The Betrayed Princess Rising (Lylah and Ezra) novel Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Ezra’s POV

Finished

The change in Lylah’s voice hits me harder than any blow. One moment there is light in it, and then it dims as if a shadow passes over her heart. My wolf feels it instantly. The shift. The ache.

I still remember her as that bright little girl who used to sneak into my room at the rehabilitation center, asking if she could be my friend. She carried sunshine in her smile, chased away the silence that clung to me back then. But when her grandmother’s condition worsened, that sunshine faded. The light in her dimmed. And then, one day… she stopped coming.

At first, I didn’t know why. I only felt the absence–my wolf restless, pacing beneath my skin, sensing that something precious had been taken from our orbit. Later, the staff told me about her grandmother’s illness.

That was the day I went to her room.

I hadn’t even stepped inside when I heard her crying.

“I was completely broken then,” she whispers now, her voice thick with memory. “It felt like my whole world collapsed and I couldn’t think straight.” Her fingers twist together. “My parents picked us up that morning. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to you.” Her eyes meet mine, shining with regret. “I’m sorry, Ezra.”

The guilt in her expression claws at my chest. It’s a look I never want to see on her face.

My hand moves before I can stop it. My thumb brushes gently over her brow.

“Don’t apologize,” I murmur. “You were shattered. You were grieving. If anyone should be sorry, it’s me. You were always warm and kind to me, and I never had the chance to give you even half of that back.”

After she left. I searched for her.

I scoured the forests around the center, my wolf driving me deeper each night, restless, certain that she was still somewhere within reach.

But she never came back.

When I realized she wouldn’t return to that Rehabilitation center, I went back to Moonclaw. I sent people to Ironcrest and had her watched from a distance. Alpha responsibilities pulled me in a hundred

directions, and updates became fewer and delayed.

And then, one day, I learned the truth.

Lylah had fallen into the hands of Rowan Blackfang.

My jaw tightens at the memory.

“When I heard Rowan Blackfang brought you into his pack,” I admit, my voice darker now, edged with the low growl of my wolf, “I planned to take you. I went to Blackfang territory myself.”

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1:23 pm

Chapter 66

Finished

Her breath catches. “You did?”

I nod once. “My people said you were happy there. I didn’t believe them. I needed to see it with my own eyes.” My claws itch beneath my skin at the memory. “I thought I could take you and give you a better place. A safer one.”

I swallow.

“But that evening, I saw you with him, walking together. You were smiling. You were guiding him patiently, and like always you looked… happy.”

That was the moment my wolf went still.

That was the moment I understood.

Taking her then wouldn’t have been a rescue. It would have been ripping her away from the life she believed in.

‘I didn’t want to destroy your happiness,” I say quietly. “So I left. I returned to Moonclaw.”

My hands curl slowly into fists. “What I never expected was that Rowan Blackfang would abuse his authority over you. That he would dare to hurt you.”

The growl slips free this time.

The woman who stood by him when he was crippled. The woman who gave him loyalty, patience, devotion.

How dare he touch her with anything but reverence?

‘I know I can treat you better than him, that’s why I moved the moment you put your name on the Mate.Market. This time, Selene was on my side.” My gaze softens on her. “For once, I wasn’t too late.”

Lylah’s voice trembles with disbelief. “Ezra… that’s insane. I had no idea. All this time…”

“It was a long wait,” I admit. “But it was worth it.”

Because now she is here.

With me.

She has no idea how many nights I begged Selene to protect her. How many times my wolf lifted his head to the moon, praying not for power, not for victory–but for her safety. Her happiness.

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