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Franco’s face appeared on screen, his brows pinched with concern.“You okay, Colum?”

“Pregnancy pillow?”Colum asked.

Franco smiled, but briefly.“Surprise!You’re going to be an uncle!”

“Juliette’s pregnant?”Colum smiled wide, imagining Franco as a father.Dear God, but that was one lucky kid.“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”Franco smiled, but his brows were still drawn together.

“Yes, sorry about all this.”Colum hadn’t thought to check the time.This day had seemed to last forever, and he’d lost track of whether it was day or night.Luckily, Boston was hours behind his current time zone so it wasn’t too bad.Late enough to worry Franco though.

“No, don’t be sorry.What’s up?”

“I got un-married,” Colum said with a grin.

The line between Franco’s brows disappeared.“Wait, what?Tell me everything.”

Colum explained that Eric had annulled the marriage to Sarah—he really needed to check that someone had called her—and Nikolett.

Franco feigned a heart attack when Colum told him that he’d tried to step down as archivist, because after falling in love, Colum realized he didn’t want a loveless, in-name-only marriage, and that the possibility of finding some happiness was worth giving up the archive.

“After falling in love?”Franco said, as he miraculously recovered from his fake heart attack.“Who did you fall in love with?Annie and Xavier?”

“Yes.”

“You fell in love with one of my people?”Franco grinned.

“One ofmypeople,” Juliette corrected from the background, making it clear she was eavesdropping on the call.

“Does that mean you’re switching sides and moving to Boston?”Franco asked excitedly.

“Er…no.”

“He’s calling to warn us that Eric is about to propose a new trinity, a trinity that would mean we lose Annie,” Devon called out.

“It’s more that I was just calling to ask if you’d help me with that.Not warn you.I don’t think Eric’s planning to call just yet.He’s dealing with other things.”

Things like Nikolett.Colum’s natural curiosity had him wanting to ask how Nikolett had gotten caught in a bear trap, but his newly discovered squeamishness meant he wasn’t going to.

Franco leaned in.“You want me to use my sexual wiles on the Grand Master until she agrees.”

“Jesus,” Devon said, but he was laughing.

Colum usually blushed when Franco said stuff like that, but he grinned.“Would you mind terribly?”

“Not at all.I’ll sacrifice my virtue, my?—”

“Fine!”Juliette yelled.“I owe Eric for Vadisk anyway.But I want a wedding.A real wedding.I want to get dressed up and go to a wedding.I want to cry because it’s beautiful and meaningful, and then I want to eat cake.”

Franco was looking back over his shoulder.“Querida, do you want me to get you cake?”

“Yes,” Juliette breathed.“I want all the cake.”

Franco looked back at the phone, expression briefly serious.“The Grand Master agrees to the trinity of Colum O’Connor, Annie Ward, and Xavier…” He paused.“Whose last name I can’t remember.”

“Allard,” Colum said.

Franco nodded his thanks, then continued, “And Xavier Allard that the fleet admiral has proposed.”He grinned.“Be sure to remind him to call and actually propose it.”