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Council approves, the duel takes place.”
    â€œSounds like a Guild version of a vote of no confidence in the CEO.”
    He smiled humorlessly. “It is. But a Guild boss’s wife has certain privileges. She can go before the Council and demand that the challenger be denied. No one can override her. It’s another old tradition designed to stabilize the power structure of the Guilds and protect the chief from dealing with the distraction that would be caused by constant challenges.”
    Sierra whistled softly. “Well, that certainly explains why Guild bosses are almost always married.”
    â€œThe tradition does tend to reinforce family values.”
    â€œSome family values. Jenner went through a lot of wives, but he never got involved in a Covenant Marriage. His relationships were always Marriages of Convenience.”
    Her disapproval amused him. Marriages of Convenience were legal, if short-term contracts, but a lot of well-bred, conservative-minded people tended to view them as nothing more than socially sanctioned affairs. There were major differences, however, and he was intimately aware of the high cost of those differences.
    When the First Generation colonists had found themselves cut off forever from Earth, they had understood that the survival of their small society depended on stability. Given that the basic building blocks of any civilization are families, the Founders had done everything in their power to make the ties that bind as strong as possible.
    They had set up two forms of marriage. Covenant Marriages were formal and intended to be permanent. Getting out of a CM was a legal and financial nightmare. If there were children involved, it was impossible to dissolve the contract until all of the offspring were eighteen years of age.
    The second form of marriage, the kind Jenner had favored, was known as a Marriage of Convenience. They were arrangements that, while offering all the legal protections of marriage, could be dissolved in a heartbeat by either party, unless there were offspring . The birth of a child immediately transformed an MC into a formal Covenant Marriage.
    The Founders had done their best, but all the legal and social engineering in the world could not prevent the occasional birth of someone like himself, Fontana thought. A bastard.
    â€œWe believe that Jenner terminated his last marriage because he didn’t think he could count on his wife to defend him if there was a challenge,” Fontana said.
    Sierra’s eyes narrowed faintly. “There was gossip to the effect that he had abused her.”
    â€œAs I recall, that gossip appeared only in the Curtain . One of your pieces, I believe.”
    She shrugged. “It was no secret.”
    â€œActually, it was. No one on the Council was aware of the abuse until the story ran in your paper.”
    â€œTalk about willful ignorance. The former Mrs. Jenner spent several days recovering in a private hospital after her husband lost his temper and beat her up the last time. Evidently it was the final straw for her. She wanted to warn other women about him. That’s why she agreed to talk to me.”
    He shook his head, straightened away from the desk, and went back to the window. “You’re amazing, Miss McIntyre. How the devil did you find Alison in that private clinic? We all believed that she’d gone off to spend a week at a spa in Resonance City. The next thing anyone knew, she had filed for divorce and disappeared.”
    â€œAs a matter of fact, she contacted me.”
    â€œProbably because she knew you would be willing to print the story. I doubt if any other paper in town would have touched it.”
    â€œProbably. Why were you the one chosen to go against Jenner in a ghost duel?”
    He deliberated a few seconds, deciding how much to say. In the end he compromised. “Jenner was no ordinary hunter. He was extremely powerful. Everyone knew that there was no one else on the