Guilty Secrets (Campus Love and Murder Sorority Eyes Romance Book 1)

by Christie, Ciara

  "We'll see about that. Take me to Khan."

  CHAPTER EIGHTY TWO

  I ran to the iron gates of the palace gardens. Beyond it was a meandering path leading to the main building. A mountain mist swirled along the narrow street.

  Two guards blocked my path. They wore ancient ceremonial dress and held long handled axes. One sliced through the air and stopped abruptly before my eyes.

  Black eyes peered through the visor of his helmet.

  A voice barked in Mandarin and the two guards stood aside. A man dressed in green silk stepped out of the street. They bowed.

  He held out his hand, "Robyn, may I escort you?"

  As I recognized him I felt my hands clench into fists. "Khan. You can't do this. You can’t keep me a prisoner."

  His eyes narrowed. "Allow me to explain and then, if you wish to leave, you are free to do so."

  I tilted my head as if I hadn't heard him right.

  "Have I not always treated you fairly, Robyn?"

  He took my hand and led me back through the iron gates and under a long arch of cherry trees in full blossom.

  We seemed to be moving towards a large bamboo framed three story house.

  "You were going to explain."

  "My distant ancestor, Emperor Kublai Khan, built a summer palace. The Pleasure Dome."

  We reached a translucent silk screen wall. It moved aside and we climbed a dozen steps to it. Inside a large room was lined with candles and a strange, intoxicating scent.

  He turned to view the sky. He pointed out the orange fireball of the sun as it fast slipped over the horizon.

  "The Sky Dragon's journey is fast ending. There's only a little time left. We must hurry."

  At one end sat two gold thrones of intricately carved dragons. He asked me sit in one as he took the other. We faced another silk screen, beyond which were dozens of silhouettes of kneeling figures.

  Khan clapped his hands twice and the screen moved aside revealing a hundred or more young women of various nationalities. All dressed in silk kimonos and wearing their hair elaborately braided and pinned to the tops of their heads. They kept their kneeling position and bowed, kissing the bamboo floor.

  "Welcome to my Pleasure Dome."

  "Who are these women?"

  "My courtesans. Women who showed promise in all fields of endeavor. Women who excelled. Women of beauty and intellect and daring. Unconventional women who dared to push boundaries to achieve success in a life that challenged them. But, alas, in comparison to you, they failed."

  "Failed what?"

  "They failed the final hurdle to becoming my Empress."

  "I'm nothing special. How did they fail?"

  He shrugged. "They were not you."

  He clapped his hands twice more and a screen against the far wall moved aside. A hundred guards carrying long handled axes ran into the hall and each took up a position behind a kneeling courtesan. They raised their axes in the air and looked across to Khan.

  "Khan, what’s happening?"

  "That, my dear, is for you to decide."

  "What do mean?"

  "For their failure they must pay the ultimate price."

  I gazed at the wavering ax heads of steel reflecting the orange fireball of the dwindling sun."

  "At sunset they shall die"

  "You can't. It's barbaric."

  "Only you can save them, Robyn. As my Empress, my Queen, you can pardon their offenses and save them. Or you can take your freedom and leave now. Your choice."

  I looked out at the bowing women and recognized the butterfly clasp in the hair of one in the front row.

  He looked out at the rapidly sinking sun "Only choose quickly for the Sun Dragon's passage across the sky is almost over."

  CHAPTER EIGHTY THREE

  A life in a gilded cage married to a despot or the deaths of a hundred women like me on my conscience.

  I looked in Kublai Khan's eyes and watched the last ambers of the dying sun spit up at the sky in defiance.

  "Why me, Khan?"

  "From the first moment I saw you, I knew I'd do anything to possess you. To bond with your unyielding spirit in divine love and ensure the continuation of the greatest dynasty on earth. This was my end game."

  "Why did you help save Harry from the poison blade, only to have him killed?"

  "The Red Queen was a possessive witch. If she couldn't have you, then she intended to make sure no one could. I needed Harry to save you from the Red Queen's jealousy."

