Winning the Legend (7 page)

Thomas pointed back to the screens
distracting them from each other. “Now it’s time for the real show.
When the cat is away, the mouse will play.” The men on the screen
all were finally gathering the courage to grab a weapon and
practice.

Devin walked over to the table with Turner
and Ken beside him. No one in the room made to move toward either
the tables or the targets down the other side of the hallway while
Devin moved. No one wanted to be the first to show their strength
or weakness in front of the other men, but more than that, Devin
was intimidating. The men all knew who he was, as he had already
made a name for himself in the night human world beside Randolph,
but none actually believed a day human could be so powerful. Devin
led the way back to the target next to the north wall. They would
have the best view looking down at the other targets from their
vantage point.

“Guess I should go first,” Ken said,
shrugging his shoulders. He wasn’t actually the best for
competitions, but he had been training alongside Devin and Turner
all month to make a good run at it. Ken easily tossed the knife
across the distance. It hit the target with a thud and stuck on the
edge of the inner ring near the bull’s-eye.

“Is that the best you can do?” teased
Turner. Ken could do better, but since he threw off the mark,
Turner decided to play along also and throw his off a little.
Hitting a target was a piece of cake for them now.

The room silently watched Ken and Turner
take turns until they used up the knives they had grabbed. Soon all
the men stopped standing around and joined in by grabbing various
weapons and choosing targets. Their suspect in the attack on the
Grace lands, Manuel Vasquez, took the target right next to the
trio. Being that there were less targets then men, Rhys joined
Manuel at the target. Manuel did not look pleased to see the sidhe
next to him, but he didn’t move either. He had chosen his spot for
a reason.

Devin, Turner, and Ken ignored the other
competitors. Turner and Ken were actually making a game of not
hitting the target exactly. When they had no knives left, Devin
walked to the target and retrieved the knives, pulling them out one
at a time. Manuel took his first shot and missed the target wide,
toward Devin who was gathering the knives. Devin didn’t acknowledge
the knife that came fairly close to him as he walked back to Turner
and Ken so that they could throw more.

“Vasquez,” Molina said from behind the stout
man as he stood to throw a second knife. “If that hits someone,
accidentally or not, you will be removed from the competition.”

Manuel glared up at Molina, who actually
stood a few inches taller than him in her heeled boots. She looked
down at the angry man, waiting for him to protest. He didn’t as he
turned and hit the mark on the target perfectly with his next two
throws.

Rhys stepped up next and followed suit. All
three knives hit the target easily. It wasn’t much to ask any of
the night humans present to hit the mark. Arianna made out bits
from their minds as they all wondered how she would choose a winner
as they made an easy game of it. Rhys retrieved the knives and
handed them to Manuel to practice again. Looking around the room,
he found Molina scolding another competitor about throwing too
close to someone else. Manuel took his chance and threw the blade
toward Devin as he collected knives again. The knife flew toward
Devin but veered off its course at the last moment, when it hit the
original target. No one in the room but Manuel seemed to notice how
the knife changed course mid-air.

“Did you see that?” Arianna asked Thomas,
who was already standing and talking on his phone to Mori.

“Replay that on screen three,” Thomas asked
Mori.

Arianna stood and watched the screen again.
The knife was clearly heading toward Devin, but changed course and
ran back to the original target. The knife actually changed
directions while it was flying in the air, which is physically not
possible.

“Impossible,” Arianna said in awe while the
screen replayed the throw.

Someone had saved Devin. Devin hadn’t seen
it coming, or that was he almost hit. Andrew was watching the
current room alongside the replay. Manuel was now fuming and
looking around the room for the night human that deflected his
perfectly aimed throw. Devin was well guarded, and Manuel would get
very few chances to attack the one man that stood between all of
them and Arianna. Manuel stopped pacing as he looked at the
one-sided mirror, presumably communicating with his retainer.
Arianna listened into their conversation by focusing on Manuel. Her
new eavesdropping capabilities were about to come in handy.

