The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 369

Liora’s POV

I stood there for a moment longer than I should have. Bianca had finished retching and was wiping her mouth with a shaking hand. Noticing my presence, she looked up and spotted me immediately.

“Liora.” She straightened. Smiled. Smoothed down the tight mini-dress she was wearing. “I didn’t know you were here tonight.”

I didn’t respond to that right away. I knew I should probably take my leave then, but my feet didn’t move. Whenever I looked at her, all I saw was her smug face and that lacy set she had worn when she slept with Callum.

“Had too much to drink?” I finally managed.

Bianca glanced at the pile of vomit near the bushes, then back at me. “Actually, I haven’t had anything to drink tonight.”

“I see. Must be food poisoning, then.” Or karma, I wanted to add, but I didn’t. With that, I turned, ready to leave.

“Princess.”

She called out my title like it belonged on her lips. I froze, but didn’t turn.

Bianca cleared her throat. “Look. About Callum.” A pause. “I know you guys went on a couple of dates, and he was initially betrothed to you, but I can’t control his true feelings. He and I were just meant to be. That’s all.”

I almost laughed at that. Meant to be. Like everything she did wasn’t completely calculated and designed to belittle me, because she knew she had nothing on me, and had to push me down at every opportunity in an attempt to make herself feel bigger.

For a moment, the thing that had been on my mind for days now flitted back through the haze of heat and alcohol in my veins.

It would be so easy to reveal my identity to everyone. Hell, I could march back into that house right now, turn off the music, and make a public announcement.

I, Liora, am the true female Alpha. Bianca is an imposter. Hear me roar.

But deep down, I knew I couldn’t do that. I still didn’t have my wolf. No one would believe me. I would just get laughed out of the party, and it wouldn’t help the situation any.

Besides, a petty part of me didn’t want to give Bianca the satisfaction of reacting to her little game. I knew it was what she truly wanted. I wasn’t about to give it to her.

“What makes you think I care?” I asked, looking at her over my shoulder. “Callum is useless to me, anyway. He’s been disowned from his family and he’s stupid enough to believe that you could ever be a princess.”

The moment the words left my mouth, I felt a pang of regret. I didn’t want to say something so cruel about Callum, but it just slipped out. Admittedly, the flash of frustration and embarrassment in Bianca’s eyes was a little satisfying.

I walked away after that.

Eventually, I managed to find Mia and Zane inside the house. They were standing near the food table with Zane keeping watch while Mia shoved cookies into her purse. I walked up to them and cleared my throat.

“So we’ve resorted to stealing food now?” I laughed.

Zane grinned. “We’ll have a picnic later.”

“Right…” I looked around, and that was when I spotted him again. Callum. He was moving through the crowd, clearly looking for the food, but his footsteps faltered slightly when he noticed me standing there. Not to be cowed, though, he moved forward with his chin lifted and his expression pointedly neutral.

“I was hoping to have one of those,” he said by way of greeting, nodding toward the cookies.

Mia looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. Zane grabbed the very last cookie and shoved it into his mouth in one bite.

The mantra became a constant echo in the back of my mind. Eventually, I must have started to believe it, because I went to class feeling slightly less like I wanted to slam my head against a brick wall.

That feeling didn’t last for very long, unfortunately. These types of things never did. Not around here, where gossip and information was the currency at this godforsaken school.

I walked into my herbology class that morning, still suppressing yawns, with my satchel slung over one shoulder and a cardboard cup of takeout coffee in one hand. The classroom was quiet, the professor not having arrived just yet.

I found my usual seat by the window and sat, rifling through my bag for my notebook. I had just settled in when I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to find Marissa and her girlfriend sitting behind me. Marissa was perched on her girlfriend’s desk. Both were looking at me with strange expressions.

“Hey,” Marissa said quietly. “Have you heard the news yet?”

I straightened my notebook on my desk and looked at them. “What news?”

The two girls exchanged looks that already had my stomach sinking a little even though I didn’t know why.

Marissa looked around the room as if checking to make sure we weren’t overheard. Then, she leaned in, lowering her voice.

“It’s about Bianca and Callum,” she said.

I opened my mouth to tell them that I didn’t care, and that whatever it was, I didn’t want to hear it. But it was too late.

“They’re back together,” her girlfriend added. “And from what I hear, Bianca might be…”

“Pregnant,” Marissa finished for her.