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Colum was grinning back so hard his face hurt as they exchanged a few more pleasantries, briefly catching up.“Go find your wife some cake,” he said at last.

“Go enjoy your fiancés,” Franco said.“Wait, are you already married because you don’t have to start with a binding ceremony?Either way…enjoy.”

“Thank you.”

“And, Colum?”

“Yes?”

“Be happy.You deserve it.”

Annie saton the couch in the living area of the honeymoon suite they’d been assigned in the castle.The honeymoon suite—reserved for those members who were married by the fleet admiral, which Colum explained wasn’t a common thing, as most territory admirals performed the ceremonies—had been designed to allow newlyweds all the comforts of home.That was nice, since Annie was currently wondering how long she might be staying here at Triskelion Castle.

Unable to sit still, she rose, wandering around the large room that included not only the couch, love seat, and coffee table arranged before a large-screen television, but also a small dining table with four chairs, a kitchenette, and a large partner desk sat near the lone window in the room, offering people an amazing view of the cliffs and ocean beyond.She drifted over to the window, looking out at the dark night.The view was very dramatic at the moment, as the jagged landscape was cast in hard shadows from the full moon.

It was all quite beautiful and cozy and apparently their home away from home for the time being.Following the “war council,” they’d hastily retreated here, all three of them still shell-shocked by Eric’s agreement to allow them to marry.They’d been met at the door of the Great Hall by Regina, who showed them up to the suite, Annie apparently allowed in the other parts of the castle.

Regina also informed them they were under direct orders from Eric to remain in the castle until given permission to return to Dublin.Given how wily the Spaniard had proven himself to be, and how protective Eric was of Colum, Annie foresaw a long stay in their future.

Not that any of them had complained because, whether they were locked down here or in Ireland, the end result was the same.They were together.

Annie threw herself down on the cozy couch, leaning back against the headrest, looking at the ceiling.Her leg bounced, her nerves getting the better of her as she glanced toward the closed bedroom door.

While gaining Eric’s permission to marry had been a major hurdle, it hadn’t been the final one, and there was a small part of her that worried the Grand Master would veto the whole thing.Annie was trying to figure out how these two secret societies coexisted and what exactly the pecking order was.To be honest, she got the sense the fleet admiral and Grand Master were trying to figure out the same thing.

Colum had retreated to the bedroom the moment they’d stepped inside to call Franco.He’d been fairly confident his best friend would be able to convince the Grand Master to agree to their marriage, and while Annie considered herself a positive person, in this case, because she wanted it so fucking badly, she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.Because despite a few stressful, horrible, heartbreaking hours this morning when they’d thought Eric had refused their request to be together, the rest of their road to happily ever after had come relatively easily.

She heard the low rumble of Colum’s voice through the door, but she couldn’t make out the words.She was tempted to go press her ear against the wood, but she chastised herself for the thought, digging deep for patience.Colum had asked for a few minutes alone to speak to his friend.

According to Colum, Franco was quite in love with his wife and husband, and he’d wanted Colum to find the same thing.Annie had recognized the voice of the unseen man who’d put a hand over Franco’s mouth on the video call, and was fairly certain Franco’s husband was Devon Asher, the man who’d recruited her to work for the agency.The way Colum talked about Franco told Annie that he was quite special to her—God, please—husband.

From the door opposite the bedroom, she heard Xavier outside their suite in the hallway, the familiar tread of his feet as he paced back and forth mingled with his also-muffled voice.While Colum had vowed to take care of things on the Trinity Masters’ end, Xavier decided it was best to rip off the Band-Aid, so to speak, and let his mother know that while he planned to serve as a finance minister, he was no longer interested in training to become vice admiral.Given the one phone conversation Annie had overheard between Xavier and his mother, she’d venture to guess his call was more difficult than Colum’s.

So, with both her men, working to secure their future, Annie had been relegated to the living room, where she’d poured herself a glass of wine and tried to steady her nerves.Annie had wanted to be with Colum when he called, but given the Grand Master’s desire to keep her identity a secret, he thought it might go better if he was the one who did the informing.Then he’d assured her that if things looked rocky, Franco would go to bat for them.

“Argh,” she groaned to the ceiling, eyeing the empty glass of wine, and considering pouring herself a second.She’d downed it in record time.

Annie jumped from the couch when she distinctly heard Colum say goodbye.Rushing to the bedroom door, she listened briefly to confirm he’d hung up, then opened the door.

“All finished?”

Colum nodded, waving her into the bedroom.She started to walk in but stopped when she heard the front door of the suite open.

Twisting around, she watched Xavier stroll in, the lines of tension around his eyes fading when he saw her.

“Okay?”she asked.

“It went as well as could be expected.”

“That bad, huh?”Annie joked.

“My mother is a powerful person, which was why the two of us working together was never going to be a good thing.But enough of that.I have the rest of my life to listen to my mother’s long passive-aggressive sighs.Is Colum off the phone?”

She nodded.“He is.”

Xavier crossed the living room, the two of them walking into the bedroom and plopping down on the mattress next to Colum.

“Well, don’t keep us in suspense.Did the Grand Master agree?”Annie asked nervously.