Rising from the Ashes

Chapter 1 Sophia’s pov. I remember when I found out that I was going to have a little sister, I didn’t really understand what mum being pregnant meant at a little over 1 year old. Not until I saw the screaming baby who was taking away my mummy and daddies attention. My twin sister Tamara liked her straight away. She didn’t seem to care she was stealing our parents from us. Julius, didn’t care about her much. He had apparently been hoping for a brother, so he didn’t care about having another sister. I was furious. It was bad enough having to share them between the three of us, and now there were four to share the love with. I didn’t mind mum so much, but she wouldn’t get my daddy. He was mine, Tamara always went away to mum if I wanted dad, so I didn’t mind her so much. By the time she reached 2, I despised her. All I ever heard was how much she looked like mummy. Before her, I was the one who looked more like her. Even with being a twin, my hair was more like mummies than Tamara’s was. I knew that daddy wanted girls just like mum, so I was worried that he would love her more and forget about me. I couldn’t let that happen, I know some times Julius would have his attention as he would one day be king just like daddy, so I suppose that was fine. Everyone went on and on about how happy and good a child she was, so I needed to get them to not like her so much. Even Julius started to like her because she was so good, so I made sure she wasn’t good anymore. It was just silly things, it’s not like I hurt her or anything, I would break Julius’ favourite toy, and do the same with mine and then blame it on Regina. They believed it, even when she said she hadn’t and it was me. My toy was broken, and they thought she was lying to not get into trouble. I would also nip or scratch her when no one was looking, so she would cry and make a fuss. Tamara and Julius didn’t want to be around a crying baby, so they spent less time with her. They were also upset that she kept breaking their things. Mummy and Daddy still spent time with her, and I am sure at times mum looked at me like she wasn’t sure if some of really was me. She couldn’t prove it, so I never got into trouble. Besides, dad thought she was favouring Regina if she tried to stick up for her and find another explanation. As I said, it was all small things. I just wanted to make sure that everyone, especially Daddy, loved me the most. I also wanted Julius to like me best, so he didn’t mind me coming along when he was training with Daddy. By the time Regina was 7, Julius and Tamara didn’t want her tagging along with us anymore. They were happy to play with her in front of the family, but they didn’t want a baby following them and stopping us from having fun. The only time she got to be out with us was when some of the other Royal kids were visiting. I hated it when August and Raine were there as August thought she was cute, and Raine was nice to everyone. They were our friends, not hers. August was going to be a dragon king like my brother Julius, so I wanted him to only like me. He was going to be my mate because I wanted to be a queen like mum. I thought if I could get him to not like her and like me more, then we would definitely end up mates. I was only 8 at the time, so it seemed like a reasonable thought to me. I knew people got mates, I just wasn’t sure exactly how that worked. Besides, I had heard that some get rejected and get another, so even if they were mates, if he hated her, he would pick me. It didn’t take long for me to win him around and see she would spoil any fun we had. I would help her trip and things so she would have to go home to get treated for a hurt knee or elbow. When our time kept getting cut short, he stopped wanting her there. One of the biggest problems was the witch/vampire royals. The youngest was the same age as Regina, so she wanted to be with her all the time. The boy Marcus, he liked the little brat and wouldn’t go anywhere without her and his sisters. Cassie, the future queen didn’t like me much, I don’t know what her problem was, but she just spent time with Regina and her sister and brother. She didn’t mind when Tamara’s stayed with them, but didn’t like Julius much either. She thought he was mean to Regina. The lycan twins also preferred her, Raphael and Raquel would at least play with us, though, but only if everyone was included. So we had to put up with her at times, I didn’t want any more prince’s or princesses not liking me. Then, one time at a party at the vampire kingdom, I met Catherine. She was a lord’s daughter, so she was not quite as good as a princess, but she was older and cool. She was like me. She liked to hurt others who weren’t as good as us. She liked the fact I was a princess, and also like her, she didn’t care I was a few years younger than her. Tamara didn’t like her, I don’t know why, but she didn’t. It meant that no one knew what we were talking about and couldn’t tell on us. She told me an adult close to her was a wizard, and he would make her any potion she wanted. He was her mums ex-boyfriend or something like that, and she was like a daughter to him. She also promised no one would know if she sold one to me. She gets a potion that makes her forget things. That guy makes it. It is so she doesn’t remember who buys them and which ones, so even if she was made to answer she couldn’t say a thing. The thought was exciting to me, I could get away with whatever I wanted. I was only 11 at the time, but she gave me great ideas to get people to like her even less. I had made sure not many children at the Palace liked her, but it wasn’t enough. Dad still liked her, not as much as before, but he still did. I got her a potion that would make her ill. That was the first one I bought. I easily got money off of Daddy for it, I was his little princess, and he gave me whatever I wanted. Besides, it was only a couple of hundred pounds, so I didn’t mind, I had lots of money. Any time we were going to do something as a family, I would slip it into her juice or food. She would be too ill to come with us, and we would cancel or grandpa Julius would look after her so the rest of us didn’t miss out. After it kept happening for months, with her only managing to a couple of things, Grandpa Julius decided to take her to the doctors. They couldn’t work out what was going on. They said it was psychological, and she was making herself ill. Tamara, Julius, and Dad thought she was purposely trying to ruin our time together to get more attention for herself. Mum and Grandpa Julius weren’t convinced, and I had to stop doing it when mum said she was going to get Liana to check her next time it happened, I didnt know if her magic could work it out, I didnt really know much about witches. When she suddenly wasn’t ill anymore whenever we wanted to do anything, dad saw that as proof that she was trying to get attention. She couldn’t prove she wasn’t, or that she hadn’t stopped it because she had been found out. Catherine was so excited when I told her all about what I had been doing. We both thought it was best if I cooled off for a while. We didn’t want anyone being suspicious of my actions, especially since I hadn’t reached my goal yet. Catherine was even nice enough to give me a free sample of something new she had so I could talk dad into giving me a few thousand pounds to get a full bottle of it and another potion. He handed over all the money in his wallet. Who carries that much cash anyway, he is asking to lose it, and money leaves no trail. I almost got caught when the witch queen scented magic on dad, Catherine had never told me that you could smell it if you were a strong witch or wizard. When I asked her about it, she said she didn’t know what I was on about. I am not sure if she meant she didn’t know magic could be scented on someone, or she had no idea what I was on about because she had taken that memory potion. Either way, I had to be careful and make sure no witches or wizards were around next time. After months of not doing anything to my bratty little sister, she started to worm her way back into dads good graces. I needed to do something, I was livid when I saw him hugging her and telling her he loved her. She couldn’t ruin my years of hard work. That was the first time I went too far, using an iron knife to cut her. I freaked out at the blood and quickly ran to dad, making him drink water with a control potion in it. Indulging me, he didn’t even consider it may have been tampered with. I told him that Regina cut herself for his attention and was trying to blame me. I told him to make sure mum or our grandparents found out, as she would keep doing it and get me into trouble with her lies. It worked perfectly. Dad used his king command on her and everything to get her to keep her mouth shut. After that, I tried not to go as far again. But it was too tempting every time she started getting close to him again. Then it just kept happening, and I kept giving dad the potion until he had no idea what was going on anymore. When Catherine was arrested and killed I freaked out until I knew I hadn’t been caught, then I was glad I got plenty of potions the last time to keep me going as I didn’t know anyone who could get them for me. I was in too deep to stop now even if I wanted to.