"Joanna Wylde - Dragon's Mistress" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wylde Joanna)

"Hold up the earrings next to it," he said. She did, gasping. He watched her face, but he already
knew what she was seeing. The delicate tracery of the wires and beads, held at exactly the right angle,
matched his tattoo exactly. There could be no mistaking it.

"Do you believe me now?" he asked.

"You could have had those given to Karya," she said, shaking her head.
 "Yes, I could have," he replied. "But how would have I arranged for her to give them to you? You
know IтАЩm telling the truth."

She was silent, a single tear welling up.

"I wish you weren't," she said. "How could all those people be dead, and none of us know about it?"

"He's not sane," Drake replied, filled with compassion for her. He remembered when he'd first heard
the news, and realized that he no longer had a choice in fighting the Emperor. "Will you help us?"

"Yes," she whispered, reaching one hand up to wipe away the tears. "Yes, I will," she added, her
voice stronger. He detected a note of steel in her tone, and he sighed with relief. Karya hadn't
underestimated her.

"It's going to be very difficult for you," he said. "You're going to become my mistress. The Guild is
going to expel you for turning against them, and you'll be publicly humiliated."

"I understand," she said, nodding her head with quiet dignity.

"When we go to Tyre, you'll be an outcast among the Guild members. And you'll be an outsider
among the nobles. They won't look upon you as an equal, you know."

"I can handle that."

"There's one more thing," he said, тАЬand this may be the hardest part of all. Within a day or two I can
guarantee that the Emperor's people will contact you, try to recruit you to spy on me. You'll have to
agree with them, and you'll have to keep up a convincing front that you're working against me."

"How will you know I'm not working against you?" she asked, looking at him coolly. All traces of
tears were gone now.

"Because 25,000 of your Guild sisters will be counting on you to bring some kind of meaning to their
deaths," he said. "Even if you betrayed me, I know you wouldn't betray them. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes," she replied. "We have a deal."

"Good," he said. He pressed a small button against the wall, and spoke with a commanding voice,
"Please send us a tray of fruits, cheeses and wines."

"Yes, Your Grace," a disembodied voice replied. Drake turned back to her.

"In order for us to speak privately, I had to arrange for a 'random' power failure that cut off Imperial