The Betrayed Princess Rising (Lylah and Ezra) novel Chapter 196

Chapter 196

3rd Person’s POV

Finished

Lylah stilled, the words taking a moment to settle-only to make less sense the longer they lingered.

“What?” she blurted, disbelief slipping through before she could stop it.

Across from her, Zyrelle looked… amused.

There was a glint in her eyes, sharp and curious, as though she were watching a puzzle unfold rather than a conversation. For a fleeting second, she wondered what kind of game Ezra had been playing with this innocent girl-making her his Luna, binding her to him, yet leaving her in the dark.

It stirred an older suspicion.

Ezra had never been simple. Even as a pup, his mind had been a dark, intricate labyrinth, always moving and calculating. Nothing he did was without reason. Not when it came to power. Not when it came to family.

“How is it that you seem like a stranger to your own husband?” Zyrelle said at last, her tone deceptively light, “Don’t tell me that you stood beside him in a mating ceremony and still know nothing about him.”

Lylah hesitated, but lifted her chin. “We were strangers when it started,” she admitted. “But we’ve been learning from each other little by little. And we still are.”

That only made Zyrelle laugh.

Soft at first-then deeper, richer, until her eyes nearly watered with it.

Learning Ezra?

That was almost laughable..

Zyrelle had known him for over twenty-five full-moon cycles of her life, and even now, he remained an enigma. Calm on the surface, like a still ocean-but beneath it, currents wild enough to drown anything that ventured too close.

“Learned what, exactly?” Zyrelle pressed, tilting her head.

“His preferences,” Lylah answered, steady despite the tension. “What he likes, his habits, the way he is at home-”

“His past?” Zyrelle cut in smoothly. “His secrets?”

Lylah fell silent.

Then she shook her head.

Zyrelle wasn’t surprised.

“Let me tell you, Lylah, in this family,” she said, her voice lowering slightly, “I’m probably the only one

1/3

Chapter 196

who knows the truth he keeps buried.”

Her gaze drifted, distant for a moment, as if replaying something only she could see.

Finished

“I don’t mean to unsettle you,” she added, almost idly. “But before you… I was certain Ezra already had someone.”

Lylah’s breath caught.

“A fated mate,” Zyrelle clarified.

The word landed heavier than it should have.

Lylah remembered asking him about it once. Ezra had answered without hesitation-there had been no one. No past, no lingering bond. Just her. He told her she was the one he had been waiting for.

Had he lied?

“You don’t understand,” Zyrelle went on, her voice softening-not with kindness, but with something closer to fascination. “Their bond wasn’t ordinary. I saw it myself.” Her lips curved faintly. “I used to follow him quietly. He never noticed.”

There was a flicker of something almost nostalgic in her expression.

“Every full moon, he would shift and vanish into the forest,” she murmured, “And then he’d howl-so raw it tore through the night itself. Not just any howl, but the kind that comes from a wolf who already feels their mate’s existence in their soul-yet cannot find them.”

Lylah’s chest tightened.

“It was maddening to watch, Lylah,” Zyrelle continued, “He would run for days-no food, no rest. Completely feral and desperate. Searching for someone he couldn’t even name.”

Her eyes darkened slightly.

“He tore through Moonclaw lands like a lunatic, chasing a presence only he could feel. And when he couldn’t find her there…” she paused, “he began to look beyond it.” A quiet breath left her.

“That was when he left.”

Silence stretched between them.

“After that, I didn’t see him much.” Zyrelle admitted, “But I know one thing for certain-before you ever came into his life…” Her gaze slid back to Lylah, sharp and knowing.

“There was someone in his heart”

The words lingered, heavy, suffocating.

And for the first time-

Lylah felt something cold curl in her chest.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify