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
KAIST: It took us until the wee hours of the morning for Dahlia and I to complete our stories. I was able to tell Dahlia who I was and what had happened so far in a brief and concise manner, as well as what I have last known of her whereabouts. “So what you’re saying is that we were betrothed once, but I ran away and married Count Abell, right?” There was an incredulous look in her eyes. I nodded. “So, why didn’t you spat on me then? Don’t you hate me for it?...” I looked back at Dahlia for a long time. “I don’t hate you. You just followed your heart back then. We’ve made up after the failed wedding… At least now it seemed you have become more aware of your husband’s schemes.” She eyed me sideways. Did she buy my excuse? Despite the raging emotions I still carry in my heart for Dahlia, I couldn’t tell her the truth. I couldn’t hate her. Even if she tears my heart into shreds, I wouldn’t be able to hate my fated
DAHLIA: My memories weren’t fully back yet, but I get it. I get that I was close to this boy before me… Even the way we talked to each other despite not knowing anything about him due to my amnesia felt very comforting. In fact, it was so comforting that I lowered my guard until it was too late. He had already started to kiss me… It wasn’t even a friendly kiss. It was similar to the kisses Naskan, I mean Tristan, and I had shared before. “Wait, w-what are you doing, Kaist,” I asked exasperatedly as I drew away after that kiss. “If he doesn’t want your child, I do. I would love him, Dahlia… I would love him as much as I had loved you all these years,” he confessed. “Kaist… Just what exactly are you proposing?” “Leave your husband, Dahlly… You, me, and our baby – let’s build a life together.” Moon Goddess, just what kinds of tricks were you up to this time? It wasn’t even a day after I had left my husband, but now
DAHLIA:“How about we kill the old man with you, Prince Kaist? After all if we kill both of you, wouldn’t that just speed up what we were aiming for?”My heart was beating wildly in my chest. We were caught in a trap, and the saddest thing about it is if it wasn’t for me, Kaist and the king wouldn’t be in this position…“Samalah, what do you mean? Do ou want to make yourself an enemy of Talandor,” I breathed out.She laughed exasperatedly. “I was never a part of Talandor. They drove me out, so there’s no point in being sentimental. This is just sweet payback for what they did to me and my mother…”“So what is it going to be,” Samalah said malevolently at me, “Are you coming with us, or are we going to force you?”“Neither.” Just as I spoke my last words, I aimed for the roof at one side of the cave and set it on fire.Smoke qu