Be careful of love that burns bright, for like a dragon's fire, it might just incinerate you.

- Author; JaneSmitten

When Vinnandra was five years old, her mother told her that her snow white hair was a product of the very fire that poured forth from a pure dragon's breath.

Truth is, her mother wasn't very specific about which dragon could have sat down, and took the pain to make her hair with it's breath. But Vinn didn't care much about that, only that the knowledge made her feel special.

When Vinn was ten years old, her mother now dead—at least that's what they told her, she never saw her mama's body—the ugly truth reared its equally ugly head.

Her hair that was once white as snow and envied by all morphed into a fiery red like flames licking the air. People in her world never had red hair, they were all white-haired. In fact, Vinn had never seen anyone with red hair, and as she beheld hers she just knew it was something forbidden.

And that was how Vinn learnt that she was special alright, but not in the way her mama told her when she was five. Not very special.

Whenever they thought she wasn't paying attention, the maids in the palace would whisper excitedly while going about their business that her mama was a witch and not a dragon rider as she had always believed. And it was that witch blood that affected her hair so.

Now, that knowledge was not very bad in itself, after all in their world, there were many witches that lived with them, and most high ranking dragon riders of the royalty council had a trifecta bond, that is, a bond between a dragon(s), a rider, and a sorcerer.

That was of course until the other half of the hideous secret was made known….

Her mother was not only a witch, but she was a part of the Vale, the very people that hunted dragons and their riders down with hideous sorcery and mind boggling techniques.

The Vale, the sworn blood enemy of the Dragonia.

Vinn could remember things breaking that night in her father's room… vases, wares, clocks… about anything breakable.

Tania, her father's blue dragon whom she had always thought looked ugly looked even uglier that period. People said Tania was feeling the strain that her papa was passing through and it was wearing her down too.

People started calling her a new name. The Hateful. The palace maids and servants would snicker at her when they thought she wasn't listening or looking. She would hear them talk about how vicious her mama—whom she still taught was the most beautiful woman on earth—was.

They said her mama must have been a high ranking witch spy for her to have deceived her father terribly… and for so so many years. Vinn didn't understand most of what was happening at the time, but she didn't need to… she felt it well enough in her bones.

The hate, the spite, the angry stares… she felt it all the way down to her bone marrow.

When she looked at herself in the mirror, willing her red hair to turn back to white, she felt firsthand the hatred she had come to feel for herself.

When her older siblings, the product of her papa's first wife, looked at her with what could have been deemed love and affection and gifted her many gifts, she felt the hate they couldn't express. Their eyes said something was broken, and it could never be repaired.

When her father would come to her room every night to hold her while he cried, she felt his hate. Especially when he would clasp her shoulders tightly and say, "Vinnandra, you know I love you right?"… she heard what it is that he truly meant to say….

Vinnandra, can I still love you?

But Vinn never complained that her siblings no longer played with her like they usually did. Nor did she complain that her father had gradually disappeared leaving behind a shell of a man who did not recognize his own shadow.

As she grew up, she learnt how to crawl into herself, a feat that was formidable in her father's royal palace—the domineering Albridge Castle in the South.

People went from gossiping about her, to barely noticing her. That was something she could deal with, but the hate on their faces, the scorn in their eyes, that she couldn't deal with. Not when those same people once showered her with all the love and affection the last daughter of Lord Albridge well deserved.

An affection reserved only for a princess.

Now, no longer five or ten years old for the matter, her nearly eighteen year old self was sitting at the dining table with her family in one of the most stifling dinners she had ever witnessed.

"Vinn," Her only sister, Cleo, drawled, her eyebrows puckering perfectly as if she was squinting. "You know you don't have to cover your hair like that." She continued in a patronizing manner, not once looking up to the person she was addressing as she continued cleaning her plate free from food.

The words had their desired impact on Vinn. She shrunk into her seat willing the universe to disappear even if it was for a moment. Cleo hadn't had more than eight contact with her over the last eight years, and each of their limited encounters was on the annual family gathering when her family attempted to pretend they were still a happy family and they all lasted for less than eight minutes.

"I just don't want it to get in my food." Vinn's voice sounded so small that she hated herself so much at the moment.

"You could just tie it properly." Her immediate older brother, Fred, muttered from across her. Vinn shrunk into her seat even more at the tinge in his tone.

All the while, her father never said anything from the head of the table where he was. That was the kind of man he had come to become… not caring of anything, and acting like the world before him didn't exist.

"True, you're graduating from the academy this year?" Pete, their eldest, directed the question to Fred. Fred in turn beamed, his chest puffing up with pride.

"Yes," He nods. "I can't wait to show you my dragon, he's gotten even bigger now."

Vinn felt a spark of desire and need flicker in her. Ever since she could remember, it was her life's dream to attend the Riders Academy. She expected that no matter how strained her relationship with her family was, her father would have brought up the discussion when she turned sixteen, but so far no one had said anything about it to her.

She had never desired anything since her mother left her, but this one thing was something she didn't want to miss out on.

No matter how mixed they said her blood is, Vinn believed deep in her heart that Gloptra, the dragon god, created her to be a dragon rider.

As she zoned out in the conversation about Fred's graduation to becoming a recognized rider, she attempted to muster a strength she had not seen in eight years. Taking a deep breath, for the first time in a long while, Vinn finally talked and made a request of her own.

"Father, when will I be joining the academy?"

Okay, it wasn't a request, it was a query…but it sounded all the same to her.

The ongoing conversation between her siblings came to an abrupt halt as all four pair of eyes swerved to her.

And those eyes looked anything but happy.

PS: This book is one of the official winners of the CUPID'S QUILL contest, March 2024 Edition!