BLOOD SECRETS

CHAPTER 1

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"Run and forget. Leave without telling anyone about tonight or your bloody secret will be known by the world. Run and forget, Alexandra Du Sang Dragomir. It's the only thing you do."

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My hands were coated with blood as I frantically knocked against the dorm's door. Through my haziness, I realized Prince Asto Al Nahyan would not answer unless he knew it was me.

"Prince," I said faintly, leaning against the door for support. "It's Alex."

The door opened and then I was stumbling into the strong grip of Prince Asto Al Nahyan.

His gaze raked down my body, lingering on the blood that coated me. Prince always had a sarcastic comment or scathing retort for me but tonight, he was silent.

As I collapsed into his chest, he hooked his arms under my legs and carried me inside bridal style. I settled in the crook of his neck, dazed and vaguely registering him gently brushing away my hair. Prince locked the door.

"I'm wet," I whispered through my daze.

"Oh yeah?" Prince replied in his low voice. He was distracted but evidently amused at my choice of words.

"Oh shut up," I mumbled, exasperated. "It was raining."

Prince set me down somewhere on the nearest divan before efficiently wiping my exposed skin with a warm towel. Crimson dusted my cheekbones as I realized that my white blouse was soaked and therefore transparent. Prince had the full view of my lace bra. Suddenly, his warm fingers curled over my wrist burned hot.

As if reading my thoughts, Prince let go and walked into his closet. He reemerged and tossed me one of his shirts, a black sweatshirt, and shorts. Wordlessly, he gave me some privacy by entering his bathroom to retrieve another fresh towel. I gratefully slipped out of my drenched clothes into his oversized ones.

"Are you not going to ask me why I'm covered in blood?" I asked him later as I watched Prince carefully cleaning the tips of my nails.

Prince paused. "Why did you come to me, Alex?"

I hesitated, dreading this question because I knew Prince would ask this the moment I went to him.

Our relationship had always been complicated. Our rivalry started when I was seven, him eight years old. Dad posed a riddle and Prince answered a second before I did. Since then, everything in our childhood became a race. Prince always argued against me in any intellectual debate, even if he actually agreed with my points.

As I grew older, my feelings for Prince became more complex and impossible to define. He was my brother's closest friend. He understood me in a way no one could. He was the only person who ever really said no to me.

"You're the only one who will believe me," I finally said, glancing up at him through my eyelashes. I didn't do it.

Prince stayed still for three heartbeats. Then, he said, "What did you do with the body?"

"What body?" I said, automatically. He waited. I sighed and dropped the poorly executed lie. "I took care of it. They shouldn't find any trace of my presence tomorrow morning."

Prince nodded. He would have buried the body with me if I asked. I wondered why he didn't ask me what happened but I also knew that he saw the world differently. Prince most likely guessed what happened, wanted me to voluntarily tell him, or was fine with not knowing. Knowing Prince, his reason was probably a mix of all three.

In terms of raw intelligence, Prince was the only one who could rival my older brother Cassian. Mom always told me Prince took after his father, who was the most calculative person she knew and liked. Dad still grumbled about that during our family dinners with the Asto Al Nahyans, Loranis, and Jeong-Scotts.

A knock at the door interrupted my train of thought. Prince reluctantly opened the door, shifting over in a position that made sure no one could see me.

"Prince?" asked a soft feminine voice. I was suddenly interested in my manicure as Prince glanced over to me from the doorway. "Can I come in?"

"No."

"Prince," the girl insisted, offended but not surprised. Prince was known for his straightforwardness. Her tone darkened. "Is someone inside?"

Prince ignored the question. "Did you need something?"

"My parents are having brunch in town tomorrow. You're coming before you leave for the summer, right?" I realized then that it was Sandra Everson at the door. Something twisted in my gut.

I couldn't help but notice that Prince's knuckles were white with exertion as he curtly replied, "Fine."

"What if I met your family-"

"No," Prince snapped, his tone as hard as iron. I could see her swallow at his words. "Brunch with your parents and that's it, Sandra."

"Fine, but only because it's the end of the school term," Sandra agreed, her red curls bouncing. She wasn't happy, but she also knew better than to push him. "Remember to behave."

Before I could muse over her strange choice of words, Prince shut the door sharply. His expression was dark and unreadable. I shifted in the uncomfortable silence. Did he hate meeting parents or something?

I only knew who Sandra was because of the rumors of her dating Prince and because people said she bought her way into Cadre I, the top cohort of the academy. I never believed the dating rumors because Prince was so guarded, more than Cassian, that I didn't think he'd let himself have an emotional attachment to a random girl from school.

After what I witnessed, however, I wasn't so sure about their relationship anymore. I found myself wondering why I cared so much.

"It's too late for you to return to the lower campus. You can take my bed," Prince finally said into the silence. "I'll sleep out here."

All fifth, sixth, and seventh year students lived on upper campus. I was in my third year of Queens Erlington Academy but Prince was in his fifth with Cassian, both two years older than me though Prince was a few months younger.

I nodded, choosing to stay silent. As I entered the bedroom in Prince's dorm, I blurted out the question that was tormenting me before I could regret it.

"Are you dating Sandra?"

Several moments of silence passed. My heart thundered uncertainty. Prince tightened his jaw. "Get some sleep."

I swallowed with another hard nod. As I shifted through the doorway, however, something caught my eye. My heartbeat quickened.

"Prince," I said, looking at him strangely as another thought occurred to me. I gestured to the shoes he had in the far corner. "Your shoes. They're muddy."

It might have been my imagination, but I swear he stilled for the slightest second. But after I blinked, Prince replied normally with a shrug. "I was outside with Cassian this afternoon."

Cassian did say that he'd be with Prince today but the thought still bothered me as I slipped into the thick covers draping his bed. My intuition rang the warning bells in my mind.

Something about this was all wrong.

Prince hadn't been surprised when I showed up with blood on my hands. He knew there was a body. I didn't question it until I saw his shoes. Even if he had been out this after noon, the mud on them should have dried by now. Instead, they were still wet.

As if he just returned from going outside in the rain...

That could only mean one thing.

Prince had lied to me. He was outside in the rain tonight, around the same time I fainted by the body.