Chapter 162 Secret In the Wardrobe
Chapter
Jax's POV
"May the goddess of this pack be with the alpha king of this pack. May the goodness of the gods never leave him. May the promise he kept..."
The words moved slowly through the air, curling under the door and spreading a thick silence in the room. The voice was low like an ancient tree whose root had hidden under the ground.
And after every alpha Vexhood's words, his totem hit the floor like a thunder strike.
It hit the floor like someone was having disputes with the floor.
My blood turned to ice.
"Alpha Vexhood," I whispered under my breath, my eyebrows pulling together like two storm clouds meeting in the middle of the sky.
I looked at Lyra.
Just roughly a moment back, my body and that of Lyra's have been rocking each other effortlessly like a dancing candle flame.
But the moment Alpha Vexhood's voice managed to find its way into the room, it was like someone had thrown cold water on her ignited body. All the passion had extinguished into the air.
The feelings had suddenly escaped through the next exit window.
Lyra suddenly reached for her cloth, her eyes widened apart and full panic.
She jumped off the bed like it had suddenly caught fire.
She didn't say a word. She didn't have to. Her eyes said everything. Hide me. Now. Please.
I understood.
Outside, Alpha Vexhood's footsteps grew louder as it approached the bedroom's door.
The thumping of his totem against the floor was louder than ever like a small hammer hitting the inside of a skull.
Then it hit, that I had not locked the door.
When I had carried Lyra in from the living room earlier, I had been too lost in the moment. Too swept up in everything I was feeling. My mind had been completely empty of everything except her. I had not thought about the door. I had not thought about anything else at all.
Stupid!
I sprang up from the bed as my fast as I could, my feet hit the floor as I could and I crossed the room in few steps, reaching for the door before alpha Vexhood could get there before me.
I pressed my body against the door from my own end to prevent him from opening the door from his side.
I held firm, pressing my body to the door to give Lyra enough time to go hide. I pointed silently to the wardrobe in the corner of the room for her to hide herself.
Go. Go now!” I muttered silently.
I picked up the rest of her clothes from the floor quickly and passed them to her. She clutched them to her chest and moved to the wardrobe on quiet, careful feet. She stepped inside and pulled the door behind her until it clicked shut softly.
I let out a slow, quiet breath.
Then I grabbed my own clothes and dressed as fast as my hands would let me. Buttons. Belt. Done. I ran a hand through my hair and tried to make my face look calm. Still. Like nothing in the world had happened. Like my heart was not hammering inside my chest like a wild animal trapped in a cage.
"Peace be unto the king of Stormfang," Alpha Vexhood's voice came through the door, calm and ceremonial, like always.
But his calmness made me more nervous, not less.
Had the gods told him? Had they shown him everything in some kind of vision? Was that why he was here? Not waiting in the visitors hall like he normally would. Not sending a servant to fetch me like any normal guest. No. He had walked straight to my bedroom door like he already knew exactly what was happening behind it.
My throat felt dry.
I stood still for one full minute. Long enough to be sure Lyra was properly hidden. Long enough for my breathing to slow down a little. Then I opened the door.
"May my ears be widened. Peace be to the holy one," I said.
I stepped out immediately, pulling the door shut firmly behind me. I was not going to let him inside that room. Not today. Not with Lyra hiding three feet away inside a wooden wardrobe.
I looked at him properly for the first time.
Something was wrong with Alpha Vexhood.
He looked different. The man I knew was tall and strong, always standing straight like a warrior carved from rock. But today, he looked pale. The skin on his face was thin and loose, like paper left out in the rain. He leaned on his totem more than usual, using it less like a sacred staff and more like a walking stick. Like his body needed the support just to stay upright.
A small knot formed in the back of my mind.
Alpha Vexhood was never sick. He was never weak. He was one of those people who seemed like they would never age, never bend, never break. Seeing him like this was like seeing a mountain start to crack.
"Holy one," I said, keeping my voice steady and respectful, "what brings you here at this time of day?"
I guided him gently away from my bedroom door and toward the sitting area. He moved slowly, his totem tapping the floor with each careful step. When he finally lowered himself onto the couch, it was with the kind of effort that old people make when their bones have started to forget how to be young.
I sat across from him.
I folded my arms and kept my face smooth and unreadable. Inside, my mind was running in ten different directions at once. I could feel the nerves fizzing under my skin. But I would not show that. Alpha Vexhood was someone who could smell fear the way a wolf smells rain from miles away. If he saw even a crack in my armor, he would push his fingers into it.
He looked at me with those old, deep eyes. Eyes that had seen too many things over too many years.
"The gods," he said quietly. "The gods brought me here."
"About what?" I cut in before he could take another breath.
The words came out sharper than I meant them to. Laced with something I was trying hard to keep down. He noticed. He always noticed.
He did not rush. He never did. He let the silence sit between us for a moment, heavy and full of meaning. Then he spoke.
"To warn you," he said. "The holy month is coming. During this time, you must only approach your queen. You must only go to her and no one else."
He paused and adjusted his grip on his totem.
"Your wife. She is the only one the gods will accept during this season."
The words landed on me like cold rain.
I stared at him.
"My wife?" I repeated slowly. "You mean Rosa?"
He nodded once. Simple. Quiet.
Something sharp and bitter rose up from somewhere deep inside my chest. I had held it down for a long time.
Too long. And right now, with Lyra hidden in my wardrobe and this old man sitting in front of me talking about Rosa like she was some kind of blessing placed in my life, I could not hold it anymore.
I let out a short, hard laugh. There was no happiness in it.
"Rosa," I said again, tasting the name like something sour. "The woman who has never given me a single night of peace. The woman that you and your council placed beside me not because the gods chose her, but because it was useful for you."
Alpha Vexhood's eyes sharpened slightly. But he said nothing.
I leaned forward.
"Do you think I don't know?" I said. "Do you think I have been sitting on this throne all this time and not figured it out? Rosa was never meant to be my partner. She was meant to be your eye inside my palace. Your ear beside my pillow. A way for you and those elders to hear every word that comes from this throne and use it for your own plans."
The room went very quiet.
Alpha Vexhood's hand tightened around his totem. I watched his knuckles go pale from the grip. His eyes stayed on mine, steady and unblinking, like a man who has been confronted with something he was not ready to face out loud.
"Son," he said finally, his voice low and firm. "The gods do not make mistakes."
"The gods do!" The words burst out of me before I could stop them. "They do! The gods do make mistakes and I will say it out loud because..."
I stopped myself.
I pressed my lips together and breathed in slowly through my nose. My hands had balled into fists on my knees without me even noticing. I forced them open, finger by finger.
Why was I blaming the gods? Why was I directing my fire at something I could not reach?
This was not the gods. None of this was the gods.
"This," I said, my voice dropping low and controlled now, which was somehow more dangerous than shouting, "is not the work of any god. This is the work of men. Small men with large plans. You and your elders used the name of the gods like a shield. You hid your plotting behind prayers and ceremonies and holy words. And you gave me Rosa as part of that plan. Simply to control what happens on this throne."
Alpha Vexhood stared at me.
He looked at me once. Then again. Like he was seeing a completely different person sitting across from him. Like he had walked into this palace expecting to speak to a king who would bow his head and say yes, holy one, I will do as the gods command.
He had not expected this.
Good.
I met his gaze and held it without blinking. My back was straight. My voice was steady.
"So tell me the real reason you are here," I said. "And this time, leave the gods out of it.”