“The Great One or The Bachelorette.” Elena pointed at the block letter title written on the whiteboard.
A Nagy O/Hajadon
A Nagy O, The Great One, was the name of the Hungarian version of the reality show The Bachelor whilehajadonjust meant unmarried rather than being a direct translation of “bachelorette.”
Hajadonfelt vaguely insulting, though Nikolett knew Elena hadn’t meant it that way.
“It’s time for our admiral to get married.” Elena grinned, clearly enjoying this. “These are the lucky contestants.”
“Who don’t know they’re participating in this particular competition.” Oksana’s voice was cool and composed, revealing nothing about how she felt.
“I suggest we set up dates with each of them to help her pick.” Elena bounced on her toes in excitement at the idea.
“No,” Nikolett and Grigoris said at the same time.
She said no because the idea of going on test dates with each person made her want to rip out her hair. Grigoris said no because of the risk factors.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and Nikolett shifted, wondering if it was “Cookie Guy.” That was the name she’d put in her phone for a sexy Scotsman named Gus she’d met at a café and had been texting ever since. A man she’d made tentative plans to meet while trapped in Triskelion Castle with Eric. Since her dramatic exit that day, she hadn’t texted him again, barely had time to think about him.
Nyx scooted out a little as Nikolett shifted, making sure there was space under the table where Nikolett’s broken leg in the new 3D-printed cast rested on a small stool.
“Are we looking for reasons to eliminate, or are we identifying positives?” Zoran asked.
Nikolett jerked her attention away from the phone in her pocket and back to the display on the board.
Elena had a previously unknown crafty side to go with her love of reality TV competition shows. Large color photos of each potential spouse were backed by different colors of sparkly paper. Each photo was held to the whiteboard by a matching color magnet.
Elena pulled a stack of notecards from her pocket and, yep, they were also color coordinated.
“First, we have Luka Jovanovic. Serbian born and a current resident of Belgrade.” Elena reached into a small box on thetable. She carefully placed a magnet of the Serbian flag beside Luka’s blue-sparkle-backed picture.
Maxim laughed, and for a moment Elena hesitated, looking unsure. Maybe even a little hurt.
Nikolett shot Maxim a hard look, and he blinked.
“Please continue,” Nikolett said to Elena.
“Luka is a thirty-four-year-old attorney. His work is focused on judicial reform.”
“He could look critically at our policies, structures,” Oksana said.
Elena nodded. “Based on public interviews, and private memos and communications from both his colleagues and opponents, he’s described as articulate, principled, and loyal.” Elena flipped to another card. “On a personal note, he plays the accordion and was in a folk music band for a while, and is also proficient on a gusle—a string instrument with a single string. It had deep cultural importance in Serbia.”
“When was he recruited?” Iacob asked.
“Law school. One of his professors was a member and put his name forward.”
“Not a legacy, then,” Grigoris said. Legacy members were risky because they might have hidden ties to the old admiral.
“But the man who recruited him may have been loyal to Petro.” Nyx’s words were calm, but there was a tightness around her mouth when she said her former husband’s name.
They spent several moments discussing the possibility that Luka was loyal to Petro, the former admiral of Hungary. Most of Nikolett’s tenure as admiral had focused on dismantling the corruption left over from Petro’s long, twisted reign.
“Next up, we have Fedora Chen.”
The pink-sparkle-backed picture was of a smiling woman with chic glasses.
“Publicly,” Elena stressed the word, “she is an influential philanthropist and director of the Chen Foundation. Based in Vienna with most of her operations in the Balkans, her foundation funds education, anti-corruption efforts, and refugee relief. Quiet, charming, and shockingly multilingual, she’s a regular invitee to any sort of diplomatic event or humanitarian conference.”
