Page 89 of Dark Rebel's Fortune

Was it instinct? Or was it her pendant sending her a warning?

It was under her shirt, and she hadn't reached for it like she did every time it warmed up or vibrated orwhatever else it did to warn her, so her response probably hadn't been triggered by it.

"How did you get your pendant?" he asked.

She lifted a brow. "That's a random question. Where did it come from?"

He shrugged. "I was just thinking that if Okidu was dangerous, your pendant would have warned you."

Now her hand went to it, clutching it over her shirt. "It's not always reliable. I trusted it to give me a signal if my decision to get Soraya first was wrong, but it didn't warn me or prompt me to choose Yasmin instead."

Max tried to think of a rational explanation for that, but it was kind of an oxymoron to rationalize the behavior of a mystical object.

"I don't know what to tell you. Maybe it's not always on task." He wrapped his arm around her middle and drew her closer to him. "If you don't want to tell me how you got it, that's fine."

"I have no problem telling you. When I was escaping the asylum with the other women who helped me get to the resistance, we stayed the night at the house of an old relative of one of them. who also gave us clothing to hide who we were. I found the pendant in her backyard and brought it to her, thinking she'd lost it, but she said she threw it away and that I should keep it. I tried to refuse and offered to give it to Bahar, who was her sister's granddaughter, but the woman said that the pendant had foundme and that I should keep it. I thought she was just rambling nonsense, but I didn't want to offend her by refusing, so I took it. I had no idea it would guide me from that day on."

“That’s a fascinating story. Have you ever gone back to thank her for it?”

Kyra shook her head. “When I returned to Tehran several years later, she was gone.”

44

KYRA

"All clear," the doctor said as he returned with Rana, who had been the last to get checked. "No tracking devices on anyone."

"That's a relief," Kyra said. "Thank you."

"My pleasure." The doctor glanced at the children, who were circling the plane.

The older boys were pretending to be knowledgeable about avionics, and the younger ones were pretending to believe them.

"Are we waiting for Yamanu and the rest of the team to arrive?" she asked. "Soraya and Rana are eager to reunite with their daughters."

Max nodded. "They should be here shortly, and we are all riding the bus back home. We should probably get everyone on board, so the kids are not running around when Eric lands."

"Good idea." Kyra turned to her sisters. "Everyone's clear, but we still need to wait for the rest of the team to arrive with the other plane. Once they get here, we will head to the village where Arezoo, Donya, Laleh, and Azadeh are waiting for you."

"How far is it?" Soraya asked.

"About two hours," Max replied, even though he'd told them before how long it would take. They were nervous and excited, and he was super understanding. "The bus has a toilet compartment, so no worries about that. I noticed that the kids have small bladders that need frequent emptying."

Parisa cast him a hard look as if she was insulted by his comment. "That's because they were drinking all those sugary drinks you had on board the plane."

"Do they have television on the bus?" one of Parisa's boys asked.

"Yes, they do," Max said. "You can start watching a movie right now if you want."

That was the magic word that got all the kids running for their backpacks and then rushing toward the bus.

Okidu bowed to each one of them, welcoming them by name, which was better than Kyra could do. She wondered if he'd talked with the girls to get the names of their cousins.

"How do you know my name?" Parisa's youngest boy asked.

Okidu's smile didn't look fake at all this time. In fact, Kyra had a feeling that he was about to say something mischievous.

"A little birdie whispered it in my ear, Arman." Okidu cupped his ear. "She whispered the names of your brothers too. Tyrus, Zaden, and Kavir."

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