The Betrayed Princess Rising (Lylah and Ezra) novel Chapter 43

Lylah’s POV

Finished

Today marked my first visit to the Lunar Grace office tower. I signed the official statement confirming my acceptance. Everything was settled. And by the next day, I would begin work.

Alpha Ezra had instructed that today was meant for me–to familiarize myself with Lunaris. He couldn’t accompany me, so Damon was assigned instead.

Lunaris land wasn’t that sprawling, and in a day’s drive, we could touch nearly every corner of the city.

As dusk began to settle, staining the sky in muted violets, I asked Damon to stop at the border shared with Whitepine Pack. Three hundred meters beyond the boundary lay The Rest of Whitepine–a sacred area. where fallen warriors were laid to return to the Moon Goddess kingdom.

“Allow me to escort you, Luna,” Damon said, stepping out beside me.

His gaze swept the area, alert. “May I ask what draws you here?”

“I want to visit my parents.” I tightened my grip on the white roses we had bought along the way. “Alpha Ezra has already given his permission as long as I don’t cross too far. We’ll return before nightfall.”

“I understand,” he replied, then hesitated. “But, your parents were buried here? They were Whitepine warriors?”

I smiled softly. “Yes.”

Surprise flickered across his face. If memory served me right, this was the first time I had ever spoken those words aloud to anyone.

The scent of flowers left by other visitors mingled with damp earth. The ground hummed faintly beneath my feet, and Selestine stirred within me, responding to the welcoming pull of sacred land.

“The last time I came here was five years ago,” I said quietly. “Right after I learned that Jax and Vala Stillward were my biological parents.”

That same night–after Cora first appeared–the truth spilled through the Ironcrest Pack like wildfire. Whispers of switched infants. An emergency birth deep in the forest.

“There were only two women giving birth that night,” Eldric said quietly. “One was you. The other was bleeding out–forced to deliver in urgency. They were warriors, respected nobles of Whitepine Pack. Jax Stillward and his mate.”

I had overheard the conversation that night, hidden in the shadows as Eldric spoke with Daia. Neither of them knew I was listening.

Neither of them knew that I had carried the truth of my identity in silence ever since.

Damon said nothing, standing respectfully beside me as I knelt and offered my prayers.

When I was finished, I rose.

1/3

1:20 pm

Chapter 43

Finished

“Let’s go.”

“Luna,” Damon said gently as we turned back, “if you ever wish to return, just tell me. Being separated from one’s true parents…it cannot be easy.”

“I never had the chance to know them,” I admitted. “Never saw them alive. That’s what hurts the most.”

Would Jax Stillward have been proud of me? Would Vala have loved me as her daughter–me, and not Cora?

Or would they have cursed this twisted fate, just as Eldric and Daia did?

The thought lingered as we drove back toward the city, the lights of Lunaris rising ahead of us like distant

stars.

Damon dropped me off at the roadside near the penthouse, and I insisted he didn’t need to escort me further. Thankfully, he agreed.

The street was quiet.

Too quiet.

Three young wolves stood ahead, their laughter sharp and cruel.

Nearby, an elderly figure crawled along the pavement, reaching desperately for a piece of bread crushed beneath their boots.

When the youths finally tired of their mockery, they fled into the shadows, still laughing.

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