Chapter 26: Chapter 26

TRISTAN:

As soon as I possessed Dahlia’s mesmerizing body, I got lost in the heat of things. I had only meant to give the illusion of marking her and perhaps to pleasure her a little since this was her first time, but I didn’t know I’d get myself so entangled at the heat the moment as my body collided with hers.

Despite extent of the rage I feel for her, I cannot deny that she’s a stunning, stunning woman. I could understand the madness seeping through the Talandor prince as he clung into her desperately. She was one heck of a beauty! Even when her body was so much more than I had imagined it to be, I cannot tear away from her lovely face as we made love.

The moment that she had reached that final summit of pleasure, Dahlia immediately lost her consciousness.

This was when my real work began. After making sure that she’s already asleep, I crept into her side and whispered the spell.

“Ipseus…”

Almost immediately, a gray-violet smoke crept out of my mouth and into her neck, where I had earlier kissed her. The smoke curled itself until a black tattoo of a wolf’s face was perfectly imprinted on her silken skin.

Once the magic of the spell was over, I fingered the mark that had appeared. It looked good. I wondered how long the mark would last. This would be enough to fool her, won’t it?

That’s right… Lady Dahlia Hurst isn’t my mate, but I have to make her believe that she’s mine…

After lightly touching the mark I made with a spell, looking to see if it was okay, I was finally satisfied. Dahlia was still fast asleep. I picked up her dress that I had discarded on the head of the bed and slowly put it on her. It was funny; I had a damned hard time figuring out how to properly put the dress back on her, but she didn’t wake up at all.

I smirked. How can she be so trusting of me? I looked at her innocent face as she slept. What if someone strangled her while she’s so defenseless like this? She would probably die without suspecting it was me, won’t she?

‘Forget it,’ I thought. I needed Dahlia if I wanted to execute my plan. She needed to stay with me and be my wife until the day that I succeed.

Once I had finished dressing her up, I pulled the blanket up and covered her, and then I immediately went outside.

My hunch was right. As soon as I reached the bushes right below my bedroom window, Samalah emerged from the trees, her sleek, silver hair glowing in the moonlight, making her pointed fairy-ears more prominent than ever.

“What the hell are you doing snooping around like that,” I said in hushed anger. Dahlly had almost caught her. No, it was more accurate to say that Dahlly did catch her. I just had to do my best to distract her, so I could do what I had to on our first night together.

For the first time, Samalah’s eyes were misty… Did she cry?

“Did you… You did it, didn’t you,” she said. I could sense the heaviness of disappointment in her face and on her whole body. “You slept with her. You really intended to mark her?”

“Of course I did,” I replied in a hushed tone. “How do you think I could trick her into thinking I marked her if I won’t sleep with her?” Why was Samalah behaving like this? The last thing I needed was her tears to remind me of how trashy I have just behaved.

“You… I told you to just use a dream spell. That alone would have sufficed. Why did you have to do that?”

“No matter how powerful our spells are, there isn’t anything more powerful than an ingrained thought. How can I trick her into getting a mark if I don’t sleep with her even just once? You said so yourself, right? I had to become someone vicious if I wanted all of this to succeed…”

“Yeah… But I didn’t know you would really do it,” Samalah hissed at me.

I looked back at Samalah. Why was she behaving like I’ve done something wrong to her?

The idea of that drunken moment when she kissed me and slept with me flashed back at my memory in an instant. She told me the next day that it was nothing… Why then was she acting like I’ve deliberately hurt her today?

“Anyway, I had casted the mark tampering spell now when she fell asleep. I’m sure it’ll work,” I said.

Samalah and I had researched enough about the mark tampering spell. If I do it right, there was a big chance that the mark that will appear in Dahlia’s body will last enough for me to succeed on my plans. It probably wouldn’t resemble the real tattooed mark that genuine fated mates really have, but it will be enough to fool her for quite some time before she begins to suspect…

I just needed her to stay with me for six months… Six months and then I can discard her.

The moment that the thought of discarding her flashed into my head, Albus and Arthur growled at me. Arthur even snapped his ferocious black snout at me, as if threatening to kill me.

‘What are you saying about Eva! Don’t you dare hurt our mate!’

‘Relax,’ I reminded him. ‘You know very well she isn’t really our mate. She’s that filthy prince’s mate…’

‘You’re wrong. She is no one else but ours.’

I gave up trying to fight the possessive thoughts of my wolves. Ever since they had set eyes on Dahlia, they had been calling her that fond title – mate – despite knowing that we were working under a spell.

That’s quite impossible though. Five years ago, while I was learning magic on my own, I came across a forbidden spell… It was a spell to suppress finding one’s mate and developing a destined bond.

I couldn’t ascertain whether the spell actually worked because its origin was that of dark magic, and the only teacher I’ve got was myself… I only knew that the spell existed, and I knew this was what I needed the most.

In order to seek my revenge, the last thing I’d need was a mate. I don’t need the distraction provided by love. I only needed to succeed, and a mate would certainly get on my way.

On that same day, I cast that forbidden spell onto myself, and so far, it had worked. I have reached twenty five years of age and had travelled so much around the continent, but never once did I encounter the call of a fated mate until I happened to show myself up in front of Dahlia Hurst.

I’m sure that Albus and Arthur were merely confused. We were operating under the illusion of a potion intended to entrap Dahlia. After all, Samalah did say that her experimental potion was supposed to copy the feelings evoked by a fated mate, so it was just natural that Dahlia’s heart would race uncontrollably whenever she sees me or that her wolf would acknowledge me. It was just unfortunate that I didn’t expect the potion to work on me too. Now, I can even create a mind-link with Dahlia. Perhaps that’s why the wolves inside me were behaving like lovesick puppies.

It doesn’t matter though… No matter what happens, I’ll get my revenge on everyone, starting with Lady Hurst…

It took me twenty years to prepare for this. I’ll make sure that the least they could do once I’m finished is to beg for their deaths in front of me. At the end, they wouldn’t even know that I, the final Shadow heir, the lone survivor of that blasted massacre of the pack they deemed as their long-hated enemy had already entrapped them…