Winning the Legend (6 page)

‘Without stabbing
someone?’
Andrew was serious, but Arianna
laughed. Several of the men turned to watch her. She was even more
captivating when she was around Andrew. A bit of anger slipped
through Devin’s mask.

‘What?’
Arianna asked, without looking across the room but focusing
on her food. Devin didn’t reply. Arianna already knew what was
making him mad. The men who were all at odds were drifting closer
to her at the center of the room. She was like a flame to a moth,
beautiful, but deadly. Andrew growled as someone set their plate at
her table.

“I was hoping to join you,” Rhys said.
Arianna placed a hand on Andrew’s leg under the table to calm him
down. “Is this seat taken?”

“No,” Arianna replied before glancing down
so that she would not smile at any of them accidentally. Her happy
thought had nothing to do with the men, but rather the
situation.

The men were all vying for the empty spots
around her now. All Arianna thought of was the childhood game of
musical chairs. Everyone walked around chairs, and when the music
stopped, you’d have to sit down. Arianna was trying not to giggle,
as it was about to turn into a game of who could snag the last
three chairs. Arianna had to hold back from humming to herself,
sensing the men around her. Andrew wasn’t as amused, even though he
got the gist of what she was thinking.

‘Do you know how hard it is
for me to not jump up and rip the throat out of each and every man
here?’
Andrew complained as he stabbed at
his own pancakes. Having company at their table wasn’t helping his
already bitter mood.

‘Three weeks,’
Arianna pleaded, drinking her orange juice to
help ease the giggle that was going to come out if the men kept
eyeing the empty chairs at the table.

‘Three weeks of
hell,’
Andrew muttered and finally began
eating instead of just killing his pancakes.
‘And I’m not the only one thinking that.’
Andrew nodded across the room where Devin watched Arianna’s
every move and the men circling around her. Devin was almost as
close as Andrew to losing it.

“Any hints of what’s to come?” Rhys asked,
trying to start a conversation with Arianna and break her away from
her silent conversation with Andrew. Andrew wasn’t in a position of
power within the baku clan, so very little was known about him by
the other men. The most they deduced was that he was her personal
guard.

“Any chance you guys could all just go back
to where you came from?” Arianna replied, a bit resentfully. Small
talk with any of the competitors was going to be hard to handle,
even if they were coming off as friendly.

“Ouch,” Rhys pretended to be offended,
though he was not. “That’s a bit harsh.”

“Being treated like an object, and not a
human, isn’t?” Arianna didn’t really want to get into debating the
issue of the competition with anyone. She had already resolved
herself to her fate when she agreed to.

“Touché.” Rhys’ retainer leaned over and
said something to him, trying to stop his attempts to talk to
her.

“Can’t blame a man for trying. By the way,
princess,” Rhys added, toning down his words to a whisper just for
her. “I’m not here to win you over, just to make a show for my
people that I tried. I have no intentions of making a woman marry
me when she doesn’t want me.” Rhys was interrupted as his retainer
dragged him off to the corner of the room.

Arianna couldn’t help but smile. Rhys wasn’t
as bad as she thought. In fact, most of the competitors around the
room seemed to be more curious than anything. Arianna sensed it
from all of them. Only a few held other emotions than curiosity. It
didn’t stop Andrew from fuming over the issue. Arianna knew, along
with Andrew, the truth behind the stares was also a deep desire to
control her power. The men believed that competing would lead one
of them to be the victor to win her, but that wasn’t how it was
going to turn out if Arianna had any say in it.

Chapter 7

After breakfast, Arianna led the men to the
training room without their retainers. She stood waiting as the
competitors shuffled in behind her. Andrew stood off to the side
with the rest of her security detail, though he wasn’t happy to do
so. No one felt safe allowing any type of weapon around Arianna,
but now there was a table full of them. Arianna didn’t feel the
same increase in unease by having the weapons present, as she knew
by looking at each man that they held enough power that they
wouldn’t need weapons if they wanted to fight. Weapons were a moot
point. Each was the head of their family, or would be soon. They
were all powerful night humans.

