Winning the Legend (24 page)

“Before the clans were divided so completely
against each other, to cross species, people would bind to each
other instead of just getting married and seeing what type of night
human their child would be. It was said that if the gods looked
favorably upon the binding, you would be joined in body and mind.
People thought it was a way to get their children to have both
their traits,” Andrew explained, wanting to get on with the actual
binding.

“And did it work?” Arianna asked.

“No, but the people who did bind claimed to
be able to use each other’s power and strength. If Nessa is
correct, by binding, you would fight tomorrow using my experience.
It may actually work. This might be the way that I can help you,”
Andrew answered.

“Why didn’t Devin tell me this before?”
Arianna relaxed her crossed arms and let Andrew take both her
hands.

“Because, even though you’re a purebred
night human, and can take lots of keepers, you can only bind to one
person.” Andrew waited, holding his breath. She would have to
choose, and never go back on her decision. She had chosen him the
day they jumped off the train to come to this competition, but he
still detected something in her when she looked at Devin, too.

“Shouldn’t that be my mate, then?” Arianna
replied, unsure why Andrew was so worried.

“Me or Devin?” Andrew played with her
fingers as he waited for a response. For once in his life, he was
completely uncertain. It didn’t matter how much he loved Arianna
and wanted to be beside her forever. It was still her choice. She
could always pick Devin.

“Do you have to ask?” she replied, pulling
her hand from his. Sadness filled the air as Andrew couldn’t help
his emotions from showing. Arianna reached up and gently stroked
his face. “You’re my mate, not Devin.” Relief hit Arianna instantly
as Andrew’s arms snaked around her, pulling her into a tight but
gentle hug.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Andrew
whispered into her hair, not letting go of her.

“Did you expect me not to?” Arianna gave a
muffled reply.

“Honestly?” Andrew let go a bit so that she
could pull back and see his face. “I didn’t know. I wanted you to
choose me, but…” He trailed off the thought. Arianna waited for him
to finish. “Devin sort of made the choice for you last month when
he told you to choose me. I figured maybe there was something still
there, and you still wanted him.” Devin had told Arianna to choose
Andrew, but it was still her choice.

“I choose you, Andrew Lucan, as long as you
want me,” Arianna replied.

Andrew answered with a kiss that made
Arianna tingle all the way down to her toes.

“Now, how do we do this binding thingy?”
Arianna asked, as Andrew pulled back and smiled at her.

“Not really sure.” Andrew picked up the book
from the couch. “Ready to be stuck with me forever? You know,
forever is a long time…” Arianna scooted closer to him and pulled
his face down to meet hers.

They sat nose to nose, staring into each
other’s eyes for a moment. “I couldn’t think of a better person to
be stuck to forever.” Andrew leaned forward to kiss her again,
before reluctantly pulling away. He opened the small book and
skimmed through it while Arianna watched.

“Sixteen pages?” Arianna asked as he shut
the book.

“Not much explaining needed,” Andrew
replied. “It’s basically going through the steps of making someone
into a night human that’s already night human. I’m surprised more
people don’t bind by accident.”

Arianna still didn’t know exactly how to
make a night human, but then again it didn’t matter as she never
planned to do so. She looked up expectantly at Andrew for more of
an explanation.

“And that is?” she asked when he didn’t
explain.

“I feed you some of my blood, and then drink
your blood. And then you do the same. It has to happen quickly, in
a matter of minutes. Something about our blood mixing in each of us
at the same time. The process that makes night humans can equally
bind someone if both people do it,” Andrew explained, still waiting
for her to go running and screaming from him.

Arianna smiled. “Sounds easy enough. Ready
to be caught by me forever?” Arianna took his hand and nicked his
finger with her now sharp, night human teeth. After taking some
blood, she turned her head to expose her neck. Andrew just stared
at her. He didn’t think his dreams would ever become a reality.
He’d never fed on an awake person before, and now he could. While
he had wishful thoughts, it was never in his plans to actually have
Arianna bound to him forever. The road to get there had been rough,
and Andrew was in awe of his life taking turn after turn toward
what he had always dreamed of.

