Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother novel Chapter 77

Chapter 77: Chapter 77

Elara’s POV

"The Noble Council has confirmed their attendance. Every last one of them."

Kaelen didn’t look up from the stack of parchment spread across his redwood desk. Morning light poured through the tall windows of his study, catching the gold threads in the drapes and turning the dust motes into tiny sparks. His quill moved in sharp, decisive strokes as he reviewed territorial reports. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

I stood across from him, hands clasped so tightly my knuckles ached.

"Cassian is handling security," he continued. "Claire has the logistics. The ceremony itself will be brief—formal introduction, oath of allegiance from the attending houses, and acknowledgment of Valerius as heir to the Nightfire throne."

Each word landed like a stone dropped into still water. Ripples spreading outward. Getting bigger. Harder to ignore.

"Kaelen."

He kept writing. "The eastern lords are sending representatives rather than attending in person, which is expected given the distance. But the core families—"

"Kaelen, we shouldn’t do this."

The quill stopped.

He looked up. Those dark gold eyes found mine, and for a moment, neither of us moved. The morning light carved sharp shadows beneath his cheekbones. His jaw was set. Waiting.

"Not yet," I added quickly. "I mean—we shouldn’t do this yet."

He set the quill down. Slowly. Deliberately. The way a man sets down a weapon before deciding whether he needs it.

"Explain."

I swallowed. My mouth had gone dry. "A few weeks ago, I was your commoner archivist. A nobody. A single mother living in the servants’ quarters with her son." My voice cracked on the last word, and I hated it. Hated how small I sounded in this enormous room with its vaulted ceiling and imperial banners. "You can’t just—parade me in front of the entire Noble Council and announce me as your empress."

"I can." His tone was flat. Final. "And I will."

"They’ll reject me."

"They can try."

"Kaelen, this isn’t about what you can force them to accept!" I stepped closer to the desk. My reflection stared back at me from the polished redwood surface—pale, silver-haired, wide-eyed. A ghost pretending to be a queen. "This is about what makes sense. What’s sustainable. You’re asking the most powerful families in the empire to kneel before a woman who was scrubbing archive dust off her hands weeks ago."

Before I could form an answer through my tears—

The door exploded inward.

Both of us flinched. Kaelen’s body shifted instantly—turning, placing himself between me and the doorway, one arm sweeping me behind him in a motion so fast and automatic that my back was pressed against the window before I’d registered the threat.

Sir Cassian stood in the doorframe.

He looked wrong. His uniform—normally immaculate—was torn at the shoulder and streaked with grime. Mud caked his boots up to the knee. His dark hair was matted with what looked like dried blood, and a fresh cut ran along his temple, still glistening wet. His chest heaved. He’d been running.

He didn’t bow. Didn’t salute. Didn’t apologize for the entrance.

"Kaelen." His voice was hoarse. Stripped of everything but urgency. "Eastern border. Three coordinated attacks in the past several hours."

Kaelen’s arm was still across my body. I felt every muscle in it turn to iron.

"Seventeen wounded. Three critical." Cassian braced one hand against the doorframe, steadying himself. His eyes were bloodshot. Haunted. "Including Sir Marcus and his entire patrol unit. They were ambushed at Miller’s Ridge."