"I've got nowhere else for the syringe."
I laughed and rolled up the hem of my dress revealing my own stockings tops held up by garters. I took the syringe from Mai and tucked it neatly under a garter.
Mai laughed and tossed the clutch bag across the carriage.
Our carriage took the lakeside road. After ten minutes we slowed to a stop. “Last chance to change your mind and turn back, Robyn.”
I wound down the window and stuck my head out. We had approached at the college side of a bridge. Mai explained it was a checkpoint of armed guards that prevented anyone crossing over from the Kimberley University side of the lake and onto the property owned by Kublai Khan.
The guards were also in costume and masks. All black. One guard opened our door. And the cold air rushed in.
He held up a small device and politely explained it was a retina scan. Whilst he wouldn't be privy to our identities, the machine was remotely connected to a database that was.
A laser from his device read our unique eye patterns. Satisfied we were invited guests he closed the door and waved our driver through the crossing.
As the carriage rolled on over the wooden bridge my stomach back flipped like a gymnast at the Olympics.
Mai whispered, "There's no turning back now."
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE
Through the swirling lake mists I was now able to see where we were headed. Brad was right when he said a place was being constructed. It seemed to cover the entire Kimberley Island.
Twin white towers rose up from the center of the lake like two Moon bound rockets. As we traversed the lakeside road and began to approach the palace from the front, it became apparent that the twin towers were separated by a series of smaller towers. Surrounding them was a high white wall.
Taking us on the final stretch of our journey was a two lane bridge that spanned the frozen lake from the shore line to the floating palace. I wound down the window for a better view.
The carriage rolled along wheel tracks until we reached a large forecourt of carriages. Guests were escorted from their carriages by footmen, before the carriages rolled away in the opposite direction.
Our carriage stopped. The door opened and the footman lowered the steps for us. I took his hand and gingerly stepped onto... ice!
I couldn't believe it. The bridge and the palace standing before me were both made entirely of huge blocks of ice.
I turned to Mai, "This is what all those trucks have been delivering?"
She smiled and nodded. "Quite a sight, isn't it?"
"I must be dreaming."
We were directed by masked ushers into the palace.
Mai giggled, took my hand and led me under a series of arches to the main doors. We followed a group of masked guests and entered a vast chamber. A ball room.
We walked between two rows of dozens of masked men in costume. One row was dressed all in white. The other row in red.
Their uniforms were a mix of Renaissance leather pantaloons, thigh high leather boots and silk shirts. These were overlaid with intertwining layers of thin micro mesh steel. Emblazoned on the center of their chest armor was the symbol of the Knights of Kimberley: a grotesque mask and two crossed swords.
Their masks were three quarter length and fashioned like bizarre Venetian ball masks of hideous expressions contorted with pain down to their solemn lips.
Each held a sword aloft. Forming an archway. I realized it was supposed to be a guard of honor, but walking under their archway made me shiver more than the touch of the ice permeating the soles of my shoes.
Mai whispered, "The red knights of the Queen and the white knights of the king."
"A friendly rivalry?"
"You'll find out later."
Each lined up to be presented to a woman dressed in red and a man dressed in white. Both wore masks that covered their entire faces, but for their eyes and their lips.
Mai whispered, "The Red Queen and the White King. Our hosts."
Eventually the line shortened and the Red Queen held out her hand. I recognized the large emerald on her finger.
He smiled. "Good of you to accept our invitation. I'm sure after your long journey the festivities will enlighten you."
"I'm sure they will too."
I was then presented to the White King.
His one blue eye and the other brown were unmistakable. Kublai Khan.
The White king Kublai Khan bowed extravagantly and kissed my hand.
He leaned in and whispered, "So the end game begins?"
"It does indeed, your majesty."
CHAPTER FORTY SIX
Under a high ceiling of Gothic arches of ice, the first thing that shocked me was how many guests there were. Some three hundred, all in masks and costume.
When the impresario called for everyone to stand in two lines, opposite their prospective partners, to make ready for the grand march, I realized that I was the only one who did not have a partner.
Mai whispered, "Don't worry, an usher will dance with you."
A small orchestra began playing a slow waltz from their raised ice stage.
I stood like a lemon at the back of the line. The ladies took the arm of the gentlemen on their right. They glided across the ice. I glanced to my right for my partner, but no one was there.
"Ma'am, may I?"
I glanced over my shoulder as an usher took my hand. He wore a plain mask with a single tear drop running from one eye. He was dressed in blue crushed velvet and boots that covered his muscular carves. His uniform was topped by a thick leather sash that dropped from one shoulder to the opposite hip and supported a thin sword in a short scabbard.
Apparently, even the Help came armed to a dance in these parts.
There was something alarmingly familiar about his sandalwood cologne.
I breathed a sigh of relief. "You may be so kind, Sir."
"No need to call me Sir. I'm not one of those idiot Knights."
As the front of the two lines reached the orchestra, it fanned out. The first couple to the left, the second couple to the right and around the circumference of the circular ballroom they waltzed.