“Second thoughts?” Arianna asked, turning
back to him, where he sat and stared at her with a goofy grin on
his face.

“Never,” he replied, moving in to finally
bite her.

Chapter 26

The next day, Arianna stood by, watching the
matches. Two fights were done, and there were three more to go to
finish this ridiculous competition for her hand in marriage. As it
currently stood, with two people forfeiting to Arianna, she was
tied with Rhys for first place with two wins each. Devin and Turner
each had a win, leaving both Loan and Nik with none. It angered
Nik, but Loan didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he was taking it all
quite nicely even though his retainer yelled at him. Today would be
two fights and tomorrow would be the final match, and any
tie-breaker matches that were necessary, in front of a crowd.

Each day, more people gathered outside the
estate. There hadn’t been a high-level tournament for decades, and
everyone was anxious to see how it turned out, even the people
whose Lords were no longer competing. Daily, Nessa had been
secretly leaving the estate to find the people who supported
Arianna. When the final match came, there would be no easy winner.
Nessa had informed them all at the start of the tournament that no
matter the outcome, Rhys planned to leave the estate with Arianna.
Nessa returned, and Rhys didn’t even notice the difference. She had
been lying to him for so many years, nothing changed for them.
Nessa slipped behind her brother as they waited for everything to
begin.

“Miss Arianna,” Serge called from his seat
at the side of the ring. “Your choice.”

Arianna stood and walked over to the cards.
Only three choices and only one she wished to actually draw.
Arianna took the card and smiled as she handed it back. She grinned
over at Turner and wiggled her finger at him as she took her mark,
and Serge looked at the card.

“Mr. Winter,” Serge announced.

Turner grinned as he entered the ring.
Energy poured off of Arianna, and she was in a good mood. Part of
him wanted to get a good sparring match in, but he knew better than
to even try. Devin would kill him if he didn’t bow out now. Turner
nodded his head, and dipped to his knee.

“Match to Arianna,” he announced. Arianna
pouted at Turner and jogged back across the ring. She ran her hand
through his hair as she ran by.

The binding had been successful, and she
wanted to try it out. Having both Andrew’s reflexes and her power
was exhilarating. It coursed through her veins. Andrew’s strategies
were playing through her mind, and she’d already had a plan of how
to defeat Turner even though she knew he wasn’t going to fight her.
The best part of it all, though, was the constant connection to
Andrew, which made life easier. She no longer had to keep track of
him while watching things around her. It was like his presence was
an appendage of herself. Nessa was correct again. Binding to Andrew
was the smartest thing she could have done. It instantly made
Arianna able to beat anyone there.

“Mr. Durand,” Serge called the next
competitor. Serge was already ready for Loan as he knew, along with
everyone else, that Turner would not fight Arianna.

Loan took a card and didn’t even look at it
before going over to his mark. He was still healing from his match
the day before, and knew now that Arianna’s blood was the only
thing that had kept him alive. She’d already seen that he would
lose the match and would need the power upgrade to just survive.
Loan winced as he turned slightly to catch Rhys in his peripheral
vision. Rhys was smiling at the pain it took to move. Loan’s
retainer likewise saw the pain, and immediately stepped up before
the competitor’s name was called.

“Loan will be out the remainder of the
tournament,” his retainer announced.

Loan looked back at the older man. He had
been yelling at him for the past hour about how he had disgraced
his clan by not doing better against Rhys, and now he was pulling
him out. Serge looked up to the retainer standing in front of him
and nodded. Anyone there could see that Loan, while being able to
walk and move, was still severely injured.

“Match to Mr. Katsulas,” Serge announced.
Nik had gotten his win, but he was obviously not happy about
it.

Loan nodded to Arianna as his retainer
handed him another capsule of her blood, and they made the slow
trek back to the manor. If she gave him any more blood, she risked
changing him like she did everyone else, but she also knew that
Loan didn’t deserve the beating he got from Rhys.

