Chapter 103: Chapter 103

DAHLIA:

I lie awake in bed next to Samalah, strongly feeling both dread and despair. Somehow, everything she told me was so hard to take in…

So… I was already married, and my husband was a cruel jerk who betrayed me. Now, we are on the run because my identity was exposed in an illegal auction.

I could barely remember hearing a tale about Shadow wolves from somewhere, but Samalah helped fill me in the details of who the Shadow Runes were.

She said we were already orphans when met each other. We were sold as slaves, but we had sworn to stick by each other through thick and thin.

I don’t know how much I could really trust Samalah’s words, but so far, she had been nothing but kind and patient towards me, explaining all the details that my memory had failed to recover.

There was actually someone else I could ask regarding this matter, but as of the moment, I was having a very hard time reaching out to her...

‘Are you there,’ I whispered deep inside my head.

I have a vague feeling of a brown wolf lurking inside my consciousness. I tried channeling her, but nothing happened. It was as if an invisible wall was stuck between us, and we cannot communicate with each other properly.

I tossed and turned in my bed. It was a very uncomfortable night.

Suddenly, my stomach felt funny. I got up from the bed and threw up on the sink.

Samalah stirred when I didn’t return to bed shortly.

“Dahlly, what’s wrong?”

“Ugh, maybe the milk didn’t set well on my stomach,” I said weakly.

She patted my back and coaxed me to sleep again.

After a few hours, I felt fuzzy once more, so I had to throw up again in the middle of the night. Samalah cooked some light porridge for me to replace what I have just thrown out.

While taking in the porridge she gave me, I threw up for a third time. Samalah just looked at me with a gloomy expression on her face.

“Sister, would you like to take a pregnancy test,” she asked after I got back from the sink.

“A pregnancy test,” I said nervously. “Do you really think I need it?”

I did suffer a blow in the head, so maybe all of these things were just a side effect of the attack…

“Well, it’s better to be sure,” she replied.

As soon as I said yes to her suggestion, Samalah stood from the table and rummaged through one of the chests she kept in a corner.

She said she can do a bit of magic given that she was a half-wolf and half-fairy, so it was not surprising that she kept a fertility stone with her.

I looked at the small, smooth stone in her hands. I don’t know how I knew it, but with just a drop of blood on the surface of the stone, we would eventually know if Samalah’s hunch was true…

Using a needle, she pricked my left pointer finger and dropped a bit of blood at the center of the stone.

I watched in horror as the stone turned itself from white to red, and soon after, I began to cry.

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TRISTAN:

It had been several hours since Dahlly disappeared, and until now, we have no clue where to look for her.

I tried calling her through a mind-link, but the only answer I’ve got was a deafening silence.

Right now, my wolves were also busy trying to locate Eva in the Animal Spirit World, but luck was not on our side. It was as if all traces of Dahlly had vanished into thin air.

“Tristan, why don’t you take a break? You’ve been searching for her for hours now,” Sir Casion commented.

I run my hand through my hair in frustration. How can I possibly rest when Dahlly could be suffering somewhere?

After finding Dahlly’s necklace a few hours prior, Gideon, Sir Casior, and I went on horses around Dalrus and into its surrounding forest. We also sent word to Livia about what happened to us and instructed her to alert the people at Seymour Villa to send word should Dahlly ever come home there.

No matter how much we looked around, however, Dahlia could not be found. More than ever, I am convinced that Samalah was hiding my wife, for who else can conceal her as effectively as she could?

“I can’t rest until we find Dahlia. Time is of the essence,” I replied back to Sir Casior.

That’s right. The more time that lapses, the greater the risk of harm Samalah can do to my wife…

I was not blind to the fact that Samalah was jealous of Dahlia. Even before I got close to my mate, she had often looked at Dahlia with contempt. It was even her original plan to ensnare Dahlia so that we could start our revenge against the House of Lyon.

“Her father was an evil man, and she had been spoiled since birth. I’m sure she’s as rotten to the core as her father was,” Samalah would often exclaim.

If Samalah saw the spirit stone in Dahlia’s head, she would probably plot something crazy against Dahlia. She might even think of selling her off to those who wanted the power of a Shadow wolf.

I tried to mentally shake those awful thoughts from my head. That won’t happen… Dahlly is safe, and she will continue to be safe as long as I don’t stop looking for her…

In a distance, we heard the galloping of horses. I went to the direction of the sound and met with Gideon.

“My lord, we spoke with every guard at Dalrus’ gates. They did not see two women with the description we provided leave the premise. Several people had left right after the commotion at the auction house, so I’m afraid we will have a hard time tracking them if they escaped through those routes.”

I stayed silent for a while, thinking of what to do.

“It’s alright. You can go back to Talandor. Send me a word through Lady Livia should my wife come home at any time,” I finally commanded.

“Then how about you, my lord? What are you planning to do?”

“I will continue to look for her, but I must do it alone.”

That’s right… If it’s Samalah, I must catch her on my own. Knowing how sly her methods were, making such a big ruckus out of Dahlia’s disappearance would just urge her to dispose of Dahlia more quickly.

Thus, if I go by myself and approach her as if I agree with all her plans against Dahlia, I‘ll have better chances of rescuing my wife.

It was a dirty tactic, but it has to work. It was, after all, my last option…