Winning the Legend (29 page)

“I don’t think he gets it,” Andrew replied,
coming to stand beside her. Nik and Devin were exchanging blows now
too far away. Andrew left Turner alone in the middle of the
fighting, and both Devin and Turner would have to wait for help
from him.

‘Turner?’
Arianna asked, while looking across the arena,
down to the middle of the fighting where Turner was enjoying
himself in his modified wolf form.

‘Fine,’
Andrew still stared at Rhys, who was flaming anger
again.

Andrew kept one step in front of Arianna to
protect her. While Rhys tried to reign in his emotions, Arianna
moved to stand beside Andrew. She didn’t want protection, she
wanted to be his equal, and she needed Rhys to see that she wanted
to be with Andrew.

“He doesn’t get it,” Arianna said to Andrew
and Rhys. “Gabriel?” Arianna called to her uncle, who instantly
appeared at her side, blood soaked. He had been keeping the crowd
from getting too close to Arianna. She was now circled by her own
people and the newly-transformed wurdulac. They kept the space
around her free of anyone but Rhys, Andrew, Gabriel and herself.
Devin was left outside the circle with Turner, now fighting
alongside him.

“I bound myself to Andrew,” Arianna told
Rhys, trying to get him to understand. Rhys looked between
them.

“Nice try,” he said to Andrew. “You told her
to say that?”

Arianna stepped a few more feet away from
Andrew and the bond didn’t break. Rhys looked back to her, trying
to understand how that could happen. The bond only worked if both
parties wanted it to work. Arianna had to be willing to bind
herself to Andrew, and Rhys didn’t believe that was possible. He
still didn’t want to admit what he saw. Arianna moved back beside
her mate.

‘I’ll take care of
him,’
Arianna told Andrew.

‘This is my fight,’
Andrew replied, watching Rhys for any slight
movement.

‘My fight, too,’
Arianna insisted.

‘Ari, I am your mate now.
Let me protect you,’
Andrew
scolded.

Arianna paused a moment to look at Andrew.
He was completely focused on Rhys and ready to react to anything
the sidhe king did. He wasn’t pushing Arianna back as she stood
beside him. He was asking her to let him defend her. Arianna felt
it deep down inside. Andrew had the right to fight for her. She had
to let him. This was his fight. Rhys would not fight her. He also
felt that his fight was with Andrew. It didn’t mean she had to be
happy to accept that fact and let Andrew go off and get hurt, but
she couldn’t hold him back either.

“Guess you get to do it your way,” she
added, placing her hand on his chest.

Closing her eyes to concentrate, Arianna
moved her night human power into Andrew until her knees became
weak. Andrew would need every ounce of their shared power to come
back unharmed. Gabriel was beside her and caught her easily,
already knowing her intention.

“What did you do to her?” Rhys demanded as
she hung limp in her uncle’s arms.

Arianna was still alive, but completely
unconscious. Her power surged inside Andrew. Arianna’s power was
more than Andrew ever imagined, and it ran through his veins. She
was letting him fight for them both, but in her own way she was
fighting beside him.

Rhys ran to Arianna, but Gabriel vanished
before Rhys made it to him. Andrew appeared in front of Rhys, ready
to fight. Rhys flicked his hand at Andrew, dismissing him and
encasing him in a sidhe spell before moving to track Gabriel and
Arianna. The older baku would be a problem, but Rhys was confident
he could defeat him. Andrew moved outside the spell and met Rhys
head on as Rhys moved.

“What?” Rhys asked, baffled as Andrew
connected a direct hit to Rhys face. Rhys stumbled back, bleeding
from the nose.

“I think she made it perfectly clear that
she doesn’t want you,” Andrew replied, sensing Gabriel bouncing
around the fights invisibly with Arianna still in his arms. Arianna
was safe, and it was time to focus on Rhys. “She chose to be my
mate. It’s time for you to get over it.”

Rhys’ face snapped up and his eyes finally
met Andrew’s.

