Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 104

Chapter 104: Chapter 104

Kaelen’s POV

Blood. Everything smelled like blood.

Mine. Theirs. The horses’. It had soaked into my armor so deeply that the leather had gone stiff, cracking at the joints with every movement. The leading carriage jolted over a rut in the road, and pain lanced through the gash across my ribs—half-healed, badly stitched by a field medic’s shaking hands somewhere in the dark between ambush and dawn.

I didn’t care.

The gates of the estate materialized through the grey morning fog. Tall. Iron. Familiar. I pressed my forehead against the carriage window, my dark gold eyes burning with exhaustion, and my breath fogged the glass.

Almost there. Almost back to her.

Behind me, Sir Derek lay unconscious on the opposite bench. His face was the color of old parchment. The fluid bag hanging from the ceiling hook swayed with each bump, dripping steadily into the needle taped to his forearm. His heart had stopped twice during the emergency surgery. Twice they’d dragged him back. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

He was one of the lucky ones.

Of the twelve knights who had ridden out with me days ago, only five returned.

The carriage lurched to a stop. I was already moving—shoving the door open, boots hitting gravel. My left leg almost buckled. I ignored it.

"Get the wounded to the medical wing. Now." My voice came out raw. Shredded. Days without proper sleep had ground it down to something barely human. "Derek first. He needs a full transfusion."

Guards scrambled. Stretchers appeared. I didn’t wait to watch.

I turned toward the main building and walked. Then faster. Then I was nearly running, each stride sending fresh agony through my side, my shoulder, my thigh where an arrow had punched through before I’d snapped the shaft and kept fighting.

None of it mattered.

Elara.

I reached for the bond. That golden thread inside my chest that connected me to her—warm and alive and constant, the only thing that had kept me sane during those days of hell in the forest.

Static.

Faint. Muffled. Like trying to hear someone speak through layers of thick wool.

The rogues’ disruption magic. It had surrounded us during the ambush, cutting us off from everything—communication, reinforcement, the mind-link. I’d assumed it would clear once we left their territory. But the bond still felt... wrong. Distant. Like grasping at smoke.

She’s inside. She’s safe. The disruption hasn’t fully faded yet. That’s all.

I shoved through the main doors. The entrance hall was empty except for two servants who flattened themselves against the walls as I passed, eyes wide at the blood painting my armor.

"Where is she?" I didn’t stop walking. Didn’t look at them. "My mate. Where?"

No answer. Just frightened silence.

I took the stairs two at a time. Our quarters. She’d be there. Probably reading. Probably with her feet tucked beneath her the way she always sat, one hand resting absently on the swell of her belly—

The room was empty.

The bed was made. Untouched. Cold.

Something cracked inside my chest. A fissure. Hairline thin but spreading fast.

I turned. Descended. Corridor after corridor, my pace building, my breathing coming harder. The library. Empty. The gardens. Empty. The kitchens—

"Your Majesty!"

Cassian’s voice. Behind me.

I spun.

He stood at the far end of the corridor. Two senior pack members flanked him. Their faces told me everything before a single word left their mouths.

Cassian was pale. Not just pale—grey. The kind of color a man turns when he knows the news he carries might get him killed.

"Where is she?" Low. Quiet. The kind of quiet that comes before something detonates.

Cassian opened his mouth. Closed it. His jaw worked silently.

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