“This entire challenge felt like a farce to me.” Lachesis said, lips thinning prettily. “You will, of course, be forced to face the final challenge, though I’ve no doubt of your success. Atropos has already seen it.”
I was glad, and yet I felt a keen sadness that cut through me like a blade. For with success came the loss of my male, the only thing I could truly say I’d ever loved.
Petra and I could never recite the vows of Veritas. That link would have meant that someday, he’d find me, that he would never stop looking for me until we were reunited. I would have felt a little comfort in knowing that someday I’d see him again.
Without the surety of the vows, though, I could only cling to a vain hope that maybe, just maybe, our love was enough to move him and cause him to want to stay with me. It was selfish of me to want it. He’d been without his sister for so long, and they deserved a happy life together. They deserved the time to catch up and learn about all they’d missed. But I was finding that I was a very selfish creature indeed. I was not proud of myself for it, but it was the truth.
Lachesis took a step toward me, causing the glassy teardrops of her gown to shine and sparkle brightly. “I have seen to the land personally. You will like where you wind up, Tymanon. At least in this, I can bring you some kind of happiness.”
I blinked back the threat of tears as a feeling of heaviness seeped through my bones.
The Fates, especially Lachesis, needn’t have shown me any type of kindness. It wasn’t their way. But then, they’d rarely come across a find such as I. I knew my worth and knew I brought much to their games.
Lachesis shook her head. “If you would allow me to, I would visit you often, centauress. I rather enjoy your company.”
Sniffing, I wiped at my nose with my knuckle and gave her a watery grin. “I should like nothing more.”
With a small smile, Lachesis waved her hand, opening a rift behind me. I frowned. Usually my transport to the challenge was swift and instant. I looked at my new friend questioningly.
She chewed on her bottom lip with straight white teeth, worrying it with a fretting look burning in her eyes. “One final time, Tymanon, one last chance.”
My heart trembled, for I knew that what the Fate of the present offered me was something she’d never offered another. But just as Harpy had to face her destiny, so too must I now face mine.
I believed in my heart that Galeta had known this as well. No sooner had I thought of the Pink Fairy than I heard her voice whisper through my head, speaking words I’d never heard her speak before.
The sacrifice will be steep and only accomplished with the greatest of love...
I swallowed, wondering if she’d really spoken to me just now, wondering at the sudden sensation of calm that had overtaken the dread of just minutes ago. I would miss Kingdom with all my soul. But this was the right thing to do.
Fate had called me here, and not just to help restore Kingdom, but to bring back the joy to my mate’s soul. I knew that as surely as I knew the sun would rise in the east and set in the west.
Fate shook her head, causing her mahogany braid to tumble like a wave over her shoulder. The crown of stars upon her head began to shine brightly. Reaching into my pouch, I pulled out the one golden apple.
Lachesis’s jaw clenched. Bringing the fruit to my mouth, I stopped thinking, opened my mouth, and bit. The apple was tangy, sweet, and flooded my mouth with warmth. I chewed once, twice, and then swallowed.
Fate nodded. There was now no going back for me. I’d stolen one of Zeus’s golden apples. I could never leave Gnósi again. My fate had been sealed.
“So mote it be.” Her words were tinged with sadness. “Your fairy will have her answer.”
Dropping the apple, I dusted off my hands and shook my head. I would never again know hunger. Already, I could feel the god power flow through me, making me feel stronger, invincible. Immortality would now always be mine. Wherever Lachesis placed me, I would never die. Even if she dropped me in the middle of a hoard of warring, fire-breathing dragons, I would forever remain property of the Fates.
My heart squeezed, but I refused to look back at Petra. “I haven’t asked the question.”
Her smile was forbearing. “Then ask it now.”
“Without your sisters present?”
Lachesis shrugged. “I do not think Atropos or Clotho care near as much as I do. My sisters can be quite the tricksters when given the chance, and I do not want to give them that opportunity. You will be my pet, Tymanon, and well-guarded, I assure you.”
“You won’t trick me?” I believed her, I truly did, but I had to hear her say it with my own ears.
“Were you anyone else, yes, I would.” She sniffed, and I admired her honesty. “Fate should never be meddled with. But you are wise, my friend, and understand a great many things. I look forward to our many lives together.”
“As do I.” I said it with all sincerity. Even as my soul ached at the loss of my Petra, I gained treasures here too. As far as fate went, I could have had it far worse. At least I knew my sacrifice would bring joy to the one I loved most. That thought would keep me warm at night.
Squaring off with Lachesis, I set my jaw. “Reversing the curse is impossible. We can only move forward from here. It was love that built this curse.”
The golden Fate nodded, but I’d been prepared with my question for over two years now. I’d had plenty of time to think the matter through, and I now knew how it must be fixed, just not in which order.
