The auditorium at Westbridge High buzzed with the aftermath of the costume room incident, the air thick with whispers and stolen glances. Cassian couldn’t shake the image of Elara from his mind—her trembling frame, the way she’d pushed him away, the glimpse of that scar on her side, the cold fire in her eyes as she’d kicked him back. It played on a loop, a fever he couldn’t break, his thoughts consumed by her defiance, her mystery, her everything. He’d always been in control, the golden boy who got what he wanted, but Elara was a puzzle he couldn’t solve, and it drove him to the edge. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her, felt the sting of her rejection, the heat of her resistance, and it only made him want her more.
Elara had returned to school, but she was a ghost again, slipping b
