Page 36 of Alpha's Exiled Mate
“Of course, Lady Sophia,” Viossi said, her voice steady but trembling, betraying her effort to hold herself together.
She moved to the tea table, each step deliberate, as if wading through pain. I sensed her restrained breaths, saw her hands shake, yet I couldn’t muster the courage to stop this farce. As she lifted the teapot, the silver spoon clinked against the cup, a sound that struck my heart like a hammer, exposing her vulnerability and strength in equal measure.
Sophia took the cup, her eyes gleaming with triumph, her smile smug. She didn’t thank Viossi, instead turning to me with a pointed tone. “Your… servant is quite courteous.”
I should have acted, should have defended my princess’s honor. But I didn’t. I stood silent, as if bound by an invisible chain.
Viossi bowed her head, her voice a whisper. “Excuse me.”
She left swiftly, her back straight with a resolve I hadn’t seen before, as if she were holding herself together by sheer will. The door’s closing jolted me, a wave of regret and self-reproach crashing over me. Her tears, glimpsed as she turned, pierced my chest.
“You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” I said to Sophia, my voice low and cold.
She raised a brow, feigning innocence. “What?”
“Humiliating my wife,” I said, each word deliberates. “Is that why you came?”
“Oh, Perock,” she laughed lightly. “I was curious to see how you’d react. Clearly, you don’t care for her, or you’d have stopped me. Just like last night, when you chose to save me over her.”
She was right—I hadn’t stopped her. But she was wrong about my feelings. I cared, more than I dared admit.
“This conversation is over,” I said with a cold and firm tone. “Leave, Sophia.”
Her face registered shock. “You’re dismissing me? For her?”
“Not for her,” I said, meeting her gaze. “For myself. Our past is done. You made your choice, and I respected it. Now respect mine.”
Her confidence faltered, her face paling. “You love her, don’t you?”
The question sent my heart racing. Love? I wasn’t sure. But Viossi was no longer just a tool, a vessel to me. Her tears moved me, her rare smiles lifted me, her presence had woven itself into my life in ways I hadn’t anticipated.
“You should leave, Sophia,” I said, avoiding her question, heading for the door. “The guards will escort you out.”
Without listening to her words, I left the parlor, setting out after Viossi. I needed to find her, to apologize for my silence in the face of Sophia’s cruelty, to explain the turmoil that had kept me mute. More than that, I needed to tell her the truth—that,without my realizing it, she’d carved a place in my heart, one I could no longer ignore.
Her scent, faint but unmistakable, guided me through the palace’s labyrinthine corridors, past the fragrant gardens where moonlight dappled the roses, to a secluded corner tucked away from prying eyes. There, a sight stopped me cold, igniting a fire in my veins that threatened to consume me.
Orin, my most trusted lieutenant, stood before Viossi, his hand gently brushing a tear from her cheek.
He was too close, his gaze soft with a tenderness that far exceeded the respect due a princess. And she—my wife—didn’t pull away. Instead, she leaned slightly into his touch, her eyes glistening, accepting his comfort with a vulnerability that pierced me.
Suddenly, a surge of fiery rage erupted from the depths of my chest, burning through every fiber of my being. My inner wolf howled with a primal fury, clawing at the surface of my mind, desperate to rip apart the man who had dared to lay a hand on my mate—
Mate? Since when had I started thinking of her as my mate? Hadn’t I always seen her as nothing more than a tool, a vessel for carrying my heir, a means to an end?
But before I could figure it out, my voice had already escaped my control.
“What’s going on here, Orin?” I forced my voice to remain steady, but despite my efforts, it carried a dangerous edge, a chilling undertone of menace that even I hadn’t fully registered until the words left my lips.
Chapter 12
Perock
The sunlight of the day streamed through the corridor windows, casting a harsh glow on this infuriating scene—Orin, my most trusted lieutenant, gently caressing my princess’s cheek, wiping away her tears. They stood far too close, their proximity almost intimate, a sight that stabbed at my chest like a jagged blade. Rage burned through my veins like wildfire, my inner wolf snarling, aching to lunge forward and rip apart the man who dared to touch what was mine.
Her cheek should belong to me alone, her tears mine to wipe away, yet here I stood, forced to witness another man stepping into my place.
A raw, unfamiliar jealousy gnawed at my sanity, a searing heat that threatened to consume me. I could barely restrain myself from slamming my fist into Orin’s face right then.