Garnets or Bust by Joanna Wylde Read Free Book Online

infinitely safer for you not to know.”
    “It would have been infinitely safer for me to stay in the Warrens and get married,”
    she snapped. “Instead my mother sold herself into slavery to buy me an education and
    a better life. Tell me the truth, once and for all, or I promise you I’ll make your life a
    living hell.”
    “If I tell you this, you’ll never be able to leave.”
    “More bullshit, I’d never be able to leave anyway. I already know too much.”
    He nodded his head, acknowledging the point.
    “We’re not just building a settlement of people who were off-planet when Danube
    was interdicted. We’ve formed an organization, part military, part espionage and for
    the past year, we’ve been blockade running. We bring out refugees a few hundred at a
    time and settle them here.
    “Our headquarters are most unfortunately located under the garnet deposits. We
    discovered them while we were building but didn’t think much of it. They weren’t
    worth anything back then.”
    Tessa took a deep, hissing breath.
    No wonder they’d planned to kill her. This was big, bigger than anything she could
    have imagined. Suddenly she wished she’d listened to him instead of demanding the
    truth.
    “So you’re actively engaged in treason against the Emperor.”
    “Yes. That’s why it’s very convenient that you can’t testify against me.”
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    Garnets or Bust

Chapter Five
    Tessa spent several long seconds calming herself.
    “I hate to say it, but killing me makes a hell of a lot more sense than marrying me.”
    “I suppose so,” Daaron replied, reaching out to touch her cheek gently. “But I
    couldn’t do that to you, Tessa. You were the only person at university who didn’t fall all
    over themselves to kiss my ass. You were the only one who told me the truth, who
    stood up to me. You were the one who taught me that everyone—even someone born in
    the Warrens—has as much right to freedom and prosperity as a noble.”
    “Wow.”
    “Not to mention the fact that I still hadn’t gotten into your pants,” he added, a sly
    little smirk stealing across his face. It broke the tension that hung so heavily in the
    room. Tessa snatched a pillow and hit him over the head with it, hard. He grabbed her
    and wrestled her down, kissing her roughly even as he reached around to tickle her.
    She kicked at him, pulling away from his kiss and screeching. He clapped one hand
    over her mouth.
    “Be careful,” he said. “Remember our listeners in the hallway. We’ve already given
    them enough of a show.”
    She nodded her head and he released her. Goddess be-damned, touching him made
    her want him again. All those years of celibacy must be coming back to haunt her,
    because all she could think of was sex, sex, sex.
    “So where do we go from here?” she asked finally. “I understand why you can’t let
    me have the garnets. I don’t think I want them anymore, not if it means hurting so
    many people. And I certainly don’t have any love for Imperials. I grew up in the
    Warrens, remember? Their own personal hunting grounds? Where I live, a person who
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    Joanna Wylde
    works for the Emperor is likely to get gutted if he strays too far without armed guards.
    I’m not going to rat you out, Daaron.”
    He nodded his head.
    “I believe you,” he replied. “But only marriage is enough to convince my people of
    that. They’re different than most living within the Empire, very religious. When their
    priestesses declare a marriage valid, they don’t just see it as a social contract. It’s a
    lifemating. And something strange happens between them, I’ve seen it. I don’t think
    those couples could separate even if they wanted to. Our marriage will keep you safe.”
    “I have an obligation to my mother,” she said, feeling tired. “I was going to use the
    money from the garnets to buy her freedom. I can’t just let her rot away. Will you help
    me?”
    “Yes,” he replied. “Easy enough to buy out one