The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 232

The rabbit looked around for a moment with quick movements before it began washing its fluffy ears with its paws. I drew in a deep breath and pulled the string back, aiming the tip of the arrow at the rabbit’s small body. Beside me, Callum remained silent, just watching.

“Sorry, little guy,” I whispered. I loosed the arrow.

And missed.

The rabbit squeaked, bolting back into the hole as the arrow slammed into the tree behind it. The reverberation echoed through the quiet woods, and I cursed, lowering my bow.

“Damn. Missed.”

Callum picked at a twig. “You aimed too high. From this close, you don’t need to consider arc trajectory.”

I glanced at him as I stood, dusting off my knees. “You know much about archery?”

“Of course I do.” We began moving, searching for another warren. “I’ve read a lot about it, at least.”

“But you’ve never done it yourself.”

“Just a few times.” He shrugged. “My parents thought it was a waste of time. Said a future Alpha wouldn’t need to know how to hunt because he could just make other people do it. But I thought it was fascinating, so I read all about it, and practiced in secret when I could.”

I couldn’t help but want to laugh at that. My father, the King, hunted all of the time. He loved it, and often brought me on his hunting trips when I was younger. It was one of the rare times we could really bond outside the palace, and when we could just be ourselves outside the rigid social rules of court.

“Well, I’ve been hunting my whole life,” I said. “But I’ve never picked up archery as well as I probably should. Something about the disconnect between my body and the target just throws me off. I prefer close-range.”

Really, I hunted in my wolf form. It was what I was best at. But Callum couldn’t know that.

“Want me to teach you some tricks?” he asked.

I looked at him, curious. His expression betrayed nothing. No hint of that strange flicker I’d seen last night and this morning. Finally, I shrugged. “Sure.”

He wiped it away the moment I looked at him, and swallowed, stepping back. But I saw it. I saw him smiling. I saw the way his ears reddened. What was going through his head? Was it just as tumultuous and contradictory as mine was right now?

“After you, tracker,” he said, gesturing for me to walk ahead.

I flushed and did just that.

We found another warren after that, and before I knew it, we had shot three rabbits. Nice, fat ones, too. Satisfied with our kills, we gathered them up and strung them together by the feet, then made our way back to camp.

By the time we arrived, our shoulders were bumping as we walked, and the conversation was flowing naturally. I didn’t even notice it happening—it just… happened. Just like it did that night in the library. Only this time, there was something different about it.

Callum’s lips kept twitching into that smile, and when I looked at him, his eyes weren’t sad, but glimmering with the distant promise of a laugh I had only heard a smattering of times before.

The sight made my chest warm more than I wanted to admit.