Page 1 of Ember's Dragon
Chapter One
Ember
“Stop holding it like that,” Mother scolded behind me. “You know we can’t afford to damage the carrots this season.”
“Yes, Mother,” I replied, holding back my eyeroll as I continued to rake at the dirt, something Father believed was necessary for the carrots to grow bigger. Such a waste of time and effort.
We were in our smallest garden beds, securing the root vegetables for winter. Otherwise we would likely starve. My parents really should’ve thought about their lack of money when they decided to have seven children, most of us omegas. Alphas would’ve been better for them, something they reminded us of often. Even with their two alpha sons, it still wasn’t enough. Alphas were stronger and could endure hard labor for longer than us. Then there was the heat issue, which I would soon suffer as well.
My heat would likely start within six months. I wasn’t at all happy about it, mostly because I had no alpha to take care of me. My parents weren’t interested in me finding a random alpha in town, not when I wasspecial. Did they treat me as if I was something special? No. But I was a rare shifter, a phoenix shifter at that. My parents knew I was worth something. I just fearedwhat that would mean for my future, especially now that Father had taken the horse into town and had seemed almost giddy as he rode off.
Father wasnota giddy man, in fact, I thought this morning was the first time I’d seen such joy from him. Other than when Mother’s heats were close. That was something I tried very hard not to think about. They were the reason there were so many of us that needed feeding. Mother had told us that the tea she needed to drink each heat to avoid pregnancies was too expensive for them. Taking care of children apparently wasn’t. Not that I’d said that aloud.
“Has Timothy been by?” Mother then asked, her tone a tad imploring.
Timothy was an alpha and my mother had this idea in her mind that I was secretly dating him. I wasn’t. My omega sister Rita was. She was only sixteen and there was no way I was telling Mother about that. I was twenty-one and I saw myself as too young for Timothy, who was thirty.
“I don’t think so,” I answered, continuing to rake carefully between the carrots.
Mother stopped her inspection of the spinach and glared my way. “You know he isn’t worth your time, right? We can’t have you giving him something and lose your value all because of…hormones.”
I froze in place. Was she seriously implying that I shouldn’t whore myself out to him when my heat hit?!
Before I could ask her to elaborate, we heard hooves on the ground and Father’s cheerful laughter as he approached the house. It was such a rare sound that all of my siblings rushed over to see what was happening. Even Mother ran to him, her dress dragging across the mud in her haste.
I followed reluctantly, wiping dirt off my hands on my pants as Father dismounted the horse. “We finally caught a break, my love!” Father announced, showing her a fine scroll of paper, a ripped red wax seal at the end. Mother didn’t even wipe her hands before grabbing the paper, reading it in a haste.
“You really managed to do it!” she gasped, her joy evident in her sparkling eyes.
Father looked like a proud alpha as he puffed out his chest. “Of course, I did. Now we just need to get him ready.”
“Oh, yes!” Mother said and then they both turned and faced me. Dread settled over me. This couldn’t be good news for me. “How much time do we have?” Mother asked, grimacing while giving me a once over.
“An hour,” Father sighed deeply. “But after this, we’ll live comfortably for ten years, if not more! And I already spoke to Dilligan in town on my way back, he agreed to work on the new house before winter.”
Mother clapped her hands excitedly. “We’ll celebrate with rabbit stew tonight then! But first.” She turned to me again. “Ember, go and bathe. We need you looking and smelling your best.”
My little brother Harry snorted. “Good luck with that.” He was my least favorite sibling, mostly because he was an alpha and therefore worth more to my parents. He was also a horse shifter and often did runs into town with our vegetables and other wares we sold. I was the least productive shifter of them all. My phoenix was just a parrot sized bird with flames that made working difficult. Not that they caught anything on fire, but I couldn’t always control the heat when I was agitated.
“Will his red hair be an issue?” Mother asked, shooing me inside.
“I don’t think so,” Father replied, following us in. “The crown prince just wants him for his shifted form, and womb.”
“Of course,” Mother said.
I heard nothing else as I entered our small bathroom and wiped myself down with cold water. Our soap a tiny laughable thing as I scrubbed at my skin until it was red. I was being sold off to the fae crown prince. What a miserable life I had. From poverty to slave. I’d known they had plans for me, but with the fae prince I would be nothing but a womb. The fae weren’t always successful in breeding with shifters, but it was possible. Our kingdom was ruled by the fae, and I had no idea if we would’ve been better off living in another kingdom where shifters were the monarchs. I guess I would soon get truly up close and personal with the fae and their ruling. I shuddered. The thought alone was terrifying.
I ran my hand through matted hair and sighed. Red hair was seen as something unflattering. I knew that, but I couldn’t helphow I was born. I was sure it came with my phoenix form, mostly because no one in my family had red hair. Nor did they have golden eyes, like I did. As I dunked my hair into the bucket to wash it quickly, I thought about escaping. Would I have time to make a run for it? Could I even survive on my own?
I sighed and ran the old towel over my wet hair. Running would be a mistake. I was close to my first heat, and I couldn’t just shift and show everyone my shifted form without me being in potential danger. “Danger like being sold to the future king…” I muttered to myself as I took in my appearance. I was average looking, at least I thought so. Our mirror wasn’t a good one and had lots of cracks going through it. One even made you look slightly distorted, but it was all we had.
The tiny window was always open to let in fresh air and I eyed it as I continued to dry my hair. Maybe I could fit through in my shifted form, but where would I fly to? At least with the crown prince I wouldn’t get killed.Or at least I hoped not.
“Ember!” Mother called, slamming her fist at the weak and protesting door. “They’ll be here any minute to pick you up! We need to make sure you look your best!”
I internally snarled at my mother for acting like this was something I should be happy about. I opened the door, making her stumble. She’d clearly been about to listen at the door. She knew me well enough to guess I would try to escape. I would have, had I thought I could survive on my own.
“I look fine enough to be sold, Mother,” I said, voice calm and devoid of all emotions. “Don’t worry, you’ll getyourmoney.”She flinched at my words, but then Father was there, snarling at me as he tugged mother away.