As we reached the front, my usher took both my hands and pulled me close to him. He spun me around and guided me to the left.
"Your first ball, ma'am?"
The idea that I could dance and converse at the same time was absurd. Nodding was also out of the question if my shape, turned out slightly away from him, was to be maintained.
"I'll take that as a yes, ma'am."
As Mai and Brad whirled by, Mai caught my eye and winked. Brad seemed more appropriately dressed less like a Knight and more like a pirate after a hard night's thieving and debauchery. It was a kind of sexy look. Far more so than my preened and posing in pantaloons dance partner.
But I had to concede, thanks to the skills of my partner's masterful lead, I completed my first full circle of the ballroom mostly without incident. Just the odd light collision due to my dim witted refusal to be led. Or my ignorance of the subtle pressure points of his hands. Or, it had to said, my inability to know my left from my right.
After a few minutes of clinging manically to his strong protective arms, I finally felt brave enough to open my mouth without dancing both feet into it.
As the usher spun me around the floor, I looked up at the smooth high walls of ice. I noticed a series of balconies carved into the ice and connected by a spiraling staircase of ice descending to the dance floor. Each balcony seemed to contain groups of V.I.Ps watching the proceedings. The uppermost contained the Red Queen.
She watched me with an intense interest and not without considerable scorn.
I began to feel dizzy with all the spinning.
"What's your name, sir?"
"Names are not permitted, ma'am."
"So what do I call you?"
I detected a slight mocking tone when he replied, "After midnight, you can call me anything you like."
"What happens after midnight?"
> "Assuming you get out of here alive, you turn back into a pumpkin."
I felt my eyes bulge and stared hard at his eyes. "Harry? Shit!"
"Remember to smile. They're watching."
"What the Hell are you doing here?"
"There was no way I’d get an invite so I had to get imaginative."
"How?"
"Just say I imagine the original owner of this monkey suit will will wake up tomorrow with a headache."
"So you're not a Knight of Kimberley?"
"You'll have to settle for a humble usher, ma'am."
"Stop with the ma’am. So if you're not a part of all this, what are you doing here?"
"Same as you. Trying to find Madison's killer."
I felt a tap on my shoulder. I glanced around and into the eyes of the White King.
"Cutting in."
I glanced at Harry who had stopped and bowed before the White King.
The White King took my hand.
"Robyn, allow me to give you a personal guided tour."
"Thank you, majesty."
I knew then I was about to learn the deepest, darkest secret of the court of the Kimberley Knights.
CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN
"So you want to know my secrets?"
"I want to know who killed Madison."
The White king led me away.
We followed couples as they left the ballroom and vanished into a sequence of antechambers delving deeper into the Ice Palace.
The entrance to each chamber was marked with thin translucent sheets of fine silk. Deep fur rugs draped the floor of each chamber. Guests began peeling off their gowns and writhing in various stages of undress on the rugs together.
"This is your secret? Orgies? You blackmail them? For what? You're already rich."
He smiled.
"Robyn, ask yourself what do all the guests of the Knights of Kimberley have in common?"
"Students. Wealthy families."
"They are all sons and daughters of the most powerful people in the world. Their influence will shape the world we all live in."
"And what you hold over them, makes you the most powerful man in the world?"
"They do my bidding. They steal secrets for me or face ruin."
I nodded my head slowly with a perverse admiration for Khan.
He smiled and stroked my face. "I knew we'd come to an understanding."
I slapped his hand away.
"Khan, you understand nothing about me."
"Robyn this is your last chance to return the journal with all its secrets and save yourself."
"Impossible. Tell me which of the knights is Madison's killer or I'll publish."
His eyes seemed to ignite with fury. "I cannot protect you from the Red Queen. If I do not hand over Madison's journal to her she will insist you never leave here alive."
CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT
Two Red Knights pulled back the silk curtains.
The first Knight said, "We've come with orders from the Red Queen."
Khan shrugged.
The Red Knights grabbed my shoulders. They escorted me through a labyrinth of corridors until we arrived on a platform of ice that jutted out high above the ballroom. It extended across the entire length of the ballroom to the far side and formed a long narrow foot bridge about two meters wide.
At the end of the platform and suspended from the ceiling by a gold rope was an ornate bird cage composed of thick vertical gold bars. It seemed big enough for a human.
They marched me to the cage and shoved me inside. The first knight turned a key from which dangled a thin chain. The door locked with me inside. He removed the key.
As the Red Queen appeared at the entrance to the platform, the first knight bowed and presented her with the chain key.
The Queen placed the key chain around her neck. She waved her hand and the orchestra stopped playing at once.
The first knight bellowed out to the guests.
"All hail the Red Queen."
Everyone on the dance floor chorused, "All hail the Red Queen."
The Red Queen stepped forward and looked down on her court.
"The prize is the life of a traitor,” she said.
She waved a dismissive hand at me.
Everyone looked up. I half expected someone to call for my release. But all I heard was hissing vitriol from the ballroom floor.
