Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 263

Chapter 263: Chapter 263

Elara’s POV

The camp was worse than anything I’d imagined.

Dawn crept across the ridge in pale, sickly streaks. The light revealed what darkness had mercifully hidden—collapsed tents shredded like paper, scorched earth still smoking in patches, supply wagons overturned and gutted. The smell hit me before the mare even cleared the tree line. Blood. Ash. Something chemical and sharp underneath it all, like burnt silver.

I dismounted before the horse fully stopped. My boots hit mud. Dark mud. I didn’t look down.

A young knight stepped into my path. He couldn’t have been more than twenty. His left arm hung in a makeshift sling, and dried blood crusted the side of his face. He stared at me like I was a ghost.

"Your Majesty?" His voice cracked on the second word. "How—why are you—"

"Where is Sir Cassian?"

He blinked. Pointed vaguely toward a large tent on the eastern edge of what had once been an organized perimeter. The canvas sagged on one side, propped up by a single remaining pole. I pushed past him without waiting for more.

The medical tent was chaos. Bodies on every available surface—cots, blankets spread across bare ground, a table that had clearly been repurposed from a command station. The groans were low and constant, like the sound of wind through a cracked wall. Healers moved between them with bloodied hands and hollow eyes.

I found Cassian near the back.

He was sitting on an overturned crate, his armor stripped to the waist, a healer wrapping thick bandages around his torso. His face was gray beneath the grime. Dirt and blood streaked his arms, his neck, his jaw. When he saw me, something flickered in his exhausted eyes—relief, disbelief, and then immediate fury.

"You actually came." His voice was sandpaper. "You’re out of your mind."

"Cassian." I crouched in front of him. "Where is my husband?"

The healer glanced between us nervously and stepped back.

Cassian’s jaw tightened. He waved the healer away with a flick of his wrist. "Gone. Into the forest. Northeast. A few hours ago—maybe longer." He pressed a hand against his bandaged ribs and winced. "Malak challenged him. One on one. An Alpha’s challenge, ancient rite. No seconds. No interference."

"And Kaelen accepted."

"He didn’t have a choice. Malak slaughtered our scouts and threw their bodies into camp. Called Kaelen a coward in front of every wolf still breathing." Cassian’s eyes darkened. "You know what that means."

I knew. An Alpha couldn’t refuse a direct challenge without forfeiting his claim. His title. Everything.

"They went into the forest," Cassian continued. "And neither came back. His pressure vanished completely. Every bonded wolf in this camp felt it. Like a candle snuffed out."

My stomach dropped. I’d heard it through the crystal. Hearing it again, from Cassian’s mouth, in this ruined place—it was worse. So much worse.

"That doesn’t mean he’s dead."

Cassian said nothing. Which was its own answer.

I pulled the memory crystal from my coat pocket. Held it up between us. The pale blue light swirled inside the glass.

"I need you to see this," I said. "I found it at the capital. Hidden in Kaelen’s private study, sealed behind a ward only his bloodline could open." My voice thinned. "It contains a magical recording. Gareth and Seraphine—confessing everything."

Cassian went very still.

"The bedroom. The drug. The fabricated pregnancy. All of it." My hand shook. "I watched it, Cassian. I heard them laughing about how perfectly it worked. How I ran exactly the way they predicted."

He stared at the crystal. Then at me. His expression shifted—the exhaustion cracking open to reveal something raw underneath. Something almost like grief.

"So he was innocent," he said quietly. "The entire time."

"Yes." The word came out like a blade. "And I left him believing the worst. I took his daughter from him before she was born. I disappeared for years because I was too broken to question what I saw." My throat closed. "I need to find him. I need to tell him I know."

"Elara." Cassian’s hand caught my wrist. His grip was weak—weaker than it should have been. "The forest is crawling with Rogues. Malak’s scouts are still out there. If they find you—"

"They won’t recognize me." I met his eyes. "My wolf is gone, Cassian. Moonlight has been dormant since Lyra’s birth. I carry no pressure, no scent marker, nothing. To any Rogue patrol, I’m just a human woman lost in the woods."

He stared at me for a long moment. I watched the war behind his eyes—duty against compassion, logic against loyalty.

"Two hours," he said finally. His voice was iron. "If you’re not back in two hours, I’m sending every knight who can still stand. I don’t care if it starts another battle."

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