Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 289

Chapter 289: Epilogue 2

Valerius’s POV

Ten years later.

“Hold still.”

My mother’s fingers worked at my collar, adjusting the silver clasp for the third time. I stood rigid, staring at a point on the wall behind her head while she fussed.

“You keep fidgeting,” she murmured.

“I’m not fidgeting. You keep re-doing it.”

She stepped back. Studied me with those ice-blue eyes—the same ones that stared back at me every morning in the mirror. Her lips curved. Something soft and aching crossed her face.

“My little darling,” she said quietly.

“Mother. I turned eighteen five days ago, and I’m taller than Father now.”

“You’ll always be my little darling. That’s non-negotiable.” She smoothed the front of my ceremonial jacket. Deep black fabric stitched with silver thread. The Nightfire crest over my heart. “You look so much like him. Except the eyes. Those are mine.”

The door opened behind us. My father filled the frame. He was dressed in full imperial regalia, but his expression was loose. Relaxed in a way he rarely showed outside this room.

“The boy has your eyes,” he said, leaning against the doorframe. “And your stubbornness. The combination is terrifying.”

“I’m standing right here,” I said.

Father crossed the room and gripped my shoulder. His dark gold eyes—my wolf’s eyes, the ones that apparently made grown men step backward—held mine.

“After more than twenty years ruling this empire,” he said, “your mother and I have earned our rest. Tonight, at the Moon Prayer Ceremony, you find your mate. And then the throne passes to you. That’s the plan.”

“No pressure,” I muttered.

“Enormous pressure, actually. But you can handle it.” He squeezed once, then released me. “You’re ready, son.”

I wasn’t sure about that. But I nodded anyway.

A blur of silver hair shot through the doorway and collided with my side.

“Let me see!” Lyra circled me like a hawk evaluating prey. She was barely thirteen but had the volume of someone twice her size. “Hmm. Brooding. Dark. Terrifying. Classic Valerius.”

“Thank you.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.” She grinned, wicked and bright. “Every girl at the ceremony is going to take one look at your face and run screaming in the opposite direction.”

“Keep it up,” I warned, “and I’ll tell Liam that you were the one who broke his magical gaming console.”

“Lyra,” Mother warned.

“What? It’s true! He scared three children last month just by looking at them. He didn’t even say anything. They just saw his eyes and started crying.”

“They were very small children,” I said flatly.

“They were traumatized!”

“Enough.” Mother placed a hand on Lyra’s shoulder. Then she turned to me. Her voice shifted. Gentle. The same tone she used when she was about to say something she actually meant. “Valerius. Tonight will be overwhelming. Thousands of wolves, all watching you. All expecting something. But when you find your mate—and you will—don’t try to be intimidating. Don’t try to be the Alpha prince. Just be... open. Be gentle.”

“Gentle,” I repeated.

“Your father terrified me the first time we properly met,” she said. “Don’t make the same mistake.”

Father raised an eyebrow. “I was perfectly charming.”

“You growled at a servant for standing too close to me.”

“He was too close.”

“Kaelen.”

“It was a reasonable growl.”

I left them to their familiar bickering and headed for the grand hall.

The Moon Prayer Ceremony was chaos disguised as elegance.

Thousands of wolves packed the palace grounds. The grand hall overflowed. Spilled onto the terraces. Spread across the moonlit gardens like a living tide. Lanterns hung from every surface, casting everything in silver and gold. Music drifted from somewhere I couldn’t identify. Laughter. Voices. The clink of crystal.

Everyone was watching me.

I could feel it. Every set of eyes that tracked my movement through the crowd. The whispers that rippled in my wake.

That’s the Crown Prince.

His wolf is silver-white. Massive. Biggest anyone’s seen in a generation.

Those gold eyes...

I kept my face neutral. Walked steadily. Let my gaze sweep the room the way Father had taught me—calm, assessing, revealing nothing.

Inside, my wolf paced. Restless. Searching.

Mate, he growled. Find mate.

I moved through clusters of noble families. Daughters were presented to me with practiced smiles. Some bold. Some terrified. One actually curtsied so hard she stumbled. I caught her elbow before she fell, said something polite, and moved on.

Nothing.

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