Page 43 of Merciless Prince
“Wait…” Francesca grinned and leaned forward. “You didn’t actually think it was real, did you?”
“Um… I didwonder about it,” I replied, rubbing the back of my neck. Every inch of my skin was hot with embarrassment.
Francesca tilted her head slightly to one side, eyes twinkling. “So you thought I watched a bunch of guys stab another guy to death on some creepy altar, and then I just went home without saying anything to anyone?”
“I don’t know what I thought,” I muttered. “I’m sorry. I just—”
She cut me off with a raised palm. “It’s fine. Honestly, it’s funny!” she said. Her expression suddenly morphed from amusement to concern. “Are you okay? You look really freaked out.”
I took a big bite of my burger and looked away, too embarrassed to meet her eyes. “I’ve just been having a rough time,” I said after I’d finally swallowed the food.
“With the SNS thing?”
“Not just that,” I said, shaking my head. “There’s all this other stuff, and I thought it might be connected to the thing I saw in the grotto. But… I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like I’m losing my mind.”
Francesca’s eyes flickered with a mixture of sympathy and apprehension, like she was afraid that I’d already had some sort of nervous breakdown. It was the exact same look Cori had on her face two days ago.
“You can tell me about it if you want,” she finally said, leaning forward. “I know we don’t know each other all that well, but I’ve always liked you, and I hate seeing you like this. You’re obviously really affected by whatever’s been happening.”
“Yeah. I am,” I said softly.
“So tell me. Maybe I can help you out.”
I nervously bit at my bottom lip. “A lot of weird stuff has been happening to me up at Bellingham. Like, weird messages and threats being sent to me or written on my mirror. Stuff going missing from my dorm. People breaking in.”
Francesca’s eyes widened. “Holy shit. Did you call the cops?”
“I told campus security and the dean of my department, but they weren’t much help,” I said with a slight shrug. “They added a few more security patrols around my building just in case, but they basically think I imagined the whole thing.”
“Ugh. Assholes.” She wrinkled her nose again. “You’d think they would take student safety seriously, considering how much they charge for tuition.”
“No shit.” I sighed and put my hands on the table. “Anyway, I guess everything came to a head with the SNS thing last weekend. My agent said she thinks I was purposely sabotaged by someone, and SNS is aired on a Knight network, so—”
“So you thought Killian Knight might be targeting you because of what you saw that night in the grotto,” she finished for me, nodding sagely.
“Yes. Everyone in the grotto realized that I was hiding there after a while, because I dropped my bracelet right near the altar. So I figured Killian could’ve tracked me down from that.”
“Oh! I remember that now!” Francesca’s lips curved into a grin. “We were in the middle of the scene and suddenly this silver thing came flying at my face, totally out of the blue.” She shook her head and let out a wry laugh. “Man… the guys werepissedabout that.The whole thing had to be reshot.”
“Sorry,” I murmured, lowering my gaze to my plate.
She snickered. “It’s fine. I got paid extra for the added time.”
“Oh. Good.”
Francesca’s brows knitted. “Are you sure you’re okay about all of this?” she said. “You still look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I forced a smile. “I’m fine. It’s just—” I stopped and slowly shook my head. “I’ve really been driving myself nuts over all this stuff. I even wondered a few times if that thing in the grotto might be related to this other weird thing I heard about a while ago. But that would be totally crazy, now that I think about it.” I paused and twisted my lips. “At least I know better now, I guess.”
Francesca looked puzzled. “What was the weird thing?”
I waved a hand. “Ah, never mind. It’s stupid. It was just one of my ridiculous theories.”
“Come on, tell me!” she said, leaning forward. “You can’t just leave me hanging like that!”
“Okay, fine. I’ll tell you, but only so you can get a good laugh,” I said with a wry smile. I paused and exhaled deeply. “So… apparently there’s a secret society at Bellingham. The members all wear red cloaks.”
Comprehension dawned on Francesca’s pretty face. “Are you talking about the Hellfire Club?”
