Treasure Of Dragons, Royal Dragons Book 1

Ria

"I swear to God, Cin, if you don't get your cute little ass down here, everything good will be gone by the time we get there."

I heard a throat clearing and looked to my left. Beth was leaning against the doorframe, watching me. She was trying to give me a stern reprimanding look, probably because I said ass. She didn't really pull it off, though. I could see her trying not to laugh.

I looked back at the living room, where my two foster brothers, Elijah and Marcus, were arguing over which video game to play. They were totally oblivious to me, but they were the reason Beth reminded me not to cuss.

Beth, or Elizabeth Drayton, was technically my foster mom. I had already aged out of the system, but she was the only "mom" I had, and we adored each other. She had basically adopted me on the spot when I stepped foot in her house.

She was the same with all her foster kids. If she could have adopted every single one, she would have.

My foster sister, Cin or Cinnamon Sugar, no, I'm not kidding, her mom was high as a kite when she named her, has been here longer than I have. Beth considers her daughter, just like I consider her my sister.

I grew up in hell, or my own personal hell anyway.

My dad died when I was only a year old; it devastated my mom. She was honestly trying her best to work, be a single mom, and bear her suffocating grief. I knew my mom was really sad, and I tried to help, but I wasn't very successful.

One day, she came home with an actual smile on her face. She told me about a wonderful man she had met. I was 4 at the time. It wasn't long until I met the man, Braun Zavitnik. I didn't like him from the second I met him, but being 4, my mom didn't really listen to me.

It was only 4 months from the day she told me about him to the day she married him.

We moved into his huge house. Braun was a very wealthy man and came from a wealthy, influential family. He was also evil incarnate.

When he found out I have Hyperthymesia, he was ecstatic. Hyperthymesia is just a fancy way of saying my brain is weird; I don't forget anything. Sometimes it's great, and sometimes it's horrible and a giant pain in my ass. Braun thought it would reflect positively on him to have such a "smart" kid.

He enrolled me in a fancy private school, which I hated. The teachers and administration loved and fawned all over me. The kids thought I was a freak and made me miserable.

Eventually, after enough fights and continued problems, I was pulled from school and had private tutors. That was both good and bad.

I was grateful to be away from the other kids, and I usually got on well with my tutors. The bad part was spending so much time at home.

Shortly after they married, my mother became a stranger to me. Instead of being depressed, she was absent and confused. It took me a bit to realize Braun was drugging her.

At the same time as all that, he began to show me that my feelings about him were very much correct. He and his friends began having me "join" them whenever they were at the house.

I was 6 when the true horror of the situation was revealed.

I was in a new, lacy, ruffled dress, with my hair done. I was taken into a large room that looked as if a party were in progress. There were many people, men and women.

Not long after I arrived, the bids began. There was a raised platform, like a stage, on one side of the room. There was what they called merchandise, and the adults in the room bid on them.

Unspeakable horrors were occurring in that house. That was the first time Braun shared, but it was far from the last.

When I left the private school at 10, I no longer had any reprieve from him. He had access to me 24/7, and he very much enjoyed sampling the merchandise.

My mother died when I was 11. She, in her will, gave full custody of me to Braun.

At 14, a miracle happened. The house was raided, and he was arrested, as were a lot of his friends. I was finally free, or so I thought.

I was placed in foster care. At first, it was fine, but it didn't take long to change. I soon discovered there are lots of Brauns in the world.

I was 15 when I ran. I never looked back. I preferred life on the street to the foster homes. That lasted till just before my 17th birthday.

There was a woman named Maggie who volunteered at a shelter I would stay at on occasion. The people who ran it believed I was 18, but Maggie thought differently.

She told me about a friend of hers named Elizabeth Drayton, who had a foster home. It took her a while to convince me to meet Beth.

When I did, she felt like peace and light. Beth contacted a very good friend, Jennifer Montgomery, who was with CPS. Through a lot of string-pulling and maneuvering, I was officially placed with Beth.

Cin was already living with Beth, and we immediately adopted each other and became forever sisters. She was the first person I ever told my secrets to.

Now I am 18 and no longer her "foster" kid; now I'm just her kid. I helped her take care of whatever younger ones came through her door, which right now included Elijah and Marcus, two brothers, 8 and 6, who had a junky for a mom. So we made up our little family: Beth, Cin, Elijah, Marcus, and me.

Every second Saturday, there was a farmers' market. Beth loved to cook and bake, and was great at it. So on the days of the farmers' market, Cin and I would go and buy her all sorts of stuff. Today I really craved her cherry pie, and since cherries were still in season, I planned to get some. However, the best always went first, so if we wanted the good stuff, we had to get there early. This was why I was attempting to get Cin to hurry up.

"I'm coming, hold your damn horses." Came from upstairs.

Beth chuckled and shook her head, "You girls need to watch the language."

I looked at her and smiled, "They are oblivious; they are arguing about video games."

"Still, it's a bad habit." She was shaking her blond curly head.

