Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 146

Chapter 146: Chapter 146

Kaelen’s POV

The carriage wheels ground against cobblestone like bones breaking.

I sat with my elbows on my knees, head bowed, staring at nothing. The lantern swinging from the roof cast moving shadows across my hands. They were still trembling. Had been trembling since I’d abandoned the search.

"Kaelen."

Brenna’s voice came from the opposite bench. Quiet. Careful. The way people speak to wounded animals.

I didn’t look up.

"Kaelen, we can turn back. We can try again tomorrow. Maybe if I go alone, she’ll—"

"She doesn’t want to be found."

The words left my mouth flat. Dead. Like stones dropped into still water.

Brenna leaned forward. "You don’t know that. She’s scared. She’s not thinking clearly. If we just give her more time—"

"I searched everywhere." My voice cracked on the last word. I swallowed hard, forcing it back together. "I could smell her, Brenna. She was everywhere in that place. Her scent was on the shawl. On the pillowcase. On the air itself."

The memory clawed at me—pressing my face into that woolen shawl, inhaling so desperately my lungs burned. Wildflowers and frost. The scent that had haunted me for so long.

"She was there." I finally lifted my head. "Hiding from me. Her own mate."

Brenna’s dark eyes held mine. No pity. Just a stubborn, relentless determination that reminded me painfully of Ela. "Then she needs more time. That’s all."

Silence stretched between us. The carriage lurched over a rut in the road.

"Stop the search," I said.

"What?"

"I said stop the search. Pull the scouts back. Cancel the patrols."

Brenna straightened. "You can’t be serious."

"She ran from me, Brenna. She heard my voice and she hid." The realization sat in my chest like a shard of glass, cutting deeper with every breath. "Sending more men after her won’t bring her home. It’ll only drive her further away."

"So you’re giving up."

"I’m accepting what she’s telling me."

The words burned coming out. Every syllable felt like ripping off my own skin. But I’d seen the truth today, standing in that place with her scent all around me and her body nowhere to be found.

She didn’t want me to find her.

Brenna opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. "Fine. But I’m not giving up on her. Not ever."

I didn’t respond. I just watched the darkness swallow the road ahead.

---

The palace was quiet when we arrived. Past midnight. The servants had long since retired, and only a single lamp burned in the entrance hall.

I stepped through the front door and stood motionless in the foyer. Silence pressed against my eardrums.

Then—crying.

Not the thin wail of an infant. Not Lyra’s hungry fussing.

A child sobbing. Muffled and desperate, as if he’d been trying to muffle it into a pillow.

Valerius.

I took the stairs three at a time. My boots hammered against the marble. The sound echoed off the vaulted ceiling, but I didn’t care about waking anyone.

His door was ajar. Lamplight spilled into the hallway in a thin golden line.

I pushed it open.

Valerius sat in the middle of his bed, knees pulled to his chest. His dark curls were plastered to his forehead with sweat. His small body shook with each ragged breath. The blankets were twisted around his legs like he’d been thrashing.

Those eyes lifted to mine.

Dark gold. My eyes, staring back at me from a face that carried Ela’s nose, her delicate chin, her stubborn jawline.

For a heartbeat, neither of us moved.

Then his face crumpled.

"Daddy, you lied."

The accusation hit me like a fist to the sternum.

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