The Legend of the Blue Eyes (19 page)

“At a loss for words?” he asked, waiting.
Arianna nodded. “Then how about this. Do you hate me?” he asked,
and she shook her head no. “Do you find me attractive?” Arianna
closed her eyes, and, embarrassed, nodded her head yes. Turner
chuckled. “Do you enjoy being with me?” Keeping her eyes shut,
Arianna nodded yes again. “Would you object if I leaned over and
kissed you right now?”

“Wait a second,” she said, opening her eyes
to find him laughing. “You’re teasing me again.”

“Correct,” he said, continuing to hold her
face. “But I’m serious about knowing what you think of me.”

“How am I supposed to answer that?” she
asked. “It’s such a complicated question. Let’s turn it around
first. Turner, what do you think of me?” she asked.

“You’re more than I ever imagined you would
be,” he replied honestly.

“But you just met me,” she questioned his
answer.

“No, I met you a long time ago. Devin had
always talked about this beautiful angel he was going to marry. She
lived very far away, but he had met her briefly when he came to
live with Lord Randolph. I begged and begged to be able to see this
girl he was talking about, and one time he took me with him and
Lord Randolph on a visit. He was right. The girl he was in love
with was a beautiful angel, just as he had described,” Turner
explained.

“Me?” Arianna questioned.

“You. I knew at that moment, you were the
only girl I could ever love. You were so beautiful and focused,
playing with your friends. You didn’t even notice the strangers at
the park watching you,” Turner continued.

“You were that boy,” Arianna said, suddenly
remembering Turner’s face.

“I couldn’t help it,” Turner blushed. “We
were told we couldn’t speak to you, just watch. As soon as Lord
Randolph stepped away for a moment, I hurried to the swings. I just
had to tell you.” Arianna remembered the red headed boy that told
her, when she was younger, that he loved her. She had never met the
boy before, and yet as she played with her friends, there he was,
confessing. At an age where boys had cooties, Arianna spent weeks
being teased by Mary Ellen and Tish for the boy who told her he
loved her. He wasn’t from their school, and they never saw him
again.

“Arianna, please let me…” He hesitated, and
Arianna closed her eyes again. She knew what he was going to ask,
and she didn’t have an answer for him. “Be your keeper.”

Arianna’s eyes jerked open, and she stared
at him. It wasn’t the question she was expecting. “I don’t
understand. You just told me you liked me. Shouldn’t the question
be about being my boyfriend?”

“That’s not something I would ever ask of
you,” Turner replied.

Arianna sat up. “I hate boys. They are so
confusing. You sound just like Devin, now,” she complained as she
moved to get out of the coat she was wrapped in.

“Wait,” he begged, taking her hands in his
own. “I can explain.” Arianna stopped moving and turned to him. He
had just said exactly what she had been waiting to hear from Devin.
“I’d love to ask you to be my girlfriend, but I wouldn’t want to
put you through that.”

“Through what?” she asked.

“The stares and snickering,” he said.
“You’ve not lived in this world long enough to see. If you said
yes, to be my girlfriend, everything said about you, and behind
your back, would amplify. You already have to deal with
enough.”

“Deal with?” Arianna questioned. “My parents
were outcasts because one was a dearg-dul and the other a baku, but
I thought we were allies.”

“They are, and there are no problems between
our kinds dating. The problem people would see isn’t that you are a
dearg-dul but that you are a purebred dearg-dul. Purebreds only
marry other purebreds, or people with purebred ancestry. Needless
to say, my family line is only lycan and human, so people wouldn’t
accept me being with you. I want to be beside you forever. I’ve
been in love with you since the day we first met. By asking to be
your keeper, it would be acceptable to society for me to be at your
side constantly just like a boyfriend would,” he explained.

“So, I can only marry someone of pureblood
ancestry?” she asked. “The only difference I see between purebreds
and other dearg-duls is power. But then I don’t understand. Gabriel
just said you were more powerful than half the purebreds out
there.”

Turner laughed. “When did you see Gabriel?”
Turner had tried endlessly to sense the baku.

“At the last store we shopped in,” Arianna
replied.

“I thought something was strange when I
smelled your blood,” Turner smiled. “He sure is good. I didn’t
sense a baku around any time I was with you today, and yet, there
he was.” He sighed and then shrugged his shoulders. “In reality,
you can marry anyone you like,” Turner replied, answering her
original question. “I don’t think anyone would be stupid enough to
tell you no, but you would have to deal with the ridicule that goes
along with not following tradition. There are few purebred
dearg-duls. Of the thirty-seven clans, only twenty-two have a
purebred leading them. The purebred gene is passed from generation
to generation. If you were to marry someone not of pureblood
descent, such as me, even though they may be powerful, your
pureblood gene could be lost in the next generation. Most wouldn’t
be happy with that possibility.”

“Oh,” Arianna couldn’t think of another
reply. The situation was so new to her. She could understand the
problems her parents caused marrying between feuding clans, but she
didn’t know there were more traditions to follow. “This is all so
strange. Don’t people around here marry for love?”

Turner smiled. “Yes, most of the people
marry for love, but they only look for love within the bounds of
tradition. I personally don’t care for all of the traditions, but I
don’t want to make things worse for you. You'll have a hard enough
time when people find out that you’re both baku and dearg-dul,”
Turner explained. “I’m not expecting an answer from you right now.
It’s a big decision, to choose a keeper. But since you are a
purebred, just think of it this way, you can always say yes, and
when you get sick of me, just get a new one.”

“That’s what I said, but everyone tells me
to make good decisions the first time, and then not have to worry
about it in the future,” Arianna agreed.