  "You knew Harry was at the Ice Ball in disguise?"

  "Of course. You are all pieces on my chess board, my queen."

  Then it all became clear to me.

  "The Red Queen was your rival. Jealousy compelled you to kill her. You needed Harry to end the Red Queen. After that he was useless to you. Harry was a barrier preventing you from getting to me?"

  "Harry was a pawn who played his part in the End Game. His sacrifice ensured the continuation of my dynasty."

  "Your dynasty of psychotic jealousy?"

  "Time is up."

  I took a deep breath as a hundred axes twitched.

  "You win Khan. Spare them and I shall be your bride."

  He clapped twice and the guards lowered their axes and stood to attention. As quickly as they had arrived, they disappeared behind a silk screen.

  Khan's eyes were ablaze with victory.

  "Tomorrow we wed and a new dynasty shall be born."

  He shouted out, "Prepare her."

  The hundred courtesans silently rose to their feet and walked towards me. Pulling me off the throne and carrying me aloft. Dragging me out of the court of Kublai Khan.

  I was taken to a bathroom the size of a tennis court. Mai stood in the center of the bamboo floor as steam rose from a large sunken marble bathtub.

  She approached and clapped her hands. All the courtesans left except for five. Their gently insistent hands removed my kimono and left me naked.

  "Mai, I had a chance to escape, but I couldn't."

  Her eyes seemed to fill with understanding. "We are all grateful to you for sparing our lives."

  She reached for the necklace that Harry had given me.

  "No, please. It's the only thing I have that reminds me of Harry."

  She reached around the back of my neck and fiddled with the clasp.

  "When Kublai makes love to you and finds you wearing this, his jealousy will kill you just as it killed Harry."

  "I'm counting on it. With my death, his insane dynasty of kidnap and murder ends."

  "Death and rebirth."

  "Excuse me?"

  "He believes he is the reincarnation of the first Emperor Kublai Khan. And that you are the reincarnation of the first Empress, his queen."

  "He's mad. He has to be stopped. Even if it means..."

  Mai's hands dropped to her sides. She parted her kimono. She was naked beneath. She let it slip from her shoulders. She took my hand and guided me, descending the marble steps into the steam pool.

  The other five women slipped off their kimonos and followed us into the pool. They each held sponges and soaps and began to gently scrub at my body.

  "Mai, where is the wedding to be held?"

  "At the temple of the Lake of Dragon Fire. An hour before dawn the ceremony begins. When the first dragon fire rises up into the sky, you will marry Kublai."

  "Then we don't have much time. Will you help me?"

  "I can give you something that will help make the ceremony bearable."

  "How?"

  "Some drugs invite kind spirits. They make the pain tolerable."

  "Hallucinogenic? I don't need drugs. I need a plan for revenge."

  Mai whispered, "I handpicked these courtesans. Each of us will follow your command to our deaths, my queen."

  CHAPTER EIGHTY FOUR

  An hour before dawn I was led by armed escort under the arches of cherry blossoms, through the iron gates and out across the footbridge. Down a winding road our long precession walked to a temp
le built on a lake.

  There, a small boat carrying myself, Mai and the five courtesans was dragged by a rope through a corridor of fire.

  Khan arrived from the opposite shore along a jetty lined with flaming torches.

  I glanced behind at the shore. It was lined with hundreds of guards. Even if I could walk on water, there seemed no escape.

  Khan waited on the harbor. We entered the temple where a priest ordered my courtesans to kneel with me and wait as a dozen blindfolded priests banged drums to summon the Fire Dragon.

  Mai whispered, "The high priest is asking the Sun Dragon to bless the marriage. When the Sun Dragon gives a sign of his blessing, the high priest will stop talking."

  Khan knelt opposite me.

  Finally, as the Sun Dragon's first flames reached for the sky, a thousand tiny Chinese paper lanterns were lit. The hot air form the candles lifted them into the sky.

  As a drum slowly banged, the high priest spoke a prayer and then placed Khan's hands over mine.

