After Glow (gh-3) by Jayne Castle

Author:Jayne Castle [Castle, Jayne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: love_sf

Chapter 18

Emmett and ten other men, most of them much older than him, were seated at a great semicircular table. They were all dressed in modern business suits that looked oddly out of place. She realized that the popular images of the ghost-hunters' Council came from the historical films and photos that dated from the Era of Discord. In the old movies and pictures the members of the Council were always shown wearing the traditional robes of office that dated from that time.

But aside from the modern attire, she had a hunch that very little had changed. You could feel the power in the room, she thought. Not just the low-level buzz of psi power that was palpable when so many strong para-rezes were gathered together in a small space, but another kind, the sort that clung to a group that had operated under its own secret rules and codes for decades.

The Guild had functioned outside the mainstream legal system from inception. It accorded superficial deference and polite respect to the civil authorities and the courts but everyone knew in reality it was immune to them. The old-fashioned hierarchical system had worked reasonably well down through the years because there was a fair amount of truth in the old saying the Guild polices its own.

You had to hand it to the ghost-hunters, she thought. They had been able to maintain their traditional ways and clean up financially at the same time because they'd always had a knack for selecting strong, savvy leadership.

For the first time it struck her quite forcibly just how strong and savvy Emmett had to be if he had, in fact, managed to mainstream the Resonance Guild, as the media claimed. It meant that he had had to control and steer a bunch of tough, powerful men like these into a future that none of them would have welcomed.

She recognized the ten members of the Cadence Guild Council from photos that she had seen in the news over the years. All but one, Foster Dorning, were longtime members. In front of each man sat a chunk of solid amber carved in an octagonal design.

Tamara Wyatt was also present, looking elegant and very tense. She was not seated at the great council table but rather in a chair that Lydia suspected was designed for an honored guest.

Everyone turned to look at Lydia when she moved into the room. A shocked silence fell. With the exception of Emmett, everyone wore expressions of blank-faced astonishment. Clearly the members of the Cadence Guild Council were not accustomed to having their meetings interrupted.

Emmett's hard face and eyes gave no indication of his reaction to her presence but she did not need to be a mind reader to figure out that he was not thrilled.

"Gentlemen," he said, rising deliberately from his position of authority at the head of the table, "allow me to introduce my wife, Lydia."

The men all stood politely, nodded brusquely, and murmured an acknowledgment of the introduction.

"Mrs. Wyatt, you've already met my wife," Emmett added, still speaking in that cold, formal tone.

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