“We need to strengthen our alliances with the other territories, including Ottoman.” Grigoris rubbed his neck. “If it comes to war, I want to know who will be on our side, either because we’re allies or because they don’t like the fleet admiral’s power grab.”
“We need to prepare a strike team specifically to take out the Spartan Guard,” Nyx countered. “There are nine guards, plus the fleet admiral. Yes, there’s the backup Spartan Guards in training, but it would take them at least several hours to get from Stranraer in Scotland to the Isle of Man. That means we need a team capable of neutralizing ten people in one hour or less.”
When Nyx stopped talking, everyone looked at her with various degrees of alarm.
“Why are you here, in my exam room?” Elena finally said. “Go away. All of you.”
“I asked Nyx and Grigoris to be here,” Nikolett said over everyone’s protests.
“I can go,” Maxim said, his brow lined. He was partially deaf and she knew everyone talking over one another like this made it hard for him to follow conversations.
“Wait, no, you’re the only other person who should be here,” Elena said. “Do you have it?”
Maxim passed her the long paper-wrapped bundle.
“Nyx, Grigoris.” Nikolett waited until they had her attention. “We’re not going to attack Triskelion, even if Eric does something stupid. We’re not going to be the reason the Masters’ Admiralty goes to war.”
Grigoris nodded reluctantly, but Nyx merely stared at Nikolett.
“What we are going to do,” Nikolett declared, “is eliminate the source of the problem.”
Maxim’s brows rose slightly. “You want me to kill the fleet admiral?”
“What? No,” Nikolett said at the same time Nyx asked, “Can you?”
“I could.” Maxim shrugged. “I might not survive if the Spartan Guard come at me in force, but the fleet admiral would be dead.”
The idea of Eric dead made Nikolett physically sick. “We’re not killing him.”
“Let’s keep that as an option of last resort,” Nyx countered.
Grigoris’ head was bowed to hide his grin.
Nikolett seriously considered thumping her head against the seat in exasperated frustration, but thought better of it when she remembered Eric doing the same thing.
“We’re eliminating the source of the problem,” she said instead. “Which is me and Eric.”
Nyx crossed her arms. “Nice try, we’re not killing you.”
“Nyx, I’m not suicidal. I mean, my relationship with Eric. That’s the problem.”
No one argued that point. Everyone except Elena had, at one point or another, been in the room when she and Eric fought or caught a glimpse of her and Eric being intimate.
“What do you need us to do, Admiral?” Grigoris’ calm tone seemed to settle everyone.
Nikolett raised her chin. “It’s time for me to get married.”
Nyx’s eyes went wide, and Elena looked up from the weird blue thing she was now fitting around Nikolett’s leg.
“As admiral, I get to choose my own trinity.” She grimaced. “Pending the fleet admiral’s approval, since that’s the condition for all trinity marriages.”
Everyone who married in the Masters’ Admiralty had to go to the Isle of Man to get the fleet admiral’s approval of their marriage. It was just a formality, because most marriages were arranged by the territory admirals. The fleet admiral usually got involved only when inter-territory marriages were arranged.
“What I need from you is help identifying likely candidates.”
For once, even Nyx looked surprised.
Elena grinned ear to ear, the open-pattern 3D-printed cast half fitted around Nikolett’s lower leg. “You realize what this means, don’t you?”
