Page 58 of Merciless Prince

Killian

Shay slowly sankto her knees, looking up at us earnestly. She obviously thought this little detour from the norm was a part of our society’s ceremonial mystique. She had absolutely no idea what was coming.

That would make our satisfaction all the sweeter when we finally revealed the truth.

I removed my mask and stared down at her, lips twisting into a smirk. Her face remained mired in confusion, although there was a small flicker of disdain in her eyes when she registered my presence.

“Um… is there something I need to say or do?” she asked, eyes wide and beseeching as she looked at all my masked associates before returning her gaze to my face.

I lifted my brows. “Did you really think it would be that easy to infiltrate our society, Shay?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

“I wasn’t trying to infiltrate anything. I was invited here tonight.” She paused and bit her bottom lip as she looked at each of us in turn again. “I mean… thisisthe Hellfire initiation, right?”

“It was for those people,” I said, jerking my thumb in the direction of the path that all the other initiates had gone down after receiving their ring and robes. “But not for you.”

Shay blinked rapidly and gnawed on the inside of her cheek. Her exhausted, barely-sober brain was clearly working overtime to find a logical explanation for her new circumstances.

“I was told that I passed,” she finally said. “One of your associates came up to me and said that earlier, so I really don’t understand what’s happening right now.”

I let out a short, scornful chuckle, enjoying the priceless look of bewilderment on her face. “You didn’t pass. You failed one of the trials,” I said. “You’re not Hellfire Club material, Shay.”

Her visible confusion morphed into frustration. “Why did you let me through to the end, then? And why was I told that I passed?” she asked. “The others who failed were sent home right away. But you let me stay.”

“You really haven’t figured it out yet?” I said, raising a brow.

She shook her head.

I snapped my fingers at the person beside me. They slowly lowered their hood, revealing a mane of auburn hair. Then they removed their mask and let it drop to the ground.

Shay’s head flinched back slightly, and her eyes bulged. “Francesca?”

“Hi, honey,” Francesca replied in a mocking tone. “Thanks for coming tonight. It’s been great.”

“I don’t understand,” Shay said, eyes darting between me and Francesca. “Please… just tell me what’s going on.”

“Want to do the honors, Kill?” Francesca asked, tilting her face to look at me.

I waved a hand. “You go ahead for now. I’ll do the fun part later.”

Francesca turned to look at Shay again, plump lips twisted into a contemptuous smile. “Killian knew you wouldn’t be able to resist our invitation once I sent you that video, and he was right. You took that invitation right out of the trash and showed up here tonight like a good little puppet.”

“So the video was fake,” Shay muttered. “You’ve been a Hellfire member this whole time. Not an unwilling employee.”

“That’s right.”

Shay slowly shook her head, lower lip trembling. “I really thought you were in danger. I thought they took you.”

Francesca tossed her hair over her shoulder and smirked. “I’m an actress, honey. I guess I’m better than you thought.”

“But… why would you do this?” Shay said, eyes still flickering with confusion. “Why did you go to so much effort to get me here just to reject me?”

“We needed you to believe that you’d passed the initiation so you’d let your guard down and go wild at the afterparty,” I said smoothly.

Comprehension was slowly dawning on Shay’s face. “Why?” she asked, voice barely above a whisper.