The Centaur Queen (The Dark Queens #7)(60)

He took another step. Two more arrows landed in his abdomen. The Cyclops had a thick layer of blubber in the middle. It would sting like the devil, but it wasn’t a killing blow.

The front of his yellow tunic was now drenched in his blood. His face had paled, his eye—an amazing and electric shade of neon and icy blue—blinked rapidly.

He took a step forward, trembling violently, no doubt from the pain.

My final arrow was notched and aimed square at that pretty eye. “I do not wish to harm you, guardian of the woods. But should you take another step, make no mistake, I will take it as a threat and have no choice but to end you.”

His chest heaved up and down. His body shook, and he looked toward Myra for direction.

I did not take my eyes off him, but I could see her from the corner of my vision. She wore a frown, looking between him and me before holding up her hand.

“Stand down, Kynto.”

With a shudder, the Cyclops stumbled against the trunk of a tree, his massive girth causing the already-damaged tree to groan in protest. He plucked out the arrows, grunting with discomfort each time.

I grimaced, hating that I’d caused him any pain, but the outcome could have been far worse.

Turning toward Myra, I cocked my head. “Send another, and another, and the outcome will always be the same. I know what I’m doing, Myra of Apothocos. There is nothing in all the worlds that Petra desires more than your freedom. I risked everything I have left in this world to see his desire realized. So deliver your challenge and go.”

Her glance flicked between Kynto and me. Squaring her shoulders, she said angrily, “A female nymph was found murdered, alone in a temple with no chairs, no windows, no tables. Only a snapped and frayed rope dangled from the rafters ten feet up. She lay in a puddle of water. The Fates have determined she hung herself. How did she do it?”

Casting my eyes toward the ground I worked through the riddle. No chairs. No windows. No tables. She didn’t climb up. A dangling snapped rope ten feet up.

I blinked and then smirked. This was far too easy.

Caught up in the game, I shook my head. “Is this truly the challenge?”

“It’s the riddle Atropos gave me years ago in exchange for my freedom.”

I glanced at Kynto. He’d now withdrawn all the arrows and was breathing heavily, leaning against the tree, eyes closed and rubbing at his wounds. He would heal.

“Is Kynto your guardian?”

“Yes,” she said softly, staring at him with affection, all traces of her displeasure with me gone. “Yes, he is.”

Realizing she spoke of him, he looked up at her and he sighed wearily. His one eye looked pained, and not merely because of what he’d endured with me.

“She was an ice nymph.” I said it softly. “She created blocks of ice to reach the ceiling, walked up the blocks, wrapped the rope around her neck, and died. By the time she was discovered, the ice had melted.”

A lovely song whispered through the eaves, melodic and bell-like. Tendrils of golden power shivered like dew through the sky. Powerful magic poured down the crown of my head and pulsed through my body like a wave. I gasped as my back bowed.

Myra cried out.

When next I blinked, the entire world was bathed in opal brilliance, casting rainbow prisms over everything. The pulsing magic ceased, but I knew power had been transferred.

Myra’s eyes were the same jeweled mossy-green as her brother’s, and my heart twisted painfully.

She touched her cheek. “Why? Why would you do this? No one would ever be fool enough to switch freedom with me? Why did you do this?”

“For him.”

“Then you are a fool,” she spat, but the words had far less heat this time than they had before. Arms wrapped tightly around herself, she shook her head.

“I wish you well, Myra. Please tell your brother just how much I loved him, how much I will always love him.”

She tucked her chin against her chest, causing her hair to cover her eyes like a shield, but I could almost believe there’d been tears glimmering in their depths.

From one second to the next, she was gone, caught up in the funnel of starlight and darkness. I turned, looking at Kynto as he looked back at me. Understanding lit his eye. He was now my man and shield, my guardian of the woods. He inclined his head, the move far more graceful than I’d have thought a Cyclops could be.

“I guess it’s just us now, guardian.”

He grunted, but stood shakily to his feet before slowly clomping away.

I knew I had the power to call him back, but I did not wish to.

I stared at the world that would forever remain my home, and cried for all I’d lost and left behind.





Chapter 19


Petra

I stood, realizing almost instantly that Tymanon was gone.

A terrible, horrible suspicion gripped me.

“Ty!” I yelled, startling a group of white heron into flight. “Ty!” I cried again, turning in circles as I looked wildly around, knowing she could not hear me.

“The centauress is gone.”

A voice I’d never expected to hear again gripped my spine, and I stiffened, almost afraid to turn, and almost afraid not to.

When I did, my mind went blank, and I stumbled backwards, tripping over a stony path and landing on my arse as I gazed wide-eyed and shocked at my twin.