The men lined the wall as Arianna sat
carefully on the table of weapons, between an axe and a pair of
daggers. The men were close behind her but taking their time
entering. As the last person entered, she stood to face them.

“For the first competition, I need to see
how accurate you are with a weapon.” Arianna gestured to the table
that was filled with mainly knives but also axes, bow and arrows,
and a few weapons she couldn’t name. “The competition was planned
to test each of you, looking for the best possible match for me.”
Arianna paused. Nothing they tested would even come close to making
that one man the best match. Arianna kept her focus on the men, but
wanted to look at Andrew. He was her match and always would be.

‘Keep going,’
Thomas urged from one of the walls. He was behind
the one way mirror, observing the retainers that were all there
watching the training room. They needed more information on the
retainers, and Thomas was the best choice to collect it.

‘Ugh,’
Arianna grumbled to Thomas.
‘We need
to rewrite some of this. I can’t keep pretending like everyone has
a chance when I’d rather die than marry them.’
Arianna closed her eyes and tried her best not to look at
Andrew.

‘Look above them while you
talk. That way you don’t have to look at them,’
Thomas suggested. He was watching the retainers like a
hawk.

‘And what do I do about all
the feelings thrown at me every time I mention choosing one of
them. It’s an emotional roller coaster. I can’t believe how many of
them actually think they are perfect and will win this. They are
all a bunch of-,’
Arianna wanted to rant
more but Devin coughed, bringing her back to the staring men. She
gazed above them and continued her prepared speech. It didn’t help
much.

“My clan’s biggest need is to know that
whoever is chosen is the best warrior. All competitions will test
your strength as a warrior.” Several of the men puffed out their
chests with pride. They all viewed themselves as the best warrior.
Arianna tried not to laugh. Most of them couldn’t even stand in the
same room as Andrew on strength alone. “This first test is to gauge
your accuracy.”

Arianna picked up a dagger and tossed it
across the room at a target with just a flick of her wrist. She
didn’t even look to see where it hit as by now she already knew it
would be dead center. Half the men gasped in shock at the accuracy
of her throw. Everyone in the room assumed that she was a helpless
female, since she had such strong men around her to protect her.
Rhys openly clapped for her, and smiled. Arianna quickly bowed to
him, as he was the only one, aside from her own clansmen, without
his mouth on the floor.

“Get the point?” Arianna asked. “Practice
today, and we will compete tomorrow outside. It is worth one third
of your points for the first competition.” Arianna gathered the
courage to look at the face of each man. They were now eagerly
looking at the weapons.

‘Are you sure we should
leave them around weapons?’
Arianna asked
Thomas. They were not a threat to her, but they might be to each
other. She sensed murderous contempt coming off several men aimed
for each other.

‘Once you are out of the
room, we don’t care who they throw knives at,’
Thomas explained that her safety always came
first.

‘Really? Because we are
leaving Devin, Turner, and Ken in that room,’
Arianna looked over to Devin. He didn’t seem worried at
all.

‘Devin can take care of all
three of them.’
Thomas replied.

Arianna left the men standing around in the
practice room. Her security team of Molina, Nelson, Nixon, and
Jackson all stayed in the room to oversee it. Andrew followed
diligently behind her as she stopped at the hallway behind the
training room. He was determined to go anywhere she went. The
retainers failed to notice her arrival aside from Rhys’ retainer,
who stood and offered her his chair. Arianna shook her head as she
stood beside her uncle, instead.

‘Everything safe while they
were sleeping?’
Arianna asked.

Gabriel did not take his
focus away from Devin and Turner in the room in front of
them.
‘Yes. We moved them all into one
room as planned, and Patrick and I can then take turns watching
while they sleep. We won’t let anything happen to them.’

