Picking Petals in the Dark

Killian Lancaster rules the university like a king in his underworld-untouchable, admired, and utterly in control. With a mere glance, he commands attention; with a single word, he bends the world to his will. Yet, despite the adoration, despite the endless stream of admirers vying for his notice, boredom lingers like an old ghost in his chest.

Then there's Anastasia Hart. A whisper among the noise. Where others chase the light, she melts into the shadows, content to exist unseen. She is the one face in the crowd that never turns toward him, the only one who doesn't shrink or swoon under his gaze. And like the first bloom in an otherwise barren land, she becomes an obsession before he even understands why.

What begins as curiosity deepens into something else. He watches. He waits. He tests the edges of her indifference, casting shadows in her path, tempting her into his orbit. And so he offers her a pomegranate-small moments, stolen glances beneath the weight of silence. A choice disguised as inevitability. She knows the danger of tasting what is forbidden, of stepping too close to something that might keep her forever. And Anastasia is not a girl who is easily taken-she is spring itself, untamed and fleeting, and Killian is nothing if not the hungry god who wants to steal her away.

The question is, will she ever step willingly into his world and eat the damned fruit? Or is he doomed to pick all the petals that were never his to hold?