The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 399

Liora’s POV

By morning, the whole school knew.

I could tell before I even made it to the cafeteria. It was in the way conversations dipped when I walked past, and the way people looked at me. Curious. Almost impressed. And a few begrudging.

Curiously, Bianca wasn’t amongst the latter. I expected her to be at the forefront of the onlookers today, perhaps ready with a sharp knife or a noose. Instead, I just saw an empty space right where she used to be, in the middle of her gaggle of admirers, who were all looking at me with disdain.

Mia fell into step beside me, already grinning. “You’re famous,” she announced. She pushed open the cafeteria door and held it for me, sketching a mock bow in the process. “How does it feel?”

“It feels like you’re becoming more like Zane every day,” I snorted.

Mia grinned and followed me through the lunch line.

After grabbing breakfast, we found Zane, who was already seated and working on what appeared to be his second plate of the morning.

He looked up and raised his coffee in a toast. “Here she is,” he said. “The woman of the hour.”

“Eat your food, Zane.”

He gestured to the seat beside him. “Saved you a spot.”

I sat down, propping my crutch against the edge of the table, and had barely gotten settled when I felt the shift in the room that meant Callum had walked in. I didn’t look up right away. I heard the tray slide onto the table across from me, and then he was sitting down, and when I finally looked up, he was already looking at me.

“Morning,” he said.

“Morning,” I said back.

It was such a normal exchange that it almost made me laugh. Eight months of push and pull and disaster and heartache, and here we were saying good morning over cafeteria trays like none of it had happened.

“Wow,” Zane said, wiping away a fake tear with one finger. “This is just so wholesome.”

Callum’s eyes cut to him. “Watch it, Zane.”

“I’m just saying.” Zane speared a piece of fruit with his fork. “It warms the heart. It really does. After everything I did to make this happen—”

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