She yawned and stretched as she sat up in her bed.
"Lady Ember. How was your rest?" Her maidservant asked.
"I rested well. Thank you," Ember responded after she finished stretching.
Ember was born into a noble family of dragonborn. The family had a unique appearance, looking almost like humans, but with patches of scales across their bodies, giving away the fact they were dragonborn. Actually, it would be more accurate to say they were half-dragon, rather than dragonborn. This didn't really change all that much, however. Their traits and abilities are all the same as the dragonborn, so for simplicity, they just called themselves dragonborn.
Despite being a noble, Ember disliked the life of aristocracy. She would much rather have been born to a less important family. Being a noble came with responsibilities and social problems. She was treated differently as a noble. Everyone was either friendly out of fear of offending her family or were friendly to try to use her for her family's money.
"Please prepare the training room for my use. I will be headed there soon," Ember requested.
"Yes, ma'am." The maid exited the room and closed the door behind her.
"I need to get out of here," Ember muttered to herself. "Each moment I spend here is another moment closer to completely losing my mind."
She changed from her nightgown into her training clothes and tied back her long hair. The clothes consisted of a tank top and black army issue pants. The golden scales on her arms, neck, and face glimmered in the morning sunlight.
The only upside to her nobility was that the limit to what gear she could obtain was what she could effectively use. She couldn't have armor or a shield as a sorcerer, but she was able to get her hands on any sword she wanted. She disliked greatswords. They were too slow for her. Longswords were perfect, however. She was a tad big for a dragonborn, standing at 6'7 in her true form, which lead to her having higher strength than most magic users, making her able to wield a longsword with ease.
Her spells consisted mainly of flame-related skills and fundamentally change others to be fire related, rather than their typical counterparts. She had learned how to cast acid spray, and was able to change it to fire instead of acid, while still being just as destructive.
Practicing sorcery was forbidden by her parents though. They only ever allowed her to use her breath weapon because they say dragons using magic as uncouth and unnatural. They thought of magic as a cheap imitation of a dragon's power.
Sword practice helped her blow off the frustration at this. It allowed her to destroy something with no repercussions, and wasn't considered too unsophisticated for a noble.
"Hello, Ember."
The voice startled Ember. It was a cold and concise voice she recognized instantly. It belonged to her father.
"I see you are training again. What do you wish to achieve by doing so? I hope you are not delusional enough to be doing so for the purpose of taking the spot as heir to the family. You know you will never best your brother in a duel."
Ember was the second born child. Her older brother, Scorch, Was three years older than her, and a genius swordsman. If she didn't know any better, she would think he had memories from a past life telling him how to do it. He, like their mother, was a red dragonborn. Their father was a silver dragonborn. However, unlike either of her parents, Ember was a gold dragonborn. Most thought she was an illegitimate child because of rumors spread by their father. He was the type of man who had low self confidence and wasn't a very good person because of it. He seemed to feel he had to prove he was better than everyone else. And when Ember had been born a golden dragonborn, he immediately jumped to the conclusion that she was an illegitimate child. The rumors were untrue and the golden scales had skipped two generations and been passed onto her. But her father and multiple of the servants still thought she was illegitimate.
"That is not my intention. This is just a way of passing time and being able to defend myself. Now if you would pardon me, father, I shall get back to training."
"I am not your father. Do not address me as though I am," He said coldly.
"Fine. As you wish," She responded briskly.
She was irritated by the encounter and couldn't go back to focusing on training even after her father left.
She sheathed her sword and went to change into her normal clothes, if you could even call them normal. It was a plain, yet elegant dress that was as black as her hair. She let her hair down and then called her maid.
"Yes, Lady Ember?"
"Please prepare me my breakfast and tea. I would appreciate if you did so. I shall eat in the dining hall this morning."
"Yes, ma'am," Once again, the maid left the room.
Her father sat at the head of the table, with Scorch to his right, and their mother to his left. The was a decent amount of space between everyone as the table was large, which meant there was no reason to be close to each other. Ember sat to the right of her mother, as far away as everyone else was from each other. Her father looked at her with disdain, while her brother showed no emotions at all. He was unable to feel emotion, which made him an excellent candidate for the heir. It meant his decisions would be purely logical, rather than influenced by emotion.
This quality is what made him believe that their fathers were in reality the same man, rather than their mother having an affair. He understood that since their mother's grandmother was gold, it was entirely plausible that it had skipped a few generations. Besides, during the time she conceived Ember, she was too busy worrying over Scorch's seeming inability to feel emotions. She didn't leave the manor for multiple months during the time Ember was conceived.
Ember finished eating and rose from the table. She went back to her room once more.