Winning the Legend (8 page)

Arianna didn’t even listen to the bickering
because as soon as she touched Andrew’s outstretched hand, she
ignored the men grumbling behind her. Andrew and Arianna enjoyed
the sunlight that kept most of the competitors inside. Most could
do nothing to disturb them as they walked the grounds. It was
almost like they were actually free from the stupid life changing
game. Arianna strolled through the gardens with Andrew for over an
hour as the sun rose and got hotter. She told Andrew exactly what
had happened back in the library.

‘Do you actually think Rhys
is telling the truth?’
Andrew wondered as
they finally walked back to the house. By now everyone was in bed
asleep.

‘I really do. There is just
something about him. He seems as trapped as I am,’
Arianna replied. Andrew shrugged. He didn’t
appreciate all the attention Arianna was getting, but even he
noticed that the vibe from Rhys was different. Rhys didn’t eye her
with lust, but, rather, admiration.

Andrew reached over and tucked a loose
strand of hair behind Arianna’s ear. He had to be careful with his
actions while they could be seen by others as they neared the house
windows. His role was as her guard. The longer the men didn’t know
who he was, the safer both Arianna and Andrew would be.

‘Just remember to play it
safe. No matter what side he is on, he can always change his mind,
or just be playing with you. The sidhe are very tricky people. They
can hide behind their magic, and you’ll never see it
coming.’
Andrew had never dealt with the
sidhe personally, but he had much more experience in the night
human world in general. Arianna was too trusting, and he worried
about that.

‘I know,’
Arianna replied. While she sounded like a teen
complaining to her parents, she knew exactly where the protective
nature came from. Arianna looped her arm in Andrew’s and pulled him
back inside.

‘But it’s so much quieter
out here,’
Andrew protested.

‘They are all asleep. No
one is awake, but I figured outside is so much more exposed than
our room,’
Arianna replied, and Andrew
easily complied.

As they turned down the hallway to her wing
of the manor, Arianna caught the slight beating of a familiar
heart. Devin wasn’t in bed with everyone else. He was in the
practice hall.

‘Go ahead,’
Andrew replied, stopping outside the door to
allow just her inside.

Devin stood at one end of the room. He was
already dripping sweat from his workout. He was now onto his
accuracy practice, even though it was unneeded. Arianna stopped
just inside the doorway and watched him. He tossed knives again and
again, hitting all of the targets head on. While all the other
night humans slept, Devin practiced. He had always been like that.
It was the reason he was better than most night humans. She moved
silently across the room, and sat down on the table the held the
weapons. Devin was a sight to see as he hit the target again and
again with each weapon that he picked up. His years of training
showed. She didn’t even know how he got all the knives to fit in
such a small spot. Arianna watched closely as a bead of sweat
dripped from his forehead, down the side of his face, and along his
neck. She saw his pulse beneath the sweat. His beating heart and
the blood inside him called to her. She quickly jumped up and ran
from the room as silently as she came. It had been three weeks
since she last fed. She was thirsty, and Devin, with his day human
blood, was too much of a temptation.

Chapter 9

Arianna stood outside the Meyer estate with
all the competitors on the brisk spring day. She was wrapped in a
warm coat, but the men all stood around shirtless, anticipating
their need to be able to transform to their night human forms for
the competition. The retainers all lined the field behind the
competitors. By the end of the competition, this area would be
transformed to hold seating areas for hundreds of spectators for
the last fights. Now it was just an empty field with targets at one
end.

“Since you all had plenty of time to
practice yesterday, today we will have the first competition. To
test your accuracy, we will be aiming for targets. Accuracy is of
great importance when you fight to defend yourself and others,”
Arianna started her prepared speech. She avoided looking at Jan, as
his style was to overpower with strength more than accuracy. She
stifled a laugh halfway through her speech as she felt his
confusion by her statement. He could not see the importance of
accuracy over strength. He had always won every fight based on
strength. Arianna knew the truth was that both were important. “You
will be in groups of five to a target. You will get one chance to
throw. If you miss the target, there will be no scoring.” All the
men nodded. It was easy enough. “It is as simple as this. Stand on
that line,” Arianna pointed behind the men. “Aim for that target.”
Arianna pointed over one hundred yards away behind her. “And the
closest to the bull’s-eye wins. Got it?”

“With or without our night human form?” Rhys
asked, tossing a blade around in his hand. The distance didn’t seem
to bother him at all, but it did for several of the other
competitors who were openly gaping at the targets.

“Either, your choice. Just remember there
will be no blood this week, and you don’t know what’s coming next,”
Arianna replied.

“And you expect us to hit the bull’s-eye?”
Nik asked. As always, he was complaining, and in a sour mood.
Arianna hoped his lack in confidence would equate to bad
performance. Then she could cross him off the list. Nik Katsulas
wasn’t someone that she could ever imagine kissing let alone
marrying. He was, overall, a drag to be around. Even his younger
brother seemed to not want to be around him.

“Yes, is that a problem?” Arianna asked.

“Do we get a bow and arrow?” Nik replied
with his own question before tossing his chocolate colored hair out
of his eyes. Nik also had a very high opinion of himself. Rhys was
just as good-looking, but at least he had a decent personality to
go with his looks.

“Nope. Just throwing,” Arianna answered. She
walked back to the line, picked up a knife, and tossed it, hitting
the target square on the center. “Anything else?”

“And what about the second person to throw?”
Nik tried to get Arianna caught in her own plan.

Andrew walked over, took and knife, and
tossed it. The point sunk right next to Arianna’s, making it hard
to tell which one was perfect, since both centered on the
bull’s-eye. The group collectively gasped, unsure of how to
interpret Andrew’s direct throw. He wasn’t even in his night human
form.

