PROLOGUE
Tristan
I knew kissing her would ruin me.
I just didn’t know how fast.
Royal Oaks doesn’t tolerate weakness.
And Stella Cortez?
She’s the one thing that makes me weak.
It started in the hallways.
After calculus.
After practice.
She rolled her eyes at me in that way that said she’s unimpressed and secretly curious.
She swore at me in Spanish when I crowded her locker.
“Idiota.”
It sounds like a love song when she says it.
Her hair smells like coconut and something warm and real.
Not perfume.
Real.
And I want her because she looks at me like I’m not inevitable.
Like I have to earn it.
That’s new and dangerous.
Leo sees it before I do. “You’re playing with fire,” he mutters one afternoon.
“I’m not playing.”
He laughs. “You don’t date scholarship girls, Vale.”
I hate that he’s right.
Royal Oaks is a monarchy.
And I’m expected to date and marry accordingly.
Legacy families only.
Board seats.
Donor daughters.
Melody Van Hinkenberg.
