Chapter 2 VELVET AND GRAVEL

LUNA'S POV

The driver opened the door before I could reach for the handle. Always two steps ahead - that's how the Lennox staff were trained. Quiet hands. Quiet footsteps. Quiet loyalty.

I stepped out into the morning sun, and Roseshire unfolded like it had been waiting for me.

Stone buildings stood tall and proud, vines curling along the edges like whispers of history. The hedges were manicured, the lawns trimmed with military precision. Nothing here was accidental - not the way the sunlight hit the stained glass of the chapel, not the way students straightened as I passed.

My heels clicked against the path - sharp, steady. A sound that said: She's here.

Heads turned. Not with curiosity, but with confirmation. I wasn't new. I wasn't surprising.

I was expected.

I was a Lennox.

"Luna!"

Talia Navarro - late as usual, and unapologetically so - trotted up beside me, curls bouncing, tote bag swinging wildly.

She gave me a once-over and grinned. "You look like sin dipped in old money. Don't tell me Marcus finally sent a decent text?"

I didn't answer immediately. I just let the question linger in the space between us like perfume.

Marcus.

A name that looked good on paper. That sounded like stability. Legacy. Alliance.

He was still across the Atlantic - finishing up final meetings and arrangements before flying home. Packing up the version of himself his parents had sculpted abroad and bringing it back to slot neatly beside mine.

Our engagement had been arranged long before we could say no. But I'd smiled through it all. Smiled like it didn't feel like being dressed in someone else's skin.

"Marcus hasn't texted," I said finally, voice light. "But he'll be back soon."

Talia made a face. "Thrilling."

The sarcasm slid off me like rain off a waxed car. I'd grown used to the expectations. To being watched. To wearing the right shade of perfection.

But something about today felt off. Not wrong... just off.

We entered the main hall just as the chapel bell rang once - not for prayer, but precision. Roseshire liked to remind you it was always on time.

I took the stairs, not the elevator. The light hit better there - gold and dramatic. I didn't look back.

Inside Strategic Communications, I took my usual seat at the front. First row. Center. Posture straight, hands folded neatly on my desk. The kind of student professors loved to quote and peers quietly resented.

The lecture began with the usual: outlines, expectations, partnership assignments.

And then-

"Luna Lennox... you'll be paired with Ezra Blake."

Silence, just for a breath. Then the shuffle of papers, pens scratching again.

I turned my head slowly, gaze scanning until it landed on him.

Ezra.

I'd noticed him before - vaguely. Like a whisper in a loud room. He didn't speak much. Didn't try to blend in or stand out. His uniform wasn't customized. His backpack looked like it had lived through more than just textbooks. But his eyes...

His eyes didn't look away.

They met mine - unflinching, unreadable. Not hostile. Not impressed.

Just... there.

I didn't like that. I didn't like that at all.

After class, I waited. I never waited.

He was slow, deliberate, tucking his notebook into his bag like it meant something.

"We should talk," I said.

He didn't even blink. "About the project?"

I nodded. "Obviously."

A pause, then the faintest lift of his brow. "I've got time after this. You?"

"I make time when I need to."

He gave a quiet, almost invisible smile. "Then I guess we'll talk when it matters."

And just like that, he walked past me.

No stumble. No apology. No second glance.

It wasn't defiance. It wasn't disrespect.

It was disinterest.

And for the first time in a very long time, I wasn't sure what to do with that.

EZRA'S POV

⸻

I wasn't supposed to care who I got paired with.

It's just a school project. Grade it, pass it, move on. That's what I told myself as I walked into the classroom this morning with half a slice of toast in my stomach and a mind already full.

Nana hadn't stopped coughing all night. My sister's shoes were too tight again. The electricity bill in my backpack felt heavier than the textbooks beside it.

There was no room left in my day for surprises.

And then she walked in.

Luna Lennox.

She didn't enter a room. She arrived. Like a headline. Everything about her was too precise to be accidental-tailored uniform, high-polish confidence, perfume that didn't ask for attention but got it anyway. She moved like someone who never had to ask twice.

And suddenly, I wasn't sure if I belonged in this room at all.

When Professor Levin said her name followed by mine, I blinked once.

Not because I was shocked.

But because I knew the universe had a dark sense of humor.

Luna didn't flinch. Just turned, calm and calculated, her eyes brushing over me like a file being scanned. No pity, no curiosity. Just... clinical. Like she was auditing me.

I didn't drop my gaze.

Not to challenge her.

Just to let her know: I'm not here to impress you. I'm here because I don't have the luxury of failing.

After class, I stayed behind. Not because I wanted to talk. But because I needed to know-was she just another rich girl whose workload I'd carry? Or was she the kind who thought delegation was contribution?

She approached like she owned the ground she walked on. All perfect posture and purposeful silence.

"We should talk," she said.

Her voice was soft, but there was nothing casual about it.

I met her eyes. "About the project?"

She blinked once. "Obviously."

She had the kind of tone that came with private drivers and last names on buildings.

"I have time after this," I offered, keeping my voice level.

She tilted her head, the barest arch of a brow. "I make time when I need to."

Right.

It wasn't meant to sting. But it did.

Still, I didn't let it show.

"Let me know when you're ready to actually work," I said quietly, pulling the strap of my bag over my shoulder.

Then I walked away.

I didn't turn back, but I felt it-that flicker in the air behind me. Like someone had paused mid-thought, unsure whether to be offended or intrigued.

She wasn't used to people who didn't fold under her smile.

But I didn't have time to orbit someone else's gravity.

Not when I was already fighting to stay grounded in my own.