Page 44 of Dark Rover's Luck

She closed the browser, unsettled by the glimpse into Din's other life. He was established and respected in his field. He had a career, colleagues, and students who depended on him.

What was she bringing to the table?

A half-century of drifting, of survival, of running from shadows. No roots, no achievements, nothing to point to with pride except the bare fact of her continued existence.

The thought was sobering.

20

KYRA

As Kyra arrived at the clinic with Jasmine, she was surprised to see Fenella heading their way.

"Looks like we're not the only ones summoned." She nudged Jasmine and waved at Fenella, who quickened her pace when she saw them.

"You two got called in as well?" Fenella asked as she reached them.

Kyra nodded. "Any idea what this is about?"

Fenella shook her head. "Not a clue, and it's making me nervous. I keep thinking Bridget might have found something wrong with me, something bad that the fake Doomer doctor did to me."

Kyra's heart constricted as her own fear echoed Fenella's. She was very familiar with the lingering dread and the way it made her constantly brace for the next blow, the next revelation of damage.

"I doubt it's that," Jasmine said. "Otherwise, Bridget wouldn't have asked me to be here as well. I didn't suffer at the hands of that monster."

That made a lot of sense, but then Bridget could have thought that Kyra and Fenella would need emotional support, and that was why she'd included Jasmine in her summons.

Still, Fenella seemed to relax at this logic. "Good point."

"Only one way to find out." Kyra pushed open the clinic's door, and the three of them stepped into a bright waiting area.

Unlike most medical facilities, there was no receptionist gate-keeping access to the doctor. Instead, Bridget waved at them from a small office that was adjacent to the waiting room.

"Come on in, ladies," Bridget said, her slight Scottish accent lilting pleasantly. "Please, have a seat," she gestured at the chairs on the other side of her desk.

It was a bit crowded for the three of them in the tight space, but they weren't strangers, and rubbing elbows and thighs wasn't a problem.

"What's this about, doctor?" Kyra asked.

Bridget folded her hands in front of her. "As part of our standard protocol, we run genetic screenings on all new arrivals to the village. It helps us track family connections, the matrilineal being of utmost importance because of the taboo of inter-mating within the same maternal line."

Kyra's stomach twisted. "I hope we don't share a line with the Clan Mother."

If that was the case, she couldn't be with Max, and Fenella couldn't be with Din. Jasmine was probably fine with Ell-rom because he came from a different maternal line, and that was a relief.

"You don't," Bridget said. "But that was only one of the concerns behind the testing, and not just because of the need to eliminate the possibility that new members are genetically connected to the Clan Mother through some ancient ancestor. So far, we haven't had incidents like that, and frankly I don't anticipate them, but there is always a slight possibility of a lost member producing offspring. The other consideration is that, sometimes, people who join us discover that they are distant relatives of existing members."

Kyra let out a breath. "You had me worried for a moment there. If I were from the same maternal line as the Clan Mother, my relationship with Max would have been considered taboo."

"I can imagine." Bridget smiled reassuringly. "Perhaps I should have opened with that to save you the scare. Anyway, the reason I asked all three of you to meet me together is that something unexpected came up when I ran the tests on Fenella's samples. I repeated the analysis to be certain, and then I pulled samples we had on file for Kyra and Jasmine to compare." She paused, looking at each of them in turn, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "The results are quite definitive. You three are related."

A stunned silence fell over them.

"Are you serious?" Fenella was the first to speak. "How is that even possible?"

Kyra wanted to know that as well. Fenella was from Scotland, and she was from Iran. She doubted that any of her ancestors had ever been to Scotland, let alone come from there. But then she didn't know much about her family and where they'd hailed from. Her sisters should know more, though, and she planned on asking them later.

Bridget tapped on her tablet, bringing up a series of diagrams. "It's a maternal connection. Let me explain the testing process so you understand what we're looking at."

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