Exchanging Vows: The Swapped Wife Is a Top Shaman

Chapter 67: Chapter 67

Dominic’s Point of View

The truth was, right from the moment I was still drifting in and out of consciousness, I knew exactly who she was. Even when my mind was inconsistent and fractured , I recognized her. She was the one who had always tended to me.

Her hands were always the ones bathing me in warm herbal waters, soothing my burning skin, and whispering words of encouragement to me. Now that I was awake, looking at the confusion swirling in her eyes, I realized I couldn’t keep this to myself. I needed to let her know that she hadn’t been invisible.

I looked closely at how completely bewildered she was. She was probably assuming that because I was just waking up from a coma, I might not be in my right sense. She probably thought I was rambling or out of my mind. I softened my gaze, reaching out to touch her.

"I can hear your voice every day, Ivy," I told her. "I heard you every single time you spoke, but I just couldn’t open my eyes.”

She stared back at me, looking completely confused, and of course she would be. To her, I was speaking of things she couldn’t fathom, or perhaps she was convincing herself that I was only talking like this because I’ve been sleeping for such a long while and my brain was playing tricks on me.

But I wasn’t crazy. “Listen to me, Ivy. I’m not unfamiliar with you," I said, coming a bit closer so she could see the absolute clarity in my eyes. "I’ve gotten used to your presence. Your scent, your touch, your voice... it became my anchor."

Then, without waiting for her to overthink it, I stretched out my arm, caught her by the waist, and pulled her into a hug. She was incredibly stiff the moment my arms wrapped around her, her breath hitching in surprise at my sudden embrace. Slowly, she began to pull back from the hug.

"I’m not your real wife, Dominic," she said softly, as she forced the truth into the open. "My cousin sister, Seraphina is... you should know this."

I couldn’t help but smile. I reached up, cupping her face in both of my hands, forcing her to look directly at me. "I know," I let her know, my thumb brushing over her cheekbone.

"I know exactly what has been going on while I was in a comatose state. I couldn’t move my body, but I was entirely aware, Ivy. I felt your touch when you healed me, and when you bathed me in those herbal baths to keep the fever away. Thank you for saving me."

Then, after the truth was finally out in the open, I pulled her back in and hugged her tightly against my chest. This time, I felt the tension completely leave her body. Her hands flew up to wrap around my back, holding onto me as she finally loosened up, no longer looking so incredibly tense and terrified.

We stayed like that for a long moment, the rhythm of the room wrapping around us.

But as the seconds ticked by, I felt her shift against me. “I’m sorry, Dominic, but I am feeling...”

I didn’t even let her complete her words. I knew exactly what was running through her head right now.

“I know exactly how you are feeling, Ivy,” I said softly, cutting her off before the awkwardness of the previous intimacy could make her retreat again. I knew she was feeling a bit unnatural and deeply embarrassed about the whole situation.

To break the tension, she gently slipped out of the bed, as she walked over to the table and poured a glass of water for me to drink. I watched her, wanting to be on my feet, so I struggled to sit up and swing my legs over the edge of the bed. But the moment I tried to shift my weight, I unexpectedly found that my legs couldn’t use any strength whatsoever.

They felt like dead weight.

Seeing my struggle, Ivy immediately set the glass down and rushed back to my side. She wrapped an arm around my waist, helping me get out of bed so we could try to walk a few steps together. I leaned on her, determined to stand. Just as I was about to take my very first step forward, a piercing pain shot straight up from my right leg.

My knee buckled instantly, and before I could stop myself, I fell to the ground, pulling her down along with me.

Ivy scrambled to her knees, completely ignoring her own scrapes as she immediately helped me up, propping my back against the side of the bed. I winced in agony. “My right leg... it seems to be broken,” I muttered, running a hand down my shin.

She knelt beside me, her expression instantly shifting back into that of the focused seriousness. Her fingers began to carefully check my right leg bone, pressing firmly along the joint.

“Oh,” she suddenly muttered. The tone of her voice made my stomach drop, leaving me entirely confused.

“What is it?” I asked, bracing myself. “What might seem to be the problem, Ivy?”

“I found that there was indeed a distinct protrusion right at the bone connection,” she said, her fingers tracing a hard, jagged ridge beneath my skin. She looked up at me, her brow furrowed in deep concern.

“But how could this be?” I asked, completely bewildered. “I’ve been asleep in a bed for weeks. How could my leg be broken right now?”

“Maybe something had happened with your legs during the ambush, before you fell into the coma,” she reasoned, piecing the puzzle together. “Think back to the battlefield, Dominic.”

I closed my eyes, forcing my mind to journey back through my memory. Then, the memory came rushing back. “I fell off the horse,” I remembered out loud. “I remember a terrible snap and a blinding flash of pain right before the fight broke out in the clearing. Then everything went dark.”

“That explains it,” she said, nodding as she gently patted my leg. “It should be that after you fell off the horse, everyone was so focused on the coma that no one noticed your leg was also broken. It was left completely untreated, which caused the bone to heal and misalign on its own while you slept.”

That had to be it. I let out a long sigh, looking down at the crooked bone. “I’m going to look into this carefully the next day.” I decided, shaking my head.

Then, I looked back up at her pale face and the dark circles under her eyes. “But you... you seem to be completely tired from everything tonight. You need sleep, Ivy. Lay down, that way you’ll finally get some rest.”

She didn’t argue, she was too exhausted to refuse. She climbed back onto the mattress and lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. I crawled up beside her, pulling the blankets over both of our shoulders. I lay right beside her, the room falling into a peaceful silence. I could not stop staring at her body, and face beside me, watching the soft rise and fall of her chest.

The feeling growing inside my chest was nothing but unadulterated happiness.

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