‘Thank you,’
he said mentally to Arianna.

‘Heal,’
Arianna replied.
‘I don’t need the
death of a future clan leader on my hands.’
Loan smiled slightly and bowed his head to Arianna as he
passed.

‘My life is yours to
command,’
Loan declared before walking
away.

Arianna huffed at his reply. She didn’t want
his life to command. Why couldn’t any of the men around her see
that? She didn’t want to command anyone. She wanted to live in the
world she thought she’d lived in before. She wanted to go back and
be naïve. She wanted to think that everyone was equal and could be
anything they wanted to be. She really wanted to be free.

Andrew’s hand rubbed down her back, bringing
her out of her funk. He was as discreet as he needed to be, but she
was thinking too much to notice.

‘You don’t have to command
anyone,’
Andrew explained, pulling his
hand back as Rhys glared across the way at them.

‘That’s what you’re all
expecting isn’t it?’
Arianna replied, as
Serge nodded to both Devin and Rhys who were standing to enter the
ring. This was the match Arianna didn’t want to watch. Rhys was
ruthless and hated Devin with a passion, and Devin was just
recently healed.

‘Everyone is looking for a
leader. You’re already that. Loan appreciated that you would be
willing to heal him even if he wasn’t one of your own clansmen.
That’s a very rare trait in the night human world,’
Andrew explained. She was an oddity to this world
in so many ways.

Andrew watched Devin move. Devin reached in
his pocket and took a strip of paper from a small matchbook-sized
container. Everyone around assumed it was gum, as that was what it
looked like. Devin was serious. He took a second strip and placed
it in his mouth beside the first. The smell of his blood changing
caught her attention, along with Turner who was the only other one
that could smell it. Arianna raised her eyebrow as she sensed what
was on the second blood strip Devin took. How did Nessa convince
Devin to use her blood, too? Arianna searched Devin’s face for a
clue, but found nothing. Either Nessa convinced him, or Nessa just
added her blood to the strip. Arianna couldn’t be certain.

‘Rare trait?’
Arianna asked Andrew while reaching forward to
mentally check Devin before the fight started. His internal
injuries were healed and he radiated with Randolph
power.

“Be careful,” she said quietly to Devin.
Devin nodded and stepped into the ring and waited for Rhys.

‘Compassion,’
Andrew replied, focusing on the match before
them. Arianna couldn’t respond as the match had started.

Devin moved in a wide arc to avoid Rhys,
even though it wasn’t needed now. With Nessa’s blood within him, he
saw beyond the tricks Rhys would play. Avoiding Rhys was a
strategic way to avoid any curse he was planning to use. Rhys was
already transformed into the elegant sidhe king he really was. His
blond hair was now longer and flowed behind him, moving as if there
was a breeze blowing just for him. Vines grew from nothing and
wrapped around his arms to form a protective thorn-laced shield
over his arms and long claws from the vines that settled over his
hands. His facial features were more beautiful than humanly
possible, but it was his eyes that caught Arianna’s attention. His
murky brown eyes were brimming with hatred as he stared at Devin.
Rhys was one of the most impressive night humans Arianna had ever
met, and no one would want to find themselves on the other side of
the battle with him. She shivered a bit at the sight before her,
knowing that she would have to fight him either later in the
afternoon, or the next day.

Andrew instantly took away her anxiety
without even touching her. That was another of the benefits from
their connection. Arianna relaxed, but still worried for Devin. He
was good, in fact probably the best fighter she had ever seen, but
was he good enough? Could he face Rhys and come back unharmed?

Devin waited on his mark as Serge told the
match to begin. Devin wouldn’t make the first move. Nessa had
explained to Devin earlier that Rhys always set a trap for the
first attack. It was his tried and true strategy. Rhys smiled and
waited, taunting Devin with his vine claws. Devin remained where he
was. Nothing Rhys did would make him move. Devin was a very patient
man. Even most older night humans had not lived through as many
battles as Devin had in his nineteen short years.