“I’m not the Spaniard.”
Her declaration silenced everyone else.
“Nor have I hired the Spaniard if that’s what people are considering. If I were to injure myself to deflect suspicion, I assure you it would not have involved a bear trap and broken leg.”
Several people startled at that, and Hande looked vaguely green.
“Bear trap? Like…” Hande mimicked jaws snapping closed with her hands.
Nikolett nodded.
Hande’s expression softened into real alarm and concern.
“You are my neighbor,” the other admiral said after a moment. “If you need help, call on me.”
In the past, that would have been a veiled threat, but this time it felt like a genuine offer of assistance.
“Thank you,” Nikolett said in Hande’s native Turkish, and she meant it.
The conversation continued, rehashing details and going over what little they knew about the Spaniard, who may or may not be the same Spaniard as the infamous fixer and assassin of the same name, but her declaration had cut some of the tension, so there was less talking over one another and more talking to each other.
“Enough,” Eric cut in twenty minutes later. “What are we going to do about it?”
Nikolett held back, waiting and listening. The plans proposed by other people were all ones her people had brainstormed and discussed, though the names of who would initiate the plan were different.
Colum was going to arrange to have a rich American with no ties to the Masters’ Admiralty hire the Spaniard to steal something.
Vicente was going to do a deeper dive into familial connections of current and past members of Castille. The Spaniard may be the forgotten or ignored child of a member who was bitter at not being a part of the society. He was also going to look for ties to Nikolett’s lineage which might explain whyshe was at the center of what was most likely an attack on the society.
She didn’t like the idea of anyone looking at her family or childhood, but there was nothing she could do about it. And on paper, it was only a mildly depressing story. The trauma hadn’t been the sort of thing that left reports.
Hande’s people were going to run a digital investigation on the fixer known as the Spaniard to try to confirm it was the same person who confronted Vicente in Crimea rather than someone using the name of an infamous criminal as a cover. Grigoris spoke up then, offering Zoran’s help on that project.
The only plan the group didn’t discuss, the one she and Grigoris had fought about for several hours a week ago, was to use Nikolett as bait.
CHAPTER SIX
“Ilook like I’m going on a TV date.”
“You are.” Nyx made a minute adjustment to Nikolett’s hair, which was loose around her shoulders and lightly curled. One side of it swooped in a soft curve against her forehead in a way that made her feel like an old Hollywood movie star. “Going on a date, I mean. Not on TV.”
The idea of dating rather than marrying a family friend or coworker was still fairly foreign in Hungary, but shows likeA Nagy Ohad popularized the idea.
“Yes, but Laszlo thinks he’s coming for a meeting.” Nikolett eyed Nyx as she said it.
While Nikolett had originally wanted to be straightforward and say that the meeting was to discuss marriage prospects, Oksana had pointed out that if Nikolett had these meetings and then didn’t place the individuals into a trinity within several months, they would either be offended, worried, or both. Instead, the suggestion had been to have a casual dinner meeting, no reason given, but Nyx hadn’t been thrilled with that idea.
And Nyx had been the one to issue the invitation to Laszlo Petrescu.
Nikolett was fairly sure this hadn’t been framed as a purely business meeting the way Oksana suggested, but the invitation also wouldn’t be a straightforward “let’s discuss your marriage options” the way Nikolett had originally suggested.
Nyx was deceptively good at subtlety when she wanted to be, and Nikolett had simply run out of time to check exactly what the invitation said. And at this point, she’d rather not know, since there was nothing she could do to change it.
“A dinner meeting,” Elena added from where she knelt on the floor. “With a man you might marry.”
“He doesn’t know that,” Nikolett pointed out, but it was half question as she watched Nyx in the mirror.
Elena was no longer paying attention to the conversation, now fully in doctor mode examining Nikolett’s cast-less leg.
