Winning the Legend (11 page)

“You didn’t take enough blood,” Andrew
coaxed, relieved that he had won this fight of wills. He wasn’t
going to be able to say no to her for too much longer. She was
everything he ever wanted.

Arianna sighed. Andrew was right and she
knew it. All her enhanced senses faded slightly. She had gone too
long without blood and not taken enough from Turner and Devin.
Andrew turned his head slightly, giving her complete access to his
neck. Arianna hesitated. She didn’t want to affect Andrew’s
strength again, but she wanted to believe that his strength decline
during training had as much to do with her as it did her feeding.
Andrew smiled, sensing that he won this argument. Arianna leaned
down and kissed his neck gently before biting down.

Chapter 12

Two days later, after sleeping off the large
amount of blood she had taken from three different people, Arianna
sat beside Andrew in the empty dining hall for dinner. She had been
missing home quite a bit lately and would give anything to have a
meal cooked by Captain Lou, the head chef in her aunt and uncle’s
diner. It had been a few nice, quiet days without the competitors.
Rhys had stayed behind, but she had yet to see him. She was
essentially alone with her own family. Devin and Turner entered the
room, joking like normal. It had only taken a day for them both to
recover, but Arianna wasn’t recovering quite as well. Her power
continued to fluctuate as much as it did when she had only
partially turned a year ago.

Devin sat down across from Arianna and
examined her as he talked with Turner. He was analyzing every part
of Arianna as he always did. He’d been studying her for years and
now he felt that he needed to look closer since he missed the fact
that she wasn’t feeding.

“And then my brother was completely soaked,”
Turner explained. “And of course it was my fault, but how could he
blame me without admitting that he was the cause.” Turner laughed
as he ended his story abruptly, realizing that Rhys was entering
the dining room. Rhys sat alone by the windows on the other side of
the room.

‘Ari, you need to feed
more,’
Devin said to her only.
‘I can tell you aren’t doing it
again.’

‘I am,’
Arianna complained.
‘I’m just a bit
off. I think I went too long between feedings. Yes, I get it. You
can stop scolding now. I think I am just getting sick or
something.’

‘Not possible. After
drinking the five’s blood last month, you can’t get sick,’
Devin reminded her of the mess that started
everything. Arianna was the night human of legend and to be so
needed the blood of five different night human keepers. With the
five’s blood, she would never get sick and would become the most
powerful night human ever. Unfortunately, she now doubted that
legend since she did kind of feel sick and was nowhere close to
being able to save everyone by being all-powerful.

‘Why do you keep refusing?
Can’t you see Turner and I are fine? Stop being a martyr.’
Devin brought her attention back to their
conversation.

‘I am feeding,’
she insisted. Devin was good at lecturing, but
she was telling him the truth. If he didn’t want to believe her,
then Arianna didn’t need to sit around being analyzed by him
either. She stood abruptly and joined Rhys at his table. Andrew let
her walk away as he glared at Devin and began his own silent
conversation with him.

“Life is not so swell as the only princess
at the ball?” Rhys asked, making room so that Arianna could sit
beside him with her back to her keepers. Rhys hit the nail on the
head with his assumption.

“Not really,” Arianna replied as Andrew
stood and moved closer, but not right next to her. “Why does
everyone want to tell me what to do all the time?”

“That’s just men in general,” Rhys replied.
“They can’t help themselves.” Rhys gazed outside as if someone were
out there also watching in.

“Why’d you stay here alone?” Arianna asked,
following his gaze, and also looking for the mystery person.

“I wasn’t needed back at home,” he replied.
“My retainer went back to take care of everything. Nothing left for
me to do then, so I was ordered to stay here.”

“Ordered? Aren’t you the leader?” Arianna
asked. Rhys was acting strangely, but then again all the men
competing were eccentric.

“Not ordered,” Rhys quickly corrected,
turning his attention back to Arianna. “They asked me to stay here
as they felt it would confuse everyone if I returned. I’ve pledged
to win this tournament and free you. If I return home now before
the tournament is done, they will consider that a failure and a
disgrace. I cannot disgrace my people,” Rhys gave his long-winded
explanation. It didn’t sound very logical, but Arianna let it
go.

