The Centaur Queen (The Dark Queens #7)(52)

“Something happened to the time continuum. By rights, neither Petra nor I, or even Baba and Freyr, should have left the games, not according to the rules. But there was a time slip. We were forward and Baba and I were running through a maze, the final two to tell our mates we loved them. Of course, I knew I could not honestly say it since I wasn’t sure of my feelings then. But Petra and Freyr were locked in their cages, and I knew the penalty would be far too steep a price to pay if I couldn’t free him.”

Rayale shook her head, a troubled look on her features. “No. No, you weren’t. That was Baba Yaga and me. You were—”

“No,” I cut her off. “No, it wasn’t.”

I took a deep breath and glanced at Petra, who wore the same confused look as Rayale.

“Tymanon, that never happened,” Petra said.

“Yes, my love, it did.”

“No,” Rayale pressed.

I held up my hand. “It did, and we lost. Baba freed her mate and Petra was stolen from me. I was cast into this place.” I gestured with my hand and pursed my lips, before turning to look at my Petra.

His eyes were wide and staring at me with confused denial. I should have told him sooner. Not that it would have mattered either way, but I could see he still did not believe me.

Not truly.

“You were taken from me, Petra, lost to me for all time. I was stuck in this place—” I pointed the ground “—sobbing and alone. That’s when time froze, looped back, and then I was back with you in our pasture with no clue how to explain what had happened to me.”

I brushed my fingers over his beloved face, and he shuddered.

“I’m sorry I did not tell you sooner.”

“I remember you looking at me like you didn’t really see me. I remember thinking you looked far, far away from me that night.”

I nodded. “Yes. That was when I returned to the timeline we are now in.”

Rayale continued to shake her head, catching my attention. She held up her hand when I opened my mouth to speak.

“So your time looped, and instead of you being trapped in this place, I was.” Bitterness dripped off her tongue. “Why would you do that to me, horse face? Lleweyn is stone now, and I am forever trapped.”

Petra sucked in a sharp breath, no doubt realizing, just as I had, how the Gorgon’s tear would come into play.

“I didn’t do it. I didn’t choose it, Rayale.” I shook my head forcefully. “You must believe me. I do not know for certain why our destinies were switched, but I have an idea. I think it has to do with all the lives that have been lost or altered in Kingdom as a result of the curse.”

Her jaw thrust out, but she was staring at me with obvious hope that I would say something to make this better for her, to make it make sense.

“Why? Just tell me why?”

I glanced quickly at Petra.

“Lleweyn’s family is gone, Rayale—his mother and father, all his siblings. Odds are good that had Lleweyn been back on Kingdom, he too would have vanished.”

She gasped. “You don’t know that. You can’t know that. Where’s his family?”

I shrugged. “I do not know. But we are all looking for them, that I can promise you. Because Lleweyn is stone now, he’s been saved from the curse.”

“How do you know?” her words shook, trembling with unshed tears.

“Because of Fable.” I was not the one to speak this time. It was Petra, and I smiled, heart full of love and pride for my male.

Rayale looked at him. “Fable? What about her?”

“Calypso and Hades no longer know each other,” he said, “which means they do not recognize their own granddaughter anymore. Calypso cursed her own blood, but because of that, Fable still remains in Kingdom. She’s stone, but she’s there.”

Rayale covered her mouth with her hands, and I could clearly see the hope blazing like flame in her eyes. A single tear trekked down her cheek.

I nodded. “He’s right. The curse is the only thing that has saved your Lleweyn. I do not doubt it.”

Swallowing hard, she slowly lowered her hands. “But I’m still stuck here.”

“No, there is an escape, and I believe I’ve found it already. I also know why you were our challenge.”

“Challenge?”

“Mm.” I nodded, nodding toward the silvery flute dangling off her belt.

Seeing my look, she dropped her hand to her instrument and shook her head.

“Your power isn’t merely in one flute. Your power is innate,” I said.

She gasped. “How did you know that? I’ve never told anyone el—”

I grinned. “I saw you whittling a wooden one in the seeing disk the goddess had given me. I figured no one would go through the trouble of creating quite so many flutes if the magic came from only one source.”

Rayale thinned her lips. “So you want one of my flutes in exchange for my freedom?”

I nodded. “Essentially.”

“I can find Lleweyn.” A beatific smile stole across her pretty face before she scowled down at her feet. “Not that it matters. Even if I did find him, there’s no way to undo his curse.”

Petra reached into his pouch, extracted the vial the Gorgon had given us, and handed it to her.