The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 273

Callum’s POV

“For today’s exam, you will be placed into ten pairs,” the proctor said, stifling a yawn. He scratched his head as he began to read off the names on his clipboard. “Let’s see here… Stacey and Gemma, you’re together. Abigail and Michael… Callum and Zane…”

“Looks like we’re buddies for the day.” Zane sidled up next to me with his hands in his pockets and a grin on his face, and nudged me with his elbow. “Just like old times, huh?”

“We were never buddies before,” I grunted, moving away.

Zane chuckled. “Sure. Keep telling yourself that.” He followed me as I began making my way to the starting point. I picked up my pace slightly just to make a point, but he jogged to keep up with me. “So. The banquet was interesting. Sounds like your princess didn’t have access to a palace after all.”

I poked my tongue into the inside of my cheek. “The palace is under construction. She did the best she could.”

“Right…” Zane kicked at a pebble with his shoe. “Because ‘doing the best she could’ means standing up for a rapist and lying about where you live. Seems like very princesslike behavior.”

Up ahead, the proctor began to explain the rules of the exam, thankfully before I had to answer.

“Today, there are twenty ‘artifacts’ hidden in various locations throughout the testing zone,” the proctor explained. “Each group’s first task of the day is to find an artifact and bring it to me. Groups are allowed to possess more than one artifact. Other groups may also steal your artifact by any means necessary, barring physical violence. Each artifact is worth ten points, and you must turn in at least one in order to move on to the second round.”

Zane leaned in. “Sounds easy enough. I can already see at least three groups who would be easy to steal from.”

“Let’s just focus on getting one,” I said. “So we can get this over with.”

My jaw clenched. I’d been trying not to think about that. Because the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to talk to her about it. And the more I wanted to talk to her, the more danger she was in.

“Can we just focus on getting the artifact?” I asked.

Nodding, he placed his boot in my hands and boosted himself up, grabbing a branch above his head. I pushed him up so he could haul himself onto the branch, hitching his hips over it, then swung one leg up for purchase while he reached for the next branch.

He climbed like he was built for it, like it was completely second nature to him. Sometimes, I swore he was half monkey and not half wolf.

“I am focusing.” Zane was standing on the branch now with perfect ease, not even holding onto anything as he scooched out toward the end where the artifact was perched. “But this is a simple task. Can’t we talk? Like the old days?”