“Any more questions?” Arianna asked the
group, but she was just looking at Nik.

“Don’t you think this is disadvantageous to
your day human?” Nik goaded Arianna. Arianna really wanted to walk
over and wipe the smirk off Nik’s face.

‘Stop,’
Devin’s voice was loud and clear in Arianna’s mind.
‘Remember, this is all planned. Don’t let him get
to you.’

Arianna sighed and counted to ten mentally
before turning back to address the men again. “You have already
been given numbers and grouped.” Each man was holding a ticket.
“I’m assuming you can all count. Start on the right. That is target
one, and so on. Once you are there, you can begin. No one move down
to remove any of the knives. My team will all calculate and award
points based on accuracy. Once you throw, you are free to go back
inside as we know which knife belongs to whom, and there will be no
second chances.” The men all moved to their spots. Easily all
twelve men threw their knives. When they were finished, they all
wanted to watch Devin throw, but he had gone first so no one but
the men in his group saw.

“This isn’t fair. I didn’t see him throw and
neither did my retainer. I can’t believe a day human could hit that
target from here,” Nik whined. His attitude was already driving
Arianna nuts and she had only had to be around him for twenty-four
hours. “In fact, I think he’s cheating. There’s no way a day human
hit that target.”

“I can vouch for him,” Rhys said,
interrupting Nik’s current rant. “Both myself and my retainer saw
him throw.” Rhys was the only one in Devin’s group not from
Arianna’s own clan. Nik looked up at him and glared.

“You’d lie just to get her favor, and we
can’t trust anyone else in that group,” Nik complained, trying to
rile more of the competitors to his side. Manuel seemed eager to
join Nik in his rant and moved to stand beside him while nodding in
agreement.

‘What can I do to get them
to see this?’
Arianna asked Thomas.
‘We can’t have them all getting upset each time
Devin competes at their level.’
Devin was
far too skilled. This was a problem Thomas had ignored that detail
in his planning, since he was used to Devin’s skills and no one in
the Randolph or Grace communities would ever question
Devin.

Thomas thought for a minute
and then replied,
‘You need to make a
statement and demonstrate his skills.’

‘We can’t just accidentally
stake Nik?’
Nik’s night human form was
very vampire-from-the-movies-looking. Just seeing him in his night
human form made Arianna want to try and see if a stake would kill
him—or maybe shut him up for a few moments.
‘Maybe while he sleeps?’

Thomas laughed and shook his head. Annoying
as they got, killing the men gathered would not be a solution to
their problem. Arianna disappointedly turned back to address
Nik.

‘I’ll be right back. We
need a good prop for Devin’s demonstration, and they need to see
your complete faith in Devin’s skill to not doubt you in the
future.’
Thomas hurried back into the
house while she talked to the men.

“Are you questioning my judgment?” Arianna
asked, taking on the haughty tone of authority she used to deal
with men of power. It was coming easier now, after having dealt
with the dearg-dul council for the past year.

“No, just your loyalty,” Nik replied, not as
afraid of her as he should be. Nik was more trouble than all of the
competitors combined. Arianna was sad to see that in his night
human form he hit the target. It would have been easier to have him
lose and just send him home.

“Devin could hit that target in his sleep,”
Arianna replied, vouching for Devin’s ability. “He’s trained longer
than any of you, and was trained by one of the best dearg-dul to
come along in centuries, my grandfather James Randolph. This sort
of thing isn’t a problem for his ability.”

“I highly doubt that. He is a day human,”
Manual added, backing Nik up.

Arianna sighed. After hearing that her
grandfather trained Devin, most of the older men stopped arguing,
but Nik and Manuel held their ground. Thomas returned and tossed
her an apple. She understood what he meant now by
demonstration.

“Fine. You really think he somehow cheated?”
Arianna said. “You guys are all idiots,” she added under her
breath. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but Devin has more accuracy
than all of you combined. So if you’d like a demonstration since
you all missed his throw, you’ll get one.” Arianna walked down the
field and stood by the target. Andrew handed Devin a second knife
as Arianna place the apple on her head.

“Wait,” Nik tried to quickly retract his
statements once he saw what she was doing.

There was no point competing over her if she
was dead. The rest of the clans would all blame him. The men
standing around all watched her while Nik began sweating at her
actions. His father would kill him if she were hurt on his account.
Nik desperately needed to stop her before she let the day human
hurt her.

“You can’t let her do that.” Nik hurriedly
appealed to Andrew and Gabriel, who were standing together behind
Devin. “She will get hurt.”

“You seem to forget,” Devin said, finally
addressing the teen who was shorter than him by several inches.
“She’s in charge, and we do what she says. Any of you standing
around better get that also. She won’t be the silent maiden you
lock in a tower. Arianna does as she pleases, when she
pleases.”

“Not when she is doing something as stupid
as standing there for target practice,” Nik replied. He wasn’t the
head of his family, but acted like he was all the same. None of the
heads ever had a wife that defied them. This was a completely new
concept to the night human men, a woman who had an opinion.

“Nik, you wanted to see him throw. Now
you’ll get to,” Arianna replied from down the field. Arianna stared
back at Devin, knowing there was nothing to fear. He wouldn’t hit
her.

“Stop her,” Nik made one last frantic
attempt to convince Gabriel and Andrew. “If you guys love her so
much, why do you let her put herself in danger?” Nik was getting
anxious. Her death or even injury would be on his hands.

Arianna was tempted to let Nik grovel some
more, but the rest were more 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.