Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Chapter 34

Elara’s POV

“Where is he?”

My voice came out raw. Shredded. I didn’t recognize it as my own.

Isolde tilted her head, studying me the way a cat studies a cornered mouse. The lantern light caught the curve of her smile—pristine, practiced, utterly empty.

“Didn’t I just tell you?” She lifted one hand and examined her nails. Perfectly filed. Painted a deep, bloodless rose.

Then, without warning, she struck me.

Her palm connected with my cheekbone with a sickening crack. The sheer force of the blow snapped my head sideways and sent me flying backward. I slammed hard into the stone wall of the academy corridor, the breath knocked from my lungs. Stars burst across my vision, and the sharp, metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth.

Isolde shook out her hand casually, looking down at me with pure mockery. “The little boy is lost in the borderlands. The forests there are crawling with hungry, desperate rogues this time of year.”

The image hit me like a physical blow. Valerius. Alone in the dark. Surrounded by trees taller than buildings. The sounds of the forest closing in—snapping branches, low growls, eyes gleaming from the undergrowth. His small body shivering. His gold eyes wide with terror. Calling for me.

Mommy. Mommy, where are you?

Isolde stepped closer. Her perfume was thick and cloying—jasmine and something darker underneath. Something that smelled like rot dressed up as luxury. “The carriage is waiting. You will drive to Mother’s estate, you will kneel before Harold and beg for his forgiveness, and tonight, you will marry him in Mother’s parlor.”

I slid down the wall, my ribs aching from the beating I had taken earlier, my legs shaking too much to hold me. My cracked communication stone was useless in my pocket.

“Ela,” Isolde said, clicking her tongue. “You’re not in a position to negotiate. You never have been.”

She was right. Every time I thought I’d found solid ground, someone pulled it out from under me. I was always one step behind. Always reacting. Never strong enough.

Something cracked inside my chest.

“Fine.” The word fell out of me like a stone dropping into a well. Heavy. Final. Dead. I looked down at the cobblestones, my shoulders caving inward as I whispered my defeat. “I’ll go. I’ll marry Harold. I confess I have failed. Just... please tell me where he is.”

Isolde’s smile widened into something genuinely cruel. “That is my sweet, innocent little Ela. See? This is so much easier when you don’t fight it.”

She leaned down, her lips brushing close to my ear.

“Now, picture it,” she murmured. “Tonight, in Mother’s parlor. Candles lit. Harold waiting at the altar. And afterward, you’ll be in his bed. Sweating. Panting beneath him. Isn’t that a lovely image? My sweet, innocent little Ela, finally learning what she’s good for—”

Something inside me snapped.

Not broke. Snapped. Like a chain pulled past its limit. Like bone giving way under impossible pressure. The sound wasn’t physical—it was deeper than that, somewhere in the marrow of my soul, in the place where my wolf lived.

KILL HER.

Moonlight’s voice exploded through my mind—not a whisper, not a murmur, but a full-throated roar that rattled the inside of my skull like thunder trapped in a jar.

She threatens our pup. She took our pup. KILL HER NOW.

Pain tore through my hands. I gasped, looking down. My fingers were contorting—bones shifting, tendons stretching, nails thickening and curving into razor points. Claws. Dark, gleaming, wickedly sharp. My canines elongated, pressing against the inside of my lips. The taste of blood intensified, but it wasn’t just from the split lip anymore. It was something older. Something feral.

My vision sharpened. Colors drained. The corridor went silver and black, every shadow carved with surgical precision. I could see the individual pores on Isolde’s skin. The faint pulse jumping in her throat. The exact moment her expression shifted from smug satisfaction to pure, naked terror.

“Ela? What are you—”

I moved.

She hit the display case built into the corridor wall. The impact was catastrophic. Glass exploded outward in a glittering shower. Isolde crashed through the wooden frame and crumpled among the shards, blonde hair tangled with debris, blood streaming from the cuts across her arms and face. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

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