All Chapters of A night with my ex-husband’s step brother : Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

Lyra’s POV The door had barely clicked shut behind them when my legs finally gave out.I sat on the edge of the bed, palms pressed to my thighs, trying to breathe through the knot tightening in my stomach. My pulse wouldn’t slow, my thoughts wouldn’t stop, my breaths came out in ragged wasps, and my chest felt like it was going to burst open any minute from now. It didn't help that my head wasn't spared of the madness either. I tried to keep it in check, but every scrape of Helena’s voice still clawed at the inside of my skull.“Alone,” she’d said, and Xavier had hesitated.Not long, not loudly, not enough for anyone else to notice, but I saw it, I felt it and I hated that it mattered. Like that wasn't enough,it didn't help again that minutes after they'd stepped out, the urge to eavesdrop on me suddenly fell on my shoulders. I knew it was wrong, I knew Xavier had explained it to me, he'd bared his soul to me and I was finally beginning to see him, but all it took to change that

Xavier’s POV It has been two days since the summons, two solid days since I'd been losing my mind, and from the looks of things, it didn't look like things would be clearing up anytime soon. Two days since the council dared call for Lyra like she was some pawn they could move around a board, and I had been one breath away from tearing down half the palace for it.She hadn’t gone, and she would not go, not while I was still breathing. I didn't give two fucks about what they would do about it. They could call it insolence, pride, whatever they deemed fit, but the truth remained that they couldn't touch me or Lyra and not feel the heat. I’d spent the last forty-eight hours gathering reports, tearing through the threads Helena had pulled, speaking to spies I should’ve executed years ago, and mapping out every angle the council might try to use against me.They wanted leverage? They wanted to challenge me? They wanted her? Over my dead body.As my body thrummed and my pulsed spiked

Lyra’s POV The moment the study door opened, I swear the entire world shrank to one pointXavier’s eyes. I could swear on my life that I'd seen Xaviers eyes a million times, but nothing could compare to the orbs staring back at me, and right now, I fifvbbt exactly mean that in a good way. Everything in me screamed to avoid his gaze, and I knew that was the right and logical thing to do. I tried, gods, I tried, but no matter how much effort I put into it, all it took for me to slip up was just a glance in his direction, and the moment I did, I gasped. Xavier’s eyes weren't just staring at me. They were cold, silent, and literally unlovable, like the calm before a storm that destroyed cities. His gaze slid from my face to Xander’s hands still touching me, and that was all it took.He stepped forward once, twice, but deep down I just knew that whatever was about to happen, there was no way it could be quiet. It also didn't help that his steps were slow and controlled. Too calm to

Xavier’s POV I didn’t remember closing the study door, not that it mattered though, but I remembered slamming it, so hard its hinges rattled throughout the entire room. It was a miracle how the damned door didn't fall to the ground. The sound cracked through the room like a gunshot, and for a moment, I just stood there. Breathing. No, not breathing. I couldn't even feel my own heart or any other vital organ of my body. It felt too much like I was existing, existing in the wrong kind of silence.It went on for what seemed like forever, and even though the silence was pressing to the point where I thought I was going to run mad, I fight move. Then the rage hit.It wasn't the kind that screams, neither was it the kind that burns. Instead, it was the kind that implodes.My hand caught the edge of the desk and I flipped it without thinking. Papers flew, ink splattered across the floor, and the map of the realm tore straight through the middle as the wooden legs snapped.Then the chair

Xavier’s POV The door clicked softly behind me, and for a long, hollow moment, I simply stood there. I tried to move, to yell, maybe to punch someone or something, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't. At this point, I wasn't even breathing,I wasn't thinking, neither was I feeling. I was just existing, and if there was anything that was worse than all three, then I had no idea what else would suffice. I tried to stop it, gods did I try, but her words kept replaying in my skull, sharp enough to slice through bone:“It’s not yours.” she'd said. “Xander’s.”I didn’t yell. I didn’t throw anything, I didn’t even touch the wall because my body had gone completely still, the kind of stillness that comes right after a blade sinks too deep, when even the pain can’t register anymore.I walked down the corridor in silence, each step echoing like I was walking through the ruins of something I’d burned down with my own hands, and maybe I was. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if th