Chapter 1

~ 1

~ Lynn ~

The graduation cap hit the back of my head before I even heard the laughter.

I didn’t turn around. After three years at Ravencrest High School, I’d learned that turning around only gave them the satisfaction of seeing your face.

“Sorry!” a voice sang behind me — too sweet, too deliberate. Vanessa Quinn. I’d know that honeyed poison anywhere.

I kept walking, hugging my books tighter against my chest, chin level, eyes forward. That was the only armor I had in a place like this — the appearance of not caring, even when everything inside me was caving.

Ravencrest wasn’t a school. It was a kingdom, and everyone here knew exactly where they stood in it. The children of old money sat at the top — untouchable, golden, and cruel in the effortless way that only the truly privileged could manage. Then there were the new rich, desperate to prove they belonged. And then there was me.