The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 490

Chapter 490 

I nodded, standing and swaying slightly on my feet, then slipped out. 

The hallway was mercifully empty. I kept my hand on the wall again as I made my way toward the exit, the music from the banquet growing fainter with every step until I pushed out through the side door and the night air hit me all at once. 

I stopped on the path and just stood there for a second. The cold helped. It cut through the fuzz in my head a little, not enough to make me feel entirely sober, but enough to make the ground feel just a little more solid under my feet. 

I started walking in the direction of the dorms. The campus was quiet, most students still inside at the banquet) and the path was lit only by the low lampposts that lined the edges of the quad. I passed the fountain, the notice board, the spot where Daisy had nearly choked the life from me what felt like a lifetime ago. 

I wasn’t paying attention to any of it, not really. My mind had snagged on one thing and wouldn’t let go. 

Mrs. Oakes hadn’t signed me up. 

I stopped walking. 

The quad was empty around me, and without the noise and heat of the banquet hall, everything suddenly felt very clear. I moved off the path and leaned against one of the stone pillars near the main walkway, tilting my head back and letting the night air settle over me. I pressed my hands behind my back, feeling the cool stone against my palms. 

Mrs. Oakes hadn’t signed me up. Which meant that whoever had done it wasn’t trying to help me. No one had put my name on that list as part of some careful plan to help me beat Bianca. 

Someone had put my name on that list knowing fully well what it would mean for me to face Daisy. Knowing what Daisy was capable of. Knowing I didn’t have my wolf. 

Right. So survival, then. That was the goal now. I could focus on that. 

But first, Mrs. Oakes was right: I needed sleep. I needed to be sharp, and right now I was feeling quite literally the opposite of sharp thanks to Bianca’s meddling. I turned toward the dorms, suppressing a yawn. 

And walked directly into someone’s chest. 

The impact knocked the air out of me and sent me stumbling backward. Two hands shot out and caught me before I could go down, arms wrapping around my waist and pulling me upright in one steady motion. 

I looked up to find familiar gray eyes, flecked with blue, looking down at me in the dim light.