“Your mate? Ha! She can be any of our mates.
It’s why I gave her my blood, and didn’t let my sister. Now I can
be her mate. That’s the truth behind the legend. She can join any
family. Now that bigger and better things have come along, I’m sure
you’re just holding her back,” Rhys explained, casting another
spell around Andrew that caused vines to magically grow out of the
ground at Andrew’s feet. Andrew melted right through the vines that
had taken hold of his legs.

“Are you really that blind?” Andrew asked.
“We are bound.” Andrew let Arianna’s power seep momentarily out of
him. Her power was distinct, and even Rhys couldn’t deny that.

“You what?” Rhys fumed, throwing more magic
at Andrew, who didn’t feel a thing, as he was now part sidhe, and
sidhe magic didn’t work on other sidhe.

“And I think you got the prophecy wrong. She
combines the night humans. Not so that she can marry who ever she
wants, but to make a new race.” Andrew cast a few of his own spells
to throw back at Rhys. Rhys stood stunned as he was hit by the same
growing vines, but this time, the sidhe king couldn’t move out of
them.

“Not possible,” Rhys added. “You can’t do
sidhe magic.” He was in denial. “What is this?” Rhys asked as the
vines grew stronger around him. “Why is my magic failing? You did
this, didn’t you? You tainted the princess,” Rhys accused.

Andrew backed up as Rhys was increasing his
energy. The fight would begin for real now. Andrew concentrated, to
grow extra-long claws on his last two fingers and they dripped with
vrykolakas poison. Mori had already tested the poison to find that
the hybrid night humans made vrykolakas poison, but it wasn’t
deadly. Subduing Rhys was his best option as killing the leader of
a clan would not be good for anyone.

Rhys barreled ahead full forced, but
stumbled as he ran right through Andrew.

“What kind of trickery is that?” Rhys
growled, getting back up from the ground as he had tumbled.

Andrew smiled at his new ability: fighting
got a lot easier if you disappeared just before getting hit. Rhys
moved quicker than Andrew expected and landed a hit on his
mid-section. Unfortunately, disappearing only worked if he willed
it. It didn’t matter much; Andrew was used to hits like that and it
didn’t stop him from countering with a blow of his own. Even if
Rhys wanted to avoid it, Andrew was far too powerful and quick to
stop. Andrew hit Rhys a second time, knocking him down into the
mass of people fighting around them. Rhys stood and used the
additional bodies to keep his distance as he tried to hastily study
Andrew. Andrew ducked and hit his next attacker with enough force
to plow him into another group fighting.

“Are we already done?” Andrew asked, honing
in on where Rhys was walking behind groups of fighters, and pacing
a circle around Andrew.

“Guess we’ll do it this way.” Andrew stopped
watching Rhys and formed two fireballs in his hands. Willing them
to move, they zoomed around people looking for their target.

“Not possible,” Rhys whispered as they
knocked into him. Andrew wasn’t far behind, and finally caught him
with his vrykolakas nails. “Not possible,” Rhys repeated as he
staggered and fell to the ground.

With Rhys defeated, Andrew allowed Arianna’s
power to seep out and return to her. Arianna moved through the mass
of people still fighting. Each group stopped as she passed. Her
strength was returning and with each step she was pulsing more with
power. Nik and Devin were fighting behind Andrew, and even they
stopped with her arrival. Nik was holding his own as both men were
bloodied. All around silence fell over the mass of people. Those
still fighting halted and stepped away from each other. Everyone
stopped to watch Arianna. She had never let her power flow out
freely before, and now no one denied it. She was the strongest
night human anyone had ever, or would ever, see. The war that had
just began was over.

Chapter 31

Rhys stood before Arianna as she waited for
him to respond. He still didn’t believe that Arianna wanted Andrew,
but he had lost all the supporters that he had before he passed
out. They had all seen the truth, even if he didn’t want to.
Technically, Arianna won the competition and was free to choose her
own fate. And she had chosen Andrew Lucan. No one would deny
her.

“You are never to return to any other clan
lands,” she repeated. “To walk away now means you will get your
life and your clan, if they will take you back. You will no longer
be welcome anywhere else. If you promise to leave in peace, we
won’t punish you.” Arianna had to be nicer than she wanted to be.
Rhys was a clan head and she didn’t want to give the sidhe any more
reason to fight on.

