Page 7 of Heartless Prince

I leaned forward in my seat, waiting with bated breath.

“Trust me on this,” she began. “Almost everyone likes to believe there’s all these deep, exciting secrets about the real order of the world out there. Something only a chosen few can know, hidden in exclusive clubs, arcane riddles or ancient paintings. It makes the world seem way more interesting than it would if everyone knew the truth: that there’s nothing. No secrets. No esoteric elites who run the whole world and control every aspect of every government.”

“But how do you know that?” Greer asked, raising a skeptical brow.

“Because I just do,” Willa insisted. “All those secret societies… all they really do is have wild parties, get a few bones thrown to them by politicians for making campaign donations, and ensure their power mostly stays within their ranks via family and company mergers. That’s no secret, though. Everyone knows the rich work to keep themselves rich, and everyone knows they donate to political campaigns to make a few things go their way here and there. But they aren’t hiding anything like messages written by God, or some Renaissance sculpture that gives them directions to the fountain of youth, or a code that fills them in on the meaning of life.” She paused to take a breath. “So I guess that’s the real secret: that there is no secret. Yeah, the world is unequal, and yeah, it sucks. There are lots of ‘haves’ and way more ‘have-nots’. That’s just a boring, open fact.”

“Then why are all the rich dudes in these societies so secretive about them?” Greer asked, pouting slightly. She loved conspiracy theories, and she clearly didn’t like hearing that something like this might all be bullshit.

Willa shrugged. “It benefits them to be shrouded in mystery. I guess it helps them maintain their positions.”

I wrinkled my nose. “How?”

“Well, if everyone else thinks they have all these big, dark secrets that they’ll never personally know, and that they’ll always be on the outside, they’re less likely to try and get a look in. Most people will think there’s no point because they can never join the club or know the secrets. So they don’t bother trying, and all these rich old white dudes stay put.”

“Um….” My lips turned upward in a half-smile. “You think so? Because honestly, the secrecy makes me want to look into them even more, not the other way around.”

“Hey, there’s always a few rebels who think the same way.” She winked. “How do you think revolutions start?”

Mellie groaned. “Revolutions? If that’s where this conversation is going, I need more coffee.” She got up and headed off to refill her cup at the espresso machine standing on a bench a few feet away.

Greer licked her lips. “I heard something else about Crown and Dagger,” she said slowly. “Willa, you can correct me if I’m wrong, but apparently the college initiates have parties in their clubhouse under some giant tomb in the campus cemetery.”

“That’s actually true,” Willa said with a nod. “I heard my oldest brother talking about it once. They always have a huge party on the Friday after Tap Night for the neophytes to start their trials and see what it’s all about.”

“Tatum, you should try and sneak in for your assignment,” Greer said, her brown eyes lit with excitement. “You could do a full-on exposé on it!”

“Sneak in where?” Mellie asked. She’d just returned with a new cup of coffee.

I told her. As I spoke, she frowned and anxiously tugged her black sleeves down from where they were riding up past her wrists. She only ever wore long-sleeved things, even in the summer. She once told me it was because a girl in her exclusive prep school said her arms were ‘fat’ even though they were as slim as toothpicks, and she could never bring herself to bare them in public ever again.

For a long time before that, I’d had this idea in my head that all wealthy people lived perfect existences totally free from worry. I was wrong. No matter how privileged someone’s background was, they could still be horribly insecure. Mellie was living proof.

When I was done explaining Greer’s exposé idea, she looked down and chewed on her bottom lip. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she finally said.

My brows pulled together. “Why not? Like Willa said, all these guys do is party hard. It’s not like they’d kill me if I sneaked in and they happened to find me.”

Mellie rubbed her eyes and gave a twitchy shrug. “I guess,” she said softly. There was a worried crease between her brows. “Shit, I just remembered, I have to go and talk to someone about a group assignment. I’ll see you guys later.”

She left hurriedly, leaving her full, steaming mug of coffee on the table.

“So… will you go to the party?” Greer asked, turning her attention back to me.

“Depends. How would I even get in? Surely they lock the place.”

“The main tomb entrance is always locked. But on the night of the party, they leave a little back entrance unlocked between nine and midnight. It’s so the new recruits can get in after solving a set of riddles which end at the tomb before the party begins,” Willa said in hushed tones. “It’s the only night of the year the tomb is left unlocked like that.”

“So anyone could get in through that back entrance?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Most people avoid the tomb for various reasons. But yeah, technically, anyone could get in that night. They wouldn’t make it into the main underground area where the celebrations are held, though. Not unless they’re careful.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Still seems careless of them to leave it unlocked for even five seconds if they’re so hell-bent on secrecy.”

Willa waved a hand. “Well, firstly, hardly anyone actually knows that it’s left open for a few hours one night a year. I mean, most people don’t wander through the cemetery on a Friday night, so they would never discover it. The only reason I even know is because my brothers have big mouths. And secondly, the Roden tomb is mostly for initiates and first and second-level members. There’s nothing all that important kept in there, so I guess they don’t care that much. From what I’ve heard, the third level is the most serious one. You’d never be able to infiltrate that stuff, wherever it is. I wouldn’t know. Because of my brothers’ aforementioned big mouths, they didn’t make it to the third level.”

I snickered. “I see. So when’s Tap Night?”

Greer spoke up again. “Not next Tuesday, but the one after. So the party will be the Friday after that. I’d totally try and sneak in with you, but my parents are flying over to visit that week.”

“And I can’t go because if my brothers are there and see me, they’ll totally trash me to my parents,” Willa said with a sigh.

I chewed on my bottom lip. Professor Halliwell expected a hell of lot from her students, but if I was able to write an amazing exposé on Crown and Dagger and illuminate some of the urban legends surrounding them, I might very well get an A in her class. I would be the first one ever.

“Hell yes,” I finally said with a wicked grin. “I’m definitely sneaking into that party.”

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