Arianna bent down and hugged the man sitting
next to Gabriel. Patrick was her second cousin, and even though he
was as old as her own father would be, he was the closest she would
ever have to a real cousin. Patrick smiled up at her while Gabriel
watched over everyone.

“Good to see you, cousin,” Patrick said.

“And you,” Arianna replied. A couple of the
retainers looked over at her and Patrick as they talked. One even
seemed surprised to hear the greeting. Relations and party politics
were kept very close to home within the night human communities.
Most knew only the relationship between the head of the clan and
the next in line.

“Ken’s wings are feeling good?” Arianna
asked. Just over two months back Arianna had healed Ken beyond what
anyone imagined she could do. Ken was a tengu, which was evident
when he unfurled his large, black wings, which were normally tucked
away just like Thomas. When Ken and Patrick were attacked, more
than likely by, or ordered by, someone in the room in front of
them, Ken’s wings were ripped from his back. Ken kept his wings
outside his body now, but they were tucked close. Arianna couldn’t
tell if they were actually functional.

“Yes,” Patrick replied with appreciation.
“Never been better.” Arianna sensed around the room of retainers,
searching for the one that was listening the most or had an
increased heartbeat. One of these men knew who ripped off Ken’s
wings. Plan number forty-two was to see who was actually hostile
toward Arianna. Whoever attacked Ken and Patrick was considered
hostile.

‘The first man on the left,
and third man, and Rhys’ McKinny’s retainers are all interested in
this conversation,
’ Arianna noted for
Thomas. He looked to Andrew, who nodded in agreement.

“Glad to hear that. Did you guys fly here,
then?” Arianna asked, still talking about Ken’s wings to be certain
she was right. She was correct. They easily singled themselves out.
She couldn’t be sure on Rhys, though, as his retainer had not
stopped staring at her since he arrived.

“Oh yes, Ken was able to
fly as fast as I ran. It was good to see that they healed so
nicely. It’s as if nothing ever happened,” Patrick emphasized the
event one last time before nodded to Arianna.
‘He really is great. We could never repay you. Even coming
here isn’t repayment enough. We owe you our lives. Thanks,’
Patrick added for her only to hear. Arianna
leaned over and hugged her cousin one last time before leaving with
Andrew and Thomas close behind. Thomas had seen what they needed to
know for now. Gabriel would keep watch over the retainers for more
clues.

Once back in her room, Thomas opened the
locked cabinet across from her bed and turned on the multiple TVs
inside it. Easily the training area was now in complete view for
Arianna to watch over everything that happened while she was gone
from the room. Thomas, along with Mori, had rigged the whole house
to have video for Arianna’s benefit. While she could listen and
feel almost as much as the videos could see, this way made it
possible for everyone to watch alongside her.

“Who do we think was responsible for Ken’s
wings?” Arianna asked. She had studied all the competitors, but the
retainers were the ones to give the most away.

“The closest one was Manuel Vasquez’s
retainer, his father Earl Vasquez. And the other was Chet Barret’s
retainer. We have two possibilities as to whom he is,” Thomas
replied. They were still working on a few of the men to figure out
who they were. It wouldn’t take long, as the entire house was
bugged. With just a first name to go on, they were still searching
for details.

“And Rhys?” Arianna added. Rhys’ retainer
had not taken his eyes off of Arianna since he arrived. Something
was off about the man, even if Rhys seemed to be completely
fine.

“I doubt he was involved,” Andrew replied.
He had seen how Rhys and his retainer watched Arianna. “Those two
just can’t seem to keep their eyes off you no matter what. He was
watching you from the point you entered the room, not just during
the conversation with Patrick.”

Arianna smiled over at Andrew as he sulked.
He didn’t like having Arianna prance around for all these men.
Arianna reached over and took his hand in hers. Warmth spread up
his arm. She could tell him a hundred times over not to worry, but
it would do no good. Andrew would always worry. Arianna wanted to
take his concern away, but the only way that would happen was if
the competition was done and she could truly be his. Andrew twined
his fingers with hers. That would have to do for now.