Free Guilty Secrets (Campus Love and Murder Sorority Eyes Romance Book 1) by Ciara Christie Page A

dropped into a sudden arc and the blade tip plowed deep into her front foot. Pinning her to the floor.
    Charity's lunge propelled her onward. She tripped over my blade and rolled. I heard a scream and turned on the balls of my feet to see Charity tumble over the low barrier and plunge some twenty feet into the pool below.
    Everyone ran to the barrier. I ripped off my mask and leaned over. I held my breath until at last Charity surfaced. She looked up and shook a fist at me.
    She then punched the water as two life guards dived into the pool and hurriedly swam to her.
    As the first reached her, she punched him hard in the face and swam to the side.
    I straightened up and caught the horrified look on Mai's face. Brad pushed through the crowd who had by now surrounded me.
    He shook my shoulders, fixed me with an intense gaze and said, "Where in Hell did you learn to fence?"
    I couldn't tell him. Everything about my past had to remain a secret or I'd betray my real identity and risk ending up like Madison.
    Brad smiled in disbelief. "Robyn, I haven't seen anyone fence like that since Madison."
    I blinked hard. "Who?"
    He shook his head and bit his lower lip as if realizing he'd said too much.
    "Just someone I used to instruct. She was... amazing. Like you."
    He held my gaze a little too long. His ice blue eyes seemed to melt and I felt my lips tingling with the strangest sensation.
    Aware that Mai was stood right next to him, I tried to pull away from his gaze, but it was like I was drowning in his eyes. I could tell too, that he was struggling to look away. That he couldn't or wouldn’t try to find the strength.
    Jason Drake pushed Brad aside and grabbed both my hands.
    "Robyn, you were amazing. I think I'm in love. You are so invited to our party tonight."
    An invitation I intended to accept. For one thing I knew was almost certain. Brad kept secrets that involved Madison. And I was about to discover them.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
    "Which one is it?" I asked.
    Mai shrugged. "Follow your ears."
    I drove along the smart tree lined avenue at the edge of Kimberley campus.
    We heard the thumping dance music before we even turned the corner. The largest house, set back from the avenue was lit up like a surreal Christmas tree. As if an alien spaceship out of a Hollywood movie had crash landed on the roof and parked in the basement.
    My eyes couldn't adjust to the lights. Instead, I focused on the shadows. The house took on the eerie impression of a moated castle with high turrets and a draw bridge.
    "Is this for real?"
    Mai nodded. "You got to admit they got some style, right?"
    "Or something."
    We wound up the long drive to the house as if entering a fairy tale kingdom. I parked up Rust Bucket in the drive of Brad's fraternity house.
    Before we went inside I turned in my seat to Mai.
    "What's the party celebrating?"
    "This is the pre-ball."
    "Pre-ball?"
    "Tonight's when the Kimberley knights judge all the guests and decide who to invite to the Knights’ Ball."
    "The knights will be here in person?"
    "Sure. They're just regular students like you or me. But no one knows who they are of course."
    "But Brad knows?"
    Mai's eyes widened. "Why would you say that?"
    "Oh, I don't know... because the party's at Brad's?"
    She shrugged and avoided my eyes.
    I pushed. "Mai?"
    She rolled her eyes. "OK, so Brad was one of them. But not anymore. He quit."
    "What happened to make him leave?"
    "Only Brad can tell you that."
    Mai opened the car door and jumped out. I sighed, left the keys in the starter and followed Mai.
    I had borrowed yet again one of Mai's gorgeous party dresses. In our skimpy silk attire the night air felt chilly as we ran to the house.
    So this was my chance to impress for an invite. Perhaps my only chance. But I needed to remain low key. To slip away and search the house for Brad's secrets.
    It was beginning to look like I couldn't have both. Brad's secrets or an invite to the secret ball where I could finally confront Madison's