The first time I saw him, the world seemed to pause.

Lucian Blackwood stood at the entrance of Crestwood High, his sharp features chiselled like a sculpture from another era. Dark waves of hair framed his pale, aristocratic face, and his piercing silver-grey eyes flickered with something unreadable. The air around him felt charged, like the calm before a storm.

"Evelyn? Are you even listening?" Leah, my best friend, nudged me hard enough to snap me out of my trance.

"What? Sorry, what were you saying?" I tore my gaze from Lucian as he made his way past the rows of lockers, students parting instinctively to let him through. There was something about the way he moved calculated, controlled. Like a predator stalking its prey and smirked. "Ah, checking out the new guy already?"

"No! I mean...he just seems Mysterious? Brooding? Dangerous?" Leah waggled her eyebrows. "Yeah, I noticed too and girl, he is fine."

I rolled my eyes, though my stomach twisted at how right she was. Something about Lucian sent a shiver down my spine, and I wasn't sure if it was fear or curiosity.

The morning went by in a blur, my thoughts constantly drifting back to him. At lunch, I found myself searching for him, only to see him seated alone in the farthest corner of the cafeteria. His tray was untouched, and he looked almost...bored.

"You should talk to him," Leah suggested, following my gaze.

"Yeah, because approaching random guys who look like they stepped out of a gothic novel is totally my thing," I muttered.

But fate, it seemed, had other plans.

When I walked into my next class Literature , there he was, seated at the desk right next to mine.

"You must be Evelyn Carter," he said, his voice low and smooth, sending a jolt of something electric down my spine.

I swallowed, meeting his gaze. "And you must be Lucian Blackwood."

His lips curved into a slow, knowing smile. "It seems we have a lot to learn about each other."

What I didn't know was just how much my world was about to change.