Panicked by past

"So you are not his slave anymore?" Tyson asked with shock. After looking at how beautiful she is, he couldn't believe that Raphael let her go easily. 

They are sitting in front of the small but that she built for herself. She is looking at the small fire in front of her. As the sun has gone down, the cold breeze began to blow, which made her shiver. Tyson easily lit a fire using his dragon breath. The dried twigs began to burn, slowly spreading warmth and chasing away the coldness.

Valerie sighed heavily and shook her head. Oddly she is feeling an uncomfortable twitch in her heart knowing that she might never see Prince Raven again.

Tyson on the other hand is happy. He is meddling with the bonfire in the middle. His back is facing her, so she missed the smile on his face. But Raphael didn't.

"I am glad that you got rid of him" he muttered.

Valarie smiled.

"It's more like the other way around. He got rid of me" she whispered sadly. 

Her statement shocked both men. Tyson turned his head and looked at her with confusion. Raphael cocked his head and looked at her with surprise.

'This girl is a mystery ' he thought to himself. They failed to find out who she is and where she came from. Raphael found her that night, and she stayed with him and shared his bed for one year. But still, he doesn't know anything about her. Her name is the only thing she shared with them willingly. Her silence was her answer to every other question they asked.

'Indeed ' his dragon agreed.

"What do you mean? You are the most soft-hearted person I have ever met. You are pure and beautiful. Why would anyone want to get rid of you? He got the lucky chance of being with you for one year. I am shocked to find out that the Raven prince allowed you to leave at all. If I ever get a chance, then I would never let you go again" he confessed.

To any other girl, his words would have made them feel ecstatic. They would have squealed with happiness and they would have even jumped into his arms. But to her, a fragment of her past flashed in her mind. 

'I will never let you go ' those same words from her past made her feel unsettled and scared. 

'No, please goddess, save me from them ' she wished.

Raphael noticed the small frown and a flicker of terror in her eyes for a split second before it vanished. He learned to observe every little thing she does in this one year. She was always under his scrutiny even though she is not in front of him. He wanted to unravel this mystery named Valerie.

"That's what I am worried about" she whispered absently. Tyson is preoccupied with the bonfire, so he didn't seem to hear her words. 

The more Valarie shares, the more mysterious she makes Raphael feel. 

'Is she scared of going back home?' he realized by what she shared until now.

Tyson fixed the flame so that the fire is not too vigorous or not too little. After he is done, he moved back and sat beside her. 

"You know Valerie, you remind me of a beautiful red rose," Tyson shared with a soft smile.

Suddenly she moved away from him as if his proximity is hurting her. Her breathing picked up and she began to gasp for breath. The dusky green pastures around her began to disappear and stone walls appeared around her. She found herself in a box which is filled with rose stems that have thorns on them. She is bleeding from everywhere, as the thorns are pricking her everywhere. Even a slight moment is agonizing.

"No, no, please" she began to beg when they dumped more thorny stems in the box.

Tyson is shocked to see Valerie lying on the ground and begging him to stop. She became pale and she began to cry. She was fine one second and the other second she is not.

"Valerie, Valerie" he tried to help her. But the moment he touched her, she began to fight with him and crawled out of his reach.

"What is wrong with her?" he thought with panic.

"Water, I think she might need some water," he thought and ran to fetch some water.

As soon as he ran away, Raphael hurried towards Valerie and roughly pulled her into a sitting position. She is fighting against his hold with everything she got. She managed to Scratch his arms, but he twisted her arms behind her back and held them firmly with one hand. He caught her face by firmly holding her cheeks and growled angrily. At once she stopped struggling. Her teary eyes snapped open with shock. But her gaze is unfocused as if she is inside her head.

"Please" she begged him. Fear, pain, misery, helplessness, her gaze holds a myriad of emotions. 

Raphael's protective instinct came back ten folds. He never saw someone in so much pain. For the first time, he couldn't stop himself from helping her pull out of where ever she is in her head.

"Look into my eyes Valerie" he commanded. Like every other time, she instantly looked into his eyes and obeyed his command. He saw how vulnerable she is. 

'What is this? Who are you?' he thought to himself.

'He will come for me. He said he will never let me go. He will throw me in that box with thorns again. It will hurt so much ' to his shock, she replied to him by connecting her mind with his.

For a moment everything stilled. He couldn't understand if she really spoke or if he imagined it. Because connecting to a royal dragon so deeply is impossible. She connected with him easily and even replied with her mind.

'Hydra, did you hear that?' he asked his dragon. 

'Impossible, this is impossible. How did she connect with us? The power to connect like this is lost in time. Who is she?' he asked with awe.

'He will come for me. Her highness got hurt because of him ' Valerie spoke again. 

This time she got his full attention.

'Who? Who is he? Why did he hurt her highness?' he questioned Valerie.

His familiar demanding voice and his scent brought her back to the present.

Her eyes came back to focus again. She looked straight into his eyes.

"Because she tried..." she whispered out loud before losing her conscience. She sagged on to Raphael, who caught her on instinct. 

His mind is whirling with shock and confusion. He always prided himself that he will not being fazed by anything or anyone. From childhood, he is not a very emotional person. He was taught to rein in his emotions to become a successful king. He loves his mother and respects his father. A rare smile at his mother is the only thing that he remembers doing. But from the moment Valerie came into his life, she never fails to bring out his every emotion to life. Starting with anger, frustration, lust, protective instinct, jealousy, and now shock. You name it she did it. She is like a twisted pretzel without a beginning or end. Once she came into your life, she is everywhere.