We’re well beyond the normal range of Imperial travel or protection. Nobody lived here. My family considers it a token, but it’s been perfect for my needs. None of the Danubians were able to break the blockade, but thousands of them were off-planet during the disaster. I collected as many of them as I could and brought them here. They’re the colonists you saw at the spaceport.
“That’s the real reason you can’t have your garnets—if the Imperials discovered cerulean star garnets here, they’d find the Danubians and use them as an excuse to come in and take over. They’d lose their home all over again.”
Tessa felt humbled. Suddenly her problems—even her mother’s situation—seemed very small.
“What about your family? What do they think about what you’re doing?”
“They don’t have any idea what’s really going on,” he said. “They think I’m playing at starting a colony, they don’t know it’s connected to Danube.Eccentric, but harmless. Fortunately, the Empire has a long history of eccentric nobility.”
Tessa mulled his tale over in her head, but something didn’t click. She understood why he was so determined to protect his people. But his story just didn’t feel right. She knew, with a certainty that defied reason, that he still hadn’t told her the whole truth.
“What’s the rest of it?”
Daaron shook his head.
“That’s all.”
“Bullshit, there’s more going on here,” she said. “This is a fledgling colony, yet we’re sitting in a well-built prison in what you admit is a compound. I didn’t see anything like that when I arrived at the spaceport.
Your people followed me halfway across the planet—why not just kill me when I arrived? You’re hiding something bigger.”
“It’s 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.”
Chapter Five
Tessa spent several long seconds calmingherself .
“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 worksfor 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 woman’s indenture. I’m sorry for that—I know you wanted to do it yourself.”
“My pride isn’t worth destroying lives,” she said firmly, pulling away from him. “This isn’t how I would have planned things, but I can accept reality. We should make the best of it, Daaron. I don’t want to fight with you if I don’t have to.”
“Then I guess we’re stuck with each other,” he replied. He reached up and tousled her newly shortened hair. She sighed, rolling her head into his touch. It felt good, comforting. For the first time in her life, she felt safe. Pretty pathetic, considering she’d just entered into a conspiracy against the Emperor.