Rising from the Ashes

Am I crazy?

Chapter 2

Regina’s pov

My mum said I was named Regina as it means Queen, she said she knew I would be a ruler one day. She could sense that I was like her, and one day, I would become a Phoenix like her. My brother and sisters were normal dragons like my dad.

It is sad to say I can’t remember a time when my siblings actually liked and cared about me. All I can really remember is them trying not to be around me as much as possible. Tamara was the only one who ever made any effort, but that didn’t happen very often.

Sophia, Tamara’s twin really seemed to hate me, I can’t think what I ever did to upset her, I tried to be nice to everyone, and always tried to be quiet so I wouldn’t annoy them. I knew she wanted dad to herself, so I always went to mum instead.

I also learned how to amuse myself from a young age. It didn’t help. Even leaving dad for Sophia to get all the attention from him didn’t make her like me more. In fact, she seemed even angrier any time he spoke to me at all.

Any time I went out with them without our parents, she would trip me up, so I got hurt. She acted like I had tripped over nothing when I knew it was her foot. I learned quickly that there was no point in complaining. No one believed that she would pick on her little sister.

She would break things and blame it on me, always destroying something of her own so they would believe her. It just made everyone dislike me more. I was sure Julius hated me almost as much as she did, I didn’t know what else to do.

The only time they were nice to me was when Mum and dads friends, the other rulers, were over or we were at them. Most of them were really nice and wouldn’t let me be left out, Sophia never did anything to me when they were around.

I got quite close to them, especially Lilith. She was the same age as me, and she didn’t like Sophia much, or Julius, for that matter. Her big brother was great too. They were nicer to me than my own siblings. It got even better when they learned to teleport because we could see each other more.

The worst kids were August, the Prince of the other dragon kingdom, and Ezekiel. Raine, the other dragon princess, was nice as well. Unfortunately, it was August and Raine we saw more of as they were closer, and we had family there.

August didn’t want me around any more than my brother and sisters did, Raine tried to get them to include me, but when they wouldn’t she ditched me as well. If we were stuck inside, she would talk and play with me, but left with them whenever she had the chance.

I had a complicated relationship with my dad. At times, I could see that he really did love me, but most of the time, he thought I was a bit of a brat, and he had little patience for that. He was busy as king and having three other children who were not as troublesome as I was.

I remember when I went through a faze of getting ill nearly every weekend. It seemed to be mostly when we had plans as a family, so I always ended up missing out. After a few months, Grandpa Julius took me to the doctors, and he couldn’t find anything wrong with me.

It was strange as supernaturals don’t usually get ill, but everyone could see I was vomiting a lot at times, and I also had diarrhoea sometimes at the same time. The doctor decided that I was making myself ill. He thought it was a stress reaction or something.

So dad, Tamara, and Julius just thought I was doing it to spoil their time and get attention. Mum wasn’t so sure and mentioned talking to Liana if it continued. I saw Sophia looking nervous, and after that, I stopped getting ill, I was sure she had done something to me.

Because it had stopped after they confronted me, they saw that as proof I was trying to get all the attention on to me. I had realised years before now that there was no point in arguing or denying it as no one would believe me anyway.

At one point, I was starting to worry if I was actually crazy. I mean, everyone said I was doing it to myself, and I couldn’t see how my sister could actually make me ill. Maybe I had been making myself ill somehow, I didn’t know how I did it, but I must be.

Sophia stopped messing with me for a while after that, and I thought it might have actually stopped. My brother and sister didn’t like me anymore, and dad would only be around me at meal times. He didn’t want to spend time with me and encourage my bad behaviour.

When I was 12, I gave up on them completely, especially dad, I felt so betrayed by him and my siblings. Sophia had outdone herself this time, I just couldn’t believe that yet again she was believed over me. It hurt more than what she had done to me, and that was really painful.

Each species has a weakness, and a dragons one is iron. It is one of the only things we couldn’t heal from. I had the advantage of being a phoenix or will be when I shift, but it could still hurt me and leave a scar. It would just heal quicker than other dragons.

When I finally shift, even that can’t scar me, just like mum can not be hurt by it, and it doesn’t stop her link with Ember. Unfortunately, it still causes me pain just now, so why would any sane adult think I was so insane and desperate for attention I could use it on myself.

I knew I had to be worried when Sophia glared at me when dad hugged me and told me that he loved me, but I thought that she would go this far. I guess I just looked for the good in people more than they deserved me to.

She waited until Mum and Grandpa were away the next day. Then she came to my room and started to shout at me, I couldn’t make much sense of what she was saying. Her words all ran into one. She slapped me hard, and I fell to the floor.

It was so unexpected that I couldn’t stop myself from falling, and she was on me before I could stop her. Using her knees to pin my arms, she just kept on hitting me. It wasn’t too bad at that point. Nothing I couldn’t handle anyway at this point.

When she brought out the blade and I saw it was iron, I was finally scared. I just thought I would have to lay there until she got tired and I would heal, but this wasn’t the same as a few slaps from someone who couldn’t be bothered training.

It was white hot pain as she dragged it from my right hip to almost my knee. It had to be an inch and a half deep, and the blood was pouring out. She looked panicked when she realised how far she had gone and ran out of the room as I started to lose consciousness.

The next thing I knew, dad woke me up with a really hard slap to the face looking at me angrily. I couldn’t understand why he was mad at me. I didn’t do anything, I was the one that was hurt, but he looked at me like I disgusted him.

“What the hell, Regina, how could you go this far to try and get your sister into trouble? I have had enough of you, don’t you dare speak of this to anyone in the family or any other rulers, or I am done with you” he roared at me.

He had used his king command, and I couldn't go against it. When I shift into my phoenix he won’t be able to use it on me because a phoenix is more powerful than a king.

His dragon Storm took over to stop him, hitting me again, and rushed me to the doctors. At least he seemed to believe me and care. Unfortunately, dad got back control while the doctor was treating me, and he ordered everyone to not speak of this even to the family.

That was when I gave up. It wasn’t the last time it happened, either. Sophia was no longer scared of getting caught and got bolder. She even used the blade on my back, and I had been ordered not to harm her so I couldn’t fight back.

I thought he would finally believe me when I was cut in a place I couldn’t reach, but he still thought I did it to myself. After that, I would just let it heal and then wash away the dried blood and clean up. That’s if I managed to keep conscious.

The only positive was that I got to study at home, none of the kids liked me because of my sister, and now they were calling me crazy for cutting myself. Sophia had turned my pain into a joke. Because I stopped eating and talking, Mum finally agreed to let me study online.