Page 26 of Dark Rebel's Reckoning

Max had taken it when he'd initially gone through the Doomer's pockets after incapacitating him, but it hadn't contained any clues.

Grunting, he pulled the sleek leather wallet out of his pocket. "Lots of cash in various currencies, but no ID and no credit cards. There is nothing to indicate who this bastard is."

"Professional," Yamanu muttered. "Would have loved to get our hands on his phone, but it wasn't worth the risk. Who knows what kind of tracking or remote access the Brotherhood might have had on it."

"William's team could have probably cracked it," Max said, "but we never take phones unless we have the right equipment on hand to block signals, and we didn't have it." Max kicked the pile of expensive clothes aside. "Look at this shit—designer everything. Guy really thought highly of himself."

Julian looked at them from where he was sitting in the van. "You sure he's not one of Navuh's adopted sons?"

"I don't recognize him from any of the portraits that Dalhu drew of Navuh's top command." Max frowned. "Though it's been a while since I looked at them. My memory could be off."

"I took photos," Julian said, pulling out his phone. "Give me a second." He stepped out of the van and the two of them looked over his shoulder as he flicked through the images.

"I'm not seeing anyone looking anything like this guy," Yamanu said after they'd gone through the whole collection twice. "Not even close."

Max shook his head. "He could be a newly ascended commander, someone who has proven himself more useful than the others. Or maybe he's just an ambitious underling trying to move up the ranks while experimenting on the side."

When the dude was down to his fancy boxer shorts, Max and Yamanu lifted him into the van and put him inside the scanner.

The machine hummed, and while Julian did his thing, Max put his hand in his pocket and rubbed his fingers over Kyra's pendant. It was cool, inert, and he wondered whether it reacted differently to her touch.

"He's clean," Julian announced after a few minutes. "I mean of the devices on his body. I'm not commenting on his personal hygiene, which is not on par with his clothing."

"That's not surprising," Yamanu said. "You could put an evening gown on a pig, but it would not turn it into a lady."

Max snorted. "In this case the analogy should be a tux on a crocodile that wouldn't turn him into a prince."

"That's an insult to crocodiles," Julian murmured. "They are just dumb reptiles. This creature is pure evil."

18

KYRA

The bus engine hummed, keeping the interior warm while they waited for Max and Yamanu to finish whatever task had required everyone else to clear out. Kyra had a good idea what that task was—the Doomer's body had to be scanned as well—but she pushed the thought aside.

She'd see him again when the time came for answers.

New clothes made a world of difference to how she felt. She'd kept Max's sweater, but now she was wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt underneath, soft cotton leggings, and a pair of thick socks inside snow boots that were a size and a half too big but kept her feet wonderfully warm.

The other women looked equally transformed in their fresh attire, though their eyes were still haunted. The four humans looked incredibly young, and her heart ached even more, knowing that they had been robbed of their innocence. Fenella was holding up better than the rest, but that was no wonder given that she was much older, older even than Kyra, and immortal.

Syssi settled into the seat across the aisle, her kind face creased with concern. "Perhaps we can use this time to get introduced properly?" She motioned with her head at the four young humans sitting behind Kyra and Jasmine.

"Good idea." Kyra rose to her feet and Jasmine followed suit.

She stood next to the first two. "We haven't been properly introduced yet. I'm Kyra, and this is my…sister Jasmine. What are your names?"

The oldest, who couldn't have been more than eighteen or nineteen, straightened her shoulders. "I am Arezoo," she said, then gestured to the girl sitting beside her. "And this is my sister Donya. That's my sister Laleh and next to her is our cousin Azadeh."

Kyra's heart clenched at how young they all looked. Donya and Laleh had the same delicate features as their older sister, while Azadeh had slightly darker coloring.

"How old are you?" Kyra asked gently.

"I'm nineteen," Arezoo said. "Donya is seventeen, Laleh just turned sixteen, and Azadeh is eighteen."

Kyra exchanged a pained look with Syssi. Just children, really. Still, in Iran they were all considered old enough to marry, and they were all pretty girls. The fact that they weren't married indicated that they were from an urban area and members of an upper socioeconomic class. Those tended to marry their daughters off at an older age than those in rural areas.

"What happened to you?" Kyra asked. "How were you taken?"

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