Chained Hearts: From Slavery to Sovereignty 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 fla 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 shimring faintly in the candlelight. She watched Cassian with wide, anxious eyes, sensing his turmoil. She was no ordinary snake.

"Co 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! Rember , please!"

The little snake nestled closer to him, hoping her warmth would calm his agitation. She had bitten him, hoping that buried mories from the past would beco clear to him. Finally, he would rember 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 rember 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 sothing 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 rember the bond they once shared.

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

With each twist of Cassian’s body, her anxiety grew. "What if he never rembers ? What if he ends up resenting ?" 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 rembered 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 tornt, and she was the cause of it. What if he never rembered her? What if he beca 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 ti, 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 imdiately 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 imdiately 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 ti. His mind beca 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 , don’t see ! 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 imdiately beca 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 sha 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 ti when he was more stable, and then she would find out how much he rembered.

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...