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“Thanks,Maman,” Xavier said, not looking at his phone but instead at his lovers, enjoying the matching expressions of shock as he dropped his fun bomb.It helped him ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach.“I’ll call you again as soon as I can,” he promised his mother.“Because I’m sure you have a million questions.”

“A million and twelve,” Maman corrected.

“Then I’ll make sure to call when I have several hours,” he joked, saying goodbye.

Tossing his phone onto the mattress, he smirked at them.

“Your mother is an admiral?”Annie asked.

At the same time Colum said, “You’re Victoire Dubois’s son.”

“She is and I am,” Xavier replied.“Maman’s been holding one of the finance minister positions for me ever since Alice Duval retired.She refused to name a permanent replacement, demanding that I begin to step into the role she’s been grooming me for.”

“Role?”Colum asked.

Xavier rolled his eyes.“In France, to be the admiral, you start as a knight, security officer, or finance minister.Then you become the vice admiral or security minister.Then admiral.Usually, the next admiral is identified young and deliberately rises through the ranks of leadership until it’s time for the current admiral to step down.”

“You’re supposed to be the next admiral?”Annie asked.

“It’s what my mother always intended.Until I said no.”

“So it’s an inherited position?”

“It can be,” he said.“In France, nepotism is real.”

“And no one wants to be a territory admiral or fleet admiral,” Colum said.“The job is thankless.”

“It’s like being a politician, right?”Annie was shaking her head.“But you’re a poet, an artist.”She was struggling to make the pieces fit, which made sense, as he’d only shown her that one side of himself.And while it was the side he preferred, it would be no hardship to take on the minister position because it came with the greatest perks in the world.

Them.

Xavier shrugged.“I’m an artist with a talent for making money.”Hearing Colum offer to give up his role as archivist, a position that was an ingrained part of who he was, would be the equivalent of the man offering to cut off a limb.

Xavier never wanted to be admiral.He’d refused to even become a finance minister, thought he enjoyed playing and winning the game that was finance.But to go beyond that was something he’d actively rejected, despite having been raised by the admiral, trained to be a good leader in every way she could think of.

He’d turned away from that, his mother’s words on doing his duty and serving his territory leaving him unmoved.But for them, for Annie and Colum, he would do it.

Even if it meant giving up the future he’d always imagined for himself.A life as an artist and playwright.A life spent creating and appreciating the human spirit and creativity, rather than mired in the day-to-day minutia and crises of running a territory.

“You’re a finance minister of France,” Colum murmured.

“For now.As soon as the vice admiral steps down—he’s planning to retire in a few years—I’ll be vice admiral, and eventually admiral.”

“You don’t want it,” Annie said softly, studying his expression.

Xavier shrugged.“You’re worth it.”

“Xavier, no…” Colum started.

“In a few years, I’ll be an admiral.We’ll have to wait until then to get married, but…”

“And Colum needs tonotbe married.And I need to not get placed in a trinity back in the States.And my Grand Master has to agree to an inter-society marriage…” Annie said slowly.

“As I said, it’s only one of our mountains,” Xavier murmured.“But I needed to do it before my mother gave up and started grooming someone else to be admiral.”

“It doesn’t feel hopeless anymore,” Annie said.

“Just impossible?”Xavier asked with a grin.