Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 132

Chapter 132: Chapter 132

Kaelen’s POV

The wind screamed past my ears as the griffin banked hard over the capital’s rooftops. Below, the city was a blur of stone and smoke and meaningless movement. I didn’t see any of it.

Alex paced beneath my skin. Not restless. Not irritable. Frantic. Like a wolf locked in a cage while fire ate the walls.

She’s not answering.

I pressed my thumb into the communication stone so hard the edges bit into flesh. It pulsed. Once. Twice. Three times.

Dead silence.

Again.

Dead silence.

Again.

Nothing. Just... absence. A void where my wife’s voice should have been.

Six times. I’d tried six times since leaving the palace, and every single attempt dissolved into the same hollow quiet. The magical connection wasn’t just weak. It was severed. Deliberately, completely severed. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Elara never severed the connection of her stone.

Alex snarled inside my skull, a sound like grinding metal. My grip on the griffin’s harness tightened until the leather groaned.

Think. Think clearly.

She said she loved me. She made me promise to come home. She told me Valerius would be waiting.

Valerius.

The griffin’s wings snapped as I yanked the reins eastward, adjusting course toward the academy instead of the residence. I needed to confirm—

A pulse hit my palm. Incoming transmission. I nearly crushed the stone answering it.

"Your Majesty Nightfire." Not Elara. A woman’s voice—measured, professional, with the careful cadence of someone used to speaking to difficult parents. Valerius’s tutor. "I apologize for the intrusion, but it’s getting late in the afternoon, and Valerius is still here waiting. Lady Nightfire informed the academy this morning that you would be handling pickup today. We weren’t notified of any schedule change through the usual channels, so I wanted to confirm—"

My blood turned to ice.

"She told you I was picking him up."

"Yes, Your Majesty. She sent word first thing this morning. Valerius has been quite excited about it—he’s been telling the other children all day that his father is coming." A careful pause. "Was there... a miscommunication?"

Elara had never once changed the pickup arrangement without telling me first. She was meticulous about these things. Every schedule, every transition, every handoff was coordinated with military precision because that was who she was—a woman who left nothing to chance.

Unless she was making sure she wouldn’t be the one at home when I arrived.

"I’ll be there in a few moments," I said.

"Of course, Your Majesty. He’s perfectly safe. We’re in the east garden."

I banked the griffin so sharply it shrieked in protest.

The academy’s spires rose through the treeline within moments. I brought the griffin down hard on the visitors’ platform, already swinging off before the beast had fully settled. My boots hit stone and I was moving, cutting through the manicured corridors, past startled attendants who pressed themselves against walls as I passed.

The east garden was sun-drenched and peaceful. Flower beds in neat rows. A fountain murmuring at the center. And there, sitting cross-legged on a stone bench with a picture book open across his knees, was my son.

Dark gold eyes lifted to mine. His whole face split open with joy.

"Daddy!"

He scrambled off the bench and launched himself at me. I caught him—scooped him up, one arm under his legs, the other around his back—and held him tight. His small arms locked around my neck. He smelled like chalk dust and grass and the faintly sweet soap Elara used on his hair every morning.

"Hey, buddy." My voice came out steadier than I felt. Barely. "Sorry I’m late."

"That’s okay." He pulled back just enough to look at me, those golden eyes—my eyes—bright with trust. "Mommy said you were coming today. She told me this morning before she dropped me off. She said it was a special surprise."

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