The Crown's Fire - Chapter 182

Chapter 182: A Glimpse of Her Forgotten Memories
[I managed to breach their bond!] Onyx suddenly informed Katelina, who was now resting on her bed. She had been napping, but the dragon’s words jolted her awake. She opened her eyes and sat up on the bed.

Onyx was not in the room, so she assumed it was with Levi and Ember in the other chamber.

[Oh, I’m sorry, did I wake you up?] he meekly asked in his little voice. Katelina chuckled and replied, [Yes, you did.]

[Oh, go back to sleep. I’ll tell you about it later. I am sorry,] he murmured with a sigh.

Her head was still aching. The dragon bond she had created between Luis and Jase was successful but had taken a toll on her inner energy. For now, she couldn’t allow Levi to perform such a complicated spell that she improvised, allowing a dragon to bond with its chosen dragonrider.

Feeling utterly weak and lethargic, Katelina sighed and laid back on her bed, closing her eyes.

[Onyx, you already mentioned it to me, so tell me about it now,] she sluggishly told the black dragon.

[Like I mentioned, I saw a dormant dragon bond in you to a golden dragon. It turned out, it’s the golden dragon spirit inside King Ezekiel of Ebodia! According to history and Levi, he’s the mighty Dragon King from ancient times. And it let me connect through the bond. Its name is Khal!] Onyx excitedly beamed.

Katelina palmed her face. It was another proof that she was truly connected to Ezekiel for her to have this kind of bond. But the question was, why was that dragon bond between them not working? She could not communicate with Ezekiel nor with this Khal through that bond, but how come Onyx could do it through her?

[How come I couldn’t connect to them through the bond,] she muttered to Onyx.

[I don’t know either, but let me try to reach out to them and ask about it,] Onyx offered, making Katelina smile.

[Can you not mention that it’s me who is asking?] she requested. She still felt embarrassed because of her last conversation with him.

[No problem, I’ll ask about it and tell you later. Please go back to sleep, Your Majesty,] Onyx suggested.

Katelina hummed, and then she let her heavy eyelids carry her into a deep slumber.

Katelina opened her eyes and found herself in a dark abyss. “What is going on? What is this?” She didn’t know what direction to take since it was so dark, but then she heard a woman sobbing, so she followed the sound of her voice.

Somehow her voice felt so familiar…

Her eyes widened when she saw herself crying in a suddenly lit room. Her face was undoubtedly hers… She had that charcoal black hair like her original hair before it turned silver-white when she woke up at Mount Sorel. The woman’s naked body shivered as she continued sobbing.

Katelina’s knees wobbled, and she fell, her lips quivering as she muttered, “What is this?!”

It was undeniably her that she was looking at. That naked and bruised woman was her!

“Heal her. And make sure I don’t want any bruises seen on her body,” she heard a man’s voice, making her heart thud loudly against her chest. Her face paled at that familiar voice, and tears rolled down her cheeks as she watched her pitiful self.

“No… Please no!” she closed her eyes, feeling the pain, disgust, and fear. She didn’t want to see what that woman, who looked exactly like her, was going through!

“No!!!!” she shouted as she jolted awake on her bed, gasping for air, feeling like she couldn’t breathe.

The adjacent door opened, and Asura entered with Levi and the two dragons.

Katelina looked at Asura, still trembling. “I… I’m s-scared…” she stuttered, and Asura hugged her. “I…” she gasped as she sobbed in her friend’s arms.

“Shhh, it’s just a bad dream,” Asura reassured her.

“No, it felt real, Asura. That voice… I… He’s disgusting…” she cried, unable to control the fear coursing through her. Her body still trembled as if she was experiencing the same terror she felt in that dream while watching herself. She could feel her emotions…

She tried to calm herself because Levi was there, and she didn’t want her brother to see her like this.

“Asura, please tell Levi to go back to his room,” she whispered to Asura, who complied, silently ushering Levi out before turning back to Katelina.

“I heard him, that man. I saw myself beaten up and naked…”

Asura released a deep sigh. “I don’t know exactly what you experienced with Devon before, but that man is obsessed with you. Luis and I tried our best to gather information about you since Devon brought you and Levi to Helion. I always tagged along with my father whenever he went to Helion and asked about you…”

Asura paused, her expression pained. She never delved into Katelina’s past inside Helion, knowing it was filled with horrendous memories. But now Katelina needed to know.

“Tell me, I want to overcome these nightmares, so please tell me…” Katelina pleaded.

Asura took a deep breath before speaking. “During the early days of your captivity, you were always fighting Devon, so you often ended up getting beaten up while he…” She hesitated.

“He what?”

“Molested you… I’m not sure how he harassed you exactly, but I heard he would go to extremes without fully taking your virginity, because once you lost it, you would also lose your gift of foresight,” Asura explained.

That explained the disgust, anger, and fear she just felt…

“There were also times he would lock you in the dungeon naked and threaten to hurt Levi if you didn’t submit to him. I think Levi was the reason why, after almost a year, you changed…” Asura continued.

“What do you mean I changed?”

“You approached things differently. It’s like you became Devon’s puppet, a submissive mistress to him. I believe that’s when you started planning to escape… I don’t know all the details from there aside from some things you asked me to do and messages you want me to deliver to Luis…” Asura explained.

“I… I don’t want to remember those memories, Asura,” she murmured, tears continuing to roll down her cheeks. She grabbed her chest, feeling like she couldn’t breathe. It was only a glimpse of her forgotten memories, but how much worse would it be if she fully remembered them?