Carnelians Read Online Free

the Ruby Dynasty come up with next? Someone ought to put them in slave restraints and save their people from their misery.
    “Holo-rock,” Kryx said. “He makes noise and calls it singing. An embarrassment to the dynasty, I’m sure. He’s one of the top-earning artists in the genre.”
    “Never heard of it.”
    “Yes, well, His Thugliness lives on Earth.”
    “Oh, that one.” Barthol had put him out of his mind long ago. “He was there when our last war with the Skolians ended. His family didn’t want him back. Hell, it’s been eleven years.” This all spoke to Barthol’s conviction that human civilization was decaying. “I’ll tell you, Kryx, this claim the Earthers make that they were neutral in the war—it’s fucking bullcrap. If they were neutral, why were they protecting the Ruby Dynasty? I didn’t see them offering to protect us.”
    Kryx cocked his eyebrow. “Would you have wanted their protection?”
    “Of course not. That isn’t the point. They didn’t offer.” Barthol had little interest in the singer. This Ruby princeling would be as well protected on Earth as anywhere else. Hell, if he was making some conglomerate wealthy, they would go out of their way to ensure nothing happened to him.
    Then again, maybe he should take another look. Who knew what the boy was up to out there on Earth? If any vulnerability existed in the web of security surrounding the Ruby Dynasty, it just might be for this loud singer on Earth.
    “What makes you consider this one in particular?” Barthol asked.
    “He’s the renegade.” A glint came into Kryx’s eyes. “And renegades are always a weakness.”

III: Gem Child
    III
Gem Child

    “You want a job?” Harindor looked Aliana up and down, his dark eyes assessing. “I dunno, sweets. Some men like their sugar tall, I guess.”
    “I’m not interested in being one of your sugar girls,” Aliana told him shortly.
    Harindor shifted his bulk on his overstuffed recliner. The light from the orb spinning in a corner of the red-curtained booth gave his face a reddish cast. “Well, you won’t be getting no jobs as a diplomat.”
    “I can be a bouncer in one of your bars,” Aliana said.
    He gave a snort of laughter. “Since when do I need underage girls as bouncers?”
    As nervous as Aliana felt, behind her false bravado, she was still sure she could manage the job. Since that life-changing moment ten days ago when she’d fought her stepfather, she had begun to realize what she could do. She had grown tall, and all those years of heavy labor had given her plenty of muscles. Her unknown father may have left her in this cesspool of a life, but he had also given her an incredible strength.
    “Put me on a shift at one of your bars,” she said. “You’ll see. I can do it.”
    Harindor laughed rudely. “You’ll make more trouble than you stop. I’ll need another bouncer just to take care of the bastards who come on to you.”
    “I can take care of myself.”
    “Tell you what.” He leaned back in his chair, his smile oozing across his puffy face. “I’ll give you that shift. If you fail, sweets, you give me a sweet-shift.”
    “I won’t whore for you, Harin.”
    “Whatever.” Reaching forward, he took a holofile from the battered table he used as a desk.
    “Fine.” Aliana had to make a conscious effort not to grit her teeth. “If I get knocked out on my shift working as your bouncer, I’ll give you a sweet-shift.”
    He looked up, smirking. “Lot easier work, you know. You jus’ lie on your back—”
    “Shut the hell up,” she said.
    “Not good to talk to me like that.” Harin looked more amused than offended. “Go on. Git. Sak outside will set you up for a shift at Capjack’s Bar.”
    “Good.” Aliana turned and headed for the door. Over her shoulder, she said, “I won’t be seeing you again, not unless you come to Capjack’s.”
    He laughed behind her. “At least not for a day.”
    Just wait, she thought. She’d start as a bouncer