Wildfire

One

"No, Mama...Please..." It seems as though no matter how much I beg, My parents are determined to get me through the Palace gates, not caring if this arrangement is something that I might want, "The invitation wasn't for me! It was for real members of the branch families!" Not for the orphaned children they take in and raise. I have no business here, that had been made clear time after time when my name had been left off of invitation after invitation sent out by the ruler of our Kingdom and his family. I am not recognized as the youngest child of the Cloud family because I lack the blood and breeding, not even the cousin of a cousin to the family that had cared for me so deeply since discovering me swaddled and waiting at the gate of their own estate, my actual parents likely paupers who couldn't afford another mouth to feed.

The sprawling ancient palace in front of us belongs to the Royal family, the King having recently allowed his son to rest upon its highest peak in his shifted form to bellow out a call that had shaken all of the branch families to their cores... A mating call unlike any other it had affected all of the unmated child-bearers in the area, myself included. It had forced me to my knees ready to weep from the distress caused by the unexpected shudders that had rocked my frame, the urge to run to him unsettling... I had wept then too, much out of the same fear coursing through me now... A fear of those who call the extravagant palace carved of gold and brimstone castle home.

Any other time I would jump at the chance to be invited to the palace with my safety all but guaranteed if only long enough for me to stroll through the gardens that have been rumored to be more lovely than all the riches in the world, the roses that grow here so fine that they themselves are the Royal family's crest... But my desire to see the roses is much out shadowed by my will to stay alive... My presence would be an insult to the Crown, and even though my parents know this, they keep insisting, twisting their words this way and that, but only really saying one thing, "The invitation was for all eligible unclaimed to present themselves. You are our child, the child of a branch family no matter what anyone else says! You are beautiful enough to be presented with the rest of the eligible girls, Rayne. It wasn't as if the Prince's call specified 'But only purebred dragons!' at the end."

It's hard to tear my wrist from her hand after she grabs it again to try and lead me inside, my Father having taken my sisters inside the gates already to find our rooms so they might freshen up before being presented this evening at dinner, "Mama, I'm not even a girl! I'm a runt! The Prince won't want me!"

He won't want me now all red in the face and covered in the tears. He won't want me sheltered in his home... And he most definitely will not want me presented to him and his father, the King, this evening in full dress mixed amongst the angel-faced beauties of the land.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is that you're beautiful, and you can give him babies. You wouldn't be the first male Queen to sit on the throne if selected, and you won't be the last. Now stop embarrassing me and come along!" The way Mama hisses at me in her anger I'm fearful to go anywhere with her, let alone to our families accommodations where we would be sheltered from the eyes of curious onlookers and she'd be able to strike me across the cheek for giving lip and being difficult in such a public place, "You need to be quiet and stop resisting this, Rayne. We are not going to snub His Royal Highness over being shy. Everything will be fine if you just listen for once. All it takes is just one look, and you watch, Prince Emrys will fall for you and you'll look back on this moment sitting on his lap a month from now and realize just how foolish you are when you let your thoughts run away with you."

Mama's words do nothing to comfort me, only causing my tears to run faster as she grabs me by the wrist yet again, her grip so tight that it leaves no room for me to wiggle my way free as she starts to pull me along to an event that will only end in my execution and pure shame on our family.

Me... And my runt of a shift... I cannot figure out why my parents think that I will be safe here if I am not just a nameless guest here to witness the choosing of the next Dragon King's bride... Maybe then I could get away with staying long enough to get a glimpse of the roses by blending in with the bastards of the court and the servants... But presenting myself up in line with the other maidens... Just thinking about it makes my body want to curl in on itself, the echo of the roar that had sounded last week enough to make me weak in the knees even now. I don't even want to catch a glimpse of Prince Emrys, his call had been that devastating.

I cannot fathom the size of the beast able to achieve the volume he had, his dragon's serenade reaching even the edges of the kingdom and snatching up the hearts of maidens and married women alike in the need to bow to the ferocity and vitality of our next King. I would be considered nothing but an insect if found anywhere near his side, and I have no doubt that I would be punished as such for being so close.

It's a lesson that my family will only have the opportunity to learn once, and I fear that the cost of such said lesson will be my own life, an insult to the crown of this magnitude no small matter.