Chapter 109: Chapter 109

TRISTAN:

I admit it. I was furious beyond reason. I even imagined strangling Samalah with my own bare hands at this very moment...

As always though, she remained calm and emotionless. She must be confident that I wouldn’t or I couldn’t hurt her at all. She had always trusted our intertwined history together.

“Calm yourself. I can’t breathe,” she quietly said.

I looked into her eyes and tried to decipher the depth of the schemes that were going through her head. Despite growing up together under Uncle’s Milford’s care, I could never really figure out this woman.

I channeled the emotions inside my heart. She was right. I didn’t want to hurt her. Not until I hear her words about this ruckus with Dahlia.

As soon as I released the hold on the air around us, Samalah gasped. Finally, she was showing some fear when she looked back at me after being unable to breathe properly.

“Why are you pretending to be him? Why are you assuming someone else’s identity, hmm… Naskan?”

“Answer me first. Why did you kidnap her?”

“Well, if I didn’t, she would have been long dead,” Samalah answered in jest.

I snatched Samalah’s arm. I was starting to lose my patience again.

“Dead? You were planning something with her, am I right? Just what are you going to do with Dahlly?”

“Easy, Naskan… Dahlly’s husband was a violent man. You don’t want her to be reminded of how aggressive he could be, right?”

I clasped her other arm. “Tell me what you plan to do! Why did you say those awful things to Dahlly? Why are you lying to her?”

Samalah answered me back coolly. “Didn’t you see it – the red ruby?”

My eyes popped out in surprise. She must have seen Dahlly’s wolf. “What of it? What did you do with it?”

“It had attached itself to Dahlia. I tried to remove it, but it was impossible.”

“You tried to hurt her?”

“I just tested its powers. It has incorporated itself into her wolf. At this rate, it would be impossible to separate it on our own. You know what that means, right?”

Samalah began to smoothen the lopsided collar of my shirt. “The longer we let the red ruby stay on her, the more dangerous it will be. We need a stronger magic to help her out… We need to go back to your lair.”

I cursed in irritation. I hated to think that Samalah tried to harm my mate just to test the red ruby’s magic.

She’s got a point, however. The longer that stone stays in Dahlia’s body, the more endangered her life would be.

Spirit stones are inborn. They are legacies passed on from one Shadow Rune wolf to another by birth. However, there had been cases where the stone was forced into someone, and more often than not, the results weren’t good…

Spirit stones hold a great amount of magic. Most ordinary wolves’ bodies wouldn’t be able to handle the powers they possess. Many died on the spot when they were forced to be incorporated with a spirit stone.

There are exceptional instances of wolves being able to handle the spirit stones’ power though. It usually happens when the spirit stones choose their owners.

There would usually be an irresistible attraction to the stones. In such an instance, the stone would bind themselves to the new owners without the need for a binding ritual.

I don’t know what happened to Dahlly during the moments that I wasn’t by her side. What if she was made to participate into a binding ritual without her consent?

If that was the case, then there was a high chance that her physical body would slowly erode under the power of the stone.

Not to mention the fact that all kinds of creatures would be after her since she has now become a temporary Shadow wolf. I’m sure news of her had already spread after that catastrophe at the auction house yesterday…

Either way, Dahlia’s life is in danger. I must stay close enough to protect her.

“Fine. Let’s travel back to Laudicia,” I replied reluctantly.

Laudicia – the once home of the fallen kingdom of the Shadow Runes. It held so much painful memories for me that I never wanted to go back there…

No matter how much I hated it though, I must journey back there for Dahlia’s sake. If we go back to my birthplace, we would most likely find clues about the binding magic of the stone and how to possibly undo it.

“But are you sure that’s your real plan? You didn’t plan to sell Dahlly, didn’t you?”

“Of course not, lover boy… I know how much it’ll hurt you if she was ever claimed by another creature if I did sell her off. Wasn’t that an after effect of being magically mated with her,” Samalah replied.

Samalah continued her speech while tracing her slim fingers through the folds of my half-opened shirt. “Before Dahlia could escape, I saw someone attack her. She lost consciousness, and we barely managed to escape. I only took her along out of pity. Dahlly would have been in graver danger had I left her alone in that auction house.“

She continued. “I didn’t know she’ll end up losing her memories like this. It has actually become easier now that she doesn’t remember anything. I saw how you suffered from hiding the truth from her, especially about you and Livia’s true nature all this time…”

She began to play with the buttons of my clothes. “Have you got no faith in me… Naskan? Do you not believe me that I was only trying to help her out?”

“Of course, I trust you,” I lied to Samalah. She hasn’t discovered yet that Dahlia and I aren’t just magically bonded but were actual fated mates… She mustn’t know it, or she might really kill Dahlia. “How else would I agree to this plan of pretending to be Naskan?”

“Then, you agree to my plans, right? You are still with me and our revenge?”

“I had always been on-board with all your plans, have I not,” I said, spewing more and more lies. “After all, we need Dahlia. She is still a vital part of our revenge…”

If this was the one and only way I could save Dahlia from being further entangled at this web of deceit and conspiracies I have woven around her, I’ll lie in a heartbeat a thousand times more even in front of someone I used to like in the past; especially if that someone was as cunning and heartless as Samalah…