The Queen smiled. "Step forward my champion."
A Red knight stepped out of the corridor and joined his queen at her side. He wore a three quarters mask that revealed a thin crescent moon scar below one eye. There was no mistaking Jason Drake.
As he turned to me, he smiled.
The crowd applauded.
The Queen nodded as he kissed her emerald ring.
The White King joined the Red Queen and shouted to the court, "Is there anyone who will fight for the honor of the traitor?"
I glanced down at the masks in the crowd as they looked up at me. Some masks were twisted into insane expressions of manic laughter. Other masks were contorted into cries of agony. Most were simply passive, solemn, lifeless masks with furtive eyes.
Many turned away and looked at their feet. My stomach back flipped. This playful fantasy was about to take a deadly turn to reality.
CHAPTER FORTY NINE
"I will champion the girl."
Everyone in the ballroom turned to look at the masked man standing at the far entrance of the aerial platform. He wore the blue crushed velvet of an usher. A mask with a single tear under one eye.
With one hand I stifled my gasp of surprise, "Harry."
He strode across the bridge and met Jason in the center. They both drew swords. Suddenly I realized the platform was no bridge. It a fencing piste. This was a duel between a champion swordsman and a fencer who failed to make the team.
The White King approached the bars of my cage.
"I'm sorry it's come to this."
He leaned in and stroked my face as he dropped something down the front of my dress.
He whispered, "If your champion wins and you go free, he will need it."
He turned his back on me and shouted, "Open up traitors' chasm."
The cage jolted and began to rise. I turned away from them. I reached inside the top of my dress and found a tiny glass vial containing a green liquid. I had no idea what he meant, but hid the vial inside my bra.
I looked down as the ballroom floor began to divide in half. People ran back to the edges of the ballroom. The two halves of the ice floor moved apart and revealed a deep trench filled with giant stalagmites of razor sharp ice.
The cage swung out to the center, swaying back and forth, suspended some hundred feet in the air. I hovered level with the piste, but directly over the trench. The rope suspending the cage was looped through a hoop in the ceiling and then traversed down to a winch.
The Red Queen took a candle and placed it beneath the rope. The flame licked the rope. She smiled up at me and addressed Harry and Jason.
"This is a duel to the death. The traitor's champion must win before the cage rope burns through."
Red Knights took up positions on either end of the piste.
"Any man who steps off the piste will be immediately executed."
She raised a red silk handkerchief above her head so that it fluttered in the breeze.
She shouted, "En garde."
Harry and Jason saluted with their swords and raised them in readiness.
They watched the red handkerchief take flight in the breeze.
Jason leapt at Harry and slashed his blade down on Harry's mask.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Harry fell to his knees. One hand flew to a cut on his chin. He glanced up as Jason brought his blade crashing down once again.
This time, he raised his own sword and parried Jason. His counter attack was fast and decisive, as the tip of his blade drew blood from Jason's shoulder.
Now that they had the measure of each other, they fought cautiously. Circling each
other, feinting attacks, countering, trying to draw each other's attack for a quick and deadly counter.
As they moved, Harry seemed more sluggish than the nimble Jason who scored a few minor cuts to Harry's arms and legs.
I took stock of the burning candle just as the cage dropped through the air by some ten feet.
I screamed.
Harry looked down at me just as Jason raised his sword above his head and slashed at Harry's face.
Harry dropped to the piste and rolled across the piste. Jason missed his target and let out a raging scream. Harry winked at me. But I could tell he was hurting.
He moved slower than before, dragging one lifeless leg around in a circle. Then he stumbled and fell to his knees. This time when he looked at me, he didn't smile or wink. His eyes glazed over and he tumbled onto his back.
Jason stood over Harry and placed a boot on his chest. Harry's one good arm flailed about trying to dislodge Jason's boot, but to no avail.
Jason looked to the Red Queen as if seeking permission.
She raised her fist as she seemed to measure the mood of the crowd.
They were baying for blood. It didn't seem to matter whose.
She smiled and stuck out a thumb. Pointing it downward.
Jason smiled with dead eyes and raised his sword above his head.
It was then I realized everything I'd endured had been for nothing. The deaths of Madison, J.C, Penny and now Harry. Soon it would be my turn. In failing to end the mystery of guilty secrets how many more would end up like Harry and I?
Jason brought the blade crashing down and shards of ice by Harry's head exploded upwards and outward.
It was over. I felt my soul scream with silent agony as my hands pathetically tore at the gold bars of my cage.
Jason's expression changed to something of irritation and confusion. A trickle of blood ran from his nostrils. Another flowed from his lips. He looked down at his chest and grabbed at his stomach. His arms swung wildly from his body as he gripped a bloody blade and pulled it from his stomach.
He collapsed onto his knees. He shot me a raging look of contempt that seemed to dissolve into a plea for forgiveness. He fell flat onto Harry's body.
Guilty Secrets (Campus Love and Murder Sorority Eyes Romance Book 1) Page 13