“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.”
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 mi
nd. ‘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.
“If anyone questions my decisions, they may be asked to leave the competition. I have agreed to play your stupid, chauvinistic game for my hand in marriage, which really only equates to your right to sleep with me since I know I’ll never love any of you. You have all made me into a glorified whore, so I’m really not in the mood to stand around debating if what I do is fair or not. You chose to be here. If you don’t like my game, then leave.” Arianna glared a challenge at each man. No one flinched or looked away. They all got her point. Arianna turned on her heels, and walked away from the awed and confused men. Her little display of power didn’t frighten them like she hoped, but just enticed them further.
* * * * *
The next morning Arianna ran beside Andrew as Thomas led them around the expansive grounds of the estate to set the course for the next competition. She was trying to ignore the way Andrew tempted her as he ran beside her so that she could concentrate more on following Thomas, but it was hard to do. They were plotting the course that the men would follow later that night for the endurance test portion of the first round. It was just before noon, and Arianna kept getting distracted by the sunlight glistening off Andrew’s day human skin. Even in this form, there was something not quite day human about him. Like her, Andrew was too powerful to keep his night human form completely suppressed. Certain qualities would come through even if he didn’t fully transform. Andrew gave her a sly smile as he caught her looking for at least the tenth time since they began their run.
‘Do you need something, princess?’ Andrew always called her ?
??princess” when he wanted to get her riled up.
Arianna pouted, and ran a few steps ahead of him. She distracted herself by watching the border around the estate. Outside there were already some groups of night humans milling about beyond the fence. Only those that could be in the sun were out now, so the majority of people were in their tents, either asleep or waiting to come out. Arianna wondered if the men inside the house had called their own people to come, or if the people were just drawn to the huge concentration of power coming from the main house.
Thomas veered left as he placed another marker for the course. Andrew reached up with little more than a jump and tapped it into place. They worked as a coordinated team, setting the markers for the contestants.
‘Why do you have to be so perfect?’ Arianna asked. It actually would have been easier to marry one of the guys in the house if she wasn’t so drawn to Andrew.
‘I don’t think my uncle thinks I’m perfect,’ Andrew replied, trying to lighten the serious mood Arianna was creating.
‘You know what I mean,’ Arianna complained with another pout. Thomas laid a marker, and Andrew again pounded it in.
‘When you find your other half, it doesn’t matter what they do. They seem perfect all the time,’ Andrew explained. He knew exactly what she was looking for. ‘Really, I’m not perfect. I seem perfect in your eyes, just as you are in mine. We will always see each other as perfect.’ Arianna smiled as she ran a bit ahead of him. She didn’t want him to catch her smiling at his words. It made sense, but at the same time the idea that he would always view her as perfect made her happy beyond belief.
Andrew reached out and brushed his fingers against the ends of her hair, which were fluttering in the wind. He reached for her, and she stepped just out of his grasp. She stuck her tongue out at him before taking a further lead, running back to the house. She was teasing him again, and he wanted to give chase more than anything. She could out run him, but he knew how to corner her if needed. He had way more experience than she did, and knew tricks to enhance his strength to come close to matching hers. Andrew slowed as he passed the last marker. He wanted to just reach out and take her into his arms, but he had to be careful around all the eyes that watched from inside the training room. No one stood at the window, but every set of eyes was on her. Arianna waited in the open doorway for Andrew and Thomas to catch up.