Exchanging Vows: The Swapped Wife Is a Top Shaman novel Chapter 122

Chapter 122: Chapter 122

Alpha Alaric’s Point of View

The freezing wind howled across the high eaves, biting fiercely against my skin, but the rage burning within my chest made the cold entirely meaningless. I sat on the rooftop for most of the night, staring blindly into the darkness as decades of statecraft, duty, and love twisted into a suffocating knot of grief.

I only jumped down from the high limestone tiles when the sky turned grey, the first faint  lines of the dawn cutting through the mountain fog. I landed on the pavers with a dull, echoing thud. Without looking back, I threw the empty clay wine jug straight to my lead guard standing rigidly in the shadows.

"My Lord," the guard murmured, his hand catching the ceramic with speed as he bowed his head deeply. "The morning patrols are lining the gates. Shall I call for the high physician to check you?"

"There is no need," I responded flatly.

I forced my posture back into its immovable, authoritative alignment. My face returned to its usual coldness stone mask that completely buried the vulnerabilities of the night. Only my bloodshot eyes, leaking all the tears of a son’s raw agony through the lonely hours of the night, gave any silent proof of the storm raging within my soul.

I strode across the compound, went back to my private master bedchambers, and thoroughly washed my face with water to shock my nerves. I changed into my robes, and walked straight down the corridor to the office as if nothing had happened.

The doors of the office clicked shut behind me, the scent of fresh parchment doing little to soothe my inner wolf, who was violently clawing at the edges of my restraint. I stood behind the desk, my fingers tracing the smooth wood where so many pack decrees had been signed.

Before leaving the room to gather the morning intelligence, I raised my hand, signaling my guards patrolling the balcony to step into the office.

"Get in here," I commanded softly.

The two warriors slipped inside, their movements entirely silent as they closed the latch to secure our privacy. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder before my desk.

"Alpha," the lead guard said.

"Those two old maids must be kept alive at all costs. Secure their room with my personal blood tokens. No one enters that corridor without my explicit signature."

The guard lowered his head in an immediate, submissive response, his voice tight with an intense, unyielding compliance. "By your command, Alpha. If anyone approaches the threshold without your knowledge, we will question them on the spot."

"See that you do," I murmured flatly, waving my hand to dismiss them.

As they vanished past the drapes, my mind locked onto the eastern courtyard where Lady Margot slept.

“Enjoy your final sunrise, old snake,” I thought bitterly, my fingers tightening around the edge of the desk until the wood groaned beneath my knuckles. The debt is coming due.

*

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