Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 227

Chapter 227: Chapter 227

Kaelen’s POV

The fire had gone out hours ago. I hadn’t bothered to relight it.

I sat in the same chair, in the same position, staring at the same patch of darkness where Elara had stood before she turned her back on me. A deliberate distance. She’d kept a deliberate distance between us, as though I were something contaminated.

Maybe I was.

The clock on the mantel struck three. Then four. Then five. By six in the morning, I realized I desperately needed answers from Seraphine. Each chime landed like a hammer blow against the inside of my skull, keeping time with the questions I couldn’t answer.

The inn room. The smell of wine I didn’t remember drinking. Seraphine’s throat—those marks. Dark. Unmistakable.

My wife’s empty eyes.

I pressed the heels of my hands against my temples. The memory was a wall. Smooth. Featureless. I remembered arriving at the inn for a scheduled meeting. I remembered Seraphine being there—she’d arranged the meeting, she said. I remembered wine being poured. And then... nothing. A gap. A black, yawning void where hours should have been.

The next thing I could recall was waking in a chair in the inn’s private room, coat draped over me, the taste of something chemical and bitter clinging to the back of my throat. And Seraphine standing by the window, adjusting her collar. Her fingers trembling. The edge of a bruise visible above her neckline before she pulled the fabric higher.

I’d asked her what happened.

She’d smiled. A strange, tight smile. "You fell asleep, Your Majesty. The wine didn’t agree with you. I stayed to ensure you weren’t disturbed."

That was all she said. And I’d been too disoriented, too sick with the pounding in my head, to press further.

But those marks on her neck—

I slammed my fist against the armrest. The wood cracked.

Did I do that?

The thought made bile rise in my throat. I was not that man. I had never touched a woman who was not my mate. Never. Not once in my life. The idea was revolting.

And yet I couldn’t remember.

That was the worst part. Not knowing. Being trapped behind a wall of silence inside my own mind, unable to verify my own innocence.

A knock at the sitting room door jolted me upright. Not Elara’s knock—too firm, too efficient.

"Enter."

A young courier stepped in, holding a sealed envelope. "From Sir Cassian, Your Majesty. Delivered just now."

I took it. Broke the seal. Cassian’s handwriting was clipped and direct, as always.

You missed three scheduled councils yesterday. Claire is furious. Also—the northern defense line reports increased movement from rogue formations near the border passes. I suspect this is connected to Gareth’s recent activity in the region. We need to discuss this immediately.

Gareth. The name twisted in my gut. My half-brother had been stationed near the northern frontier for some time, supposedly overseeing border fortifications. But Cassian had warned me previously that Gareth’s reports didn’t add up. Troop movements that went unrecorded. Supply requisitions that vanished into nothing.

A trap. Cassian believed Gareth was building something in the north. Laying groundwork for something I couldn’t yet see.

I scrawled a reply on the back of the letter. I have matters to attend to. Handle Claire.

The courier took it and left.

I stood. My body ached from sitting all night. Every joint protested. But the pain grounded me. Gave me something concrete to feel instead of this suffocating dread. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

I had to find Seraphine. She was the only one who could tell me what happened in that room.

I was heading toward the door when footsteps sounded on the stairs. Light. Measured. Deliberately quiet.

Elara.

She appeared at the bottom of the staircase dressed simply. Her silver-white hair was pulled back. Her face was composed—perfectly, terrifyingly composed. Like a mask carved from pale stone.

She moved toward the kitchen without looking at me.

"Good morning," I said.

"Morning." She didn’t stop.

I followed her. Watched as she took a glass from the cabinet, filled it with water from the pitcher. Her movements were precise. Mechanical. Like a woman performing tasks from memory while her mind existed somewhere else entirely.

"Elara."

She set the pitcher down. Still didn’t look at me.

"Did you sleep?" I asked.

"Some."

A lie. The shadows beneath her ice-blue eyes were darker than last night. But I had no right to press. Not when I was drowning in lies of my own.

"I need to—" I started.

"I’m taking the children to the academy." She drank the water in quick swallows, set the glass on the counter, and turned toward the hallway.

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