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
DAHLIA: It has been three days since all of those tragedies had happened… Three days, and yet everything still felt very hazy. How did it all turn into this? I clasped my hand around my neck. Yes, the silver collar was still there… It means I did not dream of that day. They really did happen, right? Three days ago I lost both my husband and my baby. I put my hands against my belly. No, no, that’s not right… I didn’t lose my baby… He is still here… Or is he?... Just then, someone tugged at the chain connected to the collar around my neck. “She-wolf, we need to move quickly.” I looked at the man before me. Have I seen him before? I don’t recognize his face… It didn’t matter though. No matter who they were, they only ever wanted to hear one thing from me. “Yes, master…” That’s what they wanted – my complete and total surrender. As the sun started to loom fiercely against the morning sky, I s
DAHLIA:“We will stop here tonight,” Lord Irvan said when we reached a clearing in the woods.I slumped into the soft ground, not caring whether it was muddy. I was exhausted to the brim, having had to walk all day.I remembered the times Tristan had carried me on his back. I hadn’t truly appreciated that gesture from him before, but it was really an act of love and kindness that I missed now that he was gone.I wish he was still here. Even if he hated me and our baby, the sound of his voice still made me feel safe and comfortable.Now there was only the barren feeling in my chest, the memories we shared together, and the image of his fading mate mark that was left for me to remember him by.It hasn’t been more than ten minutes when I collapsed on the ground when someone tugged at the silver chain around my neck once more.“Get up. We’re taking a bath.”I met Samalah’s cold stares
DAHLIA: “Sister, if you had truly loved Tristan, please help me... Help me and the baby escape.” If desperation was power, then I would have been the most powerful wolf at that moment to have clung to my enemy and beg her for help! I knew Samalah had staged this revenge. There might be no way she would help me. It was a slim chance that she would, and I am clinging on that slim chance based on her emotions. I loved Tristan too. I loved him will everything I got, and I could feel that Samalah held the same intensity of feelings I had for my mate. She gave me a sharp and anguished look. Samalah turned her back from me again, but I held her hand. “Please… That spirit stone they speak of, it chose me. I wasn’t forced to take it in the auction house. If they hand me back to their leader, they would kill me and the baby.” “How dare you ask me for this? Do you know how sick I feel when I think that you had a love child with Tristan?”
DAHLIA: “Didn’t you ask me for help earlier? I’m going to give you what you want now,” Samalah said, shooting me a fierce look. “In exchange for this, however, I want you to give me your face and your entire body, Dahlia…” It was an absurd proposition. I didn’t quite understand what she wanted from me exactly… Does she want me to sell me? Is she asking for a body part, like a heart or a liver? Before I could speak, somebody came at the mouth of the cave we were staying in. It was the other rogue who stood as our guard earlier. He looked at me and Samalah and the dead rogue on the floor. “What did you do,” he said in wild frenzy. “Stefan, he frightened me… He went here unannounced, so I acted out of impulse,” Samalah replied as she hooked her arms around the rogue before us. Despite experiencing firsthand how Samalah could act deceitfully in front of other people, I was still positively awestruck to see her get moved to
SAMALAH: As soon as Dahlia said yes, I put my hands over her eyes, feeding on the power coming through our connection. My body started to itch starting from the center of my trunk until it reached the tips of my toes and fingers as I feel the fulfillment of our promise. “It’s done,” I whispered in a half-smile against myself. As soon as the spell had fully consumed us, I heard Lord Irvan’s mad calling. I pushed Dahlia away from the side of the road by instinct. Just a second away after this, Lord Irvan descended upon me. He grabbed my hair forcefully that I felt like my very scalp will tear away. “You b*tch! You dare run away from us!” He started to drag me back from where we came from. As my body was still weak from the magic that I had utilized, I could only thrash about in the mud. In the distance, I can positively hear the sound of horses. “No,” I screamed “Help me!” Just then, Lord Irvan turned towa
SAMALAH: The moment I opened my eyes, I was in absolute pain. “Ugh,” I moaned sharply as ample amounts of tears flowed down my cheeks. I tried to blink the pain away, but it didn’t disappear. Why?... Why was I in such terrible amounts of pain? It felt as if the ends of my digits were all dead. Dead… Just then, everything that had happened to me came flooding back in my memory. The last time I was awake, Lord Irvan was there. He kicked and punched me as if I was nothing but a mere rag. He was still hell bent on inflicting pain on me when suddenly someone pushed him violently from the left side… I remembered that he rolled around with a wolf for some time, and the next thing I realized, a blazing tree trunk descended from where I was slumped on the ground… I gasped as I tried to peer down at my body. That’s right. A burning tree came down on me, sending me into pain I never knew existed. My eyesight was still hazy. I trie
