Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Chapter 68

Elara’s POV

The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, and I stepped into chaos.

Two royal guards flanked a woman in the middle of the administrative corridor. They gripped her arms firmly, their faces carved from stone, but she thrashed between them like something feral. Her pink dress—a tight, wrinkled thing that looked like it had been slept in—was splattered with dark brown coffee stains down the front. Her hair hung in tangled clumps around her face. Black mascara ran in jagged streaks down both cheeks.

Seraphine.

I barely recognized her.

"Let go of me!" she shrieked. Her voice bounced off the marble walls, sharp enough to cut glass. "You have no right! Do you know who I am? I am his first love! I am his future queen!"

The guards said nothing. They simply tightened their grip and kept walking.

Seraphine dug her heels into the polished floor, leaving scuff marks. She twisted toward the massive oak doors at the end of the hallway—Kaelen’s doors—and screamed at them as if the wood itself could hear her.

"Kaelen! KAELEN! You cannot do this to me! That badge was mine! That night was OURS! You promised me—you—"

Her voice cracked. Shattered. For a fleeting moment, something almost pitiful flickered across her ruined face.

Then she saw me.

Everything changed.

The wild grief vanished. What replaced it was something cold. Focused. Venomous. Her red-rimmed eyes locked onto me with the precision of a predator spotting wounded prey.

"You."

The word dripped with acid.

"This is your doing, isn’t it?" She lunged toward me, or tried to. The guards hauled her back, boots scraping against marble. "You scheming little bitch! You cunning commoner!"

I stood frozen. My fingers tightened around the strap of my satchel.

"Look at you," she spat. "Standing there like you’re innocent. Like you belong in this palace. You’re nothing but a pathetic single mother who doesn’t even know who fathered her bastard child!"

The words hit me like physical blows. Each one a fist to the sternum. I felt the blood drain from my face.

Moonlight, my wolf, stirred inside me. Low. Defensive. A growl building somewhere behind my ribs.

"—and you think he wants you?" Seraphine laughed. It was a terrible sound. Shrill. Broken. "You think the Emperor of the Nightfire Empire would choose damaged goods? You’re delusional. You’re—" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Ma’am." One of the guards adjusted his grip. His tone was ice. Professional. Final. "That is enough."

"Don’t touch me! I am the future—"

They lifted her. Actually lifted her off the ground, one guard per arm, marched her toward the elevator, and shoved her inside. Seraphine twisted her neck around, mascara-streaked face contorted, and wailed her last volley—not at me, but at Kaelen’s closed doors.

"Remember that night, Kaelen! Remember the badge! You know it was me! YOU KNOW IT WAS—"

The elevator doors closed.

Silence crashed down like a wave.

I stood in the corridor. My hands were shaking. My throat felt like I’d swallowed sand. The echo of her words—bastard child, damaged goods, pathetic—bounced around inside my skull, finding every soft place, every old wound, every scar I thought had healed.

A gentle hand settled on my shoulder.

"Elara, dear."

I flinched. Turned.

Claire stood beside me. The palace steward’s face was drawn with concern, her gray eyes soft. She squeezed my shoulder once—brief, warm, maternal.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify