Page 2 of Ember's Dragon
“You better be on your best behavior, or else,” he warned.
“Or else what?” I hedged. “You’ll sell me off to another alpha who wants to breed me?”
“You better watch your mouth,” Father snapped. “We’ve fed you for over twenty years, the least you can do is pay us back.”
I rolled my eyes, knowing he couldn’t hurt me. Not when I was paid off and needed to be delivered in “good condition”. As I passed them, heading for the front door that still stood wide open, I said, “Some alpha you are, needing to sell off your own child to pay foryourfamily’s survival.”
Father snarled behind me, but he never touched me as I stepped outside, ready to wait for the royal carriage to come and pick me up. No one from my family joined me outside by the fence, just watched from a distance. Or so I thought.
“Fuck you!” Rita snarled, startling me
“Excuse me?!”
“You’re leaving us here with an angry alpha, all because you’re too self-centered to see how fucking lucky you are! You belong to the future king! But oh no,wah wah, poor me having to leave this hellhole and live in the palace. All you have to fucking do is spread your legs for the crown prince and give him children and you’ll live in luxury for the rest of your life! You’re so fucking pathetic for thinkingyou’rethe one being wronged here!”
“So, you’d be fine spreading your legs for an alpha you never chose for yourself?” I countered, crossing my arms over mychest. I had on the same clothes as before, simply because I didn’t have anything else to wear, just my muddy pants and loose light brown shirt that was filled with holes and mud.
Rita’s eyes flickered with something I couldn’t decipher. “I already do what I must to secure my own survival in this world, and I will not be blamed for what I do to not end up starving each winter.”
Realization set in. “Timothy?”
She glared at me, but then nodded. “If I can marry him, I’ll be set. I wouldn’t be happy, but I doubt I’ll ever be that here anyway.”
A headache was forming and what should’ve been a normal day spent working on our crops, had turned into a shit-show. I now saw my family for who they truly were. Rita was already thinking about her future and she was only sixteen. Had I lived in denial all of these years? I didn’t have plans for myself, had only hoped to one day find an alpha I would love, but nothing more than that, not about how my future would look, or even where I would end up.
The sound of wheels on gravel and hooves broke the sudden silence between us, but before I could give my sister one last goodbye, she was gone.
Chapter Two
Ember
The carriage felt crowded, even if I was the only person inside. Outside there were at least twelve guards who rode on either side, securing the royal property, which I was now. I fiddled with my thumbs, feeling so out of place and dirty inside the pristine carriage. Even the seat was cushioned and comfortable. My muddy pants should’ve never been anywhere close to the soft and luxurious fabric.
The royal palace was only an hour away and we reached it sooner than I would’ve liked. I heard the guards call out for the crown prince. Excitement seemed to break out just outside what now felt like my sanctuary. I did not want to leave the carriage, no thank you.
The carriage door was opened and there he was, the crown prince. He smiled widely, his perfect white teeth gleaming with happiness. He didn’t even seem to mind my appearance as he held out his hand for me. I took it and stepped outside, only to then realize he wasn’t the crown prince, he couldn’t be, not when a man wearing a crown stood close by and glared.
“He is absolutely perfect!” the man who still held on to me gushed as he hurried me over to the crown prince. “Just look at his hair! Exactly like the old books foretold!”
“We’ll need to make sure it’s not simply colored,” the crown prince drawled, barely looking my way.
“Of course!” the man agreed easily. He then turned his head to face me, still smiling happily. “My name is Rad and I’m the royal historian. I told our lovely crown prince, Lianthorn, that you would be perfect for him to breed with.”
I almost choked on air. Did he seriously just say that to my face? My appalled expression made him falter. “Were you not told this?”
I gritted my teeth and spoke as calmly as I could muster. “I was only told I was sold and that I was basically worth nothing more than my womb. Is there anything else that I need to know about?” Yes, I sounded like a petulant child, but fuck they were assholes.
Lianthorn sneered at me. “You should be honored to be bred by royalty, peasant.”
I shrank in on myself. Iwasa peasant. One that he now owned. I couldn’t risk getting sent back to my family. They would disown me anyway and what would I do then?
Averting my gaze to the ground, I kept my mouth shut as Rad dragged me inside. Likely to wash out my hair.
It had been two tortured days. But I was still alive and hadn’t been defiled by the sneering prince just yet. I was actually left alone for most of the day, which I appreciated. Rad was very interested in my shifted form. It wasn’t until after I’d shifted in front of the fae royal family that they seemed to believe I truly was a phoenix shifter. Lianthorn didn’t treat me any better after that. He actually seemed to hate me. But then why buy me?
“You don’t actually believe his highness will be satisfied with that?” An omega sneered in the doorway. I was minding my own business in the library, reading, ortryingto read, a book. I was only taught a little and these words were so proper that I couldn’t understand them correctly.
“He’s perfect!” Rad exclaimed proudly to the newcomer. Rad lived in the library and he was the one person I’d met in the palace that I could actually stomach being around. It seemed my safe haven was now ruined, though, by the look of utter distaste from the omega.
