The Betrayed Princess Rising (Lylah and Ezra) novel Chapter 279

Chapter 279

Lylah’s POV

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nished

I tried to laugh it off when Tiara jabbed my arm and told me to loosen up-that at this rate, I’d make a terrifyingly strict mother.

Maybe she was right.

I knew it was only nature-Mina would one day take a mate, as all creatures did when instinct called. And yet, the silly ache in my chest refused to loosen its grip as though I had just caught my own pup straying into something far too grown, far too soon.

The stable caretaker led us down the narrow aisle, the scent of hay and warm earth thick in the air, until Mina’s enclosure came into view.

“I hear you’ve been causing quite a stir lately,” I murmured, stepping closer as my fingers slipped into her dark mane. She greeted me with a bright huff, her tail flicking with shameless delight—utterly unrepentant. “You haven’t even reached the age Nyx was when I lost her…, and already you’ve become this naughty.”

Mina gave a soft, pleased whine-proud, if anything.

I exhaled, shaking my head before glancing toward the caretaker. “The man who was here the last time I visited, Ezra, had asked him to gather information about Nyx. Mina’s mother. Did he ever find anything?”

The caretaker hesitated, something flickering across his face. “He resigned, Luna.” Then, after a pause, his eyes sharpened with curiosity. “You know the name of Mina’s mother. You knew her?”

My fingers stilled against Mina’s neck.

“She was mine,” I said quietly. “Before my father, Alpha Eldric of Ironcrest, sold her to the Starfall Pack.” The words tasted like ash. “I never saw her again after that night.”

Understanding dawned over his features, slow and heavy.

“…Then there’s something you should hear.”

The air shifted.

Even the horses seemed to be quiet, as if the stable itself held its breath.

Tiara stilled beside me, her wolf pressing closer to the surface, alert.

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Chapter 229

And I listened.

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I listened as he unravelled the life Nyx had lived without me.

VPM

Finisher

She had been taken by one of Starfall’s high-ranking families-wolves who saw strength only in profit, not in blood or breath. They ran her relentlessly, from one brutal race to another, chasing gold and glory.

Chasing her into the ground.

“She won them everything,” the caretaker said, voice low. “Until there was nothing left to give.”

My chest tightened.

As he spoke, the images formed with brutal clarity in my mind. Nyx, my friend, once strong and healthy, was reduced to little more than skin stretched over bone. The fire in her spirit dimmed, worn down beneath relentless commands that were never hers to obey-torn from her foal. Driven to run.

Again and again—until her legs finally gave out beneath her. Broke.

“Alpha Ezra was the one who finally brought her back,” he continued, his voice lowering with the weight of it. “The night of her final race, her front legs had been completely shattered, yet he still paid a high price to take her. He brought her to Moonclaw and summoned the finest animal healers he could find to tend to her wounds.”

Tiara’s sharp inhale cut through the silence.

My vision blurred.

“She lived,” he said softly. “For six months. She fought hard. But in the end, even a strong mare like her couldn’t outrun death forever.”

Something inside me snapped.

A low, broken sound tore from my throat before I could stop it. My wolf surged violently beneath my skin, claws scraping against bone, grief twisting into something feral and raw,

Rage followed.

“Vile,” Tiara snarled, her voice dropping into something more beast than human. “Absolutely vile. Eldric and that cursed Starfall family who treated Nyx like she was nothing more than a machine-”

“It was my fault.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

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Chapter 279

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VPN 2

They fell between us like a curse.

“If I had begged Eldric harder that night…” My voice trembled, fragile despite the storm inside me. “If I hadn’t fought him when his guards dragged me away… if I had just… just gotten on my knees and begged him…”

If he had asked me to kiss his boots, I would have done it.

For Nyx, I would have done anything.

Tiara turned on me instantly, fury blazing in her golden eyes. “You were just a little girl,” she snapped. “Fourteen, fifteen at most. And that monster,” her lip curled, revealing the sharp edge of her fangs, “that devil wearing a father’s skin is the one to blame.”

Her chest rose and fell sharply before her gaze shifted, narrowing as she looked back at the caretaker.

“But something doesn’t add up,” she said, voice lowering into a dangerous growl. “You said Alpha Ezra brought Nyx to Moonclaw and treated her.”

Her

eyes

darkened.

“Then why,” she asked slowly, “did he never tell Lylah about it?”

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The Betrayed Princess Rising