The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 528

“I’ve got the exits mapped, the patrol rotations timed,” she said. “But there are over forty wolfless on campus, and if even one of them gets caught while we’re moving—” She stopped. She didn’t finish it, because she didn’t need to. The answer was written clearly enough on that list sitting on the table.

“Alder is here?” I blurted out.

She nodded.

We found him in the headmaster’s apartments.

He was asleep in a lounge chair in his apartment with a half-empty bottle beside him and his head lolling back against the rest, which made things considerably less complicated than I’d planned for. Zane had him tied to the chair with a length of rope we’d taken from the torture room before he was fully awake.

By the time Alder got his bearings enough to even think about shouting, I had my hand over his mouth and Amy had the door shut and locked behind us.

I waited until he was done thrashing, then took my hand away.

He breathed hard through his nose, eyes moving between the three of us.

“The guards outside—”

“Aren’t going to hear you,” Amy said from the door. She held up a small cloth pouch. “Wolfsbane concentrate. Under the gap. Just enough to knock them out for a few minutes.” She shrugged when I looked at her. “I’ve been planning this for a while.”

Alder’s eyes settled on me. “You don’t want to do this, son.”

“I want to know who killed Mrs. Oakes,” I said.

His mouth closed.

Zane stepped forward and held up a pair of bloody pliers. “The guards are only out for a few minutes,” he said, “but that’s plenty of time to take a few fingernails.”

Alder nodded. “The wedding is a handoff; Liora dies in Falcon’s Reach once Ambrose has had his way with her. That part’s already arranged.” He paused. “But during the wedding, Bianca will cast the same spell on you that the King is under right now.”

“Bianca isn’t a witch,” Zane pointed out.

“No, but Belinda has been teaching her the ways,” Alder said. “And once it takes hold, you’ll be compliant enough for Bianca to marry within the month. Having a husband will allow her to take the throne once and for all.”

I looked at Amy. She’d gone pale, her hand still pressed against the door. If Bianca took the throne, then she would carry out her plans to destroy the lives of all wolfless in the kingdom. Amy knew it. We all knew it.

Her fist tightened around the pouch in her hand.

“Over my fucking dead body,” she hissed.

Zane straightened, pulling the pliers away. “I guess we’ve got a wedding to crash.”