The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 523

Liora’s POV

The throne room was quiet for so long that I could hear the candles flickering in the air.

Bianca tilted her head and looked at me from the throne like one might look at a bug they were considering squashing under the heel of their shoe. My father, for his part, continued to sit in my mother’s chair with that awful blankness behind his eyes.

I knew, just from looking at him, that he was awaiting orders from a voice I couldn’t hear. I didn’t see Belinda, but I could feel her watching from wherever she was, calling the shots.

Behind me, the guards remained still, although I could hear them shifting on their feet a little. I knew them all, even if not by name. I’d spent my entire life seeing their faces walking these halls. They’d seen me grow up.

I hoped Marcus would be able to rally them back to our side before the wedding.

“Go on, then,” Bianca finally said, her voice echoing in the chamber.

I kept my hands pressed together and my face up. My knees were already starting to bruise against the stone.

“I want Callum and Zane left alone,” I said. “I don’t want to see them get hurt. That’s all I ask.”

“They’re fugitives,” my father barked in that strange, flat voice that wasn’t entirely his own.

“They were following me.” I kept my eyes on Bianca. “Whatever I did, they did on my word. They’re not a threat to you without me, and you know it.”

Bianca said nothing. I waited for her hidden puppetmaster to give her the next lines of the script she was following.

“And if I let them go,” she said after a few moments, “you’ll marry Ambrose?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll go to Falcon’s Reach willingly. And you’ll stay there. Out of our way. Until the end of your days.”

“As for Callum,” Bianca said, “I still plan to marry him. And when that happens, you are not to interfere.”

I didn’t dare mention that she’d never have him for herself, not while I still lived and breathed.

“Understood?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“Yes, what?” Bianca put her hands on her hips, waiting.

I bit the inside of my cheek. “Yes… Your Highness.”

She looked at me one moment longer, then turned and waved a hand at the guards without looking back. “Take her to a room. I don’t care which one, but I want guards posted 24/7.” She settled back into the throne and reached for the goblet on the side table. “The ceremony will take place tomorrow evening. Make sure she’s presentable.”