Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Chapter 96

Elara’s POV

“Your Majesty, the Emperor is dead.”

The words hit the air and hung there, obscene, impossible. My vision tunneled. The edges of the room warped and curled like parchment catching flame.

My knees buckled.

I caught the edge of the desk. Fingernails scraped mahogany. The sound was distant—everything was distant—drowned beneath a roaring in my ears that swallowed thought and breath and reason.

“No.”

The word left my mouth before my mind formed it. Low. Guttural. Not a denial born of logic. Something deeper. Something animal.

“No. He’s not.”

The terrified young knight, no older than nineteen, flinched. His tear-streaked face crumpled further. “Your Majesty, the camp at East Ridge—it’s gone. All of it. Tents shredded. Weapons scattered. Blood everywhere. So much blood—”

His voice broke. He pressed a fist against his mouth and made a sound that was half sob, half retch. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

I forced my spine straight. Locked my knees. My hand found the place over my heart where the bond lived—that thin, gossamer thread connecting my soul to Kaelen’s.

I reached.

The void screamed back at me. Cold. Vast. Endless.

But underneath—beneath the silence, beneath the emptiness, beneath the terror—there was something. A filament. A single trembling strand, so faint it could have been imagined. So faint it could have been nothing more than a dying woman’s desperate wish.

But it was there.

I pressed harder. Pushed every ounce of awareness I possessed into that fragile connection.

A pulse. Weak. Irregular. Like a heartbeat heard through deep water.

Alive.

“He’s alive.” My voice didn’t shake. It cut through the room like a blade drawn from its sheath. “I can feel him.”

The young knight stared at me. His hollow eyes held nothing but grief and confusion.

Behind me, Marcus stepped into the study. His weathered face was carved from stone, but I knew him well enough now to read the fault lines. The tightness in his jaw. The way his hands hung rigid at his sides, fingers curled inward.

“Ela.” He used my name. Not the title. The name. And the gentleness in his gravel voice nearly undid me. “The boy has ridden for days without stopping. What he saw—”

“I heard what he saw.” I turned to face Marcus fully. My chest heaved. My pulse hammered against my ribs. “Blood. Destroyed tents. I heard every word. But he didn’t say he found a body. Did you?” I looked at the knight. “Did you find his body?”

The boy’s lips parted. Closed. He shook his head slowly.

“No, Your Majesty. We—there was too much destruction. The Rogues were still in the area. We couldn’t—”

“Then he’s not dead.” I pressed my palm harder against my chest. The pulse was still there. Barely. A candle flame in a hurricane. “Our bond hasn’t broken. It’s weak. It’s fading. But it’s there, and that means he’s breathing somewhere in those mountains, and I am going to find him.”

Marcus moved between me and the door. Not aggressively. Carefully. The way one might approach a cornered wolf.

“Ela. Listen to me. East Ridge is deep in contested territory. The Rogues who hit that camp didn’t retreat—our scouts confirmed they’ve dug in. Fortified positions. They’re waiting for exactly this kind of response.” His voice dropped. Measured. Controlled. “You are pregnant. You are the acting sovereign. If you ride into that valley and die, this empire loses its Emperor and its Empress in the same week.”

“Then what do you suggest?” The words came out sharp enough to draw blood. “That I sit behind this desk and sign requisition forms while my mate bleeds out in a ditch?”

“I suggest we send a reconnaissance unit. A small, fast team—”

“How long?”

Marcus hesitated. That hesitation told me everything.

“Several days to reach the ridge. Possibly longer, depending on—”

“He doesn’t have several days.” I slammed my palm against the desk. The inkwell rattled. Documents scattered. I straightened, drawing a breath so deep it pressed against the limits of my ribs. When I spoke, my voice carried something I hadn’t summoned deliberately. Something that rose from my blood, from my bones, from the ancient Alpha lineage coiled in my marrow. My sovereign aura exploded into the room, heavy and absolute.

“I am the Empress of this empire,” I snarled, eyes flashing, asserting my absolute authority. “I will not stand down, and I will not be told what I cannot do.”

Marcus took an involuntary half-step back, the raw power of my command forcing his submission.

Before he could argue further, the door burst open again. Three officers stumbled through—armor dented, faces gray with exhaustion. They spoke over each other, words tumbling out in frantic, overlapping waves.

“—lost contact with Outpost Seven—”

“—Outpost Twelve went dark recently—”

“—no response from either garrison. That’s three camps now, Your Majesty. Three.”

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