Betrayed, Then Back For Blood

Chapter 42

Mia, with a mischievous glint in her eye, gestured toward a bed labeled with Briar’s name. “That’s your spot,” she said, her voice dripping with feigned sweetness.

Briar glanced at it, her stomach turning. The bed was shoved into the dimmest corner of the room, far from the window’s reach, where even the midday sun barely touched it. Scuff marks around the bed’s legs betrayed its recent relocation, and the name tag, curling at the edges, looked like it had been hastily swapped.

Worse, the bed was littered with trash–three hole–riddled socks and a grimy pair of underwear.

They’re trying to get under my skin,‘ Briar thought, her jaw tighte

It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was behind this.

“Is that our new roommate?” a voice called from the hallway, be with barely concealed glee.

“Let’s check her out!” another chimed in, equally eager.

“Hurry up and clean your bed, set your safe’s code, and let’s get back

distinctly gleeful voices floated in from outside, cutting off Mia befoto

lab. We don’t want to keep the others waiting… Those two she could

door as two girls sauntered in, arms

knew these had to be her other

hostility, sized her up. Clearly, they weren’t

“Meet our new roommate, Briar Jennings, a freshman in Traditional Medicine. Oh, you know, the

is Lydia Ponce and Abbie Cooper, both sophomores in Traditional Medicine. Lydia’s from the Ponce family, one of Shoneport’s elite. And Abbie? She’s Thomas’s little sister. You’ve

jab, a not–so–subtle reminder that these girls came from

message was clear:

heiress, this would’ve been the cue to play

family, like the Ponce family, was second–tier Shoneport elite–neither

never been one to back down from a challenge. If someone came for her, she hit

raised an eyebrow,

The room froze.

supposed to be polite and know your

ones who claim to deal in premium herbs but get caught peddling fakes? Or maybe the Ponce family that’s been blacklisted in Traditional Medicine for five years running

10.48 MONI,