The Legend of the Blue Eyes (20 page)

Arianna poked Turner’s side, giving him an
‘I told you’ look. She could feel the genuine relief in Lord
Winter’s voice that they actually arrived. Turner wasn’t just
disobedient in school, obviously.

“Come this way, my dear.” Lord Winter took
Arianna from Turner and led her to the large table on the platform
in the front of the room. Lord Winter pulled out a seat and offered
it to Arianna. “I’d like you to sit here, next to me. It’s such an
honor to have you visit us. I want to learn more about you, and how
you came to meet my son.” Arianna nodded as she sat down. Lord
Winter remained standing as the guests around the room hurried to
their seats. After everyone was seated, he greeted the crowd, and
the wait staff began to bring out drinks and food.

Arianna felt a slight pain in the pit of her
stomach as the servers began bringing drinks to the table. The
overwhelming smell of blood easily caught her attention. They
carefully placed glasses before specific guests. Watching each, she
began to see that each guest with a glass of blood was a night
human. As the waiter neared her, Arianna pondered how to decline
without insulting Lord Winter. To her surprise, Turner stopped the
waiter before she could say a word.

“Just water for Arianna,” Turner said, and
the waiter quickly placed a glass of water in front of Arianna
instead of the blood-filled glass. “She’s not to drink any blood
unless it comes from Devin,” Turner explained to his confused
father.

“How did you know that?” Arianna
whispered.

“I got my orders from Devin yesterday on the
train while you slept. Man, can he be strict,” Turner replied.
Relieved, Arianna watched as the food began being served. As a raw
piece of meat was placed before Turner, Arianna wrinkled her nose
at him.

“You like blood, I like raw meat,” he
replied, cutting a piece and holding it to her. “Want to try?”

“I don’t think so,” she responded, and he
laughed. As she sat through dinner, she couldn’t help but
periodically giggle between answering Lord Winter’s questions while
Turner constantly added his piece to every answer or question. Even
though he had been so serious the night before, no matter what her
answer to his question, nothing would change. As the meal finished,
and the tables moved, a small orchestra began to set up in the
corner of the room. Arianna tried not to move, as she could feel
the dull pain beginning in the pit of her stomach. How long would
it take before she got sick?

“Are you feeling okay?” Turner asked
quietly. With a strained smile, Arianna nodded her head yes.

“I’m just a little tired,” she lied, though
Turner wasn’t about to believe her.

Turner crossed the room to Molina, who was
standing watch over Arianna at the party. Devin was nowhere around.
Arianna already knew that much, but his absence made her a bit sad.
Arianna strained to listen to the conversation between Turner and
Molina, but her increased hearing was slowly fading. She easily
picked up the conversations of the people seated between her and
Turner, but she couldn’t focus to his conversation.

Arianna resolved to sit and
watch his movements. His large hands gently messing with his hair
as he talked.
He’s upset about
something
, Arianna thought. He impatiently
turned his face from Arianna so that she couldn’t see his
expression as he continued to talk. Molina gave no clue to the
discussion, as her own expression didn’t change. Turner finished
talking and returned to Arianna’s side. All his worry was carefully
hidden.

“How about I have the first dance with you,
then?” Turner asked, as he offered her his hand.

“I dunno. Is it safe to dance with you?” she
shot back.

“I guess you’ll just have to test your luck
and see,” Turner grinned. “I think you lead. Right?”

Standing in the middle of the dance floor,
Arianna heard the soft music begin. A bit self-conscious as
everyone in the room stared at her with Turner. Arianna could feel
her face flush. Turner gently placed his hand around her waist
while taking her other hand in his. Pulling her close to him, he
whispered in her ear.

“Since they are already staring, let’s give
them a show.” Turner winked at Arianna as he stood back tall.

“Easy for you to say,” Arianna complained,
as he began to lead her around the dance floor. “You grew up going
to these parties.” Arianna followed his lead, happy to find he
could actually dance as well as Devin. Arianna felt the pain return
as she thought of Devin momentarily.

“I sent Molina to find him, but no one knows
where he is,” Turner explained as the song finished, and he led her
back to her seat.

“He wasn’t in town anymore, the last time I
found him,” Arianna explained. “I’m fine. I just need to rest a
little bit,” she tried to reassure the worried man beside her.
Arianna patted his hand. “Really,” she added, and he gave a weak
smile. Turner relaxed a little bit as he watched her carefully. To
him, Arianna was the most important person in the world. Sitting
helplessly and watching her in pain, was hard to do.

“Do you know everyone here?” Arianna asked,
trying to change the subject, and relieve her mind from thinking
about the growing pain.

“Unfortunately,” Turner replied, looking
over the crowd. “When you grow up in a family like this, you’re
often at these parties.” Two young boys weaved in an out of the
dance floor. “You just kind of get used to it.” Turner nonchalantly
put his arm on the back of Arianna’s chair. Arianna tried to ignore
it as her heart beat faster.

Arianna studied Turner as
he talked. She could see the distant look as he remembered his
past. His gray eyes blurred over, not noticing her staring. Arianna
easily compared Turner to Devin. He was much more open and
outgoing. He never weighed the consequences of his actions, he just
acted. The past few days, Arianna felt as though everything was so
much more exciting in her new life. The more she learned about him,
the more she was intrigued. How could he always be so happy when he
had such a sad past? It didn’t take any extra ability to know he
was very close to his mother. Arianna never knew her own parents,
so she had no memories.
It must be
bittersweet
, she thought,
to have known your parents and then no longer
have them beside you.
Though he often
broke rules, and tested everyone’s limits, Turner was a good
man.

“Devin made things easier, being a kid in
this world. That was us ten years ago,” he explained, pointing to
the two boys. Turner sat calmly beside her as they continued to
watch the people dance. Every so often, he would smile as the two
boys played. Turner didn’t explain more, but just watched.

