Page 40 of Dark Rebel’s Reckoning (The Children Of The Gods #93)

40

KYRA

T he transformation on the girls' faces as Jasmine spoke was remarkable. They had gone from wary and defensive to completely entranced, their expressions open with wonder as they drank in the tale of gods and immortals.

Kyra recognized that look.

It was probably the same expression she'd worn when she first learned the truth. That moment when the impossible suddenly seemed not just possible, but real.

Surprisingly, they hadn't asked for proof yet. They hadn't asked what would become of them either, but Kyra was sure they soon would. She expected nothing less from Arezoo. The girl was smart and inquisitive, and she didn't accept what she was told without questioning.

Kyra could see herself in the girl, and she wondered if she was like that in her youth. The seeds of rebellion must have started with asking questions and not accepting dogmatic answers as truth. Had she planned her escape before being sent to study in America? Had she played her father by pretending to be a dutiful daughter and loyal to the autocratic regime? Or had she simply met Boris, fallen in love, and decided to embrace a better life?

Perhaps it had been a combination of both. Once she rescued her sisters, provided that they wanted to be rescued, she might learn more about her past. Maybe they had known about her rebellious plans.

Or maybe her father had poisoned her sisters' minds about her, telling them terrible things about her, things they might have told their children.

She reached for her pendant again, its familiar weight offering solace as uncertainty bubbled beneath her composed exterior. Soon, she would have to tell them who she really was—who they were to each other—and hope they didn't turn on her.

The thought made her throat dry.

Jasmine was just reaching the part about Dormants when Max returned with the tea, Ell-rom following with plates and napkins, and the spell was broken. The girls looked like they were emerging from a trance, their awestruck expressions turning back to wariness.

Max put the tray on the coffee table. "Come and get it, ladies."

"Perfect timing," Jasmine said, imbuing her tone with cheerfulness that was only slightly disingenuous. "I was just getting to the important part, but perhaps a short break for tea will ease your processing of what you've been told so far."

Arezoo fixed Jasmine with a direct gaze as Kyra poured tea into the small porcelain cups. "What does this story have to do with us?" She accepted a cup that Ell-rom handed her with a murmured thanks, but her attention never left Jasmine's face.

The time had arrived. Jasmine might not be done with the prelude, but by now, the girls had enough background to understand what she needed to tell them.

Glancing at Jasmine, Kyra caught her daughter's eye and gave a small nod, signaling that she would take over.

"I'll continue where Jasmine left off," Kyra said. "You ask what does it have to do with you, and my answer is everything because you are part of the exclusive club of the gods' descendants."

Four sets of eyes widened with incredulity.

"It's a great story, but we need proof." Arezoo looked at Max with defiance in her eyes that was mostly bravado. "Jasmine said that you will demonstrate something."

"With pleasure." He rubbed his hands together. "Immortals can project illusions, and I happen to be very good at that, which is why Jasmine asked me to demonstrate. But since I know you will think I'm tricking you in some way, I want each of you to get a piece of paper and a pen or pencil, and once I project the illusion, to write down what you see without telling your sisters or cousins what it is. Then you will all hand the piece of paper to Arezoo, who will read them out to confirm that all of you saw the same thing."

Arezoo narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you going to tell us what you are about to project?"

He shook his head. "I will give no clues, so you won't think that I influenced you subconsciously or in any other way."

"You've done it before," Azadeh said.

"No, but I have heard others talk about disbelieving Dormants and how difficult it was to convince them. It gave me food for thought, and I devised a foolproof method."

Donya rose to her feet. "I'll get paper and pens from the office."

Kyra realized that the girls must have snooped around to know that was where they could find writing supplies.

As everyone waited for Donya to return, Kyra tried to prepare what she was going to tell them. The most difficult part would be to tell four very young women the method by which female Dormants turned immortal. In fact, she wondered how come none of the girls had transitioned given that Durhad had probably violated all four. Hopefully, given that immortal males had the same low fertility as immortal females, none of them had gotten pregnant, but it was also possible that Durhad had injected himself with fertility drugs in addition to injecting the women.

Were there even drugs for increasing male fertility?

Kyra's knowledge on the subject was nearly nonexistent.

The truth was that her knowledge on most subjects was superficial at best. She didn't remember what she'd studied at the university. And when she'd had time to read over the long years in the resistance, she'd read mostly fiction to relax. She hadn't worked on gaining knowledge in anything other than politics and warfare.

It was such a limited point of view.

Donya returned with a Post-it stack and four pens, and once each of the girls had what she needed in hand, Max rose to his feet and pointed at the front door.

"Look over there," he said.