Arianna lay down in silence
as Turner continued to hold her hand. She watched the stars above,
and unconsciously began to listen as the blood within Turner pumped
through his body. The slight swish of blood as it flowed through
him sounded different than Devin. Everything about the two was
different. How could she choose between them? She knew already that
she liked Devin, and in a way he was already acting as her keeper,
but when she had asked if he would become her keeper, he had said
no.
What does it all
mean
, she pondered. Arianna moved Turner’s
hand to her face and listened as the sound of his heartbeat grew
louder. Arianna felt her eyes become heavy as she listened to the
rhythmic beat. Arianna didn’t say anything as she felt herself
drifting off to sleep. She was so confused; her head hurt from
thinking so much about the situation. Sleep was welcome.

Turner put his other hand gently on her
face. Arianna instantly drifted off to sleep. Turner gently brushed
her hair from her eyes. She was so small and delicate. He thought
back to his first meeting with her. She hadn’t changed much over
the last few years. She still was smiley and bubbly, but he could
see the strain behind her smile. This whole situation that she had
been flung into was hard on her. Turner looked down the pathway
where Nelson and Jackson were sitting quietly. There was no way he
could take her away from everything as much as he wanted to. Turner
silently held onto Arianna and watched her sleep as the sun began
to rise in the east.

“Mother,” he said quietly, as the first rays
appeared over the mountains. “I really wanted you to meet her.”
Turner squinted into the sun. “I finally asked her. I don’t know if
she will say yes, but I asked her anyway. You always told me I’d
know what love was when I finally found the right girl. I know now,
Mom.” His mother would have been proud of his decision. Turner
closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep too, as he didn’t want to
return home. His father and brother would object to his decision to
stay by Arianna, but he didn’t care. Neither found prestige in
choosing to be someone’s servant and dinner. However, the only
opinion that mattered was his mother’s, and she would be proud that
he was following his heart in living his life.

“Time to get ready.” Molina was tapping at
Arianna’s head.

Arianna groggily opened her eyes. She had
actually been awake for several hours after she was placed in her
bed—alone—but she didn’t feel like moving. There was too much to
consider. Devin wasn’t there when they finally returned. She’d
looked all over the house, but he wasn’t anywhere. Giving up,
Arianna lost herself in her thoughts until Molina entered the
room.

“Where did he go?” Arianna asked, sitting up
and rubbing her eyes.

“Devin had some business for Lord Randolph,”
Molina replied. Arianna turned her head sideways as she stared at
Molina. Closing her eyes, Arianna sensed the blood beating through
Molina’s body. The beat remained constant. Molina wasn’t lying.

“How did you choose your keeper?” Arianna
asked Molina, moving on to the second subject clouding her
mind.

“I haven’t yet,” Molina replied. “Normally,
we choose one around our twentieth birthday. Mine just passed, but
I’ve been too busy to even worry about it. My parents pressured me
to choose before Lord Randolph hired me, but now they’ve backed
off. I think they’re actually hoping that I’ll ask Nixon or
Jackson.”

“Oh,” Arianna replied, still not finding the
answer she wanted to hear.

“Are you trying to decide on a keeper?”
Molina asked, picking up on Arianna’s dissatisfaction with the
answer. Arianna didn’t reply. “Well, I’ll give you the advice my
mother gave me. The relationship between a custodian and a
dearg-dul is a unique one. Unlike any other relationship ever
formed, there’s a bond made that can never be broken. You must
choose wisely, but not be afraid to choose at all.”

“I understand that. I just don’t know how to
tell if it would be right—forever,” Arianna nodded.

“I know you’re afraid to choose someone, and
then have complete control over them. So just ask yourself, even if
you didn’t make them into a keeper, would this person, at any rate,
always put you first? Follow your heart, and you should know the
answer.” Molina patted Arianna’s hand before leaving the room.
Molina felt like the big sister Arianna never had.

By the time Arianna finally dressed and was
ready, they were going to be late. “Sorry,” she said, as she took
Turner’s extended arm to lead her to the waiting car.

“Actually, I was hoping you would take more
time,” Turner replied. “The later we are, the less time I have to
wear this silly tux.” Turner fidgeted with his black bowtie. He was
uncomfortable dressed up. “Maybe we should just ditch it and find
somewhere else to go.”

“If we skip it altogether, your dad would be
mad,” Arianna replied. “He’s just a proud father. Let him have his
little happy moment.”

“But…” Turner complained.

“Come on,” she said, dragging Turner to the
open door and car outside.

Turner fidgeted with the bowtie and
cufflinks the whole ride to the banquet hall. Arianna tried to read
his mood. He seemed to be a mixture of everything: excitement,
fear, laziness, happiness, irritation, and shyness. Arianna
wondered how one person could feel so much at one time. As the car
door opened, Turner exited and helped Arianna from the car. With
people arriving to the dinner alongside them, Turner became the
model date. Arianna giggled at the sudden transformation.

“Hey, no giggling,” he whispered.

“I didn’t know you had it in you,” she
replied, as they began to walk up the grand staircase and past all
of the stares of the people milling around, waiting for her
arrival. Arianna felt the wonder in the people.

“Is it really her?” a young lady asked her
father.

“She’s so tiny,” an older lady commented to
her gray-haired friend.

“It can’t be her, she doesn’t look sixteen,”
a man said quietly to his wife.

“But she’s with the younger of Lord Winter’s
sons,” his wife replied. “It must be her.”

Arianna felt Turner pull her closer. “I know
you can hear everything being said. Ignore them. They all like to
gossip too much.” Arianna nodded. No one knew how well she could
hear, otherwise they’d all be quiet.

“Welcome,” Lord Winter called from across
the room, as they entered, and he hurried towards them. “For a
moment, I wondered if Turner was just going to whisk you away,
especially after you didn’t return last night.”