Unlikely Queen (Crystal Castle 1)

“Aww.” I smile at her words. I didn’t know that. It’s not something we talk about. Boys. Everything I have learned is from books, and that one time which was not a pleasant experience that I chose to forget.

“You kissed that awful boy, Malverick. I remember,” my sister says to me, and I look away because what she doesn’t know was that boy also took my virginity. “Talia,” she says my name, trying to gain my attention. But I choose not to look at her. Instead, I keep walking by Patrick, who hasn’t said a word since he mentioned his mate. “You’ve done more, haven’t you.” Her hand comes to my shoulder, and she pulls me around until I am facing her.

“He offered. I was eighteen and wanted to know more,” I tell her with a shrug, pulling away from her touch and continuing to walk.

“How much more?”

I glance at Patrick, who seems to be back in this conversation and eyeing us both.

“Not answering that,” I tell her, looking down at my feet. It’s still fairly cold, but my shivering is not that bad anymore.

“Talia.” She uses her best Mom voice on me, and it makes me halt where I am. “Did you have sex with him?” I see Patrick’s eyes are wide as he looks between us, and when he spots me watching him, he turns away, rubbing the back of his neck, pretending not to listen.

“Yes,” I answer with a huff, not bothering to lie.

“Oh my God, I am going to skin him alive, bury him beneath the ground, and let the worms eat him. Should have kept his dick in his pants.”

“It wasn’t like he made me. I asked, I wanted it,” I say with hesitance, biting my lip. Because I’m afraid she will find him and do just that. “What about Tanya, she still a virgin?” she asks me.

“Yes, as far as I am aware, she is. You know Tanya, she’s shy.”

Tatiana nods and walks ahead of me, catching up to Patrick.

A loud swoop is heard overhead, and I duck, fearing that claws will be dug into me again, but it’s not me it is after. It flies low and reaches for my sister instead. She rolls away, just missing the claws that would have dug into her shoulder, her face furious as she watches it turn back around to have a second go.

“I have a feeling we are close,” Patrick states, looking around on alert.

“Why?”

He turns and points behind me. I spin around, and when I do, I wish I hadn’t. That bird that tried to get me? Well, multiply that by ten and that’s how many we see flying directly toward us.

“We need to hide. They have the advantage here,” Tatiana says.

I nod, agreeing with her, and start searching around for something, anything that can help us. But there is absolutely nothing. We are in the open and no caves or trees are going to save us this time.

“It’s quite interesting, don’t you think?”

We all freeze at that deep voice. Can the birds talk? What is happening?

“That you three would survive when so many before you haven’t. The last ones who survived in my forest were granted immunity to stay, and now they help me protect it.” I turn to see a man, dark-skinned, with no hair and a smile that could light up the sky. But he isn’t your average man, no, that you can tell straight away. His eyes, well, they are all white. He has on a robe that falls down to the earth, but it’s not your everyday robe. This one is made of the forest—it’s a rich, earthy green, and I can see the textured leaves woven through it. He wears a suit of velvet and the front of it is encrusted in what seems to be diamonds—it’s as if he is wearing armor made out of the gems.

“You are Viper,” Patrick says.

I didn’t think Viper could see with his eyes being all white, but they fall to where Patrick is standing next to me. He closes his eyes and then something appears next to him. A woman, with long blonde hair, a small smile touching her lips as she looks down at her dress, which is pink with white flowers.

“Whitney!” Patrick says her name with such force that we all look at him. He starts stalking toward them, but Viper lifts his hand, and before he can take another step, greenery hugs Patrick’s feet, holding him in position. “How?” Patrick cries, stuck in the same spot, unable to remove himself.

I reach out to touch his shoulder, to calm him, but he growls at my touch, so I pull it away. Then, Viper moves his hand again, and the woman who appears on the other side of him almost has me running.