Chapter 13: New Strategy

DAHLIA:

My own father could very well be the culprit… He must be the one who ordered the men to shoot arrows at Tristan – this was the conclusion I had come up on my own.

Papa was a stern man. He would sometimes lose his temper on me and grip my arms hard, but he never did anything beyond that point… Or am I mistaken?

Can it really be true? Can he order my own fated mate to be shot just so that he and the king can save face and go through with the wedding? Didn’t he care what I would feel like if I lose my mate?

I gripped my chest while gliding at the hall after bolting out as I remember this. I felt a physical kind of pain seize me abruptly. I heard that when one is unfortunate enough to lose a fated mate, that person starts to perish on the inside.

Even just the thought of losing Tristan, a mate I have not known for a long time, was enough to drive me crazy. I felt a great pain already started to tug so strongly at my chest. What more would the pain be like should I really lose him?

“Lady Hurst, wait up!”

Distracted, from my morbid thoughts, I looked at the face of the person I had almost lost because I was stupid enough to ask Kaist’s help and tell my father I had finally found my mate. Tears began pooling at the corners of my eyes as I looked at Tristan coming swiftly to where I was standing.

“You look pale,” he said once he had come closer.

“I’m… I’m sorry it was my fault,” I said. If anything was to happen to him, I’ve only got my own self to blame. Stupid, stupid Dahlly! How can I have been so stupid!

“Shhh, it’s alright, don’t blame yourself,” he said softly. He clasped my shoulders and patted them gently. “It wasn’t you who wanted me dead, so don’t blame yourself…”

Why were his arms always so comforting? Twice I had cried in his presence today, and twice he had soothed me as such.

Unfortunately, we were doing this in the hallway. Perhaps we were bound to get caught.

“Dahlly!” I heard papa’s sharp voice from behind me. Tristan immediately spun me around and put me behind him. This gesture made papa even more furious.

“You – who are you?!”

“I am Dahlia’s mate, and I claim the right to break her engagement and wed her!”

I don’t know where Tristan’s guts and bravery were coming from. I started to slightly tremble as I looked at papa’s reddened face. I clung at part of Tristan’s arms for support.

“You scoundrel! How can you say such lies to my face? Where is your proof that you are Dahlly’s mate? His mate is none other than the prince of this kingdom!”

“That is the real lie that you are speaking about, or did you start to believe that just so you can sell off your daughter to the crown,” my mate sharply replied.

Even though I couldn’t see Tristan’s eyes myself, I knew his gaze did not waver. I drew courage on the fact that he was there, telling my father the things I had to tell him, but I could not.

“Foolish wolf, seize him! You deserve a night in the castle’s basement for this!”

“Who are you to order the men around here? You’re not even the prince’s in-laws yet, but you already act like you own this place!”

My heart was beating so fast, I swear I might just be seconds away from a heart attack! Papa had authority among the knights. If he wanted to, he could really arrest Tristan and detain him for life.

“What right do you have to arrest a noble man without just cause, Duke Hurst? Surely, you wouldn’t commit such a crime in front of so many witnesses!”

What was Tristan saying? I am not fully convinced, but maybe papa was really such a man – a man capable of using dirty tactics to get rid of him. I remembered the emblem of the House of Lyon. We belong to the same pack with Kaist and the king – the White Fang Pack, and right now, my father is the beta and acting alpha of the pack. Maybe he really could be involved in the attempted assassination of my mate!

Before any harm can befall him further, I braved my trembling self to speak. “Papa, please do exercise caution. Count Abell of Crohmwall District will be leaving soon.”

That’s right… The best way for now was to send Tristan away… His life was far more important than anything, even my own mere inconvenience against this arranged predicament…

“Lady Hurst!” I can sense the strong resistance coming from Tristan. I spoke to him through our mind-link.

‘You said you will rescue me, right? Then, first of all, don’t die…’

For the first time, Tristan fell speechless. He only looked at me with a worried face.

“You – if you pull out another trick like this and upset my daughter or his majesty further, know that Crohmwall District will be obliterated from the map! I mean it!”

I gasped. This threat – papa really did plan the assassination!

“Please go, Count Abell… I’m perfectly safe here, I assure you… You don’t need to worry” I breathed in with controlled horror in my voice.

The look in Tristan’s eyes was that of pity. I immediately averted them. “Sir Raleigh, please escort the count back to the party. Papa and I will retire first.”

This was all I could do for now. I’ll just think of a better plan later on when I’ve cleared my head…

‘Let’s think this through first,’ I whispered through my head, hoping that my mate was able to catch it before we left.

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

The next day, to my utter disappointment, I cannot talk to Tristan again in my head.

I wanted to come up with a better outcome about this predicament, but no matter how much I think of it, I don’t see a better solution other than running away, which more or less will eventually lead to the further descend of the kingdom into chaos, given its current circumstances...

The truth was that Kaist and his father do not seem to be handling the talk with the vampires very well. They are also doing what they can with the rogue invasion, but the assaults had lasted for more than three years now, and the outskirts are suffering more and more…

I am not convinced that our political marriage is the best solution for this right now. I feel that such a move is just a distraction from the real issues of the kingdom, but what can I do? I had already addressed my concerns to papa, but he didn’t think that a girl like me should have a say to state affairs… Does he not know though that if only men would be permitted to shape the state of the world, everything will be plunged in chaos?

“Lady Dahlia.” Lina excitedly burst into the room and shut the door abruptly behind her. She whispered again, “Lady Dahlia, this morning, a certain man was looking for you. I suppose he was your mate!”

I straightened my back from the bed. Papa was still grounding me on the account of how I behaved after learning about my engagement. I was only allowed to stay in the room and had minimal interactions with the servants, even with Lina.

“What happened? Did they talk? Did papa do something to him?” My heart pounded wildly in fear.

“He sent some gifts, but the duke refused them all and did not even allow him to make it past the gates. He said he wanted to formally ask your hand in marriage. I’ve never seen someone so bold,” Lina said in a hushed but excited voice.

My heart made cartwheels inside of my rib cage too. Somehow, I felt touched that Tristan would do such a thing for someone he knew so little of just so he could help her. Maybe he was really just a nice person, but in my heart, I hoped his feelings for me run deeper than pity…

“Lady, are you and him already lovers?”

I can feel my cheeks heating up. “No, we are not lovers, but he is trying to help me...”

“But how about that mark on your neck last night? Isn’t that a sign that he likes you more than friends?”

“He said it would be easier to find me with this… I think he was just genuinely concerned…” I almost forgot about that mark! I heard mates could mark each other to deepen their bonds and to enable them to track one another… Tristan did see me cry last night. Maybe he was moved by my tears and pitied me greatly…

But how would pity explain that quick peck on my lips and his declaration that he wanted to claim me as his own in front of father? Those were some things that still confuse me.

I shook my head. I shouldn’t be swayed by fleeting emotions yet. I still don’t know much about him other than his name and his newly instated title…

“Help me get dressed, Lina. Today, papa promised that I could go out and buy my engagement gifts for Kaist and the king. I shouldn’t waste this opportunity to go outside.”

That’s right… I must endure this situation for now… Tristan promised to help me out of this predicament. Maybe with him, I can work out a new strategy so that I could evade this arrangement properly.

However, a few hours after I went outside and found myself in Camilla’s dress shop after being forcibly dragged by papa’s attendants to pick a wedding dress, I saw him again – my mate.

This time, though, my resolution was clear… I must stay away from him for good!