DAHLIA: I blinked and the girl in the water blinked. I turned my head from left to right, and she had done the same. I have stared at my reflection for a full minute now, but everything was as it was. Staring back at me as if it was really me was Samalah’s own face… I was drawn into the horror of what I was seeing. Goddess, what was Samalah thinking? Between the two of us, wasn’t she the one who have likely caused this? I was sure that the spirit stone couldn’t have had the power to change my appearance. Plus, she did say some really weird things before pushing me towards the side of the road. “My request – that you are giving yourself to me completely – say you permit it!” Was that why she made me say yes? Was this her idea of saving me?... “Hey, miss, are you alright?” I looked back from behind me, and finally, I saw the face of Efiro’s father for the first time. He had the same green eyes and long da
KAIST: My ears picked up the unfamiliar sound of an intruder in the nearby bushes. I hugged Dahlia’s body closer towards me. If this was another attack by those blasted rogues, I came in prepared to lay my life on the line. Just then, Dahlia started groaning. I cautioned her to stay quiet, but she didn’t listen. She pointed her bandaged arms towards the bushes where the sounds were coming from. What was she trying to tell me?... Just then, an enormous wolf as dark as the night emerged from the thicket. On his head, a dark violet rune glistened malevolently. I was positive I had seen this wolf before… In fact, I had battled with him back in Payn! I put Dahlia gently behind me and faced the wolf before me. “You rogue! Come closer if you want your death!” He was not just an ordinary rogue, for I am sure that he was just like me, a Shadow Rune wolf… “Prince Kaist,” he growled. “It’s me…” I cannot believe my
Hello! Thank you so much for coming to this journey with me in Revenge of The Shadow Heir! I started this story with a completely different story arc in mind, and I can't believe I've already reached the end of Dahlia and Tristan's love story. I dedicate this novel to the person who inspired me to take on writing again (and write romance stories, which wasn't really the genre I honestly saw myself writing).Here's to more meaningful memories together, sweetie! :). And to all those who have ever dreamed of being a writer or of being anything else - chase that dream! You were made to lust after it for a purpose. Glory to God always! I might take some hiatus after this story, but I assure you this won't be the last I will write. Thanks a lot again, dearests, and happy reading! - Ellie Love -
DAHLIA:“Dahlia, I have confessed everything to you before. I don’t know how much you remember of it after your accident though, so I am sorry for hurting you again,” Tristan began.“It was true. I casted a spell that was why the mate mark appeared in your body after our first night together. I was sure you were not my mate, and I was not yours. I casted a different spell on myself a few years ago to suppress finding my own mate, so I was confident when I approached you.”“However, the more I stayed beside you, the surer I had become that you were my destined mate… There wasn’t any day that I didn’t regret doing that…”Tears flowed from both our eyes. I knew it from my memory. We did have this conversation before, but it was still heartbreaking to hear Tristan’s side of the story.“When you had switched appearances with Samalah, I was foolish enough not to recognize you
DAHLIA: I was in a dark and suffocating place that I can’t even see my own hands and feet. I tried standing still, but nothing was happening, so I decided to move around. I started calling to my wolf. ‘Eva!’ Again, I shouted, ‘Eva!’ There was no answer. I was running wildly, or at least I thought I was. No one can say that this was all happening in my head. Goddess, I couldn’t even see if my body was still intact! I tried to touch my cheek just so I could verify I am still alive, still seeing, still feeling. The last thing I could honestly remember was King Helion Cosco drinking the blood off my neck. I felt around my neck. There weren’t any wounds of any form of punctures. Am I still existing in the real world, or is this all just a dying person’s dream? Just then, I heard an anguished voice. “Dahlia!” It was the voice I had longed to hear for a long time. “Tristan!” I started ru