“Yes,” she said, leaning
near Turner and whispering in his ear. Molina was right. No matter
if Turner was her keeper or not, he was always trying to protect
her, just like Devin. Stunned at the realization to what she was
saying, Turner sat still. “The answer to your question last night
is
yes
,” Arianna
explained. “Sometime in the future,” she quickly added. “I want to
get used to this world first before I make anyone into one
officially.”

Turner smiled as he tipped his head onto her
shoulder. “I didn’t think you would actually say yes.” Relived, he
sat with his eyes closed, leaning on her shoulder.

“And what could you have done to make my son
so happy?” Lord Winter asked, approaching Arianna and Turner.
Arianna smiled as Turner’s smiled faded into hesitation.

“I told him I’d like him to become my
custodian some day,” Arianna replied before Turner could stop her.
Turner waited in silence for his father to become angry, but was
surprised to find the man heartily laughing.

“I knew he was up to something when he
begged to go to school. Everyone knew he didn’t need to go to any
school,” Lord Winter wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.
Even with her senses dulled, Arianna felt how proud Lord Winter
was.

“You’re not disappointed?” Turner asked
quietly. “You always said it was beneath our family.” Arianna
hadn’t ever seen him be so quiet and reserved.

“Disappointed?” Lord Winter asked. “That you
want to devote your life to this precious girl sitting beside you?
I’d have thought you a fool if you didn’t want to, after meeting
her. Contrary to what some people say, there’s nothing wrong in
dedicating your life to someone, especially someone as significant
as Miss Arianna. More importantly, I should wish Arianna good luck
with you. I’ve put up with this child for seventeen years. You see
all the white hairs I have? They are all due to him.” Arianna
laughed at Lord Winters head of almost white hair.

“But he just keeps life interesting,”
Arianna replied.

“Interesting? That’s a good way of putting
it,” Lord Winter stood, scanning the crowd. Turner moved closer to
Arianna as she cringed from the pain.

“We need to find Devin for you,” he said
only to her. Lord Winter waved to Turner, and Turner hurried to
him, his eyes darting around the room looking for Molina.

Lord Winter tapped his glass to get the
attention of the crowd milling around the dance floor. Everyone
turned to the head table and quieted down.

“I just wanted to give everyone the great
news. My youngest son here, whom we have worried about for years
over what he would do with his life, has finally decided to become
a man and make a decision.” Turner’s cheeks reddened at his
father’s words. “Turner had decided to become Miss Arianna’s
custodian.” Cheers erupted from the crowd, and everyone happily
yelled their congratulations. Turner was the youngest of the Winter
children, and therefore, was not in line to follow his father in
running the city. He was much stronger and cunning than his older
brother, but tradition made it clear, his brother was the next in
line to the position.

Surprised by the reaction of everyone
attending the party, Turner joined his father in shaking hands and
receiving congratulations from the people individually. As a new
face appeared before him to tell his own story of how proud he was
of Turner, Turner continued to steal glances at Arianna, who sat
alone, distracted by the pain. Not waiting for Molina to return to
Arianna’s side, Turner quickly moved to the head table only moments
before her.

“We can’t find him,” Molina said. “He must
have turned off all his electronics, and no one knows where he
went. Lord Randolph said he should have returned by now from his
assignment. We need to get you some blood soon.”

“But he said not to take any blood from
anyone. He made me promise,” Arianna replied as her eyes began to
haze over. Around her, people were beginning to smell enticing.
“Can you take me back to my room?” Arianna asked, as Turner neared
them. “It smells like blood everywhere.”

“Turner, we need to move her now,” Molina
ordered. Molina could see Arianna was slowly changing, not by her
own will. Any person in the room would gladly give their blood to
Arianna, but Arianna didn’t want to attack anyone. “Is your uncle
around?” Molina asked, as Turner helped Arianna stand.

“No, he left yesterday for some reason,”
Arianna replied, taking Turner’s arm, trying not to show the pain
she was feeling.

As they finally reached her room, Turner
carefully placed her on the couch. Touching her face gently, he
winced; it was hard to watch her in pain.

“She needs to feed,” Turner angrily told
Molina.

“We can’t go against Devin’s decision. His
orders come from Lord Randolph,” Molina said. Arianna curled up in
pain. “Right now, we need to wait. She still has enough blood for
the time being. It would take hours, if not days, to die from lack
of blood at this point.”

“But she’s in pain,” Turner replied. “We
can’t just let her suffer like this.”

Arianna sat back up as she caught her breath
in a low moment of pain. “It’s fine.” Turner sat down beside
her.

“Take my blood,” he offered, pulling his
bowtie off and exposing his neck.

“I can’t,” she replied, watching the vein in
his neck throb.

“Part of being your
custodian is that you can have my blood whenever you want,” Turner
explained. “If you take even just a little, the pain will stop.”
Arianna closed her eyes as the pain shot through her body. Opening
them as it subsided again, she shook her head
no
. “Then how about this, take some
blood so that you can find Devin. You said you can smell him no
matter where he goes. Then, take a little, tell us where to find
him, and I’ll personally drag his butt back here.” Arianna smiled
slightly at Turner’s agitation.

“He does have a point,” Molina added,
thinking over Turner’s plan. Molina knew that going against Devin’s
word was as good as going against Lord Randolph, but if Arianna
took the blood to locate Devin, he might overlook it this time.

“But I promised,” Arianna added, sulking
that Molina was now agreeing with Turner. Turner gently picked up
Arianna’s hand and placed it on his chest. Her sense of hearing was
beginning to return to day human level, but the skin-to-skin
contact brought the sound of Turner’s blood swishing through his
veins loud into her ears.

“Take a little bit,” he begged.
“Please.”