Unlikely Queen (Crystal Castle 1)

Taking a deep, centering breath, I take the first step to do the same.

Chapter Seventeen

We’ve been running. I’m tired and not even sure we will make it before the curfew. It takes three hours to get to the border in a forest we don’t know, and we only have two hours granted to us. Tatiana doesn’t stop, not even for one second. She is on a mission, and Patrick follows her lead, doing whatever she says.

We haven’t uttered a word about what I told them. Soon one of us may very well die, and that fact saddens me, especially that it won’t be me. I am the only one strong enough to open the barrier, to break it all down. I wish Tatiana were. I would offer myself up as a sacrifice to her so she could save our sister.

“Stop thinking and keep running!” my sister yells back to me without breaking her stride, then shouts to Patrick, “Are we close?”

“I can smell the lake,” he utters.

She looks up. The moon is almost at its highest, the only time we have to do the spell. “Do not slow down.” She swings back to look at me, and I nod, keeping up a good pace after her.

Running is something I have always been good at. I’m fast.

Part of me has no inclination to reach the barrier.

The other part is screaming in my mind to do everything possible to save Tanya.

She is nothing like Tatiana and me. She is soft, nice, and she has no hard edges, which are all qualities that worry me, considering where she is right now—with the evilest person alive. A queen who will do anything to stay in power.

Tatiana comes to a stop, placing her hand in front of her. I watch as the barrier shakes but does not move. This part is never guarded and no one is ever around here, because no one makes it through the Viper Forest, and who would want to escape into the Viper Forest anyway? It’s a death sentence. I know for sure I never plan to come back. Ever.

“Angel,” Tatiana hisses.

Bronik stands on the other side. “Witch,” he says back to her before his eyes leave her and search for me. When they land on me, he inspects me from head to toe before they settle on my face. “You are well, then.”

“Alive, yes,” I tell him. “Not sure for how much longer, though.”

“As soon as the barrier is down, she will use everything she has to put it back up. Everywhere.”

“As long as we slip through and get what we need, I don’t care what she does,” Tatiana barks at him.

His silver eyes leave mine and fall to her. “You should be worried. Apart from your sister here, she also fears you greatly. And having the fear of a queen is never good.” Bronik then asks, “You know the price of payment, then?”

“Blood.”

He nods in confirmation at my words. “Not just any blood. Blood of someone killed by your hands.” He repeats the words I already know.

“Yes, I am well aware. It would have been nice if you’d have told me that to begin with.”

“Would you have left if I did?” His head drops to the side, studying me.

“Yes. She is my sister.” I cross my hands over my chest.

“It seems you have some choosing to do. Your sister. Or the wolf.”

“Neither,” I reply. “I will not take either life, no sooner than I would take my own.”

“There is always a price, Talia. There will always be a price. You have to remember to pay it.”

Stepping back, I slide my hands in my pockets and shake my head.

Patrick stands in front of me, his head high. “I am choosing for you.”

A tear leaves my eyes. “No. No way.”

“I knew there was a reason I had to come with you. I just didn’t know it was this. I’m ready to see my mate,” he says, his mouth set in a sad smile.

“I could never…” I take a step back. Killing him is not something I can or ever will do.

“You have to, because it’s not just her you will be saving, it will be everyone. It’s for the greater good.” My hands clench, and in my pocket, I grip the bottle Cinitta gave me, praying it will burst under the pressure, but the damn thing doesn’t.

“It has to be done… and by you,” Tatiana says. “If I could kill for you, I would.”

My eyes, blurry with tears, search their faces before they land on Bronik, who shows no sign of any emotion. Has he ever, though, apart from confusion? I was told not to trust him, and a part of me doesn’t. For all I know, the minute the barrier is down, he could step over and take me straight to his queen.