Page 2 of The Villain We Tempt

“Iknoooow,” I sigh wistfully, making the rest of our squad laugh.

The fact that I read inky dark romance books involving borderline problematic kinks you can’t even google without probably getting on some watchlist isnotmy big secret. All my friends know what I read, probably because I never shut up about it. In fact, I’m downright evangelical.

No, my big, dark secret is what happensafterI read these books.

When I put on a mask, start the camera rolling, and become a darker, unrestrained version of myself.

A villainess.

“Please,” I grin at Lucia. “Don’t pretend you didn’t stay up way too late last night reading that last rec I gave you.”

She turns a deep shade of red and groans.

“Ooooh boy,” Arianna sighs. “What was this latest gem of a book recommendation?Tied Up In the Sexy Serial Killer’s Basement and Used Like a Sex Object?”

A girl I don’t recognize yanks her head around and makes a sour “what the fuck, bitch” face before she glances back to her friend. They both give us all another judgy look before they turn and push their way back into the loud, jostling party.

Ari groans. “That’s whatshereads!! Not me!!” she yells after the two girls, jabbing a finger in my direction. But they’re long gone.

“Oh, no, Ari,” Wren frowns dramatically. “I think the horny book club has moved on toWedded to the Psychopath Who Ignores the Word NO but It’s Fine Because He’s Hot and Has a Big D.”

“Shit, I must have missed the release of that one,” Lucia grins.

All four of us crack up.

Like I said, I’m evangelical about this shit. I can’t help it. Of the four other girls in our little group, I’ve managed to convert Yelena and Lucia to the dark side. Ari and Wren are still holdouts, but I’m working on it.

“Notthat I’m getting sucked into your horny book world,” Wren sighs, cocking a brow, “but can we go back to this rumor that Velvet Villainess is a Knightsblood student?”

My face stays totally neutral, even though I can feel tendrils of heat rippling under my skin.

Feel my pulse quicken.

Feel that thing inside me fight to break free and scream my secret to the world in a fit of self-destruction.

A subset of the BookTok world is “MaskTok”, where content creators—usually men, but there are a few women too—don Halloween costumes, gas masks, tactical military gear, or even just a balaclava pulled down over their faces in order to feed the need of millions of readers who gravitate toward masked men.

The male creators are frequently shirtless, showing off their muscles and tattoos as they dry-hump the camera, growl filthy things through their masks, or twirl weapons while they call their fans “good girl”.

I mean…sploosh.

One of my personal favorites right now, which I wasjustshowing to the girls back in Yelena’s room while we were getting ready to come out, is a guy who goes by the name of “The Ghost Prince”. He wears a totally black tactical mask that covers his face and eyes, a crown emblazoned across it in drippy white paint, and growls “be a good girl for me” commands through a voice scrambler.

He alsoneverwears a shirt, which means every video has hissinfullyperfect body on full display—bulging shoulders andarms, chiseled chest, and mouthwatering abs and v-lines, all covered in beautifully chaotic tattoos.

His latestinsanelyhot video, which is what I was showing the girls earlier, involves him holding the hilt of a huge hunting knife against his crotch with his fist as if it were his dick, and thrusting his hips while the words “your hair x my fist” flash on the screen.

I mean,yes fucking please.

But to what Wren was just saying, the big news on campus right now is the fact that one of most popularfemalecontent creators out there, who masterfully bridges the gap between dark romance BookTokandMaskTok, might actually be a Knightsblood student.

Going by the handle “Velvet Villainess, she's a particularly vixen-coded blonde who frequently films her masked and utterly non-verbal videos dressed in bondage gear for her 923,000 followers.

Another big romance reader on campus, Mariana Guzman, just broke the story that one of Velvet Villainess’s latest videos was clearly filmed in Ravencroft Library on the Knightsblood campus, fanning speculation that VV might be a student here.

If only people knew.

“Okay, what thefuck?”