Page 17 of Dark Rebel's Reckoning

When Max returned with the coffee, Jasmine and Fenella were gone, and he was left alone with Kyra and Ell-rom. The prince was sitting across the aisle and watching television or pretending to, so it was just him and Kyra.

"Thanks." She cradled the paper cup between her palms. "One of the things I love most about my immortal body is the speed of recovery. When I first woke up, I wouldn't have been able to hold this cup. My hands were shaking so badly that half of the coffee would have spilled out."

She sounded a little nervous, and he hoped that it was because of him, but in a good way. He wanted her to find him attractive, or at least likable, but Jasmine's words from before were still echoing in his head. Kyra was in no state to form an emotional attachment to any guy. If she did, it would be just in the pursuit of security.

For now, all he was aiming for was friendship.

"Take a sip," he encouraged. "Tell me if I made it to your liking."

"I'm sure you did." She blew air into the steaming cup and then took a tiny sip. "It's perfect."

For a short while, neither of them spoke. The low hum of the engines filled the silence, occasionally accompanied by a muffled sound of talking from elsewhere in the cabin.

Max leaned back in his seat but didn't recline it. "When did you discover that you weren't aging?"

She chuckled. "That wasn't how I found out that I was different. The first clue was breaking the chains that were holding me down and then breaking down doors and freeing all the other women in that place. I don't remember much because I was drugged back then too, but the others I freed took me with them, and when the drugs wore off, they told me that I had superhuman strength and that I killed some of the guards by clobbering them with a piece of broken furniture I must have collected somewhere. I thought that my friends were exaggerating, and that it was probably some odd mixture of drugs that gave me inhuman strength, but then I noticed the enhanced hearing, eyesight, and sense of smell, and I knew that I had been altered. I just didn't know how. I was convinced that they'd run experiments on me and had inadvertently changed me. I couldn't have imagined that I always had it in me and that it just needed to be activated."

Max hated to see the pain in Kyra's eyes that indicated she knew who was responsible for her induction, and he desperately wanted to change the subject.

Her bare foot peeking from under the blanket was the perfect thing. "I should have a spare pair of socks." He pushed to his feet. "I'll get them for you."

"No, please, sit down." She waved a hand. "I already feel bad about having your sweater."

"Don't. I'm not cold and it gives me pleasure knowing that you are wearing something of mine."

"Oh, that's just so sweet," she teased. "I feel bad about having more than the others. Not for taking your sweater."

Sitting back down, Max realized something important. Kyra used humor like he did—to mask awkwardness, to change the subject, to put others at ease.

He liked that about her. It was a sign of a leader, if he said so himself.

"I need a favor," Kyra said. "Not clothing related."

"Anything."

She chuckled. "Don't agree so fast before you know what it is that I need. My people are probably worried about me or think that I'm dead. I would like to let them know that I'm okay. Does anyone have a satellite phone, and is it safe to make such a call from here?"

"I have a satellite phone." He pulled it out of his pocket. "You can't tell your rebel friends who freed you. Tell them only that you are safe and will contact them later when you can."

She frowned. "How do you know that my friends are rebels?"

Kyra hadn't been there when he'd told Fenella about Syssi. "One of our people is a powerful seer, and she kept seeing you with the Kurdish rebels. How do you think we found you?"

"I was wondering about that. But a seer? Seriously?"

He chuckled. "I know how it sounds, but Syssi is incredible. The funny thing is that she wasn't looking for you when she asked the universe for a vision. She was looking for our Clan Mother's long-lost love, but when the visions showed her you time and again, she realized that you might hold the key to finding Annani's lost husband. Are you good at finding things?"

Kyra's hand flew to her chest, clutching the air where her amulet should have been. "I am very good at that, but not without my pendant." She shook her head. "I don't understand. I thought that you came for me because of Jasmine. That she knew something about me that I couldn't remember. Like the husband I supposedly had or still have."

Max glanced in the direction of the bathroom, where Jasmine was leaning against the door with her eyes closed. She was much more qualified to tell her mother about the whole convoluted vision mess than he was, but he could at least ease Kyra's mind regarding her husband.

"You sent your ex-husband divorce papers, and he remarried, but he never stopped loving you."

Her eyes filled with tears. "How do you know that?"

"Because I talked to him. He searched for you for a very long time, never giving up, and he blamed himself for your abduction. The poor guy was devastated. I think he remarried only because he needed a mother for Jasmine."

That got the tears flowing faster, and Max glanced at Jasmine again, desperately needing her to return.

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