The Betrayed Princess Rising (Lylah and Ezra) novel Chapter 198

Chapter 198

3rd Person’s POV

Night had settled softly over the villa by the time Lylah stepped outside.

Finished

The air was cool, kissed by the quiet hush of the forest, while a scatter of stars stretched endlessly above. Dinner with Vargan and Zyrelle had only just ended, yet something had tugged at her instincts the moment Ezra slipped away. So she followed.

She found him in the garden, crouched low, a blade glinting faintly beneath the moonlight as he drew it slowly across a whetstone.

“Come here, Lylah,” Ezra said without looking up. “I know you have something to ask me.”

She paused.

Her steps had been silent-she was certain of it. But of course… he would sense her presence. He always

did.

Lylah cleared her throat and approached.

“About what Zyrelle told you, right?” he added, his voice calm, almost knowing.

She stopped beside him, her gaze lingering on his profile. “Ezra, why didn’t you ever tell me you had a cousin that close to you? Zyrelle clearly cares about you… And yet, not once did you ever mention her to me.”

Ezra finally lifted his gaze.

For a moment, the sharpness in his eyes eased.

‘I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought you wouldn’t be interested in my family. Considering how our mating started. Come here,”

He offered his hand, and Lylah took it without hesitation. With a gentle tug, he drew her down beside him.

‘But now you know I am,” she said quietly. “I always was.”

Something shifted in his expression then-a small smile touched the corner of his lips. “So you want to know about her.”

Lylah nodded.

‘We were close when we were young. Pups,” he began. “Always paired together in training because of your same skill level and drive.” A faint huff of amusement left him. “Zyrelle was a relentless fighter. She still is.”

His fingers tightened slightly around hers,

‘But as we got older, we spoke less. Trained apart. Walked different paths.” He paused. “I was consumed by a relentless drive to chase something I couldn’t ignore.”

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Chapter 198

She didn’t miss a beat. “Someone.”

Ezra didn’t deny it.

A quiet certainty settled in Lylah’s chest then-Zyrelle hadn’t lied.

“Who was it?” she asked, her voice steadier than she felt. “Who drove you to that point? To leave Moonclaw… to search like you’d lost your mind?”

Ezra let out a low breath, something darker threading through it. “You really want to know?”

“Yes.”

He picked up the blade, then drove its tip into the earth between them.

“It started the night I shifted for the first time,” he said.

His voice dropped, rougher now.

Finished

“There was this… hunger.” His jaw tightened. “For her. A pull so violent it felt like something inside me was tearing itself apart.”

“It never stopped,” Ezra continued. “Day or night. It clawed at me. Drove me through every inch of Moonclaw territory.” His hand traced rough lines in the dirt as he spoke, mapping out places long searched and abandoned. “I found nothing.”

His expression darkened.

“The chase wasn’t a thrill, Lylah. It was torture. And if I failed…” His voice lowered to a dangerous murmur. “Ragnar would have ended me himself.”

Lylah’s breath caught.

Ezra didn’t look at her.

“So I kept going. Leaving Moonclaw, to the place where the pull was strongest, where something in me knew our paths would finally meet.” His finger dragged farther across the soil, carving distance into the earth. “Lunaris.”

He sketched the outline of the city… then the sharp lines of a penthouse.

And then,

He stopped.

Lylah frowned, leaning closer. “And after that? Ezra, don’t stop now. What happened next?”

He said quietly, “After all that searching, it ended.”

Her brows knit together. “Ended?”

“The pull,” he clarified. “The hunger. The madness.” His eyes lifted to hers, steady and unflinching. “It disappeared.”

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