mattered to Arianna.

Chapter 28

“You do know what this means?” Andrew asked
as he twirled a piece of Arianna’s hair. They had all gathered in
her room. Everyone had returned with her. No one would be leaving
her side now. Rhys had made plans, and she was the object of his
obsession.

“Yes, I know I have to fight Rhys tomorrow,
and that he’s pissed. I’m the only thing standing between him and
winning—well that and Devin,” Arianna relaxed into Andrew’s arms.
Even though she now felt his presence all the time, not just when
they were within a five-foot radius, the binding did nothing to
stop the need to touch.

“When I win tomorrow, and you win tomorrow,
there will be nothing left to discuss,” Devin added from the seat
across from them in her sitting room. Everyone was used to Arianna
and Andrew by now, but Devin still had to keep his emotions in
check as he watched them. It was harder right now because he was
still feeling the lasting effects of the attack on him by Vasquez.
He was still not completely healed, so he lay there with his eyes
closed, listening to everything.

“You don’t think all hell isn’t going to
break loose at that point?” Thomas asked, looking up from the
computer he sat at with Molina. Molina nodded in agreement.

“That’s where I come in,” Nessa said,
magically appearing at the open window again. She did like to make
dramatic appearances. Devin opened his eyes long enough to glare at
her. She smiled sweetly, yet somehow wickedly, back at him. He
rolled his eyes at her before closing them again.

Thomas was already standing and helping
Nessa in from the window.

“And your plan would be?” Thomas asked. He
needed to know. He needed to know everything. It was part of who he
was.

“I’ve been making rounds outside every day,”
Nessa began. Everyone already knew that because Arianna had told
them.

“Good for you,” Devin replied, still not
looking at her.

“And what I have found,” Nessa continued,
without acknowledging her interruption, “Is that my brother has a
lot less support than he thinks he does.”

Thomas stared at her. By now they assumed
most, if not all, those attending would be on Rhys’ side. He had
spent weeks getting people to come to the final tomorrow, and they
were packing in so deep that the people who supported Arianna were
having trouble getting close enough to see the match. They hadn’t
prepared enough for this scenario. They hadn’t suspected that one
competitor would have so much pull.

“How can you be sure?” Thomas needed to know
this was true.

There would be more hope if tomorrow the
stands wouldn’t be filled with people there just to help Rhys. They
had already gone over everything, and there was no way they could
deny entrance to those who wanted to see the matches. It was part
of the tradition of the tournament. Arianna had already begun
inviting guests onto the property for a week, but they would still
be outnumbered when the match came up.

“Because I was right in that the sidhe want
to be left alone. My brother is an idiot. The sidhe want Arianna
like everyone else, but they want her in name only. They only want
control of her. They don’t want to mix the blood of the sidhe with
the blood of another clan.” Arianna sat up and stared at Nessa.
“Meaning, they want you to marry Rhys so that they get more land
and clans.”

“Why would that be?” Arianna asked.

“Can’t you see how male orientated these
clans are? If you marry Rhys, then he gets your clans and land.”
Nessa rolled her eyes now at all the men in the room. Molina nodded
agreement of her disgust with the tradition also.

“But that’s all they want—which means what?”
Arianna asked. Andrew tried to pull her back to himself.

“Meaning they’d prefer you to keep your boy
toy with you, and never have alone time with my brother.” Andrew
nodded his approval of that idea, and it was the first time that
Devin actually smiled over what came out of Nessa’s mouth. “They
don’t want you to dirty our clan lines, and since I have begun to
discreetly inform the sidhe family heads that my brother’s
intentions go far beyond just a political marriage, they aren’t
very happy with him. “

Thomas sighed. “But that doesn’t mean they
will side with us.” He sounded defeated. Hope was there and gone in
minutes.

“I’m sure they will side with Arianna if she
proceeds fair.” Nessa sat down next to Devin, but ignored him.

“But we can’t risk Arianna on what you think
of them. We need to know for a fact that they are going to side
with us,” Molina added, defeated by a possibility that couldn’t be
confirmed. Nessa frowned at everyone. She was sure that her people
would side with Arianna, but her word would not be enough.

“Why don’t we just use the rings from the
Randolph manor?” Turner asked, unsure why no one mentioned it. The
color-changing rings had been a savior the year before, when they
realized that Seeger was trying to overthrow the Randolph family
rule of the dearg-dul clan. The rings changed color on night humans
based on their loyalties. After last year, they had confiscated all
the rings, since they only showed night human loyalty, and the
Randolph manor had many day humans there.

“Rings?” Nessa asked. All eyes looked to
Devin. He was the only one who still wore his ring.

