Ember’s Dragon (The Teovarian Dragons #1)

1. Chapter One

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 was special.

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 feared what 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 was not a 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 help how 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 get your money.” She flinched at my words, but then Father was there, snarling at me as he tugged mother away.

“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 for your family’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 thinking you’re the 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 my chest. 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.