TRISTAN: Irvan, that scoundrel that caused Samalah to get into an accident and had caused Dahlia’s agony, was a conjurer! Perhaps that was why they had left the dead bodies here instead of burying or burning them. It wasn’t just for show after all. The animated bodies started to close in on us. I thought it would be easy to defeat them since they were dead. However, they have the faces of people whome we had once seen or knew… It was a bit fortunate that most of them were just people whom I have casually met at Talandor, but I could only imagine that this battle must be too hard for Kaist. As we tried to knock out the dead bodies, the dragon bones swoop down on us, trying to pick on the flesh on our back. Even without a rider, the dragon bones were agile. This was really a dangerous thing. I just finished hurling a corpse somewhere far away, when suddenly, I looked up to see a dragon bone aiming to pluck my eyes away. I
TRISTAN: I galloped towards the edge of the plain leading to the Great Temple where I could smell my Dahlia’s scent. In the past, I had loved this walk from the forest towards the temple where my father would regularly burn an offering to the Moon Goddess Selene. Now, this same path was packed with vampires, attacking me from left and right. It was a hard fight. I felt like I was a bug trying to battle out hordes of ants to get to the other side. The more I stayed here, the more endangered Dahlia could become. Suddenly, I heard a voice roar. “Get down!” My instincts kicked in, and I followed it. As soon as I ducked down, bolts of fire started to rain down on my path, burning the Blasted Ones that crowded my way. I looked back sharply to discover a non-familiar wolf. It was golden brown with a stone in its head that shone like the midday sun. So this was how Kaist’s Shadow Rune wolf looked like. He must have already acce
DAHLIA: I rested my hope that if Count Jeteris himself or the people from Talandor could see me, they’d try to help me out. After all, I was someone they knew, someone who interacted with them, and someone they had sworn to protect as knights of Talandor. Surely, they wouldn’t let anyone from the Vampire Clan kill a she-wolf they had once known... But all those hopes were crushed when I saw what awaited us at the temple. The outer courts of the temple were nothing but mere rubbles of stones and sands now, but one could still gain the impression that it was a grand structure once. I had seen the tumbled-down appearance of the temple in a distance as King Helion dragged me to it, but as we entered its vicinity, I was shocked beyond belief. All around, corpses of werewolves lay lifelessly on the ground. “W-What did you do,” I asked in horror. “The foolish count wanted my help, but he didn’t agree with taking you as my queen, so…”
TRISTAN: “Brother, look out!” I swerved to the right by mistake, which ended up being good as I had dodged a blow against my skull. Livia and I had been fighting against the Blasted Ones for hours now, but they do not seem to be depleting. How in the world can the Apricus King call in this many of his men? Worse of all, Livia’s state was getting worse and worse as time went by… I hate to admit it, but I don’t think I could last fighting against them for a long time too. I struggled to get on my feet, thinking of how wretched I was to have sent the one person I loved the most towards her death. Memories of when I first saw Dahlia flashed by my head as I attacked one vampire after another. Lady Dahlia Hurst – the gentle rose of the kingdom – the person people looked up to and envied… My first thought was that such a person would be nothing more than a spoiled brat. She had been under the spotlight since she was yo
KAIST:It was a call to help Count Abell. Wolves from the White Fang Pack immediately tore their shirts and started transforming into their wolf form.“Prince Kaist, do you mean to say Tristan and Samalah… I mean Dahlia are in danger,” Thesla hurriedly asked.I nodded. “Yes. We will be going now. Get the women, children, elderly, and the sick inside the town hall. Bar the doors, and don’t let anyone inside the village. I will return here for the lady when everything is over,” I told the villagers.There was a murmur around the villagers.“Prince Kaist, I couldn’t speak for everyone, but I will come with you. Dahlia has become a friend and a family to Efiro and I. I don’t want to just sit and do nothing when I know she’s in danger!”“Very well.” I turned to the crowd. “Everyone who wishes to join us may come. As for the rest of you, please secure the village.
TRISTAN: “No, take her back! Give Dahlia back to us,” I shouted. The vampires around us poised themselves for an attack and smiled. They could sense the blood palpitating in my veins as I tensed up. They were getting excited on the prospect of violence as their true nature dictates. “Finders keepers” was all I heard from the damned king of the vampires. Maybe this was all a lie. Maybe the king of the Blasted Ones was toying with my sanity… How did I end up in this? Why did I give Dahlia to them? It felt like I was in a sort of reverie. Everything felt hazy. It was as if things were coming at me in slow motion. I could only watch as Dahlia’s golden brown hair billowed in the wind. King Helion towered over her. He clutched her by the wrist, and when she refused to tear her eyes away from me, he grappled at her shoulders and took her away more forcefully, twisting her face away from mine. I could only watch as trails of te