Chained Hearts: From Slavery to Sovereignty
Chapter 54: The Predatory gaze

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: The Predatory gaze

The dimly lit room was filled with a soft, warm glow from a small candle flickering on a wooden table. Shadows danced on the walls as the flame swayed, but the atmosphere was far from serene.

Cassian lay on his bed, his face pale and glistening with sweat. His brow was furrowed in distress as he twisted and turned beneath the thin blanket, clearly trapped in a restless sleep.

Beside him, a small white snake coiled up, her scales shimmering faintly in the candlelight. She watched Cassian with wide, anxious eyes, sensing his turmoil. She was no ordinary snake.

"Come on, Cassian! Wake up! It’s just a dream!" she thought, desperately hoping her warmth would soothe him. "You can do it! I believe in you! Remember me, please!"

The little snake nestled closer to him, hoping her warmth would calm his agitation. She had bitten him, hoping that buried memories from the past would become clear to him. Finally, he would remember her existence.

She had waited for too long, and now he was here, but she could not get close to him. That thought alone was enough to pierce her very soul. Cassian was everything to her—her family, her savior, her friend, and the one who had given her life. She was like a little follower of him.

How could she only watch him and not talk to him? That’s why she had bitten him—so he would remember her, just about her, nothing more—even when she had been warned not to do this.

She had thought the pain would be fleeting, but as she watched him struggle, her heart sank. Had she done something wrong?

His face contorted in pain, and a small whimper escaped his lips. Lyra felt a wave of guilt wash over her. She never intended to hurt him; she only wanted him to remember the bond they once shared.

Her assumptions had gone wrong, because her plan had clearly backfired. If Cassian was seeing her memories, there should not be pain, but his condition was clearly saying something else. She feared that he was dreaming an entirely different scene that caused him so much pain—and it was surely not a good memory.

With each twist of Cassian’s body, her anxiety grew. "What if he never remembers me? What if he ends up resenting me?" Tears filled her big black eyes. "I can’t take that! I’m just a little snake! What if I have to go back to being all alone? My heart is already so small!"

Now? What to do? She really wanted to pull her scales, but she remembered she didn’t even have hair. Oh, how to vent her frustration? The little snake looked like a frostbitten eggplant, her big black eyes dimming as she could only flick her little forked tongue.

As Cassian twisted again, his breathing quickened, and she flicked her tongue nervously, tasting the air. He was in torment, and she was the cause of it. What if he never remembered her? What if he became resentful of her and didn’t like her anymore?

Tears slowly filled her big black eyes. She was still clumsy and could never do anything good; no wonder everyone abandoned her. She felt unworthy of anything. At that time, her clan had abandoned her; it was Cassian who had found her. If not for him, she would have surely died by now. Now, thinking that Cassian would also detest her, her little heart could not take it.

As she coiled around Cassian’s hand, her body shrinking against him, she looked like a pitiful creature—a tiny child wishing for comfort. "Why can’t I just talk to him? It’s so unfair! If I had hands, I’d give him a big hug! And maybe sweets. Everyone loves sweets!"

Ahh! A groan was heard in the silent night, and her attention shifted to the source of it. She looked and found that Cassian was stirring in his sleep, more uncomfortably, and his eyes were twitching like he was about to wake up.

Her little heart clenched, and she immediately darted to the window, knocking the glass on the table. "Oops! Sorry, sorry! Focus, Lyra!"

Ahh! Who? She increased her speed even more when she heard Cassian’s murmuring, her big eyes wide with fear and tension.

She immediately hid herself in the window, only her small head poking inside as she looked in with her glistening eyes. She found Cassian slowly opening his eyes and blinking slowly. Relief finally washed over her as Cassian was finally awake.

Cassian slowly sat up on the bed and held his forehead. "Why does it hurt so much?" he murmured, as if it would burst any time. His mind became jumbled from all the pain, but his gaze landed on the fallen glass and then the window.

"Oh no! He’s looking this way!" Lyra thought, her heart racing. "Don’t see me, don’t see me! I’m just a cute little snake! Just a tiny, adorable creature! What if I do the snake version of peek-a-boo? Does that work?"

She immediately became tense as Cassian’s gaze landed on the exact position she was in. If not for her good reflexes, he would have definitely caught her. If she had hands, she would surely clutch her heart, because it was beating so fast—just like humans do. But it was a shame that she had only a slippery body with no hands or feet.

Phew! She exhaled briefly when she looked back again and saw Cassian picking up the glass on the floor. After putting it back in its previous position, he returned to his previous sleeping position.

There was guilt in her eyes as she looked at the painful expression on Cassian’s face. She decided to go back from here and approach him next time when he was more stable, and then she would find out how much he remembered.

But just as she moved from her position, she sensed a foreboding presence behind her. A shiver ran along her body from head to tail.

She could feel the predatory gaze on her...