Thessaly POV
The text comes at 7:47 PM, exactly thirteen minutes before Jett is supposed to pick me up.
Change of plans babe. Meet me at Obsidian. The guys surprised me. You understand right?
I stare at my phone, sitting on my bed in the red dress I spent three months saving for. My first thought isn't anger. It's worse. It's the usual whisper that lives in my head: Of course he forgot. You're not important enough to remember.
I should stay home. Eat cake with Mom and Dad. Pretend I don't care that my boyfriend of two years forgot my eighteenth birthday dinner. Again.
Instead, I grab my coat and lie to my parents. "Jett's outside. We're going to that Italian place. Don't wait up!"
The subway ride to Obsidian takes forty minutes. I practice smiling in the dark window reflection. Maybe he's planning a surprise. Maybe "the guys" means a party for me. Maybe this time, Jett Vex will prove he actually loves me.
I'm so stupid.
Obsidian Club sits in the richest part of Crescent Bay, all black glass and velvet ropes. I don't belong here. The bouncer recognizes me—Jett's brought me enough times—and waves me through without checking ID. Inside, music pounds so loud I feel it in my chest. Rich people dance like they own the world because they do.
I find Jett in the VIP section upstairs.
He's not alone.
Ten of his friends circle him, laughing and drinking expensive alcohol straight from bottles. Girls I don't recognize drape over the leather couches. And Jett—my boyfriend who promised me forever—sits in the center like a king, completely drunk.
Nobody notices me standing there.
"Okay, okay, my turn!" Jett slurs, spinning an empty champagne bottle. It lands on his best friend Marcus. "Truth or dare, bro?"
"Dare. Obviously."
"I dare you to—" Jett pauses, grinning like a wolf. "Kiss Seraphina through tissue paper."
Everyone screams with laughter. A blonde girl—Seraphina, apparently—giggles and rips a piece of tissue from a decorative box. Marcus holds one side. She holds the other. They press the thin paper between their lips and kiss through it, the tissue the only thing separating their mouths.
The crowd goes wild.
"My turn!" Jett grabs the bottle, spinning it again. It points to him. "Dare!" he announces before anyone asks.
"Kiss the hottest girl here!" someone shouts.
"Through the tissue!" another adds.
Jett looks directly at me.
For one second, my heart jumps. He sees me. He'll pick me. This is the surprise—a silly game before taking me to dinner.
Then he turns to a brunette in a dress that barely exists and crooks his finger. "Come here, beautiful."
My stomach drops into the floor.
The girl—whoever she is—tears off fresh tissue. Holds it between them. And Jett kisses her through the paper, his hands on her waist, taking his time while everyone cheers and films on their phones.
I can't breathe.
I should leave. Run. Vanish before anyone sees me standing here like an idiot. But my feet won't move. I'm frozen, watching my boyfriend kiss another girl on my birthday while his friends laugh.
The kiss ends. Jett pulls back, grinning. "Your turn, gorgeous. Spin the bottle."
The brunette spins. It points to someone across the circle. The game continues. Nobody looks at me.
I take one step backward. Then another. Almost to the stairs. Almost escaped.
"Thessaly!"
Jett's voice cuts through the music. Everyone turns. I'm caught.
"Babe! You made it!" He stumbles toward me, drunk and happy, like nothing's wrong. Like he didn't just kiss someone else. "Guys, this is my girlfriend!"
A few people wave. Most look bored.
"I texted you," Jett says, throwing his arm around my shoulders. He smells like whiskey and someone else's perfume. "Surprise party! Aren't you excited?"
"It's my birthday," I whisper. "Not yours."
"I know! That's why I invited everyone to celebrate!" He kisses my cheek sloppily. "Come on, don't be mad. It's just a game."
Just a game. Like my feelings are just a game. Like our relationship is just a game.
"Yo, Jett's girl should play!" Marcus yells. "Get in the circle, Thessaly!"
"No, I should go—"
"Don't be boring!" Someone pushes me forward. Hands shove me into the circle until I'm standing in the center, surrounded by strangers and my boyfriend who forgot my birthday.
"Spin the bottle!" they chant. "Spin! Spin! Spin!"
I'm shaking. I don't want this. I want to go home. I want to disappear.
The blonde—Seraphina—shoves the bottle into my hands. "Your turn."
I spin because I don't know what else to do.
The bottle turns and turns and turns. Slows. Stops. Points directly at me.
"Ohhh!" Everyone laughs. "Dare time!"
Marcus stands. "I dare Thessaly to pick any guy here and spend seven minutes in heaven with him."
My face burns. "I don't—"
"Any guy you want!" Marcus continues, grinning. "Choose wisely."
Everyone looks at Jett. Obviously I'll pick my boyfriend. Obviously I'll forgive him like I always do. Obviously I'm too weak to do anything else.
But something inside me cracks.
Maybe it's watching him kiss that girl. Maybe it's two years of being treated like I don't matter. Maybe it's turning eighteen and realizing I've wasted my life on someone who doesn't love me.
My eyes drift past Jett. Past Marcus and the drunk friends. To the darkest corner of the VIP section where expensive shadows hide expensive secrets.
A man sits alone.
He's older—maybe forty—in a black suit that costs more than my father makes in a year. Silver streaks his dark hair. His eyes are the cold blue of winter ice. He watches the party like a predator watching prey, bored and dangerous.
I know who he is. Everyone knows. Jett talks about him sometimes, voice full of hate and fear.
Rhydian Vex. Jett's uncle. The exiled son. The black sheep who got kicked out of the family fifteen years ago for crimes nobody talks about.
He's forbidden. Dangerous. Everything I should avoid.
Rhydian's ice-blue eyes meet mine across the room. One eyebrow lifts slightly, like he's asking a question.
I make a choice that will destroy everything.
"Him," I say clearly, pointing directly at the man in the shadows. "I choose him."
The entire club goes silent.
Jett's face turns white, then red, then purple. "What?"
I walk toward Rhydian Vex, heart pounding, hands shaking, terrified and furious and finally, finally alive.
Rhydian stands slowly, unfolding like a knife. He's taller than I expected. More dangerous. His eyes study me with cold amusement.
"Dangerous choice, little Crane," he says, voice like smoke and velvet.
Behind me, Jett screams my name.
I ignore him. Look up at Rhydian. And say the words that will change my life forever:
"I'm done being safe."
Rhydian's lips curve into the smallest, cruelest smile.
"Then let's play."