Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 137

Chapter 137: Chapter 137

Kaelen’s POV

"Three relay stations, Your Majesty. After that—nothing."

Marcus stood at rigid attention. His scarred jaw was set. Behind him, Tyler and Jack flanked the doorway like statues carved from discipline and dread.

I stared at the map spread across my desk. Three red marks. Three relay stations tracing a jagged line southwest from the capital. And then the trail went cold.

"Explain."

Marcus cleared his throat. "She was spotted at each station wearing a hooded cloak and a veil. Paid in gold coin—untraceable currency. No name given. No luggage checked. She switched coaches at every stop."

"Scent?"

"None, Your Majesty. She left no scent trail at any of the stations. We believe she used something to mask it. An herbal compound, possibly. The station attendants couldn’t recall anything about her beyond the cloak."

Of course they couldn’t. Because she’d thought of everything. Every single detail. The hood. The veil. The gold. The coach switches. The scent masking.

She hadn’t run in panic. She’d executed a tactical withdrawal with the precision of a trained scout.

My mate had studied me. She’d watched how my empire tracked people, how my knights hunted, how information moved through relay networks—and she’d built her disappearance around every weakness in the system.

"Jack," I said.

He stepped forward. "Your Majesty."

"The roads between stations two and three. How many branching routes?"

"Numerous major forks, Your Majesty. Several minor trails suitable for foot travel. She avoided the main highways entirely. Tyler and I confirmed that with the coachmen."

Tyler nodded once. "She asked to be let off between stations. Not at them. The last coachman said she stepped out at an unmarked crossroads and walked into the treeline."

Into the treeline. On foot. Alone. Without her wolf.

My chest constricted so violently I had to press my fist against the desk.

Marcus hesitated. A dangerous thing to do in front of me right now, and he knew it. But he did it anyway.

"Your Majesty... she’s had nearly two days. If she continued on foot through the forest network—"

The growl that ripped from my throat made all three men drop their gazes to the floor.

"She could be anywhere." My voice came out as a lethal, sovereign whisper. The kind of voice that made hardened soldiers flinch. "That’s what you’re telling me."

"We will find her, Your Majesty."

"You will check every inn. Every tavern. Every roadside farmhouse and shepherd’s hut between the capital and the southern border." I leaned forward. My knuckles were white against the wood. "You will check every single one. And if she has crossed into another territory, you will follow. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," all three said in unison.

"Go."

They filed out. The door closed. Silence filled the study like floodwater.

The communication stone on my desk pulsed.

My heart slammed against my ribs. I snatched it up so fast I nearly knocked the ink well off the edge.

The sigil glowing on its surface wasn’t hers. Of course it wasn’t hers. She didn’t have a communication stone. She’d left everything behind. Everything except the clothes she’d packed and whatever gold she’d hidden away and the quiet, devastating certainty that she wasn’t coming back.

The sigil belonged to a border garrison commander requesting supply approvals.

I hurled the stone at the wall.

It shattered. Fragments of enchanted crystal scattered across the floor like broken teeth. The sound was sharp, violent, satisfying for exactly half a second before the emptiness rushed back in.

A tentative knock.

"Your Majesty of the Nightfire." Sylvia’s voice, carefully neutral through the door. "Your four o’clock appointment with the trade delegation—"

"Cancelled."

A pause. "Shall I reschedule for—"

"Cancel everything. I’m going home."

Another pause. Longer. I could practically hear her recalculating behind that polished facade.

"Of course, Your Majesty."

---

The palace corridors blurred past me. Guards snapped to attention as I passed. Servants pressed themselves against walls. I saw none of them.

The nursery wing was quiet. Late afternoon light slanted gold through the tall windows, catching dust motes that drifted like tiny, aimless ghosts.

I heard him before I saw him. The rapid thud of small feet. Then the door at the end of the corridor burst open and Valerius came hurtling toward me at full speed, arms pumping, dark curls bouncing.

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