The Far Shores (The Central Series) Read Online Free PDF

a
surprise to him.
    “The Thule Cartel will
second the motion,” Lóa Thule stated firmly, still waiting for the Milla Cartel
to cede enough chairs for her to take a seat. It had been four years since he
had seen her last, but the time had done nothing to diminish her beauty, amber-toned
hair in tight curls bordered by the Weir-fur fringe of her coat. “Gladly.”
    Brennan Thule, standing
beside her with an overcoat draped across his arm, confirmed it with a curt nod
and the ghost of a smile.
    Lord North was turned
all the way around in his chair, mouth slightly ajar in what was probably, for
him, an expression of utter shock.
    “Impossible,” Lord Cartier
sputtered, his broad face reddening with outrage. “The Thule Cartel’s voting
privileges were stripped when they were expelled from Central…”
    “A situation always
intended to be temporary. A learning experience, as it were,” Gaul said grimly.
Allowing the return of the Thule Cartel was a trump card that he would rather
not have played. While it might carry him through this encounter, his
precognition also warned him of the consequences of their return – not to
mention the personal implications. Another worry, grist for the marvelous
multitasking engine that was his nanite-engineered mind. “The Audit regarding
the actions of the Thule Cartel was completed last month. Chief Auditor Gallow
gave their return her seal of approval. I reinstated their cartel into the Committee-at-Large,
along with full voting privileges, earlier today.”
    “This is outrageous!” Lord
Cartier bellowed. “A blatant manipulation of our system of governance!”
    “Indeed,” Miss Luna
agreed, pausing to glare at Lóa Thule before shrugging her elegant shoulders.
“It makes no difference, though, Director. Hold your vote. I believe that the
results may surprise you.”
    One precognitive to
another. Normally Gaul would have heeded a warning like that, particularly after
she snuck an unsubtle glance in Josef Martynova’s direction. But Gaul wasn’t
entirely out of cards.
    “Very well. Will those
who are in favor of the adoption of the Emergency Powers Act, along with all that
it entails, please register their support?”
    A flickering of hands
throughout the Hegemony section, pockets of debt and resistance. The core of
which, of course, formed around the newly returned Thule Cartel, immediately
attracting the support of erstwhile allies. It was far from enough – no more
than one in eight. Gaul saw satisfaction in North and Luna’s faces as he turned
to the Black Sun half of the room.
    He knew that Lord North
had cut a deal with Josef Martynova to withhold further support to the
administration, without significant concessions of authority from the Director
and the Board to the Committee-at-Large. Gaul was aware of the resentment that
the elder Martynova held toward him, not to mention their mutual personal
animosity. Despite his daughter’s long shadow, Josef Martynova still held sway
over a significant minority of the Black Sun, those subsidiary cartels fearful
of Anastasia Martynova’s unprecedented rise to power. Combined with the
loyalist faction of the Hegemony, they would constitute a safe majority. But
the Hegemony didn’t understand the Black Sun the way Gaul did.
    When they wanted favors
from their enemies, the Hegemony went straight to the top. Gaul, on the other
hand, had gone looking for a cunning little girl in an expensive Victorian-era
reproduction dress.
    Anastasia Martynova
stood casually behind her father, one hand resting affectionately on his
shoulder, the other raised to indicate her support. Around her, hands from the
Black Sun rose in rapidly increasing circles around the girl in black lace and
ribbons, until the vote on their side of the aisle was near unanimous.
    Josef Martynova’s hand
was among the last to go up. He did an admirable job of hiding his bitterness.
    “Fifty-eight percent for
the motion,” Gaul said, relaying the total his