“Don’t you miss your home?” Arianna asked.
She was greatly missing her home by now, having been gone for over
two months.

Rhys shrugged. “Sometimes you don’t get a
say in things even when you are in charge, am I right?” Arianna
nodded. Rhys was stuck much like she was. Both were a bit homesick
and there was nothing either could do about it.

“Ari, we need to go back to feed you,”
Andrew said, softly touching her back to get her attention.

“Yes, boss Devin has declared that, hasn’t
he?” Arianna grumbled as she stood and followed Devin. Rhys smiled
weakly. He seemed to understand her situation completely. Being in
charge didn’t mean others would not feel the need to tell you what
to do.

Arianna followed Andrew to her rooms. She
was trying her best to keep her anger away from Andrew and aimed
just at Devin. It made things easier to blame Devin for her
changing powers, than to wonder if she had caused it by not feeding
for a month. It was easier to just blame Devin for everything in
general.

“Come here,” Andrew pulled Arianna to the
couch by the burning fireplace. Arianna smiled and melted into his
arms. He was safety and comfort. He was truly her home now. “Devin
said he can tell you are strained by not enough blood. What have
you been doing?” Andrew asked.

“Nothing, I swear. I’m not even practicing
now. I’m doing nothing to use my blood up,” Arianna insisted.

“Devin thinks you must be doing something or
that I’m not really feeding you each night like we tell him,”
Andrew stroked her head as she leaned on him. “He thinks I’d lie to
him if you’d asked.”

“Would you?” Arianna sighed. Just his touch
was intoxicating.

“Yes, but that’s not the point,” Andrew
replied, getting back on subject. “Since I know I’m feeding you,
and you aren’t doing anything to use your blood, somehow it must
not be working.”

“Is that even possible?” Arianna asked, now
becoming worried at the prospect. “Is it possible for the blood to
stop working? And from you of all people? You’re my mate.” Arianna
blushed as she said it out loud for the first time. Andrew beamed
and his love grew even greater. She never wanted to call him that,
but he loved to hear it.

“I’m your what?” Andrew asked, getting off
the subject himself. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Arianna closed her eyes to respond. It was
hard enough to tell him without his look of absolute devotion. “You
are the love of my life.” She waited for him to laugh, but he did
not. Instead he crushed his body to her, pulling her close enough
to kiss her as much as he pleased. Arianna giggled, not expecting
that reaction. He pushed her back, pinning her to the couch as he
assaulted her with kisses.

Arianna quickly sat up, feeling Rhys’
presence outside the doorway. Rhys paused before knocking. Before
his hand hit the wooden door, Andrew had moved and was standing
directly in front of Rhys. Rhys backed up two steps, feeling the
anger roll off of Andrew.

“How did you get into this wing?” Andrew
demanded, shifting into his full, imposing baku form. His muscles
expanded to twice their normal size as his skin paled. Arianna
stood just behind him, and while she had to stop him, she wanted to
see his baku. It had been over a week since he had transformed, and
part of Arianna missed him.

Rhys held up his hands. “Since I’m the only
person in the house, the guards don’t stay at their posts all
night. I saw them leave and thought maybe it was my chance to talk
to Arianna. I came only to help her.”

“You’re purposely trying to get her alone?”
Andrew demanded. The hulking baku was quickly becoming
uncontrollable.

‘Stand down,’
Arianna ordered Andrew. As his clan leader, he
had to do as she said, but as her mate he wouldn’t if he thought
she were in danger. Arianna finally noticed how that could be a
problem.

‘He’s here sneaking into
your wing of the house. This is too dangerous to back down
from,’
Andrew replied, explaining why he
was still fuming.

“With what?” Arianna asked Rhys, stepping
beside Andrew and placing a hand on his arm. Andrew’s anger
dampened slightly, but he was still fully alert, ready to attack
Rhys if he made even a slight move. “Stop being my mate and look
carefully.” Arianna pointed to Rhys. There wasn’t a bit of emotion
to make Andrew as mad as he was. Rhys didn’t have any romantic
feelings toward Arianna. Andrew, as a baku, should have at least
noticed that much. Andrew was just reacting to what he thought was
going on, and not what he was actually feeling in Rhys.

