The Rejected True Heiress (Liora) novel Chapter 87

I turned my gaze on him, letting my voice cool to ice. “I broke off that bond. Officially. By the Moon goddess heself, I feel nothing.”

That made him blink. For a moment he seemed to believe me, then he laughed, low and incredulous. “You’re impossible to figure out.”

“Thank you,” I said, deadpan.

“So,” he confused with a smirk far to big. “That name you used back there, the one you broke the bond with—”

“I’m not doing this,” I snapped, stopping in my tracks. “Zane. I am, shockingly, exhausted. So unless someone is dying, I’m going back to bed.”

Zane looked back at me in a way that…honestly confused me. It wasn’t like his usual smirk, it was softer, and it made me brace.

“Liora,” he said, voice unexpectedly serious.

I paused, half taking a step back. “What?”

Zane stepped forward until he was infront of me, and before I could ask again, he bent one knee and sank down.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked sharply.

His grin was gone. He looked… earnest. I hated it.

“I want to ask you something,” he said. “I’m not good at subtle, so I’ll just say it. Be my mate.”

The world tilted under me.

Mate?

Mate??!

Not just… dating. Not partners. A mate.

Mates are for supposedly for life. Mates are… everything.

I stared down at him, words catching in my throat. “Zane—what?”

“You heard me,” he said, and there was no humor in it. “I’m serious.”

“No.”

His brows shot up, like he thought I was joking. “No?”

“No!” My voice came out sharper than I expected, the tightness in my chest snapping through. “Are you insane? Stupid?! Do you have any idea what you’re even saying right now? After everything?!”

Zane

I stayed where I was long after her footsteps faded into the dark.

The night air felt colder without her standing in front of me.

Well. That hadn’t gone at all how I thought it would.

I let out a breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding and rocked back on my heels, staring up at the sky like maybe the moon had an answer for me.

Yeah, sure, I’d meant it as a joke at first. Half a joke. Something reckless to crack through that wall she keeps around herself. But the second she looked me dead in the eye and said she felt “nothing” about Callum, it stopped being a joke.

Somewhere between tossing pebbles at her window and walking under those trees, I really thought maybe I could be the one to make her feel something again.

I dragged a hand through my hair, muttering, “Perfect as friends, huh?”

That part stung more than I’d like to admit, more then I wanted it to.

And still… even as I watched the dorm lights swallow her up, I felt the corner of my mouth twitch into a stubborn smile.

If she thinks one sharp “no” is enough to scare me off, then she doesn’t know me at all.