Page 43 of Dark Rebel's Fortune

"I'm here to help," Kyra replied. "Your nieces are safe, but you, your sons, and your other sisters are in danger."

Parisa's eyes darted toward her guard, who was watching her intently. "I can't read it now. He's watching me."

"I'll block you from his view. I need the note back, or I would have told you to meet me at the women's bathroom and read it there." Kyra lifted two pomegranates and held them up to the sun, pretending to examine them in the light while effectively creating a screen with her voluminous clothing to hide her sister.

Behind her, she heard Parisa gasp and then exhale. "I read it. What now?"

Kyra put the pomegranates back down and turned to her sister. "Hand me the note and then meet me at the women's bathroom at the east entrance. I'll go ahead, and you should head there in ten minutes. Your guard can't follow you inside."

After Parisa slid the note into her hand, Kyra walked away, disappearing into the crowd.

She circled around, keeping Parisa in her peripheral vision while never looking directly at her. The fat suit made stealth challenging, but it also made her unremarkable—just another matron doing her morning shopping. The only things giving her away were her lack of purse and shopping bags.

"Do any of you have money?" she said quietly in her comm. "I need to buy something not to look suspicious."

"I do," Yamanu said. "I'm behind the scarf stand. The humans can't see me because I'm shrouding myself."

When Kyra saw Yamanu standing where he'd told her he would be, his hand extended with a wad of bills, she stifled a chuckle. "People will think that I'm plucking money out of thin air. Imagine the rumors it would spark."

She took the money from Yamanu's hand, quickly put it in her pocket, and proceeded to buy a colorful head covering, which she asked the vendor to put in a bag for her.

Feeling less conspicuous, Kyra headed toward the bathroom but didn't go in. Instead, she pretended to examine a display of copper pots.

"Parisa is on her way," Max reported in her ear. "The guard is with her."

Naturally.

Kyra considered staying outside the bathroomand waiting until Parisa got in before following, but she was afraid the guard would recognize her from the fruit stand. She could pull out the head covering she'd bought and change her appearance a little, but there was no good place to do that without being noticed, and getting under Yamanu's shroud meant going back to where he was keeping watch.

"Go inside," Yamanu said in her earpiece. "They are almost there."

Kyra ducked into the bathroom. The place was packed with women waiting in line for the four available stalls, and there was no way she could talk with Parisa in there.

"Can you do something to give us privacy?" she asked quietly while pretending to adjust her clothing under the abaya. "It's packed in here."

Yamanu didn't answer, but the women around her started to scrunch their noses and twist their mouths, and some started complaining about the intolerable stench.

The place didn't smell great, but it wasn't particularly stinky either, or at least no more than it had been when she'd entered.

"Is the stench your doing?" Kyra asked quietly.

"I hope you can't smell it," came Yamanu's bemused answer. "Only the humans are supposed to be affected by my olfactory illusion."

"Oh, they definitely are."

One by one, the women started filing out of thebathroom until only the most desperate remained, holding their noses with their fingers and shifting from foot to foot as they waited for a stall to become available.

When Parisa finally entered, the bathroom was practically empty, but the illusionary stench remained, and Parisa's face twisted.

"Can we do this somewhere else?"

Kyra shook her head. "Just don't breathe through your nose. The smell is harmless. Its purpose is to chase the other women away."

One day, they would talk about this encounter and have a good laugh, but for now, Kyra had to keep the lies coming.

"Her guard is staying in position by the entrance," Max said in her earpiece. "You're good, but don't take too long."

"The note was from Arezoo." Parisa's voice was tight with barely contained emotion, but she was trying to appear fierce, which Kyra appreciated. "Where is she?"

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