Page 92 of Pretty Secrets

I take a deep breath to calm myself. I just need to ease him into it first. That’s all. “Fine. Then can you tell me about Dee’s stalker?”

“Stalker?” he asks, brows pinching.

“She got something sent to her room at Carnegie,” I remind him, not backing down. “You checked on it?”

He wipes at his brow, and I spy the glisten of sweat starting to sprout. “Right. We don’t know if it was a stalker or not. It was a one-off thing that never happened again. I had the contents checked for prints with my contact, and they came up with nothing. We determined it was a disgusting prank, what with the picture included. Someone jealous of her and Keegan, I don’t know. Keegan was making sure she was safe.”

“Did you know she argued with someone at the dock that night, Dad? A girl—”

“Eden.” He stops me, face more ashen now. “What are you doing?”

His look makes me want to backtrack. “I ran into someone who knew her—who was there. She said a guy showed up that night, and they argued.”

“People get in arguments, Eden. I don’t know what to tell you. What happened to your sister was a tragedy. An accident,” he says sternly, voice breaking at the end. “Don’t let this consume you. Please,” he urges.

The front door opens and closes, and Dad’s gaze darts to the office door. Confusion filters through me, then panic as my father lunges across his desk to grab my hand. “Be strong, Eden. I can’t help you. I—”

He pulls away a second before a voice sounds out behind me. “Ah, Alistair. Good to see you again.”

I spin, heart in my throat. An Elder stands there. I can’t place the voice, but he’s wearing a long, dark cloak that covers his face and brushes against the floor when he walks toward me. I back up a couple spaces, but my hip hits my dad’s desk, making me stop.

“Eden Astor, do you accept the will of the Knights?” A large hand reaches out to grab my wrist. I try to pull away, but the grip is fierce, strong.

“Dad?” I cry.

“Don’t hurt her,” he growls.

I struggle again, but another cloaked Knight strides into the room behind him. He places a bag over my head. This time, I’m not just plunged into darkness. My lids become too heavy to keep open. My breathing slows. “Dad? Dad…”

36

Eden

My first conscious observation after being drugged is that I’m swaying…upside down. My hair swings with me, dangling over water.

Panic consumes me, making my pounding head pulse with pain. My tired eyes feel like sandpaper as they rub against my drooping eyelids.

“She’s awake,” a familiar voice notes.

I glance over, finding a group of robe-clad Knights, but that’s not who grabs my attention. It’s Leonardo Jarvis, his arms crossed over his chest, looking dark and dangerous in the shadows.

He stares at me blankly. Movement catches my eye, and I take in more of my surroundings. It doesn’t take me long to figure out they’re all standing on a dock, water slowly rippling against wood beams bracing wood decking.

Covered lights illuminate wood posts stretching toward the ceiling joists. Arches act as windows, but they’re no help in helping me discover where I am. All I see is rock on one side and water on the other.

My limbs are numb, tingling. Peering up, I immediately get a surge of pain, but I find what’s holding me—a rope and a pulley that’s used to bring boats out of the water. I’m strung up over moving water, and I’d bet my life this is a boat house. I’ve been in enough of them to know.

I’m no longer wearing the clothes I went to my house in; the skirt of a dress cascades down my body in the wrong direction. The dim lighting barely reaches my bare legs, leaving them half in shadow.

The Knights break up, beginning to line the decking on both sides of me. Panic wells inside. The more I move, the more the rope swings. Searching around, I spot a skylight. Beyond it, the moon perfectly highlights a stone turret, topped with uncommon burnt red shingles. I gasp, realizing where I am: The Knights castle. Which means the river flowing underneath me is the same river Dee drowned in.

Now what my father said makes sense.Be strong.

Did he know I was going to end up here?Don’t hurt her.

Does my father think the Knights are capable of hurting me?

Because I do.

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