The Centaur Queen (The Dark Queens #7)(51)

She groaned, slowly coming to.

“Horse face,” Rayale moaned, and I chuckled.

Petra snorted. Knowing he laughed at me, I said, “Well, at least it’s better than what she called you.”

That shut him up immediately. I smirked.

Slowly her eyes blinked open. Her irises were the color of roasted almonds. Thick, neatly-manicured eyebrows brows drew in tight. “Dammit. Did I pass out?”

Wrinkling her nose, she glanced down at her still dangling feet. I gently set her down, and she brushed off her clothes.

“I swore I wouldn’t act like such an asshole if I ever came across a sign of life.”

“You’re embarrassed?” I asked her.

She shrugged, lips thinning.

“Don’t be. Petra and I have been traveling through Time for years. You are the first soul we’ve seen. And now, I believe we’ve been sent here for you.”

A hard look crossed her eyes. There was nothing of the cocky, brash Piper I’d once known. This Piper seemed more hardened and wary.

“Years?” she scoffed. “Try centuries.”

Petra frowned. “When did you come here, Rayale?”

Turning to him her, lips twitched, and I knew what was coming. I grinned.

“Hairy goat’s arse,” she said, and Petra groaned. “Good to see you again. Thought you’d have died by now.”

Rayale had such a way with words.

Petra snickered. “Much as I’m sure you’d have liked that, it seems I’m made of heartier stock than you gave me credit for.”

Her eyes were wary, but fond when they looked upon him.

My mind was working. Though it’d been roughly two years since coming here, in truth, we’d only just entered Time. At least, that’s how it would feel when we returned to Kingdom.

For this to be centuries to Rayale meant she’d come here long, long before us. She would have had to come before the dark magic had twisted Kingdom.

“Was it during the games?” I asked. “How did you get sent here?”

Turning back to me, Rayale planted her hands on her hips. “Here? Where the hell is here? All I know is I’ve been trapped forever in this godsforsaken hell hole and—”

“Your mate, Rayale?” I frowned, glancing around us, looking beyond her to the statues littering the hall. My mind was awhirl with possibilities. The Gorgon had given me a tear. Everything meant something.

“Where is your wolf?” I asked.

She sucked in a sharp breath, body trembling violently as she hugged her arms to her chest. My heart lurched because I suddenly understood. That tear hadn’t been for me, but for her.

“You lost the games? You did not tell him you loved him. You were trapped in Time.”

So in the end, it had been Rayale and not I who ultimately lost. The ramifications of what that meant were hard for me to process. Petra and I had been kicked from our games before a finale had taken place—not counting my time loop, of course. But Rayale had gone all the way. Had she suffered a time loop too? Just how much meddling had Harpy done?

Rayale bit her lip, looking angry and furious as she pointed to Petra. “You weren’t in love with him. You weren’t. How did you escape this fate? I saw you both. I loved Lleweyn with all my soul. But I was angry and bitter, and it took me too long to admit it. Now I’ve lost him forever.”

Tears squeezed out the corners of her eyes. She looked like a woman on the verge of collapse, a woman with no hope left. There was a frantic gleam in her eyes, manic and desperate.

As much as I wanted to answer her question, the answer wasn’t simple or easy to digest.

Why had Harpy saved me and doomed her? That kind of deceit didn’t mesh with the Harpy I’d befriended. There had to be a reason for all her meddling. So what had it been?

I dropped my gaze and noticed a blue soul stone threaded through by a leather thong dangling between her breasts. Walking up to her, I pressed my fingers against the stone. It was cool to the touch. There was no soul trapped inside. But soul stones were said to have other properties of the more spiritual nature. Soul stones were grounding stones, able to help keep a mind from fracturing under stress.

I’d not seen her wear it inside the games, which meant she’d found it here. So she’d been traveling the stairs just as Petra and I had.

Jerking out of my reach, Rayale eyed me cautiously. “I still bear your scar. I do not trust you, horse face. I trust no one anymore.”

Petra turned to me with a question on his face. What is the challenge here?

The pieces of this puzzle were starting to slide into place and I sighed. “Rayale, you know nothing of what’s happened in our world. I fear when you return to it, you will be shocked.”

She scoffed, rubbing her arms and saying in a soft voice. “I can never return. I’ve tried. There is no way out of here.” A tinge of madness clung to her laugh.

“There is always a way. But you should know that Kingdom has fallen under a dark spell. I do not believe you were sent here by accident. And you are right. Petra and I did not declare our love to each other until long after we’d left the games.”

She clenched her teeth, and pain burned through her so brightly I grimaced and clung to my chest. To be separated from Petra in this manner would be a slow death to me.

Sadness gripped my soul, because soon this would be me. Now that I was here, I knew what must be done. Tonight or tomorrow, we’d return to the garden of Gnósi, and there would be only one trial left. I suddenly wished very much that Petra and I could have continued to walk through Time eternally.