Exchanging Vows: The Swapped Wife Is a Top Shaman novel Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Chapter 34

Ivy’s Point of View

The butler’s guards lunged forward.

They didn’t get far.

Ash moved first. His hand shot out like a viper and caught the lead guard by the throat. One swift motion, a twist of his wrist, and the man was on the ground, gasping desperately for air.

Stone and Blade handled the other two with equal efficiency. A powerful kick to the knee that sent one crumpling sideways. An elbow to the jaw that dropped the other like a sack of grain. Bodies hitting the dirt before they even knew what was happening.

Three guards. Three seconds. All of them down and groaning in the dust.

The butler’s face went white as fresh snow.

"What... what..." He stumbled backward, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste to put distance between himself and my guards. "Who are you people?"

I stepped forward calmly, adjusting my half-mask with deliberate slowness.

"I told you." My voice came out low and masculine, exactly as I had practiced. "We’re traveling healers."

"Healers don’t fight like that!" His voice had risen to a near squeak.

"These ones do."

The butler stared at my guards with new eyes. At their perfect stances, balanced and ready for more. Their controlled breathing, not even winded from the brief scuffle. The way they watched him like predators watching prey, assessing his every twitch and movement.

He swallowed hard. His throat bobbed visibly.

"I... I apologize for my rudeness." His tone had changed completely. Gone was the sneering condescension he had worn like a badge of honor. In its place was something much more useful. Fear. Raw, undisguised fear. "Please, I meant no disrespect to such distinguished guests."

"Then stop wasting our time."

"Yes, yes, of course." He wrung his hands nervously, twisting his fingers together until the knuckles turned white. "But you must understand, we get so many frauds, so many people trying to take advantage of the professor’s illness—"

"I am no fraud." I stepped closer, letting my presence fill the space between us. "I am a traveling physician. I go where the sick are. Where others have failed, I succeed. That is my purpose. My calling."

"And you truly believe you can help the professor?"

"I don’t believe. I know." I held his gaze through my mask, letting him see the certainty in my eyes. "Every other physician who has walked through those gates has failed. They’ve tried their medicines, their treatments, their so-called expertise. And yet the professor grows weaker every day. Every hour."

The butler flinched. I had struck a nerve.

"I offer something different." I let the words hang in the air like a promise. "I offer the only chance Professor Aldwin has left. You can accept my help, or you can watch him die. The choice is yours."

Silence stretched between us. Long and heavy.

The butler looked at me. At my guards standing alert and ready. At the three men still groaning on the ground, clutching their injuries.

Finally, he made his decision.

"Very well." He straightened his robes with trembling hands, trying to recover some semblance of dignity. "I will take you to see the professor. But if this is some kind of trick—"

"It isn’t."

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