“If love built it, then there is a way to fix it. So what is the order?”
Lachesis’ lambent eyes shone like a beacon in the night. “My dear friend, you are truly a masterful strategist. I doubt any other supplicant could have worked through that riddle. The order is two, eight, three, and twelve. ”
The numbers meant nothing to me, but I knew Galeta would understand. I nodded my thanks. “Please give Petra those numbers too.”
“Of course, I will.”
The time had come. I’d gotten what I’d come here for. I could delay no longer. I turned and studied my male one last time, tracing the sloping lines of his face and the smooth, hard planes of his body with my eyes. I remembered the feel of callused palms holding me so close, so tenderly.
Shivering, I said, “Guard him well, Lachesis. It is all I ask. Keep him safe and let him know—”
“Do not worry, Tymanon. Your man will have no cause to ever think badly of you. So long as I live, Petra’s soul and life are safe.”
There could be no greater oath given from the goddess of the soul string.
Biting my front teeth together, I left him my mat. It wasn’t much, but it would be something to remember me by. All I took with me were my bow, my arrows, and a broken heart.
“Be brave,” I whispered to myself. Then I turned and stepped through the portal into a world more magnificent than any I’d ever seen before.
The wooden interior of the building was massive, filled with shelves upon shelves upon shelves, and full to bursting with books and tomes and yellowed parchment scrolls.
I inhaled deeply. The scent of old leather and slowly rotting paper was a balm to my weary soul, lifting me up from the pits of despair. I could be content here. Maybe never fully happy, but then, who was ever fully happy?
Flickering torchlight glowed lovingly over bound leather, and I couldn’t help but run my fingers across each and every spine, reading the titles with a rapidly beating heart.
The history of all the worlds rested on these shelves, tome after tome of knowledge, books penned by the gods themselves. I trembled, feeling the first rays of delight and joy.
My eternity would be spent in a library, in a vast network of books to keep me company. The wisdom of all things was literally at my fingertips.
“Thank you,” I whispered to the breeze, knowing Lachesis would hear me, wherever she was.
The flute Rayale had crafted for me rested within my pouch. I merely needed to pull it out and blow on it
in order to find Myra. But I took my time, knowing I had nothing to fear in this place.
The Fates wished me to stay. They would not fight me on this one, though protocol would need to be followed. There was still one challenge left.
I meandered in and around the network of shelves, pulling down books that caught my fancy. The moment I held them, they vanished, but I saw the ever-growing pile of them collect on the benches beside me.
This place was magical and wonderful and my own personal brand of nirvana. I only wished Petra could see it. He would chuckle with delight at my happiness.
The moment I thought of him, I was pierced by a hollow, aching sadness that I knew would never be filled again. It would always be there, a reminder of what I’d lost, what I’d sacrificed myself for.
But I would never wish it away, either. The pain would forever be my reminder of him. So I embraced that pain as I would him, with my whole heart and soul.
But I soon got lost in the books again, wearing a soft smile on my face as I fell deeper and deeper in love with my new world.
I’d always felt like a centaur out of place, out of time, and out of step with others, never more content than when I was alone and learning. A sense of belonging swept through me here. This place had only ever been waiting for me to come home.
After what felt like hours of traipsing, I suddenly recalled why I was here and frowned. There was still one last job to do. Patting the leather-bound spines, I reached into my pouch and pulled out the flute.
Bringing it to my lips, I pulled in a deep breath and blew. A shrill sound pierced the air. The room squeezed with the press of powerful magic, and I waited for some sign of what I was supposed to do next.
I didn’t have long to wait. Where there’d only been a library with no doors, now suddenly there was a door hovering before me, independent of any walls. It was covered in thick threads of winding ivy, and the knob was an antique brass fist.
I twisted it, and instantly the door opened, revealing another world entirely—a beautiful garden of trees and bushes and colorful flower blooms the size of a man’s face.
It was nothing at all like garden of Gnósi. This place was wild and overgrown. But there was a rustic charm to it that had me feeling light-hearted and giddy. As much as I loved my books, I was also a centaur and required a certain amount of freedom, a place to run and think and commune with nature.
A golden thread like I’d followed in Time wound from the door out through thick hedges and thorny rose bushes. I followed the golden trail, stepping from one world into another. The air in the woods was lush and verdant, lifting my spirits the deeper into it I walked. I moved with ease, running my fingers across the roughened bark of tree trunks that looked hundreds of years old, massive towering monoliths that scraped the sky with hunter green fingers. A burbling brook ran alongside me, and in the distance I spied an overwhelming abundance of nesting monarch butterflies packed tightly upon a thick branch. Their wings moved in a hypnotic dance and sway, but it wasn’t them I watched, but rather the beautiful woman who lightly danced her fingers along their powdery wings.
