The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 519

“Your engagement to Ambrose is still in effect, I take it?” Marcus asked.

I bit my lip, thinking for a moment. “I’m not entirely sure. It could be, or Belinda and Bianca might prefer to have my head on a spike at this point, so…”

“No.” Marcus shook his head. “They’d be foolish to kill a once-beloved princess so publicly. If they were going to do it, they would make it happen privately, in a way that would make it appear like an accident.”

“Which is precisely why they want her to go to Falcon’s Reach with Ambrose,” Callum pointed out in a low voice. “Because it’s remote, and that piece of shit can do whatever he wants to her there.”

“Precisely,” Marcus said with a sigh. “Look, I know it’s dangerous, but Liora—”

“Would pretending that I’m still complying with the marriage make it possible for us to put an end to this or not?” I cut him off.

He thought about that for a few seconds, then said, “I believe, that if you surrender yourself to Bianca, tell her that you’ll go through with the marriage… It would provide us with the opening we need.” He paused again. “Bianca, Belinda, and your father would also likely be in attendance. Along with a rather large audience of witnesses for when your wolf returns.”

“When my wolf returns,” I repeated.

Callum stepped forward. “I was planning on marking Liora. She could already have her wolf back by the time the wedding begins.”

Marcus quickly shook his head. “No. No, that wouldn’t work. If Liora is going to take back her claim to the throne, then she needs to assert dominance over Bianca—in full view.”

“So I’ll have to shed Bianca’s blood at the wedding,” I said slowly.

Marcus nodded.

I mulled that over for a few moments, considering all of the angles it provided. It was an option I’d considered already, when Callum and I first discussed marking to bring my wolf back. Marking felt like an easy fix. If we went through with it, I could have my wolf back by tonight.

But Marcus was right. If I wanted to take back the throne, then I needed to do it publicly. I needed an audience for the moment my wolf returned in all her glory. I needed witnesses, subjects who would have no choice but to expose their necks to me, proving that I was the rightful heir.

His lips twitched into an almost-smile.

Marcus cleared his throat.

“So it’s settled, then,” he said. “Tonight, Liora, you have to surrender yourself to Bianca. Tell her you’ll go through with the wedding. I’ll prepare the rest.”

My pulse spiked. I stood, walking over to the window, brushing past Callum, and pulled the curtains open an inch. There, in the distance, stood the palace. Gleaming white stone in the fading sunset, stained glass windows catching the light one last time before night fell.

If I walked up to those gates tonight, I might not make it out.

But it was a risk I would just have to take if there would ever be a chance to protect the kingdom, save my parents, and avenge the girl who should have been standing right beside me.