Tempted By my Evil Lycan Stepbrother novel Chapter 81

Chapter 81: New Girl With Him

Riley’s POV

I stared at her.

There it was again.

That same smallness she always tried to fold me into, as if I should be grateful anyone powerful looked my way at all

She went on before I could answer. “I know you think I’m being calculating again. Maybe Fam. But look what I have accomplished so far by being calculative. We are living in the castle, surrounded by the most powerful men on this planet. And you have the luxury of going to the Royal Academy. I’m your mother. I wouldn’t hurt you.’

That almost made me laugh.

Wouldn’t hurt me?

She had built half my wounds with her own hands.

But I was too tired to argue. Too tired to throw every bitter truth in her face and watch her flinch away from it. So I just looked at her in silence until discomfort crept into her expression.

2

Eventually she said, “Take a little rest. You still have school tomorrow.”

Then she left me too. Not a word about my injuries.

When the room finally went quiet, I lay back against the pillows and stared at the ceiling.

Leon might actually be the best option, in the simple, practical sense. He was kind. Powerful. He came from the kind of family my mother worshipped. And unlike Ezra, he was…possible.

That last thought stung more than I wanted to admit.

Because Ezra was not possible.

He was toxic and dark and far too far above me for a girl like me to seriously imagine a future with him.

But marriage had never been my dream anyway.

I didn’t want my whole life to hinge on whether some man chose me. I wanted to build something with my own hands. I wanted respect that wasn’t borrowed from a husband’s name.

I wanted to be known for what I could do, not whose arm I stood on at a palace party.

Still… Leon seemed decent.

And after the way he had defended me today, I did want to know him a little bit better.

At the very least, I owed him my gratitude.

The next day, I went back to school.

And it was clear that the entire Academy had decided to hate me even more.

Winning Hunting Season hadn’t improved my reputation at all.

The moment I walked into class, the room went strange and quiet in that mean, watchful way.

I reached my seat and stopped.

enter

Someone had carved words into the surface of my table

CHEATER, WHORE, FAKE CHAMPION.

The letters were deep enough that someone had spent real time doing it.

MS Bonus

I just stood there staring at these hate words: I could feel people’s eyes on me, waiting for me to lose my mind. That way they could laugh at me and bully me again.

I let out a small sneer and pulled out my chair and sat down like I hadn’t seen a thing.

That was how I survived now. Not by fighting every bully I met. Just by refusing to give people the satisfaction of seeing what in did to me.

During class, a paper ball hit my head.

I didn’t react at first.

A second one landed on my notebook.

When I finally unfolded it, the words inside were almost laughably childish.

Everyone hates you.

You don’t deserve that medal.

Go to hell, whore.

I crumpled it, dropped it into my bag, and kept taking notes.

As a top healer, this school hasn’t taught me anything I didn’t already know. But it had definitely taught me how to swallow humiliation until it went down without choking me.

3 days went by in a blink. Then it was my dating night with Leon.

After class, I went straight back to my dorm to get ready. I picked a pink dress I’d never worn before-Mom said it made me look like a rosebud, which was disgusting, but I trusted her taste.

Then I curled my hair and put on a little makeup.

I wasn’t putting in all this effort because I actually liked Leon. It was because I felt he deserved me to take this date seriously

By the time I left the dorm and walked toward the school gates, the afternoon sun was warm on my shoulders. And for the first time in days, I felt my mood lighten.

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