The Rejected True Heiress (Liora) novel Chapter 108

Liora

The book from Callum sat open across my knees, its thin, crinkling pages refusing to give me anything useful.

I’d slipped into the library in the middle of the night—peace and quiet might help. Besides, Mia had gone moody and turned the light off on me. I could take a hint.

An hour of skimming left me with nothing but looping old dialects: heroes, wars, doomed romances—but no answer to the question clawing at me.

What happens when your wolf is just… gone?

The stories circled it, like they knew but wouldn’t say. Nothing confirmed or denied that rejection could strip a wolf away—or that I could get mine back.

I traced the margins, pausing on a line about the Moon Goddess blessing warriors who “bled for more than glory.” Nice thought, but bleeding didn’t win back half your soul.

Callum was right. Legends, myths—but nothing clear.

I rubbed at my temple.

Back to square one.

The knock on my study door made me jump. I hadn’t even heard footsteps in the hall.

“Uh—come in?” I called, snapping the book shut. It was well past three in the morning.

The door creaked open, and to my surprise, in stepped Professor Yulin. Silvery hair in a neat braid, ink-stained fingers, young for faculty, though she didn’t teach my classes. Everyone knew her as one of the academy’s foremost researchers.

And apparently, a fellow insomniac.

“Miss Liora,” she said, her voice like a soft bell. “Up rather late.”

I blinked, surprised she knew my name. “Yes. Just… research for a paper.”

She nodded, closed the door, and slipped into the chair beside me with graceful ease.

“Unconventional bond cases?”

I tugged my bag over the book. “No, this is just—”

“A special interest?”

Her gray-blue eyes pinned me. Not accusatory, just sharp, like a grandparent catching a lie.

“Sure,” I muttered. Then, hesitantly, “Do you… know something about special bonds? Fated mates?”

She was odd. Unsettling. But I couldn’t waste the chance.

“Can… a fated bond rejection sever a wolf completely? Forever?”

Her gaze drifted to the window, pale light bleeding through. “No. A rejected wolf grieves. It may grow distant, even silent. But it never vanishes. That’s just rumor—heartbreak twisted into myth.”

The words hit heavier than they should have. If rejection didn’t do it… then what had? “Then how—” My voice caught. “How do you explain it?”

Her expression softened, just a little. “I can’t. Not yet. But if your wolf is truly absent, something far beyond a rejection is at work.” He hesitated, as if weighing whether to say more. “Keep reading. But don’t just look for answers in stories about loss. Sometimes you find truth in the ones about persistence. Try the restricted books, behind the library through the green locked doors. But not tonight, for now, you need rest.”

She slid a key my way with a wink, rising with the grace of a drifting leaf. Her hand slipped from my wrist like smoke.

“Liora, you are destined for greatness—but only what you allow your destiny to be. Fail a little. Mess up. Break rules before you’re bound to uphold them forever.”

A sinking feeling twisted in my gut. She saw right through me. And yet… I didn’t fear it.

She left without waiting for an answer, the door clicking shut, her little wave visible through the window.

I sat there for a while, palm pressed to my chest, heartbeat too loud in the silence.

A key. To the restricted books. I was too tired to unravel what had just happened, but she was right—I needed rest. My problems weren’t going anywhere.