Page 72 of Dark Rebel's Reckoning

Kyra didn't even flinch, watching with clinical detachment as Gertrude filled vial after vial with her blood.

"All done," the nurse said once all the vials were filled, pressing a cotton ball to the puncture site.

Bridget pushed the door nearly closed, leaving just enough of a gap that the girls could hear their voices but not see inside. "Privacy is important, even in these circumstances."

The physical examination was efficient and thorough but still gentle and respectful, and Bridget narrated everything she was doing for the benefit of the listening girls.

"Everything looks good," Bridget said as she made notes on a tablet. "If the bloodwork is just as good, you have nothing to worry about. Your immortal body healed everything." She hesitated, which made Kyra tense. "I know that you are concerned about pregnancy, but I didn't feel or smell anything that might indicate that, and I'm pretty good at detecting pregnancy even in the very early stages. The blood test is the most definitive way to be certain, especially this soon after potential conception. But given what we know about immortal fertility, the chances are next to zero."

Relief flooded through Kyra, though she hadn't realized until that moment how much the possibility of pregnancy had been weighing down on her. "Thank you."

"You can get dressed now," Bridget said. "Let's see who wants to be next."

Together, they walked into the waiting area, where the girls were waiting with Jasmine and Fenella. They still looked nervous, but not as nervous as when they had entered the clinic.

"Everything is fine," Kyra announced.

Arezoo rose to her feet. "Did anything hurt?"

"The examination was quick and painless." Kyra sat down on the chair Arezoo had vacated, which was next to Laleh. "Dr. Bridgetand Gertrude were very professional and explained everything they were doing. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"Who's next?" Bridget asked gently.

"I'll go," Arezoo said, her voice sounding steadier than her expression indicated.

She looked scared.

"Are you telling the truth about it?" Laleh asked once Arezoo was out of earshot. "I heard you and the nurse talking about lots of blood being taken."

Kyra took the girl's hand, noting how cold her fingers felt despite the comfortable temperature in the clinic. "The needle pinches a little when they take blood," she said honestly. "But it's over very quickly. Everything else is just like a regular check-up." She wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

This was what family felt like. Not just blood ties, but the fierce protectiveness she felt, the desire to shield and guide and heal. She had spent decades fighting for strangers, for principles, for freedom. But this—this bone-deep need to ensure these girls' safety and happiness—this was something altogether different.

She cast a glance at Jasmine, her daughter who was a grown woman and an immortal and did not need her protection anymore. But she needed her love, and Kyra vowed to shower her with buckets of it whether she liked it or not.

45

DROVA

Drova glared at the algebra problem as if it had personally insulted her lineage. The human in the YouTube video kept talking about isolating variables and moving numbers from one side of the equation to the other, but his words might as well have been in Chinese for all the sense they made to her, and Chinese wasn't one of the languages programmed into the translating earpieces.

"So, if we have 3x + 7 = 22," the cheerful instructor said, "we first subtract seven from both sides to get 3x = 15, and then divide both sides by 3 to get x = 5."

She paused the video and attempted the practice problem: 4x - 9 = 15.

"Okay, so I need to add 9 to both sides?" she muttered, scribbling on the notepad beside her. "No, that's not right. Subtract? No..."

With a frustrated sigh, she tossed her pencil onto the desk. Parker's textbook sat beside her tablet, its pages still crisp and barely touched. She'd tried to learn from it, but the denseparagraphs and neatly arranged formulas swam before her eyes after just a few minutes. At least with the videos, she could pause, rewind, and hear someone explain the concepts out loud over and over again.

Was she dumb, or were Kra-ell incapable of learning algebra?

Perhaps the gods had been right in restricting the Kra-ell access to their higher learning institutions. Perhaps the reason wasn't discrimination and the wish to keep the technological advancements to themselves, but that Kra-ell brains were not built for studying. They were warriors, hunters, and that was what they were supposed to do. They weren't meant to sit on their asses in classrooms.

Her wound throbbed dully beneath the bandage, a reminder of her failure during the mission. But that hadn't been the worst thing. Losing that loudspeaker had been by far her greatest failure. She'd let everyone down, but their team had persevered anyway.

She'd messed up, but thank the Mother, the rest of the pureblooded Kra-ell females along with Dima and Anton had been awesome.

Still, Drova's confidence was crushed, and the damn algebra wasn't helping to boost it.

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