Page 91 of Dark Rebel's Reckoning

"Oh!" Jasmine straightened suddenly. "I almost forgot. I've got something for you. I'll be right back."

She hurried from the room, returning moments later with an object clutched carefully in her hands. As she settled back onto the sofa, Kyra saw that it was a jewelry box.

"I brought this from the village and forgot about it." Jasmine shook her head. "Perhaps the memory thing is hereditary." She opened the box and handed it to Kyra. "I thought these might help you remember."

Two delicate rings, a gold chain, and a photograph, worn at the edges and slightly faded with age.

Kyra took the photo, holding it gently with just the tips of her fingers, and her heart accelerated as she absorbed theimage. Three people smiled back at her from another lifetime—a handsome blond man, his arm wrapped proudly around her shoulders. She hadn't changed much except becoming harder. Between them sat a small dark-haired girl, her tiny hands reaching up to cup both parents' cheeks, her smile radiant with uncomplicated joy.

They looked happy. All three of them. The man—Boris—was younger than in the photo Jasmine had shown her before, his face unlined, his eyes bright with contentment. And Kyra looked soft and carefree, with a wide smile and rosy cheeks.

"That's the three of us," Jasmine said softly. "Before you were taken."

Emotion surged in Kyra's chest, a complicated mixture of loss and longing so intense it threatened to overwhelm her. Her fingertips traced the faces in the photograph, lingering on her sweet child.

"You were so beautiful," she whispered. "Are beautiful."

"I have your eyes," Jasmine said, leaning closer. "And your hair. But I have Boris's build. He's a big guy, and I'm a big girl. I mean tall. Well, I also have the hips and ass to match, but I'm not complaining. I like my curvy body."

"You are perfect," Kyra managed through a tight throat.

This was evidence of a life she couldn't remember—proof that she had once been someone else, someone who had loved and been loved in return.

"I'm sorry," Jasmine said, misreading her silence. "I thought it might help you remember. I didn't mean to make you sad."

"No," Kyra managed, finally finding her voice. "It's precious. Thank you for showing me." She reluctantly put the photo back in the box. "You should keep it safe."

"The box is yours, and so are the rings and the chain, but I'll make a copy of the photo for you," Jasmine promised. "In fact, I'll make two blown-up copies so we can both have one to frame and hang on the wall in our houses."

"I'd like that," Kyra said, wiping at her eyes. "Very much."

"I also want to keep the tarot cards if you don't mind." Jasmine opened a secret compartment in the box and pulled out a velvet pouch. "I'm attached to this deck. I can get you a new one."

Kyra shook her head. "Keep everything. I just want a copy of the photo."

"Would you at least take the rings?" Jasmine asked. "I've never worn them. I've just kept them in the box, cherishing everything inside because that was all I had left of you. But now I have all of you, and it would make me happy if you put the rings on."

Kyra couldn't say no to that. Pulling the two rings from the box, she slid them over her fingers. "If I brought these with me from home, my sisters might recognize them "

"It didn't even cross my mind, but you are right." Jasmine pulled out the thin gold chain and handed it to Kyra. "Put this on as well. You can keep it under your shirt."

The rings still fit perfectly, and the chain rested against her chest without interfering with her pendant.

For a long moment, the two of them sat in comfortable silence, both lost in thoughts of what might have been.

"I've been thinking about what happens when you bring everyone back," she said. "Practical matters, I mean. Housing. Integration."

Kyra welcomed the shift to more pragmatic issues. "Is there enough room in the village for everyone?"

"More than enough," Jasmine assured her. "Right now, Ell-rom and I share a house with his twin sister Morelle and her mate Brandon—he's the one who arranged for the personal shopper—for reasons that I don't want to bother you with, but we've been talking about getting our own place." A smile curved her lips. "I would love us to live next to each other."

"That would be amazing. How many available houses are there?" Kyra asked, already trying to envision what life might look like with all her sisters and their children in one place.

"Enough," Jasmine said. "Kian wanted his sister Sari to move her part of the clan into the village, and he built it to be big enough for every clan member to have a house of their own, but she decided against it. Then the Kra-ell joined the clan, which is another story that I will tell you when you come back. Then there is Kalugal and his former Doomers, who have a dedicated section of the village as well."

Kyra frowned. "Former Doomers live in the village? I thought they were the enemy. The devil's spawn."

Jasmine laughed. "Most of them are, but there are exceptions. I'll tell you about that too." She squeezed Kyra's hand. "We have so much to talk about, so many things to tell each other."

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