“How?” was all Rhys could ask.

“How what?” Arianna replied, unsure what he
was asking.

“How could these people fight for you? They
have to follow their clans, how did you get them to your side? How
did you get them away from their clans?” Rhys whispered, wanting to
know her secret to power. He had recruited other clans, but none
were actually loyal to him. It was just that all had the same goal,
and it was that goal that held their loose coalition together.

Arianna looked around at the faces of the
people now standing on the field, some more injured than others.
Her side had overwhelmingly won the battle. It wasn’t really even a
contest. The people were various races of night humans, some from
the head thirteen clans, but most not. Her support was a variety,
and she liked it that way. Arianna had won over clans and people
from all over, and she noticed no difference between them all.

“You were right in that by drinking the
blood of the clans, I could choose who I wanted to love. And by
drinking my blood they all got the freedom to decide who they want
to follow. They preferred me,” Arianna replied to the nodding of
the people around her.

“And him?” Rhys nodded to Andrew, who was
standing beside her. “How did he do it? He did things baku can’t
do. He didn’t seem affected by my sidhe magic, and he had strange
abilities.”

“Because we are no longer baku, or dearg-dul
or anything else.” Arianna looked around to the people who had
fought with Rhys. She needed them, more than anyone, to understand
and spread the word. “My blood doesn’t just merge the baku and
dearg-dul inside me. My blood merged all the night humans into a
new race. Anyone who now drinks my blood will be given new powers,
a combination of all night humans.” The contestants, who were
divided once the fighting began, were shocked at her words.

“We are no longer clans, separated and
fighting. We are all one race,” she said, and the night humans who
had drunk her blood nodded. “We can use the magic of the sidhe,
fire of the loogaroo, power of the draugur, and much more. It’s
different for each person, but it’s the same in that we can use all
the power of all the races. We are now all one race. No more
divisions.”

“Not possible,” Rhys whispered.

“It is, Brother,” Nessa said, standing
behind him. “That’s what grandfather was talking about. It wasn’t
that she could be the mate for as many people as she wanted. It was
that she would be the key to making a new race. She’s the fusion of
night humans. She has created something new, and has brought us all
back together.”

Loan moved to the front of the men and
dropped to his knees before Arianna. “I pledge my devotion to you,”
he said, bowing his head. “You will be our one, true queen from
this time forth.”

Arianna smiled as Andrew huffed. “I don’t
want pledges. I want the night human world to be free. Free of
leaders who hold safety and life over the heads of others. Free of
the fighting. Free of the forced marriages. The world I want is one
of freedom. Those willing to follow new rules of freedom between
the clans will be welcomed to join us.”

More of the competitors looked around each
other. They were all leaders and elite families. They had never
lived in a world of freedom. Most had held their clans for
centuries or longer. Jan Larsen was the first to step up behind
Loan.

“The draugur will follow your new rules,”
Jan announced, and nodded his head to the few men standing behind
him who were also draugurs.

“And so will the Loogaroo, as my impulsive
grandson has already declared,” the older keeper for Loan moved and
pulled his grandson upright.

Arianna smiled at them. “I’m not asking for
a decision now. I know that some of you aren’t even in the place of
power to join us. Go home. Tell your fathers and grandfathers,”
Arianna replied. “Talk about it in your clans. Reach a decision
that everyone agrees to. The offer is good for as long as I am
alive; so there is no rush now.”

“You think you can just get rid of a system
and traditions that have been in place as long as there have been
night humans?” Nik spat out. He was bitter at the thought of losing
power. “Tell me then how will you keep the masses healthy and
protected?”

Arianna turned to Nik and smiled. She wasn’t
going to let his hate ruin her victory. Even if no one else wanted
to join her, they had her clans along with two new clans, and with
that she had the support of almost half the clans. All of the lower
clans supported her fully also.

“Protection will be the same way as the day
humans do it. Protect your own family and volunteers protect the
masses. That seems to work for them, why wouldn’t it work for us?”
Arianna looked to Nik, and he couldn’t argue that point. A
volunteer protective force was the system most even used now; they
just had standards of who could volunteer.