‘Who could have done
that?’
Manuel asked his
retainer.

‘I’m not sure who would
have even wanted to do that,’
the retainer
replied.

‘What the hell are you
doing here if you aren’t going to help?’
Manuel growled back.

‘I’ll have to look at the
knives later. I should be able to tell from the residue,’
the retainer humbly added.
‘Besides, who would sabotage you is the least of our worries.
I think the girl knows we attacked the tengu.’
Manuel’s concentration snapped back down to look around the
room and the guards, who were now all watching him.

Arianna returned to the conversation in her
own room between Thomas and Andrew.

“It’s got to be Rhys,” Thomas said as they
watched the knife veer off course for the fifth time in a row.
“Mori, can you go back to when they all came to the tables.” The
screen blanked, and the playback began again at the men taking the
knives. Rhys followed Manuel to the table, but didn’t take knives
of his own. The video sped up, but slowed again as Rhys took the
knives.

“We can’t see his face from here,” Arianna
commented as Rhys was at the target removing the knives.

“And neither could anyone else,” Thomas
guessed. Mori changed the view to what they expected. Rhys’ mouth
was moving ever so slightly as he touched each knife.

“It is sidhe magic,” Arianna assumed. She
had yet to see what all the night humans could do, but her crash
course over the last month taught her the basics about each
clan.

“I think we might have an ally,” Thomas
said, as the clip played a second time.

Chapter 8

Late morning approached as the men finished
their training, or for most, their pretend training. At supper they
all stood around quietly, contemplating their strategy or silently
communicating with their retainers. There were far too many
conversations going on at once for Arianna to discern any
particular one from the others. Devin had managed to go the whole
training session without throwing a single knife, which had all the
retainers wondering about him. Devin had made himself into a legend
as Randolph’s right-hand man for the past five years. It was only
last month that the majority of them found out Devin was only a day
human. Now they wanted to see firsthand how a day human would
compete with their night human prodigies.

After supper, Arianna joined Devin and
Gabriel in the library to go over clan business. While the other
clan heads gathered around their own computers to get business
done, they all kept a close eye on Arianna. She quickly regretted
agreeing to them all sharing a room, they were going to be a
distraction.

‘Seeger has been insisting
Michael be sent here to watch over everything, and report back to
the council,’
Devin said mentally to
Arianna, as he scanned more papers and pointed to the email up on
his computer screen.

‘And to try to sabotage
everyone else?’
Arianna replied. Seeger
would not be sending his son here to just watch. That had never
been Seeger’s style. Michael Seeger would an even worse distraction
than the competitors.

‘I figured that much as
well.’
Devin looked up to her. “Yes or
no?” The men around the room looked over to Arianna and Devin. Most
of the men brought their retainers to help settle business, but
none of the retainers spoke out loud to their Lords.

“No, of course not. I don’t need to babysit
Michael for him.” Arianna took the computer from him and typed back
her own reply.

While Lord Seeger had been much more
agreeable now that she might be married off to another clan, he was
still not her friend in all of this. She figured his plan was to
kill her rather than let another clan claim her. Maybe he would go
for disowning her as not being a true dearg-dul if she married
someone else. His possibilities were endless, since he was just as
ruthless as her grandfather had been, and even more power
hungry.

Devin went back to reading through the daily
mail. Arianna added her opinion every now and then, but mainly let
him do his job. He had been slowly training her on everything, but
it bored her enough that she was easily distracted. She wasn’t the
only one in the room that was bored. A bored Rhys was doing his
best to distract her with funny faces, while his retainer took care
of everything for him. He seemed as unneeded as Arianna was.
Arianna wandered over to the window to watch the early morning sun
as Gabriel was now in conference with Devin over joint issues.