Nothing happened as far as Kyra could see, but the girls gasped and huddled together, and then Laleh got up and walked over to where the illusion was supposed to be and extended her hand.

Brave girl.

She turned to her sisters and cousin. "There is nothing here."

"Don't tell them what you see," Max warned. "If I want to, I can make the illusion tangible so you will be able to actually touch it. But for now, this is enough. Write down what you see and hand the notes to Arezoo."

Given the girls' reactions, they had all seen what Max had wanted them to see, but Kyra still didn't see anything. She waited to catch Max's eye to get an explanation, but when he finally looked at her, he only smiled. "Patience. I'll explain in a moment."

Perhaps he could control who saw his illusions.

Arezoo read over the notes and shook her head. "We all saw the same thing. A man-sized purple teddy bear jumping from foot to foot and waving a paw."

Max grinned. "Is that proof enough of my mental abilities or do you need more?"

Arezoo chewed on her lower lip, the same way Kyra did when she was thinking or unsure. "It proves that you can project illusions. It doesn't prove that you are immortal."

Max sighed dramatically. "I hoped I wouldn't need to do this, but you are twisting my arm." He walked over to where the girls were sitting and crouched in front of them. "I'm going to make a small cut on my hand, so don't be alarmed when I pull out a knife. The cut will completely heal in minutes, so you will have a short time to get tangible proof, like dipping your fingers in my blood, so pay close attention."

Arezoo shook her head. "You could be projecting the image of your bleeding hand into our minds the same way you did with the teddy bear. You could even project the thought of us touching it and feeling that it was there when it wasn't. You said that you can make the illusions tangible."

Kyra was so proud of her niece. The girl was so smart, but that made convincing her that much harder.

Max rose to his feet. "Oh, well. At least that saves me from having to cut myself. But now I'm out of ideas. A show of fangs and glowing eyes is not going to convince this young lady either."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Fenella huffed. "Just get on with the story, Kyra. I might be immortal but I'm getting old here."

"Please watch your language in front of my nieces."

Fenella snorted. "I doubt that translated well to Farsi."

"Nieces?" Donya asked in a near whisper. "Are you our aunt?"

Kyra nodded. "Your mothers are my younger sisters, but since my memory was basically erased twenty-three years ago, I don't know anything about them. I didn't even know I had sisters before the monster who calls himself a doctor told me why he took you and that he sent his minions to collect more of our family members."

The silence that followed felt thick enough to cut with a knife. Donya gaped, Laleh's eyes widened to an almost comical degree, and Azadeh simply stared, her face unreadable.

As usual, it was Arezoo who spoke. "You can't be our aunt. You are too young."

"I'm immortal, just like Max and Ell-rom and Jasmine. In fact, Jasmine is my daughter, but the monster who erased the memory of my family from my mind also erased the memory of the child I was forced to leave behind and her father. Since you have the same genes as I do, the so-called doctor had you kidnapped from your homes, and he probably tried to induce your transition, but something prevented it from happening."

Donya shook her head, her dark eyes skeptical. "Our mother never mentioned having another sister."

The words stung, though Kyra had expected them. She'd been erased from her family's memory—whether by choice or by force.

"She told me," Arezoo said quietly. "Mother once told me in secret that she had an older sister who went to study abroad and never returned. She said she didn't know what happened to her and that she missed her. She also told me never to tell anyone because our grandfather forbade Mother and our aunts from even mentioning her name. It was as if the older sister had never existed."

The revelation hit Kyra hard. She had existed in whispers and secrets, a cautionary tale perhaps, or a painful memory too dangerous to acknowledge openly.

Had her sisters mourned her?

Had they wondered what became of her?

An awkward silence descended over the room as each of them tried to process their emotions. Kyra was unable to move, frozen by the weight of what had been lost—decades of sisterhood, of aunt-hood, of family.

Suddenly, Jasmine rose from her seat and crossed the space between herself and her cousins in two long steps.

"Come here," she said, and without hesitation wrapped her arms around Arezoo, hugging her tightly. "I always wanted to have a big loving family. Nothing could have made me happier than finding out I have four beautiful cousins."

The tension in Arezoo's body visibly melted as she returned the embrace. One by one, Jasmine moved to each girl, gathering them into hugs that acknowledged their newfound connection and a promise that there was much more love to come.

Kyra felt tears pricking at her eyes as she watched. The display of emotion and vulnerability was outside her comfort zone, but she enjoyed watching it.

"For the love of all that's holy," Fenella's exasperated voice cut through Kyra's paralysis. "Stop being such a pussy, Kyra. Get up and hug your nieces."