Katrina~
The day dragged on at the academy, every lecture about ancient treaties bleeding into the next like a never-ending chant. My quill scratched half-hearted notes, but my thoughts were far away—on the forbidden thrill pulsing at the edges of my mind. The vampire party.
Nick caught my eye across the classroom, and there it was—that grin that always spelled trouble. Subtle, crooked, daring me to rise to the bait. His dark eyes lingered on me a heartbeat too long, flashing with mischief, and suddenly the droning lecture about treaties didn't exist anymore.
By lunch, we'd ditched the cafeteria chaos and slipped onto the rooftop. The Golden City sprawled beneath us, its gilded spires blazing in the sun like shards of a fallen star. The air up here was sharper, freer, carrying the kind of restlessness that made secrets feel inevitable.
