Beautiful Lies (Dark Secret Society 2)

I rushed to the entrance by the garden and pushed with all my might against a statue of a naked Venus. Because God-forbid their vegetable gardens be anything other than Georgia Historical Tour worthy, naturally.

I needn’t have pushed so hard. The statue slid easily and quietly to the side, obviously on some sort of track I couldn’t see, revealing stone steps that led down into the darkness.

I clambered down them without even thinking twice.

I only reconsidered and wondered if I’d just jumped from the frying pan into the fire when the dim light of the night that my eyes had long adjusted to cut off completely.

Because the statue slid into place behind me and then I was surrounded in darkness, complete darkness. And no one in the living world knew where I was.

10

Sully

I knew she was smart.

Thank God she was smart.

I had hoped she would go to the cellar, and when I watched her muddy frame sneak behind the statue and disappear into the darkness, I couldn’t help but release the breath that I’d been holding.

Hearing the hounds in the distance, I acted quickly and followed her. Raising my gas lantern to see into the dark room, it only took a second to spot her wide eyes and wild stance.

When she recognized that it was me who had found her, she relaxed and didn’t appear as if she would pounce with claws out and ready for a fight.

“So, you found me,” she said, as she crossed her arms against her chest.

“Would you rather it be someone else?” I strode across the room and placed the light on an old wooden table. The warm glow lit up the room enough that I could see how dirty and exhausted Portia looked. Mud caked her hair, and her body dripped water and shivered before me.

I removed the ridiculous frock coat I was forced to wear for the hunt and placed it over Portia’s shoulders.

She pulled it tightly around her, but her teeth still chattered. “How did you find me?”

I didn’t feel the need to tell her that I had written the note and hidden it in her cloak pocket to find. I had been part of these hunts before as a boy and knew exactly what they did. I knew she needed the advice on how to beat these limp dicks at their own game. I had considered just outright telling her myself, but I doubted she would trust or listen to me. But a letter from a fellow belle… well, I had just hoped she’d be smart enough to take the instructions to heart.

I shrugged in answer, hoping she wouldn’t push it more. It was important that she feel empowered as much as possible right now with all things considered, and I wanted her to feel as if she had the power alone to outrun and outsmart the hunters.

“So, what does this mean now?” she asked, moving on to another question.

“I’ve won the hunt,” I said. “Free drinks for a year, it seems.” I waited for one of her classic smart replies, but when I got nothing but a shivering and frightened girl, I realized it wasn’t the time to jest. “Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she snapped. She lifted her arms and spun in a circle. “I mean… look at me. Don’t I look perfectly all right?” She took hold of the tail and pulled it out of her ass with a grimace, tossing it to the corner of the room. “I’m sick of this place. I’m so over the Trials. This isn’t worth it. I can’t keep going and doing awful stuff like this hunt. For what?”

“I understand. I’m sick of it too,” I said softly. “But we have to stay focused. It’s easy to walk away. Trust me. I’ve considered it more times than I can count. But at the same time, it means those fucks won. It also means that everything we’ve gone through”—I motioned at her wet and dirty body—“everything you have gone through up to this point would be for nothing if we both leave here empty-handed. We deserve something for what we’ve already endured.”

“Oh, so now I’m not the gold-digging whore anymore?” she asked on a huff.

“Not any more than the rest of the world.”

Her eyes seemed sad, and her small frame appeared dwarfed in my jacket. This wasn’t the spitfire I was used to standing before me. The hunt had clearly taken its toll.

“I’m losing myself,” she said. “I don’t even know who I am anymore. I have absolutely no control over anything and—” She sighed loudly. “I feel like I’m selling my soul to the devil… or devils in this case.”

“You are.” I nodded in agreement. “No way to sugarcoat that fact. We both are.”

“Which is why I’m considering telling the Elders to go fuck themselves. I have sisters at home who need me.” She stopped speaking and looked down at the floor. “I just don’t know how much more of this sick, twisted madness I can tolerate.”