The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 451

Callum moved beneath me, holding his arms wide. “I’m here if you fall.”

My throat bobbed. “I don’t want to fall.”

Slowly, I began to shimmy to the left, focusing on my feet instead of the drop. Behind me, I heard the sound of the guard knocking on my door, his muffled voice saying something I couldn’t make out from here.

I cursed under my breath and kept moving.

The trellis was closer now, but it still felt so far. Each step seemed to take an eternity. Callum matched my movements, keeping his arms outstretched, watching every step I took.

Halfway down the ledge, my balance teetered. My breath lodged in my throat, and I pressed my back hard against the wall, squeezing my eyes shut.

“It’s okay,” Callum called out. “You’re almost there.”

I cracked my eyes open, breathed, and kept moving.

“Princess?” I heard the guard’s voice call behind me. “Are you in here?”

Fuck. Callum’s face hardened as I picked up my pace, nearly stepping on the long skirt as I went. I could hear the door open now, footsteps moving across the wood.

Finally, I reached the trellis. With some effort, I managed to get on my hands and knees, arms shaking as I lowered one foot down onto the rung, testing it. The wood felt spongy under my weight, but it held. I gripped the sides of the trellis tightly with both hands and put my foot on the next rung down. The wood groaned, and one of the rungs splintered.

I was halfway down the trellis when a head poked out of my bedroom window.

I froze. The wood under my feet began to sink.

“Come on.” I stood and grabbed Callum’s hand, hauling him up with me. He swayed a little, but steadied himself. I slung my arm around his waist, and together, we began limping toward the gates. Pain barked up my injured leg, sending fresh muscle spasms through my quad with each step.

Light flooded the grass as someone flung a door open. I heard guards shouting my name, and another one, deeper and mocking.

“Going so soon, darling? When the night is still so young?”

The humor in it, like this was a joke, like watching me run across my own front lawn like a victim was just entertainment to Ambrose, made my stomach twist. I stiffened, but Callum, regaining his breath, grabbed my arm and pulled me faster.

“Don’t look back,” he whispered. Reaching the wall, he crouched and clasped his fingers together, making a step-up for me. I hauled myself up to the top of the wall and straddled it, then reached down, helping him scramble up the stones behind me.

The last thing I saw before I dropped down to the other side was a trail of palace guards racing across the lawn, and the silhouette of a woman standing in the doorway with her hands clasped in front of her.