Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother

Chapter 49

Elara’s POV

“The Northern Frostfang Duchy,” I said, testing the words again. They still felt strange on my tongue. Foreign and familiar at once, like a lullaby you forgot you knew. “You said your father’s council merged some of the surviving territories after the massacre. Did any of my people—any Frostfang survivors—end up resettled within your borders?”

Kaelen was standing by the window now. He’d finally moved from the chair, though I suspected that had more to do with restless energy than any desire to stretch. The afternoon light caught the sharp angles of his jaw, the dark circles beneath his eyes that he would never admit to.

“Some,” he said. “After the duchy fell, the remaining population scattered. Most fled south. My father took in a handful of families before his death. After I inherited the throne, I continued the resettlement.” He turned to face me. “But that was years ago, Ela. I can’t guarantee any of them are still there.”

“But they might be.”

“They might be.”

I pushed the blanket off my legs. My body protested immediately—a deep, bone-level ache that radiated from my core outward, as though every drop of healing energy I’d poured into those knights had been extracted directly from my marrow. I ignored it.

“Then I need to go there.”

Kaelen’s expression didn’t change. Not exactly. But something behind his eyes shifted. Tightened. The way a bowstring pulls taut before release.

“Go where, exactly?”

“The northern territories. Where the Frostfang survivors were resettled.” I swung my legs over the edge of the cot. The stone floor was cold beneath my bare feet. Grounding. “If anyone from my parents’ household is still alive—a retainer, a guard, a midwife, anyone—they might know things. About my bloodline. About this healing gift. About what really happened the night the duchy was destroyed.”

“Ela—”

“I need to understand what I am, Kaelen.” My voice came out harder than I intended. I softened it. Barely. “Both times I’ve used this power, I nearly collapsed. I had no control. No understanding. I just—reached inside and pulled, and something answered, and then I was on the floor.” I held up my hands. They looked the same as always. No glow. No shimmer. Just ordinary hands that had done extraordinary, terrifying things. “What if next time it kills me? What if I reach for it and it takes more than I have to give?”

He was quiet. Watching me with that molten gold gaze that saw too much.

“The Moon Goddess told me to seek the truth,” I continued. “My parents’ legacy, their bloodline’s gift—it’s all connected. And the answers aren’t here in this palace. They’re up north. In the place where my family lived and died.”

“The northern Frostfang territory is a significant ride from the capital.” His voice was measured. Careful. The emperor’s voice—the one he used in council chambers when he was about to issue a decree. “A four-hour carriage ride. Through terrain that borders the Ashwood Reach.”

“I’m aware of geography.”

“Then you’re aware that the Ashwood Reach has seen increased rogue activity in recent weeks.” He crossed his arms. The gesture pulled his wrinkled uniform tight across his chest. Even rumpled and exhausted, he managed to look imposing. Infuriating. “Border incidents. Scouting parties spotted recently. My patrols have doubled along that corridor, and I still don’t have a full picture of what’s building out there.”

“I’m not asking for permission.”

His jaw clenched, the muscle beneath his skin jumping as his Alpha presence flared, heavy and absolute in the small room. He wasn’t just my mate in that moment; he was the Emperor utilizing his monarchical authority. “I am strictly forbidding you from traveling there alone. Not while rogues are active, and certainly not while you’re still recovering from an ability that nearly drained you dry.”

“I didn’t say alone. I said I need to go.” I stood up, the room tilting for half a second before I steadied. I locked my knees, refusing to back down from his royal command. “And I’m not a porcelain figurine, Kaelen, so you can drop the caveman protectiveness right now. Stop looking at me like I’m about to shatter.”

“I’m looking at you like a woman who was unconscious for hours and is now trying to plan a solo expedition into rogue-adjacent wilderness.”

“Solo expedition.” I almost laughed. “You make it sound like I’m mounting a military campaign. I want to talk to people. Old families. Survivors who might remember my parents.”

“Through territory that could get you killed.”

“Everything could get me killed. Walking through this palace could get me killed—or have you forgotten the incident with Isolde’s people?” I took a step toward him. Then another. Until I was close enough to see the flecks of darker amber buried in his gold irises. “I spent five years proving I could take care of myself and my son. Five years, Kaelen. I worked. I scraped. I kept Valerius fed and clothed and safe without a single coin from anyone. I did not survive all of that to be told I can’t handle a carriage ride north.”

Something shifted in his expression. The imperial rigidity cracked—just a fraction. Enough for me to see the man beneath the crown.

“I know you’re not fragile,” he said quietly.

“Then stop acting like I am.”

“I’m not—” He stopped. Exhaled through his nose. Ran a hand over his face in a gesture so purely frustrated, so purely human, that it almost made me smile. “You’re impossible.”

“I’ve been told.”

He dropped his hand. Looked at me. Really looked at me—not at the recovering patient, not at the newly discovered Frostfang heir, not at the Moon Blessed anomaly that had terrified his entire medical staff. Just at me.

“You just healed an entire squadron of dying men,” he said. “Cassian was minutes from death. You pulled him back. You pulled all of them back. Do you have any idea what that means to the people in this palace?”

“It means I need to understand what I did. Which is why I need to go north.”

“It means you are valuable, Ela. Not as a tool—as a person. As—” He cut himself off. The muscle in his jaw worked again. “If something happened to you on that road, it wouldn’t just be a strategic loss to the empire. It would—”

He didn’t finish. He didn’t need to.

The silence between us thickened. Not with anger. With something heavier. Warmer.

I softened my stance. Just slightly.

“Kaelen.” I said his name deliberately. Gently. “I understand that you want to protect me. And I understand that the rogue activity is real and dangerous. But you can’t come with me.”

His brow furrowed. “I didn’t say—”

“You were about to. I can see it.” I tilted my head. “You have a commercial empire to run. Knights to command. And our son needs stability right now—he’s been through enough upheaval. Brenna shouldn’t have to play single parent while both of us disappear into the northern wilderness.”

A beat of silence.

Then—impossibly—he laughed.

Not the cold, sardonic sound I’d heard him use in court. A real laugh. Low and warm, with a rough edge of surprise, as though it had been startled out of him against his will. It transformed his face entirely. Softened the hard lines. Made him look younger. Almost boyish.

“You just listed my entire schedule back at me,” he said, “as a reason why I should let you ride off alone into rogue territory.”

“I listed your responsibilities, you big, overprotective monarch. There’s a difference.”

He shook his head. But the smile stayed. Lingering at the corners of his mouth like something he couldn’t quite dismiss.

“You are—” He paused. Reconsidered. “You know what you are?”

“Stubborn?”

“Magnificent.” The word came out quiet. Unguarded. He seemed almost surprised by his own honesty. Then the emperor’s composure slid back into place, though the warmth didn’t fully leave his eyes. “And yes. Also stubborn. Impossibly, relentlessly stubborn.”

“I prefer ‘determined.’”

“Of course you do.” He uncrossed his arms. Stepped closer. Close enough that I had to tilt my chin up to hold his gaze. “Fine. You want to go north. You want to find your family’s people. I won’t stop you.”

Relief rushed through me so fast it made my knees weak. “Thank you—”

“But.” He held up a finger, a playful smile pulling at his lips—a look I rarely saw on the face of the most powerful Alpha in the empire. “Oh, there’s a condition, of course. You have to walk into that training yard and accept the hero’s welcome you’ve earned. They’re all waiting for you.”