  Khan looked across to me. "It is done. You are now my queen."

  The high priest and the other dozen priests were led away by a courtesan to the shore. There they stepped into the boat and were dragged to the shore.

  The courtesan returned and together with the others pulled a silk screen around the altar. We could no longer see the shoreline.

  Khan rose to his feet. Two courtesans pulled me to my feet.

  Mai stood and bowed to Khan. She whispered to me, "It is done."

  She went behind the screen and knelt before a flaming torch.

  Two courtesans bowed before Khan and removed his kimono. They sank to their knees and moved their lips across his cock.

  Two more courtesans bowed before me and removed my kimono. They led me to a bed and sat with me as we watched Khan being pleasured.

  After a few minutes he pushed the courtesans away and walked toward me. His stiff cock throbbed. He knelt at the bed and his gaze fell on my necklace. He reached out for it and examined the pendant.

  "What is the meaning of this, Robyn?"

  "It was given to me by Harry."

  His eyes were ablaze. He tore it from my neck and hurled it into the lake.

  He stood a moment, as if watching the ripples where the necklace hit the water.

  He pointed out two dark buzzing shadows skimming over the surface of the lake like dragonflies. Khan turned to me with wide eyes.

  "You betrayed me! Guards! Guards!"

  He turned on his heels to face Mai. She held up a flaming torch and thrust it into his face.

  Khan let out a blood curdling scream. He clutched at his burning face as he fell to his knees. The buzzing shadows spit fire across the lake.

  The shore line exploded.

  Mai cried out, "Helicopter!"

  I looked up at rotor blades whirling above. The silk screens collapsed under the ferocious wind from the blades. Four ropes fell from the helicopter and men in black sailed down the ropes.

  One landed by my side. He wore a black balaclava covering his face. Over the noise of the rotors I could barely hear him shouting.

  He was pointing up. He shook his head and pulled up his balaclava. Even though his face was blacked out with camouflage paint I could never forget those eyes. Harry.

  I wondered if Mai had slipped me a hallucinogenic after all. "Harry?"

  He seemed to read my lips. He nodded.

  "Harry? It can't be you."

  He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me hard on the lips. He slipped my arms into a harness and shouted in my ear.

  "Hold on tight."

  With a sharp jolt we lifted up into the air.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY FIVE

  Below us, the temple burned.

  Harry wrapped a silver foil blanket around my shoulders. I stared at Harry and next to him Brad who held Mai in his arms.

  Harry placed a set of headphones with a microphone over my ears. Suddenly I could hear his voice clearly. A masked man tapped Harry on the shoulder. He lifted away his balaclava. It was Special Agent Jackson.

  "ETA for strike force, five minutes."

  He turned to me. "Welcome back, Loxley."

  "But how did you find me?"

  "You can thank Harry for that."

  Harry smiled. "The necklace. It had a miniature transmitter inside the pendant."

  "You tracked me here?"

  He nodded.

  "I don’t understand. Why would you do that? How did you know?"

  Jackson said, "It was a precaution. We learned from Harry that Khan had a deep interest in you."

  "So I was bait to trap Khan?"

  Jackson shrugged. "Worked didn't it?"

  I turned on Harry. "But I saw you die."

  "The day I left you, Khan's assassin was hiding on my back seat. He waited until I was out of sight. We fought. I won. Then I realized he had armed a bomb. I got away."

  "So the body I buried was the assassin?"

  He looked hesitantly at Jackson.

  The F.B.I's special agent-in-charge patted Harry and Brad on their shoulders. "I knew then that the only way to stop Khan and protect you would be if we allowed everyone to think Harry was dead."

  I glanced at Brad. "You knew about this?"

  He shrugged. "Not until your disappearance. We tracked you here, and here we are."

  I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

  Harry smiled, "Told you I'd be back."

  "You bastard. I hate you."

  I punched him in the chest. Over and over. He leaned forward, grabbed my arms and crushed me in his embrace. I shuddered uncontrollably in his arms. I soaked his face with my tears.

