The Rejected True Heiress (Liora) novel Chapter 75

Callum

I knew what she was doing the moment she stopped in front of us.

It was in the way she looked at me, like I was the last loose end in an otherwise flawless battle plan. Her expression wasn’t cruel. It was certain. That was somehow worse.

I wanted to stop her. Just, reach out and say something, anything. Ask for more time, maybe. Beg for it. But we both knew how pathetic that would be.

And she was right, wasn’t she?

Right to want a clean exit. Right to want control over the one thing still tethering us.

So I bit my tongue, so hard I tasted metal, but even that was nothing compared to what came next.

When she said those words, it didn’t just sting. It cracked the world in two. I wasn’t sure what it would feel like to have a fated bond break, maybe a fray, like a torn thread or dissolve like a ghost.

But no, it snapped. Like bone under pressure. Like a scream with nowhere to go. And for one horrible, suspended second—

I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t hear.

The whole room, the silk dresses, the laughter, the chandeliers, blurred into white static. My chest caved in like I’d been sucker punched from the inside. It was like someone had ripped the marrow straight from my spine and left nothing but air.

She had rejected me.

And it felt like the moon herself had turned her back.

The pain hit so hard I had to swallow down the urge to throw up. My hand clamped the railing beside me, fingers curling until the wood bit deep into my skin. I tried to hold my posture, to look unbothered, but everything in me was pulsing.

She didn’t even look back.

Just turned and walked away, like the scene she’d left behind wasn’t still bleeding out into the marble floor.

Gasps followed her like a wake. Mia called her name, Zane still frozen next to me.

My feet didn’t move.

My lungs burned.

I was still staring at the spot where she’d stood, like my brain couldn’t register that she was gone. My eyes burned, locked on empty air, even as whispers started to swell around me. I turned my head slowly, like it was underwater. A group of girls near the punch table were huddled together, their faces lit up with excitement. Their eyeswere wide, lips moving too fast, too giddy from the drama.

I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Couldn’t think. It was just ringing, this awful, hollow pitch buzzing in my skull, louder than when I took a bat to the temple last spring. Everything felt too far away and too close at the same time. I shook my head, trying to force the noise out, but it didn’t help.

My knees buckled slightly, and I leaned deeper against the bar beside me. What the hell was happening to me?

Was this what it felt like, to sever a fated bond?

I didn’t know what hurt worse, the pain that came with the split, or the deeper, crueler truth gnawing at the edges of it:

I still felt the same way about her.

Bond or no bond.

She’d walked away. And I still wanted to follow.

Wasn’t this…supposed to cut off our feelings?

With a groan I tried to mindlink Liora, reaching out the only way I could.

Nothing.

And then came the claws.

Bianca’s fingers dug into my arm, her smile bright enough to blind. To the crowd, we were the perfect picture of noble charm. To me, she was an anchor I hadn’t asked for.

“You can’t seriously be thinking of chasing after her,” she hissed, her smile frozen for the crowd, but her voice sharp as shattered glass. “They’re watching, Callum. The Council. The Elders. Your father. Everyone who actually matters. So maybe, just maybe, focus on what does matter. Us. Our big moment. You remember that, right?”

She smoothed her dress, her lip curling. “I didn’t say anything before because, honestly? It’s embarrassing to admit I share any blood with someone like her. I mean, gods, do you know how awful that looks on me?”

She huffed, flipping her curls off her shoulder. “She’s just a nobody with a tragic sob story and a flair for theatrics. You really gonna fall for that over everything we’ve built?”

An… illegitimate child? Was that true? I couldn’t even tell at this point.

I turned away, stumbling through the crowd.

I had to ask why. Ask how. Ask if any of this was true.

I didn’t…even know her.

Bianca’s voice trailed behind me, still trying to salvage her spotlight.

“Hello?! Where are you going?! We have an announcement to make! Fine! Go on then,” she snapped. “Run off like a coward! But don’t come crawling back when you realize you’ve destroyed your legacy!”

I stopped walking. Turned my head halfway back.

“Relax,” I muttered. “I’m just going to the bathroom.”

Her lips twitched in restrained fury. But she caught herself.

“Oh. Ah, yeah, that’s fine then,” she cooed, fixing her dress. “I’ll freshen up too. Wouldn’t want to look tired before our big announcement.”

Big announcement.

She still thought this night belonged to her.

I walked faster, the crowd swallowing me up.

And still, through the buzz of confusion, pride, and betrayal, all I could think was—

Liora. Come back. Tell me what’s going on.