Unlikely Queen (Crystal Castle 1)

“Not for this.”

He sucks in a breath when I stroke him, then I tighten my legs and lift up. He helps by gripping me under my arms, then slowly letting me back down in the water. I feel him at my entrance and bite his lip as I come down on his cock. For a second, those sliver eyes flash another color, but I can’t quite make it out because it happens so fast, then he kisses me with such ferociousness that I would be a fool to deny him anything.

I would give up so much for this man.

So much.

And I don’t think he even knows it.

Because he cannot feel the way I do.

I am mortal, he is not.

I feel a tear leak from my eye, and I do nothing to hide it as I dig my nails into his back. His hands fall to my ass, and he helps with movement. We move in perfect synchronicity as he slides in and out of me. I feel every inch of him, and it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before. With him, it’s everything—pleasure that I could never match with a single person on this planet, fireworks exploding all over every follicle of my body.

He is my explosion.

Grim is also my landing, he always has been. I just hope he will catch me this time.

My head drops back, breaking our connection, my hair playing along the water as I come. He grunts, and I know he did as well.

His mouth leans forward and kisses between my breasts and my neck, not stopping his movements but tasting and soaking all of me in.

I love Death, but I’m afraid Death will never love me back.

I’m a silly girl, a foolish girl, to want a love that has never existed. But then again, someone like me has never existed either.

So why can’t this work?

Why can’t this be?

“Talia.”

I lift my head at my name. He’s never said my name before. It’s always little fighter.

“You are realizing finally, aren’t you?”

I suck in a breath and move forward and wrap every piece of me around him.

“It’s unfair,” I say to him in a small voice, but I know he hears it.

He strokes my back. “It is.”

“I never thought I would see the day.” We both turn to Bronik standing on the beach, looking down at our discarded clothes.

Grim pulls me from him and places me effortlessly behind him before he starts walking out of the water naked. I watch in awe of his ass, before I pull my gaze away and show shock that Bronik is even here.

“Turn around so she can get out.”

“Territorial? Never seen that either.”

Bronik does as Grim has asked and then Grim turns to me and nods. I make my way out of the water, covering myself with my hands until I reach my shirt and underwear. When I look back up, Grim is dry and dressed.

“What are you doing here?” Grim asks.

Bronik eyes me and then raises a brow. “I think you are missing pants there.” He nods to my naked legs and then to my pants, which are at his feet. I reach out and grab them, then slide them on. “I remember the act of sex wasn’t all that pleasant with the queen.”

“That was rape,” I say to Bronik. “If you didn’t consent, that’s rape.”

He brushes it off. “I did, but I also did not. It’s a complex area, that one.”

I say no more. He looks back to Grim, ignoring me. “They’ve been calling you.”

Grim nods, then turns to me.

“You can go,” I say to him.

He reaches out to touch me, but Bronik gets to me first.

“I can take her.”

Then we are gone.

Chapter Thirty

He takes me back to the castle.

I hate the castle.

Despise it.

Want to burn it to the ground.

Pulling from his touch, I step away. His touch feels foreign, where Grim’s feels like home.

“Oh my gosh, where have you been?” Tatiana walks up behind me and grabs my arm, pulling me to turn to her. She squints and then shakes her head.

“You killed her, like really killed her.” This comes from Tanya.

I bite my lip at her words. I’m not sure if she sounds more shocked or hurt. She didn’t really like her, did she?

“Her vision was correct, but her delivery was awful,” Tanya says.

“The first part of the prophecy has come to light,” Bronik says. I cringe at those words. I really want nothing to do with the prophecy. I hate that thing. “‘The queen shall die.’” Ignoring Bronik’s words, I look around to see the castle empty, like we are the only people here. Stepping away from them, I go to a door that is possibly the largest one I have ever seen and pull on it. It’s heavy, but it opens easily, and inside sits a bed with four giant bedposts.