Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 114

Chapter 114: Chapter 114

Elara’s POV

The first thing I recognized was the smell.

Sharp. Medicinal. That acrid bite of antiseptic herbs and healing salves that clung to every surface in a sickroom. It crawled into my nostrils and dragged me upward through layers of darkness, like a hand fisting the back of my collar and hauling me toward the surface of a black lake.

I didn’t want to surface.

Because even before I opened my eyes, I knew. The hollow was still there. That cold, smooth vacancy at the center of my being where Moonlight had lived for so long. I reached for her out of habit—the way your tongue searches for a missing tooth—and found nothing. Just absence. Just the terrible, ringing silence of a room emptied of everything it once held.

I opened my eyes anyway.

Candlelight. Low and amber. It painted the stone ceiling above me in flickering gold. Thick linen bandages wrapped my arms from wrist to shoulder. More around my torso. My legs. I felt like something packaged for burial. A body prepared for the pyre but forgotten halfway through the ritual.

A mummy. That’s what I was. Wrapped and hollowed out.

I turned my head. The movement cost me. Pain lanced down my neck and across my shoulders, bright and immediate. But it was distant pain. Muffled. Whatever they’d given me for the agony was still working, blunting the worst of it into a dull roar.

He was in the chair beside my bed.

Kaelen.

The Emperor of the Nightfire Empire was folded into a wooden chair far too small for his frame, his long legs angled awkwardly, his head tipped back against the wall. Asleep. But not peacefully. His brow was furrowed even in rest. Dark stubble shadowed his jaw—days’ worth, rough and unkempt. The circles beneath his eyes were nearly purple. His shirt was wrinkled, half untucked, the sleeves rolled carelessly past his forearms.

He looked like a man who hadn’t left that chair in a very long time.

I opened my mouth. My lips cracked. My throat felt lined with sand and broken glass.

"Kaelen."

It came out as barely a rasp. A dry scrape of sound that wouldn’t have woken a cat.

His eyes snapped open instantly.

Dark gold. Bloodshot. And the moment they found mine, something in them shattered. The careful composure. The emperor’s mask. All of it broke apart like thin ice under a boot, and what was left beneath was raw and desperate and terrified.

"Ela."

He was out of the chair before I could draw another breath. His knees hit the floor beside my bed. His hand found mine—so carefully. So gently. As if I were made of ash and the slightest pressure would scatter me.

"Ela. You’re awake." His voice cracked on my name. Moisture gathered along his lower lashes and spilled over without ceremony. The most powerful Alpha in the empire, kneeling on a stone floor, weeping. "Thank the Moon Goddess. Thank—"

He pressed his forehead against our joined hands. His shoulders shook once. Twice. Then he locked them rigid through sheer force of will.

"How long?" I whispered.

He lifted his head. Wiped his face with the back of his wrist. Failed to compose himself entirely. "Four days. You’ve been unconscious for four days."

Four days. The number settled over me like a second set of bandages.

"Valerius—"

"Safe." His grip tightened fractionally around my fingers. "He’s with Brenna. He’s been asking for you. Crying for you. But he’s safe. He’s unharmed."

The relief hit so hard my chest convulsed. A sound escaped me—half sob, half exhale. My boy was safe. My boy was alive and whole and waiting.

Then my free hand moved. Down. Trembling and clumsy beneath the layers of linen until it found the slight curve of my belly.

Kaelen saw the movement. Understood it immediately.

"The baby is fine." His voice steadied. Became deliberate. As though he’d rehearsed delivering this particular piece of information. "Physician Morgan confirmed it. Twice. The child survived."

The breath I released shuddered through my entire body. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes, sliding hot into my hair. Alive. The baby was alive. That voice in the gray mist—I have protected what matters most—it had been real. The promise had been kept.

"The poison didn’t—"

"Morgan says the compound targeted the neural pathways specific to the wolf bond. The child’s pathways haven’t formed yet. Too early. The baby was... shielded by that."

I closed my eyes. Let the gratitude wash through me in a wave so powerful it bordered on pain.

The room was very quiet. Just the soft hiss of the candle flames. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

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