I could tell, even from a distance, that she was tall. Her features were delicate and beautiful as Petra’s were average. Her hair was a spill of silky blond so light it was almost white. She wore a slitted gown the color of a spring lily. A laurel wreath sat upon her head, twisted through with flowers and twigs. Hooked horns, much larger and broader than Petra’s, curved prettily from between strands of hair.
Suddenly, her shoulders stiffened and she twirled, nostrils flaring wide as she scented the air. Her eyes were the same milky-white as the Fates’.
“Who are you?” she called, reminding me of a startled gazelle ready to fly away at the first sign of danger. She wrapped her fingers tight around her neck, her nerves obvious.
I wet my lips, heart pounding like a drum in my chest. “Myra?”
She blinked and gave her head a slight shake. “How... how do you know my name?”
I broke through the screen of bushes that’d hidden my lower half from her gaze. She gasped the moment she caught sight of me.
“A centaur? How? What?” She stepped forward, the gown she wore parted as she moved, revealing the long, furry satyr legs so familiar to me now that it brought instant tears to my eyes. “How are you even here?”
Sniffing, I turned my cheek into my shoulder to hide the tears and swiftly brushed them away.
“Lachesis sent me here to free you.”
With each word spoken, she looked more and more confused. “But I’m... but this is... forever.”
Heart twisting painfully within me, I nodded. “I know. To be freed, someone must willingly accept your fate.”
She cocked her head, staring at me with an incredulous glance. Wings of brightest orange and deepest black flickered in and out, creating the illusion of an aura behind her.
“This curse is eternal.”
I smiled softly. “Ask me your question, Myra. Let us not delay this matter any longer.”
Her brows twitched. I could read the questions on her face as easily as if she’d spoken them.
Thrusting out my jaw, I ignored the swift pulsing of my blood pumping through my veins and said, “I am a friend of your brother’s. Long has he searched for you.”
She gasped, small hands covering her mouth swiftly as she shook her head. “You know Pétrapos?”
My stomach fluttered, and a smile graced my lips. “He never told me his full name.”
“Then how good a friend could you be, really?” she asked, voice rich with doubt.
“The very best kind.”
She looked over my shoulder as if searching for him. When she realized no one was there, her milky eyes turned back toward me. “Then how is it that he does not come with you? Why are you alone? Why would you do this at all, unless...” She gasped as her words trailed off.
“I love him.”
She hissed, her beautiful face contorting into one of fury and rage. “He would never. You lie! You’re a demon sent to torment me by the villainous Fates. Pétrapos would never bind his heart to one such as you, a lesson I learned far too late.”
She spat by her foot, vitriol ringing like steel slapping steel in the sudden silence of the forest.
“I know about Tronos, Myra.”
“No.”
“The sacrifice you made to save him,” I pressed on.
“No,” she said louder, rougher.
“His betrayal.”
“No! No! You know nothing. Nothing!” Her face contorted into a mask of fury.
Wetting my lips, I forced myself to remain where I was. I let her unleash her anger upon me, knowing the rage wasn’t for me at all, but the injustice of what she’d faced, the years of isolation she’d been forced to keep because of a love that’d never truly been returned.
“You lie, and I will hear no more of this! Begone, sorceress!”
She flicked her wrist, and there was a great boom. The ground shook beneath my hooves. My pulse raced. The stench of rotted flesh assailed my nostrils.
I twirled just in time to see the large body of a male Cyclops tromp through a set of trees. He swung a huge steel mace in his hammy fist, smashing the massive trunks apart as though kicking at a sand castle.
I cried out, but moved swiftly into action, hand reaching back for my bow and arrow.
The Cyclops was smaller than most I’d read about, approximately the size of a large human male, roughly seven feet tall and looking like he carried close to a ton of solid muscle.
He was a baby for his kind, but he moved with a quickness I did not expect. The mace rushed past my head, missing me by inches. I twirled out of his way, kicking my hind legs into his chest. The impact of hitting him reverberated all through my bones. It’d been like kicking a steel-plated wall.
He stumbled but kept his feet and roared as he raised his mace high again. I unloaded, drawing the tension tight as I released arrow after arrow with uncanny accuracy.
I did not wish to kill the beast, only subdue him.
I aimed at his knees and hit both. He bellowed a roar that shook the heavens. But still, he came.
I struck at his ankles. He stumbled, roaring louder, but still pressing forward, slower now, but still coming.
My next arrow took out his left wrist, causing him to drop the mace, his fingers now deadened and unusable. Looking confused by how easily I’d dispatched him, it seemed as if he didn’t know whether to stand and fight or turn and flee.
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.”
The Centaur Queen Page 18
