The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 248

My mouth opened, but no words came out. What was I supposed to say? Tell him that I was the princess, not Bianca? End the facade after all this time, while I was still wolfless?

That would be the easy way out, wouldn’t it? The simple one.

Maybe that was why I didn’t want to do it. Because it would be too simple. Because I knew, once he found out my real identity, that he really would leave her and run to me. Not because he cared about me, not because he wanted to repair our mate bond, but because the ring on his finger meant everything to him.

It was the exact reason why he hadn’t left her despite everything.

I wasn’t sure if I could bear it if he did that to me. Came back to me. Lied and told me he loved me just so he could marry a princess.

“I’m Liora Belrose,” I said curtly. “And I would like to be left alone.”

Before Callum could answer, I turned on my heel. But the moment I did, I spotted it.

The door.

It was made of dark wood with an arch at the top. A single falcon’s head, stuffed and taxidermied, hung from the wood. Its head slowly turned to look at me, but not facing me—in the way a bird’s head does. One beady black eye stared directly at me from the side of its head.

Watching me. Mocking me.

I saw a flash of… Something. Skin. Moving above me. I felt my body being pressed against a mattress. I felt… afraid. Alone. Paralyzed.

“Liora?”

The sensation of a hand on my arm made me jump, and I whirled, jumping back so quickly I nearly fell. I stumbled, gasping, and Callum caught me. His eyes were wide.

“Hell. What’s gotten into you?” he asked.

I blinked. We were still alone, still standing in the hallway. The falcon’s head was still there, but it hadn’t moved at all. It was just a stuffed, dead bird.

Callum hesitated, but I quickly said, “I wandered off and got lost. Callum found me.”

Callum looked almost grateful that I had covered for him, but Bianca didn’t seem to buy it. She narrowed her eyes at me and parted her lips to say something. But just then, the doors behind us swung open, and we all turned to see someone new walking in.

He was tall and slender and wore all black. Onyx eyes peeked out from a strand of dark hair that had come loose from its knot and fell across his forehead. Snow dusted the shoulders of his black coat.

Ambrose.

The moment he saw me, he froze. His expression tightened, smile fading. The sudden tension in his face only highlighted the small, shiny scar that cut across his cheek. I didn’t remember my cousin having an injury like that.

“What are you all doing here?” he asked, addressing everyone.

But really, I knew he was only talking to me.