Sacred Flame: Bound to the Dragon Kings

Cassius If my parents were still alive, I would question them as to why they felt that my brothers and I needed a nanny. Most of all, this pathetic lump of flesh that's sprawled out on my bedroom floor. Avery won't just disappear, no matter how hard I push. My brothers and I don't need her as our personal servant. We don't need a personal servant at all; we need our mates. But we won't be able to scent our mates until our Grand Ceremony. So until I can find my mate, I will enjoy making Avery's life a living hell. She is on her hands and knees cleaning up the remnants of my breakfast. I push her face down on my carpet, "Lick it up like the pathetic lapdog you are. Lick every fucking drop!" Avery I need to just do as he says so I can get out of here as soon as possible. The longer that I am here, the more I must endure. As I am licking up the spilled liquid, I imagine it is jasmine tea. I love jasmine tea, as it is the only thing that brings me comfort and peace. Cassius isn't even watching me now; he's too busy texting one of his many girlfriends.  The Trio is immensely popular, especially with the mean girls, who all just happen to be cheerleaders. I can't wait to be old enough to leave this hellhole and never look back. I quickly soak up the remaining liquid with my dress and pile food over it. I also stack everything back onto the tray. I gather up my skirt and then the tray. I stand and bow, "All done, Your Highness. May I go now?" I kept my eyes down, not daring to look at his handsome face that hid the monster that he was. Cassius put his finger under my chin. He was in his human form, but I still trembled at the thought that he could shift or release his dragon at any moment. "Open your eyes. Look at me!" he ordered. My eyes crept open. "Wider!" he yelled. I allowed my eyes to snap open. I saw one human blue eye and one red dragon eye staring back at me. His voice was gruff and laced with malice, the voice of his dragon, "We are to come first. If you ever put my brothers before us again, we will make you bleed." I nodded in understanding, and he shoved me out the door. Using the servant stairs, I rushed to the kitchen and dumped the tray in the sink. The kitchen staff can clean it up later, because now, I need to change clothes before I am late for school. I put on a plain blue dress and rushed to school.  Salvation Academy is a school for all supernatural beings and the humans that serve them. The human world isn't aware that we exist, but some humans have been brought into the world of dragons. Those who have been tend to be servants and will never rise above that station. Unfortunately, even the humans want nothing to do with me, so I keep my head down and focus on my courses, biding my time until I can enact my plan to disappear after I graduate. If I could leave sooner, I would, but any who tried in the past was hunted down; the rest of their time here was made worse than the hell they tried to escape from. I was fortunate to have the Crown take pity on me and make me a servant in the palace, because had they not, I would have been beaten, imprisoned, and tortured until I was given a worse job. My day was going by fast until it came time for Physical Education class. I have always hated PE, because I feel as if my bones would break or I get out of breath at the slightest exertion. I hate being weak, almost as much as I hate dragons. Momma J and Papa A are the only bright spots in that monstrous species. I go into the bathroom stall to put on my uniform. I can barely look at the scars the kids at the orphanage put there, so I don't want others to see them either. I don't need more problems, and I don't need to give others a reason to torment me even more.  Mrs. Kyer starts the introduction of what we will be doing for the next month. To my horror, it is cheerleading. As I was trying to push down the rising bile in my throat, Jessica, the cheer captain, and her two best friends, Heidi and Lenore, waltzed in. They were all peppy smiles, but their eyes boiled with hatred once they saw me. The three mean girl bitches think they don't own just Salvation, but the Trio, too. They despised me from the moment I became the Trio's personal assistant, and even more so since.  I died a bit inside when Mrs. Kyer turned the class over to the Hoity Hags. Jessica's grating voice echoed throughout the gymnasium, "Alright, before we even try to teach you all the basics, we need to know if you have the stamina to perform at the level I demand." My day has just gone from bad to worse. Heidi pranced over to me like a prized gazelle. Her eyes bore into me, making me extremely nervous. While we are on campus, any shifting or use of magic is expressly forbidden unless it is part of a course requirement. Most students, especially the dragons, bend and even break those rules. Smacking me hard on the back of my head, Heidi cackled like the witchy bitch she is, "Start running." I stumbled forward but luckily caught myself before I face-planted on the shiny hardwood floor. After being lapped a few times by a group of students, I slowed down even more. My lungs are burned, nd I felt like I am being stabbed with every breath that I took.  The cheerleaders flanked me on all sides, "So worthless, can't even do a few laps," Lenore taunted. Heidi poked at me, "How is she not dead yet? Just roll over and die already." Jessica tripped me, and I fell hard to the floor, busting my lip. She laughs, "When I am queen, I will exterminate all vermin, starting with you."  I wanted to tell her off. I wanted to kick her legs out from under her, but I had no fight left in me. Each day was a struggle just to exist. When will enough be enough?