  Over and over he repeated, "It's OK, you're safe now. I will never leave you again."

  CHAPTER EIGHTY SIX

  An hour later we landed on the deck of a US warship. I was led to a cabin where a doctor checked me over and gave me something to calm me down. It worked too well. Within seconds I fell asleep.

  I woke in a strange bed. Echoes of a dream. Words from a Shakespearian sonnet slipped through my mind like a morning mist evaporating under the first rays of sunshine.

  Harry was sat at the end of the bed.

  "Where am I?"

  "Coast of Japan. From there we fly home. Should be back in Kimberley by day break."

  He tried to get me to eat, but I couldn't hold anything down.

  "You'll get your sea legs soon."

  I sat up. "Harry. Those words on your wall."

  "Which words?"

  "The sonnet. It was you who sent me the message, wasn't it?"

  He sighed and ran his fingers through his thick hair. "Jackson banned me from contacting you. But I had to get a message to you. Try to make you understand that from wherever I was, I was looking after you. I'll understand if you can't forgive me for what I did to you."

  "But it was you at the window when Ben and I..." I fell silent with shame.

  He avoided my eyes. But I could see him reliving the same pain as the night he saw Ben and I fucking in his bed.

  "Harry, I can forgive you if you can forgive me."

  Robyn, there's nothing to forgive you for. I put you in an impossible position and you did whatever you needed to do to survive."

  I understood the cost of true love now.

  I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around him and whispered in his ear.

  "We can forgive each other if you promise me one thing."

  “Name it."

  "Make love to me every day like it’s the last time."

  He clasped his hands around my face and tilted my head so my lips touched his. We kissed like it was the first and last time. An endless cycle of death and rebirth of our love.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY SEVEN

  One week later I sat in Mai's living room with Mai and the Wilson sisters, Charity and Virtue.

  Charity twirled her pink fluffy bunny ears mufflers.

  "So Robyn, what's next for you? Wedding bells, kids with Harry and the white picket
fence?"

  I'd had time to think about it and all I could think was the craziest idea. "Harry hasn't proposed."

  Charity snorted. "Oh, he so will."

  I flushed hot. I hoped so. But I wanted more than the dream of domestic bliss. I needed validation that something good could come from this whole nightmare.

  Charity took a stick of gum from Virtue and together they blew large pink bubbles. Charity seemed restless as she shot a quizzical look at Virtue and Mai before fixing me with an intense stare. "So Robyn, if we're not here to discuss your wedding plans, then why did you invite us?"

  I took a deep breath and let it out. Here goes.

  "Since my latest article was published in the Kimberley Times, I've been inundated with calls and emails."

  "From who?"

  "Students mostly. Some Staffers. All with one thing in common."

  "What?"

  "Secrets. Blackmail. Extortion. And worse. They are trapped with no one to help them. So I was thinking they need the help of fellow students who understand the dark side of life on campus."

  The bunny ears shook from side to side. "We're not a charity." She chewed her bottom lip. "OK, well technically I am Charity by name, but obviously not by nature. So it's a no from me, unless..."

  I could guess where Charity's mind was leading her.

  "Not a charity," I said, "but I do see a business opportunity."

  Mai leaned forward and touched my knee. "What exactly are you proposing?"

  "A private detective agency. Run by students. Actually, by us," I said. "A Sorority of private eyes."

  Charity stopped stroking her fluffy ears and smiled, "Sorority Eyes. I can see the app on every student's cell phone. Swipe to the right for help from Sorority Eyes..."

  Virtue nodded. "Will it be pink?"

  I caught Mai's smiling eyes. "You know, Robyn, I have a bottle of white chilling for just this moment."

  And so Sorority Eyes Detective Agency was born with many, many weird, dangerous and above all romantic adventures for us and the newbie 'Sorority Eyes' recruits who would later join us.

  <<<<>>>>

  THE END

  Robyn’s adventures continue in:

  Sorority Secrets (Campus Love and Murder Sorority Eyes Book 2)