“The greatest point of concern is what the Spaniard knows, and how he knows it. He appears to have orchestrated the situation in Crimea specifically to lure current Masters’ Admiralty members to a location that is difficult to get in and out of. While he appears to be focused on Admiral Varga, he knows enough about the society as a whole that he knew about the archive. Something not widely known even to members.”
“What does he want?” Hande asked.
“We don’t know for certain. A team of professionals broke into the archive supposedly looking for the same manuscript we were pursuing. But the manuscript issue originated with a git name Dodge. Best we can figure, Dodge hired the Spaniard to help him find the manuscript.”
Colum paused, brows rising to meet his disheveled hair. “Dodge just happened to hire a man who knows far too much about our society to hunt down pieces of a book written by one of our members.”
“Too many coincidences,” Vicente, the security minister of Castille, said.
“I agree.” Eric crossed his arms, leaning on the desk. It made his muscles look huge, straining against his shirt.
Nikolett swallowed hard against the need that swelled in her. She wanted to feel those arms around her. Wanted to sink her teeth into them to muffle her screams as he made her come.
“He’s a member,” Hande declared. “A member from Castille.”
“Who has a vendetta against Hungary’s admiral?” Grigoris asked dubiously.
Vicente stiffened. “We’ve reviewed our membership records and cross-checked the location of anyone matching his description. No one fitting the Spaniard’s description was anywhere near Crimea.”
Hande opened her mouth to argue, but Eric shook his head.
“I trust that Castille reviewed their records and has ruled out all obvious suspects. The real question is what does he want?”
“His ongoing nuisance attacks on Admiral Varda indicate his goal isn’t necessarily assassination of an admiral. Or the admiral, if he thinks Admiral Varda is the single authority over the entire society.”
“The attacks on Admiral Varda predate the issue in Crimea. That could mean they’re unrelated.” Grigoris’ voice was smooth, but he grimaced slightly as he added, “However it’s more likely that Crimea was an escalation—he wanted us to know his name. I think we can all agree that it’s not just about Admiral Varda. If it was, the archive wouldn’t have been attacked.”
Nikolett gritted her teeth. She would love to keep this issue in house, handled by her territory alone, but that was no longer an option.
“This might be about exposing us, as the Oscar Wilde book would have been very difficult for us to contain. It may be that he knows about the society, and Nikolett is the only person in a position of authority he’s been able to identify, which is why the focus is on her.” Colum hesitated. “He appears to be…toying with us.”
Everyone took a minute to absorb that.
Nikolett again held her expression steady, knowing people would be looking at her. Assuming the Spaniard was the one behind all her recent issues, and given that he’d sent her a page of the Wilde book, she was clearly an important player in the Spaniard’s game. Maybe the only player. She had to fight the urge to explain and justify why it was that every other admiral was able to maintain secrecy. She’d inherited a crumbling territory, and in her efforts to repair the damage, had angered members who didn’t want anything fixed. Those people might have said something they shouldn’t.
When she, Grigoris, and Nyx eventually found the person who spoke secrets to outsiders, they would be dealt with appropriately.
“That’s what Petro did,” Grigoris said after a moment. “He puppeteered the reincarnation of several old enemies in an effort to destabilize the society. His end goal was to become fleet admiral. A fleet admiral with extended powers.”
“Is this about the Masters’ Admiralty? Hungary?” Hande’s words bluntly laid out the issue. “Or perhaps about Admiral Varda personally.”
“The archive was attacked,” Colum reminded everyone.
“While you were technically married to her,” Hande countered. “It could have been an attempt to kill her husband.”
“They didn’t try to hurt or kidnap me. They wanted something that could harm the society, not Nikolett.”
Hande was undeterred. “Perhaps they think Nikolett is the fleet admiral.”
“A piece of the book was sent to Triskelion,” Vicente said. “It’s more likely that the Spaniard knows about our society, enough to know about the archive and Trikellion Castle, but he doesn’t know specific identities of any of the admirals, or the fleet admiral, besides Admiral Varda.”
“It always comes back to her,” Hande said.
Nikolett wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking that perhaps everything that had happened to her was a cover. That she was injuring herself to both throw off suspicion and to ensure she was included in meetings like this.
Nikolett wouldn’t blame anyone for thinkingshewas the Spaniard.
She also knew it would be better to let everyone talk, even if by this point, they were talking in circles. Defending herself rarely went well because she came off as defensive or standoffish, but she didn’t have the patience to waste time on dead ends.
