The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 460

Liora’s POV

Amy and the others formed a tight barrier around me with their arms linked as they pushed through the jeering crowd. Someone threw what smelled like a half-eaten sandwich at my back, and laughter erupted from somewhere to my left as the lunch meat slid down my hoodie before plopping to the ground behind me.

“Don’t look. Just keep moving,” Amy muttered, tightening her grip on my arm as she pulled me along.

Mia was on my other side, her face set in a scowl as she glared at anyone who got too close. The wolfless moved as a unit, their bodies shielding me from the worst of it as we made our way across the quad.

By the time we reached the main building, my hoodie was soaked with coffee and my shoes squelched with liquids I didn’t even want to name. The jeers followed us inside, echoing off the tile floors, but they grew quieter as we moved deeper into the building.

Amy steered us toward the girls’ bathroom at the end of the hall. The moment we were all inside, she locked the door behind us and leaned against it with a strong exhale.

I stumbled to the sink and gripped the edge of the counter, staring at my reflection in the mirror. Coffee dripped from my hair, and there was a dark stain spreading across my shoulder from where Bianca’s claws had dug in.

Mia moved to my side and pulled a wad of paper towels from the dispenser. She wet them under the faucet and handed them to me. “Here.”

“Thanks.” I took them and pressed them against my shoulder, wincing at the sting. The bleeding had mostly stopped, but the fabric of my hoodie stuck to the wounds.

Amy was still at the door, her ear pressed against it like she was listening for footsteps. After a moment, she turned to face me.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

I let out a short laugh. “Not really.”

The other wolfless girls stood in a semicircle around me, their faces varying degrees of shocked and concerned. Amy crossed her arms.

“So. You’re the princess,” she said.

I looked at her. “Was.”

“And Bianca’s been pretending to be you this whole time?”

“Yeah.”

Amy snorted. “That’s fucked up.”

“Tell me about it.”

Amy pushed off the door and moved closer, her expression softening. “Is it true? What Bianca said about that creep, Ambrose?”

My throat tightened. I nodded.

“Gods,” Amy breathed. She looked at the other girls, then back at me. “Well, we’re not going to let that happen, are we, ladies?”

The other girls all shook their heads in unison. I looked at all of them. “You guys really don’t have to get involved.”

“Nonsense. You helped us,” Amy said. “Last semester, when Alder cut our funding and we couldn’t get food during the lockdown. You’re the one who made sure we didn’t starve, right? You’re the one who arranged those airdrops?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t mean you have to stick your necks out for me or anything.”

“You were a princess,” Amy went on, ignoring me, “and you still treated us like real people. You cared more about us than Bianca ever did, even when she was pretending to be you.” She paused. “So yeah. We’re going to help you. However we can.”

My chest tightened. I looked around at the other girls, and they were all nodding again.

Maybe she knew something was wrong, too. Maybe she’d noticed the same strange behavior in my father that Marcus had.

My chest loosened a little. I had allies. Not many, but enough.

I was about to tuck the note away when footsteps echoed down the hall. I looked up and saw Bianca striding toward me, flanked by two of her cronies. She was still wearing that ridiculous tiara, and her smile was sharp and cold now that she didn’t have an audience to impress.

“Well, well,” she said. “Look who’s still skulking around campus.”

I straightened, clutching the note in my hand. “What do you want now, Bianca?”

“It’s Princess Bianca to you,” one of the cronies barked. I ignored him completely.

Bianca stopped in front of me, her eyes flicking to the paper. “What’s that?”

“None of your business.”

She reached for it. I pulled it back, but she was faster. Her hand shot out and snatched the note from my fingers before I could react.

“Give that back,” I said.

Bianca ignored me, unfolding the paper and scanning it. Her smile widened.

“Oh, this is sweet,” she said. “The headmistress, pledging her loyalty to you.” She looked at me. “Too bad it won’t matter.”

Before I could stop her, she tore the note into tiny shreds. The pieces fluttered to the floor and settled around our feet like snow.