“I can help,” Rhys offered.

“Are you offering to get rid of all the
other competitors?” Arianna asked, cocking her head to the side to
get a full view of Rhys from around Andrew, who had moved a few
steps in front of her. That would be a grand offer, but one she
couldn’t accept.

“That I can’t help with, though I truly wish
I could,” Rhys replied. He had thought that would be fun also, but
the sidhe clan would never allow that. “I can help with your newest
problem with blood and fluctuating powers.” Arianna’s head snapped
up. How did Rhys know she was having problems with her blood
intake?

“What do you mean?” Andrew demanded. He was
still seeing Rhys as a threat, but that didn’t dissuade Rhys in the
least.

“I can see it. This happens
often to the sidhe.” Rhys ignored Andrew and his hateful stares. He
spoke directly to the partially-hidden Arianna. “You have
pathadh
; unquenchable
thirst.”

“Pathadh?” Arianna questioned the term she
had never heard before.

“Yes. It’s a thirst for blood that cannot be
sated,” Rhys explained, keeping his distance from the
still-volatile Andrew. Helpful or not, Andrew didn’t trust
Rhys.

“But I’m not really hungry. That’s not the
problem,” Arianna replied, moving to stand beside Andrew now as he
was finally controlling himself and his urge to protect her.
Arianna hoped he was seeing that Rhys wasn’t a threat.

“You may not feel the thirst, but you feel
how your body cannot get enough blood. That’s why your night human
powers are all over the place since your abstinence from blood.
That’s why you cannot feed enough to stop the fluctuation.” Rhys
waited for his words to sink in. He was correct. Devin had noticed
she was having problems, and Andrew could not explain why Arianna
wasn’t feeling content with all the blood they had fed her in the
past few days.

“Okay. Let’s just say that you’re right,”
Andrew entered back into the conversation. Rhys didn’t even glance
at Andrew, but stared only at Arianna. “Hypothetically speaking of
course. What does one do for this problem to correct it?”

“Blood of another species,” Rhys replied,
finally looking at Andrew and waiting for his attack. Andrew moved
toward Arianna, but she kept him still by gripping him harder.

‘We cannot attack a
contestant in this game, or all my rights are forfeit,’
Arianna reminded him. Andrew wasn’t sure he could
hold back now. It was hard enough to watch Arianna feed on Devin or
Turner, but this stranger, who had been watching Arianna for a
week, was hard to even consider.

“And I suppose you are offering?” Andrew
mocked Rhys.

“I do happen to be the only night human
around that she has not taken the blood of,” Rhys replied, not
afraid of Andrew. He stood his ground even though the massive baku
was only restrained by Arianna’s single hand. Even Rhys knew that
that wasn’t enough to keep Andrew chained down if he chose to
attack.

“You’re free to search my mind. I’m not a
threat to you or your relationship with the princess. Trust me. I’m
not interested in her in the least. She’s not exactly my type,”
Rhys replied.

Andrew wasn’t satisfied with words alone. He
needed to see that Rhys was not a threat.

“You’ll just let me just enter?” Andrew
asked in disbelief.

“Yes, and you’ll see I’m only here to help
Arianna,” Rhys replied, waiting for Andrew to enter his mind.

Andrew calmed his anger and easily entered
Rhys’ mind. He took a few deep breaths, and it only took him
looking at one thought to know that Rhys was speaking the truth.
Rhys wasn’t interested in Arianna in the least. Pulling back out
immediately, Andrew stared back over at Rhys.

“Are you convinced now?” Arianna asked
Andrew. She had already had faith in the sidhe without having to go
looking in his mind. Rhys had made his intentions clear with his
emotion alone that he wasn’t interested in Arianna. Rhys was
offering friendship, the same as Thomas, and didn’t look at Arianna
in the way that all the other competitors did.

“Yes, but-” Andrew began, turning to Rhys.
He had seen enough to need some answers.

“Please let her feed first, and then I will
explain. I promise,” Rhys replied, holding up his wrist for
Arianna.