Chapter 132: Chapter 132

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 they just abandon you? You should have been enslaved – not me!”

I looked at Samalah’s scowled face… That idea about slaves she told me before… Was it possible that she did not invent it? Did she really experience becoming a slave?

“You’re right. They shouldn’t like someone like me, someone who is utterly useless,” I mumbled. “Actually I don’t like myself either…”

That’s right… Especially after finding out that I had indirectly caused my mother and Tristan’s mother’s death just by being born into this world, how can I ever be at peace?

“But I cannot be selfish and think only of those things now… I have people I need to protect,” I whispered back.

I have a baby on the way, and I promised Tristan I would help him get his revenge. Although I don’t have a clue how I could help him do that for sure, I’m going to fulfill that promise…

After all, this may well be the last promise I could make to my mate and my baby…

“Cut the crap, Dahlia! That baby in your belly – do you think Tristan would really be delighted to hear about it? Are you still under the illusion that he loves you? He likes your body, but once he finds out that you are carrying a child, he’ll discard you. After all, who’d love someone borne out of the enemy’s filthy flesh?”

Samalah turned around to the other side shortly after that. I tried to shut my eyes and sleep again, refusing to think that her hateful words carry any real meaning.

Actually, I was more concerned that Tristan would come to hate me even more for killing his mother.

As for my child, I don’t need Tristan. Even if he doesn’t love him, it won’t matter.

This child is mine – I had decided to give birth to him even before I learned who my husband was. I won’t change my decision just because I found out the truth…

I sighed. I closed my eyes again and tried to sleep some more.

The next thing I knew when I opened them, Tristan was carrying me in his arms in the dead of the night, his face a bloody mess.

“T-Tristan!”

“Don’t speak. Save your breath. We will have to go somewhere…”

“What? Why?...”

“That thing inside of you. We need to get it out.”

My eyes widened. Is he talking about the same thing I was thinking about before I slept?

“That thing, it will hurt you. You better remove it from your body…”

A tear fell from my eye… How did he know about the baby? And why?...

******************************

TRISTAN:

I tossed and turned in my bed near the fireplace. It was the first night after three days that I was sleeping without Dahlia, and it didn’t feel good.

For the sake of not looking suspicious, I pretended to sleep. However, I could still sense that the men around me were on high alert despite feigning a lack of will to get out of our captivity...

I must get Dahlly out of here. I don’t care whatever these rogues and vampires proposed to us, but they would never mean well.

I don’t trust them. I don’t trust the way that they look at Dahlly as if they were stripping her of her clothes…

Then, there was also the threat of Samalah. Leaving Dahlia alone with her was akin to pushing Dahlia to an early death. Samalah’s tongue was a far too dangerous weapon for her own good.

Thus, at the dead of the night, I used the only other option I have to get to my mate’s side. I turned myself invisible as I channeled Arthur’s form and scampered towards the cave as quietly as I could.

Good thing the rogues and vampires amongst us were idiots. They didn’t post any guards at the entrance of the cave where Dahlia and Samalah were staying. So far so good…

I thought everything would go well until I reached the cave’s entrance.

As soon as I get to it, the first thing I see was Samalah bending over Dahlia’s sleeping form. It seemed like she was laying a hand against Dahlia’s belly.

I lost my temper immediately and flung her into the wall of the cave away from Dahlia.

“What the hell are you doing,” I grunted just loud enough for her to hear.

Samalah laughed hysterically.

“I knew you’d come to her like this... Tell me, that blasted bitch – she is your real fated mate, right? You dare to conceal something as big as this from me?!”

“What the hell do you care? Why did you touch Dahlia,” I roared.

“Hah! So you have really gone crazy over that girl? Are you going to abandon me for her?”

“Samalah, it wasn’t I who had abandoned you first! You were the one who sold me off in the first place!”

“I didn’t sell you off! I didn’t even know you were coming!”

“I wasn’t just talking about your partnership with these rogues today. Back in Payn – did you not sell me off too? Tell me, weren’t you the one who tipped those royals that a Shadow wolf was behind the vampire village attacks?”

I already knew of it, but it was still sickening to see Samalah’s reaction when confronted with the truth.

“My bad, Tristan… But shouldn’t you be grateful instead? We succeeded in instilling fear using the name of the Shadow Runes in their hearts once more… I’m sure that those royals will be driven mad knowing that someone from your pack was out to get them.”

“Then you planned to use me all along, and for what? What is it that you truly desire, Samalah?”

She came closer towards me, her eyes full of sweet promises that it was hard to resist if I didn’t know the horrors she was capable of scheming.

“You and I are still on the same page, Tristan. We could end it – the reign of the Lyons! We could tear down the whole kingdom once we have joined forces with the vampires!”

She held a hand on my arm, stroking it in a seductive and highly persuasive manner. “So how about it, hmm? If we give them Dahlia, we could have it all – the power and the means to take our enemies down! We could become the rulers that would usher in a new world where people like us – people with powers – could conquer… We could crush our enemies just like that!”

I looked at the face of the woman I once held dear – too dear to follow her bidding for revenge…

For the first time, I saw what I was really like to her…

I was nothing but a tool… a pawn that she would need in order to put her schemes into play.

She used me. She was still using me, and she was even looping Dahlia into her web of deceit and retribution.