The Rejected True Heiress (Liora) novel Chapter 57

Liora

I’d always loved the school library, even if I rarely had the time to enjoy it.

Lately, though, it had become my refuge. A quiet shelter from the chaos. Because in the library, there were rules, rules that meant silence, calm, order. And no one dared break them. Not unless they wanted to deal with the wrath of the librarians… and trust me, no one messed with the librarians if they valued their life, or at least their social standing.

After Jessica’s claws—and I meant that literally—I needed someplace with less glaring, fewer whispers, and preferably no glitter bombs in my locker.

And Mia was great but I really just wanted sometime to myself, considering we live together.

The rows of shelves felt like old trees, tall and watching. I slid my fingers along the spines of the nonfiction section, dragging my gaze lazily across titles I wouldn’t read. I wasn’t looking for a book. I was looking for stillness.

Maybe I should find some books on our latest assignment.

I paused.

Then again… after homecoming, I wouldn’t be here.

I was in the middle of he countless rows of bows, swaying my steps mindless over the crpet when—

“Liora.”

I flinched. The voice came from the other side of the shelf. Muffled by pages and polished pine.

I stared at the spot in the shelf like it had personally betrayed me.

There was no one else in this row, so it must have been from the otherside. I leaned in, just enough for my whisper to carry through a small gap between a book on tree fungus and another on ancient wars.

“Hello?”

A pause. Then the carpet shuffled on there side. I could almost hear them debating whether to leave.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

My stomach dropped straight through the floor. That voice, no. No way.

I nearly clapped a hand over my mouth to muffle the disbelief threatening to escape my lung.

Callum.

I had to let out a scoff, exhausted, and turned to lean my back against the bookshelf, arms crossing tight over my chest.

“You… you know!?” His voice spiked. “Then why the hell are you acting like this?!”

“Shhh!” hissed someone from the next aisle.

“Shhh!” I snapped at the same time, elbowing a book behind me, which popped out on his side.

A soft thunk. “Ow!” he hissed, shoving the book back. “God, why are you so mad at me then?! I’m trying to—”

“No.” My voice dropped low. “You could’ve told me. You could’ve worked with me. After our little night stroll, I thought we were finally getting somewhere.”

“We are.”

“We’re not,” I cut in. “You didn’t tell me. You ran from me. For two days.”

He exhaled, slow and heavy. “Liora, I’m risking everything just talking to you right now. Don’t you get that? I had to avoid you—”

“Right.” I rolled my eyes and yanked a random book from the shelf, flipping it open just to keep my hands busy. “Because it was all for me, wasn’t it? The silence. The setup. Letting the entire school eat me alive—what, that was your idea of a noble sacrifice?”

He didn’t answer. Just the soft thump of his palm resting on the other side of the shelf.