Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Isolde’s POV

For the past hour, my irritation had only grown. The brat would not stop talking.

“Auntie Valois, are we almost there? Is Daddy far away? Does Daddy have a big house? Does Daddy like books?”

His small voice bounced off the interior of the carriage like a trapped bird, relentless and shrill. I gripped the reins tighter and stared straight ahead at the road narrowing before us.

“Auntie Valois?”

“What.”

“Will Daddy be happy to see me?”

I exhaled through my nose. “Thrilled.”

Valerius beamed. That wide, idiotic grin splitting his face like he’d just been handed the world on a silver plate.

“I’m a very good boy,” Valerius announced proudly, his dark curls pressed flat against the window glass as he peered out. “Mommy says I’m so smart because I know how to read now. I can read whole sentences.”

“Lovely,” I said, not looking.

“Mommy says Daddy is very busy. That’s why he can’t come see me. But he loves me very much. She promised.”

My jaw tightened. Of course she promised. Elara and her soft, pathetic promises. Filling this four-year-old child’s head with fairy tales about a father who didn’t even know he existed. It was almost cruel, when you thought about it. Almost as cruel as what I was about to do.

Almost.

He was strapped into Gareth’s old safety seat—a pathetic relic from some forgotten era of my husband’s childhood, the leather cracked and the buckle half-rusted. It smelled like mildew and failure. A fitting throne for the boy.

The capital’s outer districts fell away behind us. The paved roads gave way to packed dirt, then to rutted tracks that made the carriage shudder and groan. The elm trees of the city thinned into scrubby oaks, and the scrubby oaks surrendered to the dense, ancient growth of the border forests.

The Rogue Territories.

Every wolf in the empire knew what these woods meant. The patrols didn’t come this far. The law didn’t reach. Out here, the displaced and the dangerous roamed—rogues cast out from their packs, half-feral creatures who answered to no Alpha. Children’s stories were full of them. Monsters in the dark. Teeth in the shadows.

Perfect.

“Auntie Valois?” Valerius’s voice had changed. Smaller. Tighter. “The trees are really big.”

“Mm.”

“It’s getting dark.”

“We’re almost there, darling.”

“But...” He pressed his face harder against the glass. The gold eyes—those unsettling, heartbreaking gold eyes—reflected the deepening gloom outside. “Where are all the houses? Daddy doesn’t live in a house?”

“Your daddy likes the forest. He’s very adventurous.”

“Oh.” A pause. “Like in stories?”

“Exactly like in stories.”

He seemed to accept this. Children were so stupidly trusting. So willing to believe whatever an adult told them, as long as the adult smiled and spoke softly. It was almost too easy.

I pulled the carriage off the track and into a small clearing where the canopy overhead was so thick it swallowed most of the remaining light. The air smelled different here—damp earth, rotting wood, something faintly metallic that might have been old blood.

“All right.” I set the brake and climbed down. My heels sank into the soft ground. Mud. Wonderful. These shoes cost a fortune. “Come along, Valerius.”

I unbuckled the rusted safety seat and lifted him out. He was lighter than I expected—all bones and curls.

His eyes darted around the clearing. The trees towered above us, their trunks thick as pillars, their branches interlocking overhead like the ribs of some enormous dead animal. Somewhere deep in the woods, something howled. Long and low and hungry.

Valerius grabbed my hand.

His fingers were so small. Warm and slightly sticky, the way children’s hands always were. They curled around mine with absolute, unquestioning trust.

Something flickered in my chest. Brief. Uncomfortable. I crushed it immediately.

“This way,” I said brightly. “Daddy loves to play hide-and-seek. It’s his favorite game. He’s hiding somewhere in the shadows, waiting for you to find him.”

“In the dark?” Valerius’s voice wobbled.

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