Page 10 of Dark Destiny: A New Thread in the Tapestry

But the structure underneath looked disturbingly familiar.

The brow ridge, the set of the eyes, the line of the jaw, the shape of the mouth—those were eerily similar to Kian's own. The lips were fuller than Kian's, and the hair color was darker, but those were the main differences between them.

His mother had told him and his siblings many times that she had chosen males who reminded her of Khiann to father her children.

Kian hadn't thought she had meant it literally. He'd assumed she meant their temperament, their intelligence, their courage, or something along those lines.

She might have meant those things, but she'd also meant physical appearance.

"Fates," Kian said quietly. "He could actually be my father. We look alike."

"Yes." Annani smiled.

"I'm even named after him."

"Yes, you are. But there are differences. You are very different in temperament."

Kian wanted to laugh. Couldn't she have been more specific centuries ago? How difficult could it have been to tell him that he looked a lot like her lost mate but had a different personality?

"In what way?" he asked.

She tilted her head. "Both of you have a good head for business and are givers, but you are more intense. Khiann is mellower, more diplomatic." She cast him a sidelong glance. "He has never used expletives in my presence."

Kian laughed. "Is that why you are always on my case about using swear words?"

She shrugged. "I just think it is beneath you."

"So, it has nothing to do with you wanting me to be Khiann's mirror image?"

Annani frowned. "Do I ask my daughters, my own flesh and blood, to be a mirror image of me?"

"No."

"So, why would I want you to be Khiann's? Each of my children is a unique individual, and I celebrate your differences the same way I celebrate your commonalities, which are mostly the values I instilled in you."

He couldn't argue with that because everything she'd said was true.

Annani had never compared her children to each other, and even though she had told them about their fathers and what incredible humans they had been, she had never drawn comparisons between them.

"I'm sorry," he said. "It was just the shock of seeing how alike we look."

She nodded. "The resemblance is quite striking, but for some reason you did not notice it in the portraits Tim drew of Khiann. I wonder why."

Kian tried to remember those sketches, and when he did, he knew why he hadn't seen the resemblance before. "He had a thick beard in those, and his face was fuller. He didn't look much like me in Tim's renderings."

"Khiann's hair was darker and much thicker," she sighed. "I loved running my fingers through it."

Behind them, Alena cleared her throat. "I suggest you don't dive deeper into those memories, Mother. You are making Kian uncomfortable."

Annani chuckled. "If everything goes as well as I hope, you will see me running my fingers through my beloved's hair instead of just hearing about it. You had better start getting used to the idea that your mother has her true love back."

4

ESAG

The crib had been sitting on the workbench with three legs since the middle of the night, long enough for the glue on the joints to set. The fourth leg still needed a few final touches and a coat of oil, and then Esag would carry it into the secondary bedroom and put it under the window where Tula wanted it.

The problem was that he'd abandoned the leg last night to carve four faces that were now staring at him from his worktable, and they needed finishing, too.