Beth looked like a mom to me, like she was just born to be a mom. She was only 5'3", with a bit of extra padding everywhere. Whenever she got on herself about her curves, I just told her it made for better hugs. She absolutely hated her blond curly hair. She kept it just past her shoulders, and it was forever frizzing out on her. She had puppy dog eyes; that's what I called them. The brown eyes that just broadcast every single emotion.

I heard clomping on the stairs and looked up. Cin was finally making her way down. She had her braids pulled together in a clip on top of her head. Her sleeveless red top enhanced her deep chocolate skin, and she was rocking a great pair of jeans. I always told her I was jealous of her ass; she just laughed and called it good genetics. I also gave her shit about how beautiful her eyes were. She was unique in having crystal-blue eyes, not the brown you might expect. With her darker skin, they just popped. When you saw her, you just had to do a double-take.

She stopped and looked at me, "Okay, I'm here now; we can go."

I just laughed, said goodbye to Beth and the boys, grabbed my purse, and we left.

We piled into my Jeep Cherokee, which I loved, and headed downtown.

I had graduated from high school right after entering foster care at 14. I started taking a few college courses right after, but I didn't have much money, and everything got put on hold when I ran. I couldn't use my ID as I was a runaway foster kid, so I couldn't register to take any classes, not to mention that I had no money.

When I was legally placed with Beth, I could again access my records. So I was able to take a couple of courses, but as a foster mom, Beth didn't have much extra money. I worked from home and had just recently started making more money with computer jobs. I helped out as much as I could and was able to buy a good used car.

Beth had really been pushing me to submit college and scholarship applications. She knew I could ace the classes, and it was what I wanted. I worried about leaving her to take care of everything, but she told me it was unnecessary, since she had been handling it before I got there. So, for the last three weeks, I had been sending off applications everywhere. I worried I had started too late, ate for the fall semester, but it was worth a shot.

As soon as we got to the farmer's market, I found a decent parking place, and we started.

"So, what are we hunting, dear sister, that it was so important for me to get up so early?"

I snort-laughed, "We always come early to the farmer's market; you just stayed up way too late watching that stupid movie."

"It wasn't a stupid movie; it was Jane Austen, it's a classic."

"Yes, but that particular version happens to be like 6 hours long, and you didn't even start it till almost 9."

She proceeded to roll her eyes at me and stick out her tongue. I just laughed.

"As for what we are hunting, dear sister, I want cherries. Beth said if I could find good ones, she'd make a pie."

Cin's eyes got big. "Well damn, why didn't you say so? Beth's pie is a good reason to get up."

I laughed again, and we began combining the booths. We found some awesome tomatoes and filled a bag. We also grabbed some squash and artichokes. I was glad I had remembered to grab my rolling grocery cart thing to help carry everything. I was glad I decided to leave it in my car last week.

Then I spotted cherries. We quickly made our way to the stand. I was actually surprised we were the only ones here. Cherries are usually pretty popular, and these looked amazing.

Two people were running the booth. A man and a woman, probably mid-50s. They seemed like a married couple.

When I looked up to ask a question, I was stopped by the way they were both looking at me.

I cleared my throat. "How much for the fruit, and do you have a limit per person?"

The woman smiled at me, and I relaxed a bit. "They are 2 dollars per pound, and no, there's no limit, just first-come, first-served."

She had an accent, but I couldn't place it. I looked at Cin, and she was looking down at the fruit.

"So Cin, what do you think? 5 pounds sound good?"

She nodded and looked at me, "Yeah, that's probably enough, but they do look good, Ria, so that we could go with 6. That still leaves plenty for everyone else."

"Sounds good." I looked back up at the couple, who were both still looking at me with almost wonder on their faces.

"Okay, so we'll take 6 pounds, please."

They started getting it put together and on the scale

"So are you girls from around here?"

"Yeah, we are locals and here all the time."

"Ah, that's lovely. We just moved here not long ago, and this is the first crop we brought here." The woman told me.

"Well, they look amazing, so I hope you come back."

The gentleman finally spoke, "Oh, we will, to be sure. Would you like to share your information with us? That way, when we come back, we can let you know."

I thought about it for a minute, "Yeah, sure, that would be great."

He passed me a small pocket notebook and a pen. I began writing down my info.

"So, Ria, are you going to miss this when you head off to college this fall?"

I had finished writing in the notebook, and the gentleman reached to take it from me. I wasn't sure how it happened, but it cut my finger, and it started to bleed.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry about that."

I looked at the blood on my finger, "No worries, it's just a little cut."

Before I could wipe it off, the woman was suddenly there and wiped the blood off with a tissue.

I smiled, "Thanks."

"So what college are you attending this fall?" She inquired.

"Actually, I'm not sure I'll be going this fall. I have sent out many applications and scholarship requests, but so far I haven't heard anything. It is getting pretty late now to hear back for the fall semester, but we'll see."

She smiled at me, patted my hand, and said, "Don't you worry, love. I'm sure you'll end up right where you're supposed to be."

That was kind of a strange way to put it, but I thanked them, we paid for the cherries, and we headed off. I didn't know then that I had just altered the rest of my life.