“Not up for politics much?” Rhys asked,
leaning against the windowsill so that his back was to the outside
and his face to Arianna. This was the first time she was without
Andrew, and that seemed to be ideal for every man in the room who
were all thinking the same thing. Rhys was just the first to act,
and now no one else had a shot.

“Not really,” Arianna replied, looking
outside and not at the sidhe night human before her. It wasn’t that
he wasn’t nice to look at. He was younger than many of the
competitors, and closer to her age than the dragur Lars, but her
heart would always belong to Andrew. Now it was like she didn’t
even notice anyone else. “You either?”

“Nah, he takes care of most of it.” Rhys
nodded to his retainer, who didn’t even notice them talking.

“Where’s your mate?” Rhys asked, glancing
around the room.

Startled, Arianna looked up at Rhys. He
wasn’t looking at her now, but outside, as she had been. He was as
perfect as Arianna imaged a fairy to be. His skin was flawless. A
bit pale, but not deathly white. His head was topped with the same
corn-colored, blond hair as her own. In fact, even his eyes were
the same color blue as hers. Somehow Rhys looked like he was her
brother more than some man contending for her hand in marriage.

“My what?” Arianna asked, trying to be sure
she heard him correctly.

“Oh, are we not supposed to know?” Rhys
asked. He talked now in more hushed tones as the look on her face
told him he was correct. “I can tell that the man following you all
the time, the dark-haired one, is your mate. Did you not know
that?” Rhys was genuinely interested because he had been told that
Arianna was actually very new to the night human world.

Arianna shrugged. “He gets even more bored
with all this than I do.” Arianna didn’t deny or confirm what Rhys
said. Rhys smiled back at her. He didn’t need her to admit what he
already detected with his own eyes. Arianna looked back outside,
and they stood in silence for a few minutes, both lost in their own
thoughts.

“Then is it true what you told me at
breakfast?” Arianna whispered as if they were sharing a big
secret.

“That I’m not here for you?” Rhys whispered
back.

“Yeah,” Arianna replied. She had been
thinking about it all day. Could Rhys really be on her side?

“I made a promise to my sister that I would
not pursue you romantically. She is going through the same thing
right now, being forced to marry before her birthday, and she
begged me to not put you through a forced marriage. If I win, you
are free to say yes or no. My people are actually divided on the
issue. Some would love to have your power, but others would rather
stay out of night human politics.” Rhys shrugged, and ran his hand
through his hair. All signs were pointing toward him being on her
side. He didn’t seem to be lying.

“And you? What do you want?” Arianna asked,
still watching out the window at the trees with the birds in them.
It was springtime, and everything was coming back to life while
Arianna’s own life would drift to an end if this did not work the
way she wanted.

“The same as you,” Rhys answered. “Freedom
from this cursed system.” Rhys’ retainer finally noticed him
missing, and came over to pull him back to his work. Rhys sighed as
the man neared with a scowl on his face.

“Sorry for the interruption, my lady,” the
retainer said formally before pulling Rhys away. Rhys was obviously
getting a mental scolding. Arianna was tempted to listen in, but
was distracted as Andrew neared the room.

‘Are you done yet?’
Andrew asked from somewhere outside of the room.
Arianna looked into the courtyard outside the window and smiled. He
was nearby but not inside the house.

‘I am now,’
Arianna rushed over to Gabriel and Devin. Giving
each a kiss on the cheek, she returned to the window and jumped out
to the waiting Andrew.

“She can’t just leave,” Loan’s retainer
Harris whined. He had been granted access to the library to assist
his son remotely, not his grandson who was competing.

“If you didn’t understand the rules of the
game before, maybe I can explain them to you,” Devin replied, eager
to get on with his work and not have to listen to the old man
nitpick. The man glared at Devin but that didn’t stop Devin from
continuing.

“Arianna is in charge. She can do whatever
she wants.” Devin over-enunciated the second sentence before
looking back to his papers. “Now if you’re finished ranting, the
rest of us have work to do.”