Devin looked down at his finger and
hesitated to pull it off. He had never taken the ring off since
Lord Randolph had given it to him after his first night human kill.
It was a symbol that he was strong enough to protect Arianna. Devin
was given Randolph’s ring directly from his hand, and Randolph told
him to never take it off as it proved his link to Arianna ran
deeper than everyone else’s. The dark blue stone of Arianna’s
mother turned a light blue to match Arianna’s eyes the minute he
had put it on. It was unheard of for a day human to change a
bloodstone. Devin told no one what had happened, and only Randolph
knew the truth. Devin may be a day human, but he was connected
enough to Arianna to change a night human bloodstone. Devin slowly
slid the ring off as he was deep in thought about the past and all
the meaning behind that one ring.

Nessa detected the conflict behind his eyes
and almost didn’t reach out to take the ring when Devin silently
offered it. He finally looked up, waiting for her to take it. Nessa
placed her hand palm up and Devin dropped the ring on her palm.

“It’s a bloodstone,” Thomas explained when
Devin did not. “It changes color to tell who someone is loyal to.”
Nessa looked closely at the blue-stoned ring. She noticed the
resemblance to Arianna’s eyes even if no one else did. Thomas
reached down and slid the ring on his finger and the stone changed
to a brilliant white color.

“Arianna is white,” Thomas said, slipping
the ring off and handing it back to Nessa. She looked closer at the
ring. The stone was positioned to lie directly on the skin of the
wearer when they put it on.

“And this will change colors beyond white
and blue?” Nessa asked, eyeing over the stone.

“It was red for my grandfather,” Arianna
replied, still sitting in Andrew’s arms.

“Do you have more?” Nessa asked. “Could we
set up at the gates and check each person that enters?”

“And then funnel the ones not supporting
Arianna to a specific place,” Molina finished the idea.

Thomas nodded. “But there is the problem of
putting a ring on each person. That would take a long time and
people might become suspicious.”

“If you cut the ring here and here,” Nessa
explained, pointing to side of the ring. “You could bend back the
sides and then just use it like a stamp or something.”

“We could tell people it’s for safety
reasons,” Molina replied. Her hope was beginning to return. They
would have a better chance at defending Arianna if they knew which
people were the enemies.

“Exactly,” Nessa said.

Thomas stood, staring at the computer for a
moment before looking around at everyone in the room. They were all
waiting for his opinion.

“I guess I’ve got to get flying then,”
Thomas replied, agreeing with Nessa and Molina. All the rings were
in storage back at the Randolph Manor. Thomas began unbuttoning his
shirt while moving to the window. “Mori will meet me on my way
there, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.” His large black wings
snapped open as he jumped from the window.

* * * * *

Arianna woke early before the night humans
at and around the estate. She closed her eyes, taking a moment to
sense everything around her. The world was sleeping. Even the day
humans in their estate kept to the night human schedule, and were
asleep. She sat up quietly as to not disturb Andrew next to her. He
was sleeping soundly. In the sitting room, Devin and Turner were on
the couches. Turner was sprawled out and snoring, while Devin was
sitting and staring at his ring.

‘Everything all
right?’
Arianna asked from the doorway to
the bedroom.

‘Yes, and you?’
Devin replied, not looking up from the ring. It
was still a bright white color. He hadn’t put the ring back on from
the day before.

‘For now,’
she added, coming into the room and sitting
beside him. She took the ring from his hand. It was strange. The
pull to be near Devin was now minimal after to her binding to
Andrew. She still looked at him as a friend, and a very close one
at that, but she no longer craved his attention. His friendship was
all that she needed from him. She slipped the ring on her finger
and the stone shimmered a bit and turned the same pale blue color
it was before. Devin looked up to her.

‘My mother’s ring color
wasn’t sky blue, it was more a deep sapphire,’
she replied. His ring was a different color blue than her
mother’s as everyone was told. She handed the ring back to him.
Devin continued to hold the ring and not put it back on. Arianna
reached over and took the ring to slide it back on his
finger.
‘No matter the color, I will never
doubt that you are here for me.’

Devin nodded as the stone
stayed the pale blue color. It did not show loyalty to Arianna but
to some unknown night human.
‘Always,’
he replied as she stood
and returned to her room as silently as she entered.

“You know, it’s way too early to be getting
up,” Andrew protested, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to the
bed. “The sun is still out.”

“Thomas returned two hours ago,” Arianna
told Andrew. Andrew didn’t care. He pulled Arianna to his chest and
hugged her.

“And the sun is still out,” Andrew
complained again.