DAHLIA:
My stomach tightened into knots. Even before Samalah and these men came, I had been feeling quite unwell. After hearing what Samalah had to say, however, I felt sicker.
My hands trembled as I held into Naskan’s neck…
Oh, I forgot… I should call him Tristan now… right?
“Please let me down,” I said weakly from the white wolf’s back. He reluctantly eased me from his back just a few second after I threw out on the ground.
“This won’t do,” I heard Albus grumbled. “She needs to rest.”
“Very well,” the leader of our captors said. “There is a river a few more steps near here. We shall make camp for now and continue our journey tomorrow.”
The rogues gave us a stern look, but I didn’t care. I was far too busy holding myself up after a round of morning sickness.
“Dahlia, are you dizzy? Do you want to lie down?”
DAHLIA:I backed away from the vampire leader who was towering over me and looking at me as if he had no intentions of letting me go unscathed…Just then, a hand landed on my shoulders.“Don’t worry about it, Lord Irvan… I will make sure our guest here will be every bit pleasing to the king when the right time comes…”I look back at Samalah’s undaunted stares against this Lord Irvan. Even though the vampire leader did not look friendly at all, Samalah never shrunk under his gaze.“Very well. You keep her beside you until we get to Laudicia. I don’t trust that partner of hers anyway,” he gruffly said to Samalah.“As you wish,” Samalah said, giving the man a coy look.How did Samalah even have the courage to do that when the man clearly had bad intentions against her written all over his face?As soon as Lord Irvan walked away, Samalah pulled my hand and l
DAHLIA: I held my breath when I heard Tristan’s words… “If the stone was naturally incorporated in a wolf’s body then the only way they could separate it is through death.” Death… Does that means I had to die to separate with this red spirit stone inside of me now?... ‘That’s right, Dahlia… You and I are inseparable now,’ I heard the stone whisper. “Dahlly, what’s wrong,” Tristan said, frowning down at me. “Is something wrong with your food?” “Uh no,” I said. I think I would be having indigestion as I stuffed the rest of the bread in my mouth absentmindedly. During the night time, they made me and Tristan separate. I slept alongside Samalah. I closed my eyes, but slept never came to me. I lay there in the darkness thinking of how things turned out this way and how they could turn into my favor… ‘Eva… Do you know how we obtained this spirit stone,’ I asked my wolf. ‘Rather than Eva, don’t you want to ask
DAHLIA: I am a murderer - I can’t believe it! Someone was killed just so I could live! “Having bad dreams, Dahlly,” Samalah said. She was looking at my direction in the darkness. She must have seen me as I woke up just now. I tried to brush the terrible revelations of my dream by making small talks with Samalah. “Samalah… Why do you hate me so much,” I asked. “Well, didn’t you hear Tristan’s story?” “Yes. He hates me for what my father did. How about you? Why do you hate me?” Samalah started to chuckle, softly at first, but then it led into a louder and more sinister laugh. “Are you that naïve? Don’t you even look at yourself, Dahlia?” I didn’t say anything. I still didn’t understand what she meant. “Seriously, don’t you know that you’re a freak? You’re a weak she-wolf who cannot shift and who had an annoying type of magic… So why?” Samalah’s face began to darken. “Why do they still like you? Why don’t t
TRISTAN: I used to love Samalah in my younger years. I dreamed of a future with her too, but I see that the future she wanted with me was too far from what I had imagined. “Are you mad? You wanted to overthrow the royals of Talandor in order to replace them?” “Why not,” she retorted, her long eyelashes playing its seductive tricks. “You and I could conquer their world! What better way of revenge could there be?” “No! That wasn’t what we have planned… This wasn’t what we agreed on.” Samalah and I had planned to take down the king and his men. We wanted to expose their crimes and have them be stripped off their powers, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that Samalah wanted something more… “Isn’t it a better plan? You are born to be an alpha, Tristan! You are born to be a ruler! Don’t you want to get what’s yours? Don’t you want those who killed the Shadow Runes to kneel down at your feet?” “And how about Dahlia? Where are
DAHLIA: This can’t be true! Tristan – my mate and my husband – he really didn’t want our child. He really wanted to kill him! I blinked back at his wolf’s face. He must have battled the rogues and vampires at that camp to get me away from them. So who could have possibly told him about the existence of our child?... I started to kick about. “N-No, you can’t!” I had a clue where he could be taking me, and I didn’t want him to take me anywhere. I might as well just go back to that campsite if that were to happen. He resisted despite my efforts to slow him down. Tristan did not put me to the ground nor did he stop. “I can, and I will, Dahlia! I swear to the Moon Goddess, I’ll remove it, even if you’ll hate me for it for the rest of your life!” Hate? He’s talking about hate? I won’t just hate him for this! I’ll make sure I’ll kill him if he becomes the reason I would lose my child! “No! Put me down!” It was
DAHLIA:“No, I don’t hate you,” Tristan said slowly although his face was still very fierce. “I don’t hate you at all…”Yeah, right… The look in his face had already betrayed him. The way he did not want our child to live like this was already proof enough.Perhaps Samalah’s words were true… He really did care only about my body – a body he could not get pleasure with while the child is growing…If this was the game he wanted to play, then, let’s play it – a game of hate… Let’s find out who between us should hate the other the most!“Let’s part ways here, Tristan. You go your own way, and I’d go mine,” I growled.“Dahlia, you don’t understand. This is all for your sake! I know you fear it – being cut up, but if it’s the only way to save you, we shouldn’t hesitate.”I stood the
TRISTAN: An intense amount of pain took over me as I looked at Dahlia’s retreating form in the dead of the night. I had no strength to come to her again. After what I just heard, I knew it was over between us… absolutely over… Now I understood why she said I must have hated her… She was the life that was exchanged for my mother and had caused my poor Livia her freedom from Count Jeteris’ clutches. I howled in anguish. How can the Moon Goddess ever bring such a fate into us? “Come out,” I called on the bushes. “I can smell your scent even from a mile away.” Samalah emerged from the bushes in her human form, her eyes glistening with tears. “I told you, didn’t I? Dahlia Hurst was our enemy, but you didn’t listen…” “Did you know it? Did you know the truth even before she said it,” I spat. Samalah nodded. “I had a strong hunch since she had powers. She didn’t come from a magical family, and she was rumored to have be
KAIST: The arrow came very fast. I had no time to avoid it. “Kaist!” I was thrown violently into one side so swiftly that I still couldn’t believe it all happened! My father – he pushed me fiercely into one side and shoved me away into safety! “No,” Ignis grumbled. I looked just in time to see my father’s wolf got hit by an arrow where his heart was located. “No,” I cried yet again. My body was hurt in the fall. I limped into my side half crawling just to get to his body, which stumbled into the ground like a piece of rag. “Father… Father, hang on!” His body had gone back into his human form. This was a bad sign! “Kaist, son,” he mumbled. “Save your breath. Let’s get out of here first!” Ignis turned himself into a half wolf. We clutched my father’s figure and climbed the stony wall that separated us from our freedom. It was a steep climb. I could hear the arrows swoosh past me as I